Mr. & Mrs. Sparkle's Japanese Adventure

For those of you who know Aisha and her boyfriend Nathan, you can check out her blog too, at the following link! Mr. & Mrs. Sparkle's Japanese Adventure

rainforests and such

Hello!
Sorry about the lack of posting the last couple of days, but we were very busy! We went on a hike with Marlene and Cleo (the dog that's not a pug) to this rainforest provincial park called Grutchy's (or grilled cheese or grouchies or something along those lines.) It was amaaaazing!! We wandered through woods with humungous trees all hanging with "grandfather's beard" which is a really cool type of moss, as well as another fuzzy/furry type of moss which covered other trees.

We also found lots of fish remains, right next to what looked like bear droppings. When we got to the beach, we had to walk through some water to get to the rest of our hike. It was sooooo cold!!! Marlene tricked us by saying it wasn't too bad, but it WAS!!! And then, to make matters worse, we had to go back when we were done!!! Anyway, I've done enough whining on the matter, so I will stop now. It was actually a really fun time, and it made me feel good to be alive.

Other than that, Damien finished painting the front of the shed as well as starting the side (which is the last side) and it looks really sharp! (who uses that word...?) After Steve and Marlene have decided what colour they would like their porch around their house, we'll start on that.

Yesterday was filled with a job search. We started at the employment office in Terrace where we beefed up our resumes and printed some off, then we travelled around to a few places dropping them off. Then we did some grocery shopping and came home. Damien got a hopeful response at Denny's restaurant, and I'm hoping the Best Western Inn restaurant will overlook the fact that I don't have any serving experience and give me a chance!

Last night I baked up a batch of cookies for dessert. They are quite yummy! Chocolate with peanut butter chips inside!!! I also dropped off and picked up Gabe from his play practice last night. It's nice to be able to give Steve a break from all his driving around! I'm glad both Damien and I have our drivers licences! It also means that we're able to borrow the car during the day while Steve is at work to do some of our job searching/grocery shopping for the family.

Today we're thinking about finishing up the shop, but it looks kind of rainy so I'm not sure it is the best idea, as the paint needs time to dry. Anyway, we'll play it by ear. Maybe we'll bike into town and drop off a few more resumes.

In the meantime, I will focus on the important things in the moment. Like breakfast!! See ya later! ~hanah

painting up a storm

So here we are. Painting the shed. This is the before shot, and when we're totally done I'll show the after shot. In the meantime you can make guesses as to what colour it will be. It's good to do some work for a change, cuz so far we've been doing a lot of bumming around, and little of anything, which was fun while it lasted, but it's time to start doing stuff! So the job hunt is still on. Haven't heard anything from the hot spring resort, but we've also applied to this magazine sale company, which would be pretty cool because we would be able to get our own vehicle(s) and get to see some of the countryside while being paid! Hopefully something good works out. Otherwise we may head down to Vancouver if we're good at this painting thing, and get jobs painting houses for ridiculously good sums of money. Anyway, not much to report on today. The pugs are just as entertaining as ever! Steve is almost finished dinner, and it smells delicious, so I should go see if I can do anything. Bye!

Silly moments in Terrace!

Yep. We've gone crazy... Haha, just kidding. We were just Aunt Marlene's dollies last night. It was her birthday, and we all had a fun time dressing up in halloween stuff that she found. We also had a funny time dressing up those poor pugs, Emma and Malcom. (By the way dad, the cake worked out wonderfully! Everyone seemed to love it! Thanks for sending the recipe!)

Needless to say, they were not too impressed... But they are very tolerant, I must give them that. They supply us with hours of entertainment. My new favourite game is, "stack the pugs" which is self explanitory.

Today Damien and I went on a lovely bike ride through town, where we checked out the employment centres, ate some yummy baked goods at a bakery, and cycled around Ferry Island, which is in between downtown Terrace and Steve&Marlene's place. It has a beautiful bike trail that goes through HUGE old trees, some of which have carvings in them. Every time we stopped for a break, we would see another little carved face peeking out at us from inside a knot hole on the tree. We were able to go right down to the Skeena river and walk around on enormous logs which had washed up on the rocky shore.

The ride back was beautiful because off in the distance the clouds seemed to be stuck in between mountains. We could also see what I believe was rain way off in the distance, and a little hint of a rainbow. The scenery around here is unreal! If you haven't been to BC, you absolutely MUST go! Right now. Buy a greyhound ticket. Go!

Anyway... After the long bike ride, I was pretty tired, and so I had a nap, which is actually why I'm writing this blog posting. Everyone else in the house is sleeping, but because of my nap, I have some extra energy, so I'm trying to get sleepy by writing this! And it seems to be working. My eyes are getting heavier!

So, I suppose that will be all for tonight. Goodnight!

Update of our journey

Hello again! It's Hanah once again. Last night's post got cut off a bit short, so I thought I'd write another one. Backing up a bit, we started our journey on Thursday September 7th on the 5:15 p.m. Greyhound bus from Toronto to Vancouver. We stopped overnight in Winnipeg because we simply couldn't stand being in the seated position for any longer! Damien and I, as well as a guy who we met on the bus named Nick got a room at a hostel not too far from the terminal, and got a much needed rest!! In the morning we headed to the bus station only to find out that if we were even going to be allowed on the next bus (we weren't supposed to have any stop-overs other than the ones that Greyhound provided) we would have to wait until 7 p.m. So, that gave us the opportunity to stretch our legs, and wander around Winnipeg. It's not a very big city, and I'm pretty sure we saw most of the interesting parts within that afternoon. It was beautiful weather, which was even better!

So after a gorgeous drive through the Rockies (see picture,) we arrived in Vancouver at about 5:30 in the morning. We wandered around with all of our extreme luggage... (oops... should have though that one out better) trying to find a place to stay. All the hotels were full, and the hostels were closed until morning. So, we waited in a park until morning came, and then had some good, cheap breakfast at a restaurant, and found a lovely hostel room for only $39/night! After checking out Commercial Drive, we went to visit one of Damien's friends Ram. He lived right near the ocean, so we went down to watch the sunset, played some music, and made some yummy dahl for dinner!! It was a really good evening, and we went home and crashed with our bellies full of good food! (for the first time in a few days)

The next morning I called Marlene and we worked out travel plans to get to Terrace. We decided to fly Hawk Air, so we immediately headed to the airport to make sure we could get tickets. After buying our tickets, we went outside and found a nice patch of grass to rest in until our flight. The flight was beautiful! So many little islands, with snow capped peaks, and glacial pools at the top. It was magnificent! We arrived in Terrace in time for a yummy dinner cooked by my uncle Steve.

Since then, we've been exploring Terrace and surrounding areas, and Marlene has played tour guide for us, which is really nice, because we've managed to see some amazingly gorgeous sights which we would never have even known about! We've also been eating so well, because Steve is an excellent cook, so all's well with us! It's also been so nice to be able to hang out with my cousins, Doran and Gabe, and meet some of their friends. Both of them will be at school this week, so I think things are going to be a bit quieter around here, which is kind of too bad. But weekends are fun, because everyone is around, and we all hang around and visit and relax together.

Steve took us mushroom picking yesterday as I mentioned in the last post, but it was very unsuccessful, so today we're going to drop off applications to a hot spring resort (where we went on Wed. evening, and it was WONDERFUL!!!) to try and get positions as cooks, to make some needed money. Hopefully that works out!! Keep your fingers crossed for us!! I think they would provide us with accomidations too, which would be really convenient, because it is a little ways out of Terrace. Hopefully we could still come back here to visit during our days off.

Today is Marlene's birthday, and she got a beautiful new camera from Steve, some bath stuff from Gabe and Doran, and some of her favorite cider, sunflower seeds, and some maple syrup and honey from my farm, from Damien and I.

Anyway, I think I'm going to go get ready. Gabe will be calling soon, and then we're going to go pick him up and then drop off our application forms, and buy butter so that I can make a yummy chocolate cake for Marlene's birthday dinner tonight!!

Take care everyone, and keep us posted on your lives too!!
Hanah.

"Mushroom Picking"

Hey everyone!!!
It's Hanah here. This is the first post of our fancy new blog! This picture was taken today by my uncle Steve on a mountain where he took us mushroom picking. Unfortunately the mushroom picking was a bit of a bust, but we still all had a lovely day walking through the woods and enjoying the beautiful scenery (see left.) So far we love BC soooooo much! I can't believe how magnificent mountains are! In Terrace we are literally surrounded by them. Everywhere you turn, there is a mountain! We are staying at my aunt and uncle's house right now, and will probably be here for the next few weeks. I don't think we'll continue with the mushroom picking though, because it sounds like no one is finding anything. We went by the mushroom buyer at the end of the day and she said that no one is bringing in much of anything. Anyway, it's dinner time now, so I'm gonna sign off. I'll definately keep posting! Tonight we picked up application forms for cooks at the local hot spring resort. Hopefully that will work out, because we need to start making some money if we're going to go to Ecuador! Peace! Hanah.