Travelog for: Ollie_Marmot

I wanted to invite these chicks to my birthday party but somehow they weren't really interested....



So in the evening we started our party without them.





We had some really good food!





And this is my special birthday photo with Yuri!



After the meal, Martina tough us how to play chess! It's a really interesting game so we played a few times!



In the evening I wanted to call you but stupid me, I forgot our telephone number...



But no problem, I can show you here that I'm absolutely fine and on Monday I'll go on to my next host! I'm soooo curious!

Today I arrived in Canada!  It certainly wasn't as cold as I had expected, but perhaps it was all that lovely padding that Mizzery provided me with :]





Me posing with another TV, Lemony, who said he'll be leaving soon on his own trip.

To celebrate the first day of spring, my host took me to see her front garden.  There weren't too many flowers, but Abby said that pretty soon there will be a ton.

There were a ton of these in the garden, all identical, all named Smedvik.




Climbing a little tree with buds on it.  My host says the flowres will be purple.


One of Abby's cats came outside to play in the garden


And another one


Before we went inside I had to see these yellow flowers


Abby says that we might be able to look around her town today.  I hope so.  She said something about a giant metal horse.

Today Abby took me out to see a little bit of her city.  We didn't have much time, so she showed me some of the more important places.

The local theatre


The big metal horse...


There's a legend that goes with the clock and the horse.  The horse represents a beast that fought for Mother Nature against those who were hurting the environment, but was gravely hurt in the process.  Mother Nature set up the clock as a reminder to not hurt the environment.


City Hall





After this it was off to eat brunch with Abby and her parents.  I played with creamers while waiting for food.


Mmm, spinach, feta and tomato omelette.

Today I helped Abby make pudding eggs.  She said she makes them instead of her family colouring eggs.

I'm going to tell you the recipe as I show you pictures of me making them.  I got to stir and everything!

Okay, first you need a box of pudding, 1/3 cup of hot water and 1/3 cup of margerine.  We used pistachio pudding, because that is my host's familys' favourite.



You mix the ingredients together...




Then you add three cups of icing sugar, one cup at a time.  We needed to use a little extra sugar to get the right consistancy.


Eventually it should look like this:


Then you roll it into balls and place it onto a cookie sheet.  I didn't want to get my hands dirty, so I made Abby do this step.


Then you chill the pudding eggs until they are firm.  While we were waiting for the pudding eggs to be cold and hard enough, Lemony helped Abby make butterscotch pudding eggs.

When they're cold, take the eggs out of the fridge and melt some chocolate in a seperate bowl.  You can do it over the stove, but we just used a microwave.


Then, you dip each egg in chocolate.


Then you put the eggs back into the fridge to chill again.

Finished!


Yum :]


Abby says we might decorate them later, but I think they look fine and taste even better.

Today I said goodbye to Lemony, who was very excited to start his worldwide bakery tour.

I went with my host's family to buy seeds for their garden this year.



This woman was standing in the corner.


Look at all the seeds they bought!


After, we went into town.  My host's family went into an antique store, and I met the bear who lives there.


I saw a totem pole outside the museum.

We went to Steveston for dinner.  Steveston is at the mouth of the Fraser River, a large river that flows through BC.

The wharf


I coloured while waiting for food.


I worked really hard on it and was able to finish by the time we were ready to leave.


There were a lot of boats at the mouth of the river




It was very cloudy all day, so you could look at the sun without worrying that it would damage your eyes.  Abby advised me not to look directly at it just in case.

We stopped at Rocky Point Park in Port Moody.  It was very pretty.



These benches were designed to look like buoys.  There are three of them.


There were these really comfortable chairs.


Abby told me she used to live here.  I didn't believe her because there were no houses in the park, but she told me that hers used to be where the spray park is.

This morning I went on an easter egg hunt around my host's house!

















There was this basket of treats too!


Happy Easter, Mom!

Today Abby took me on the West Coast Express, a passenger train.  I was very excited about my first time on a train.

We looked up and down the tracks.




Then we waited for the train.    When it arrived Abby took me up to the top floor.
 

I got my own seat :]




Crossing Pitt River




After the stop before the one where we got off, we switched sides so that Abby could show me Fraser River, the one I saw the mouth of the other day.


Those buildings across the river near my head are all house boats.

Today was Abby's first day back to school from spring break and Easter, and she invited me along.  She has only two classes a day, so we spent a lot of time studying.

I wanted to get to know the area a little better, so I read Abby's best friend's geography internal assessment.


In History class they are preparing for exams so they were looking at old exams.


One of the exams had a cartoon in it


This is the package that tells everyone what to expect on their exams


Then we prepared for English by studying King Lear




I wanted to watch Abby's rugby practice, but the weather wasn't very nice.  We took the train home from school.

Today I got to go to school with Abby again and see her other two classes.

In her biology class they are learning about evolution.  While Abby was taking notes she gave me this package on punctuated equilibrium to read.


During lunch Abby bought me a cookie.  It was very good :]


We read 24 Hours, a local, free, daily newspaper.


During math, it started snowing.  It only snowed for ten minutes and it didn't stick so there was nothing for me to play in when we were dissmissed from class.

Then, I helped Abby with her calculus homework.


I wrote you a note, Mom, on Abby's graphing calculator!


I couldn't watch rugby practice again because the weather was even worse and it was really cold and windy out, but Abby told me that she has a game next Tuesday and I'll probably get to watch that.  I'm so excited :]

I just finished participating in Earth Hour with Abby's family.  We played cribbage by oil lamp to pass the time.







Abby and I weren't doing so well after the first game, so she brought out her secret weapon, Everglot, the Lucky Woodbug.


Look at the hand I got!


Everglot gave me a congradulatory hug just as 9:00 came and the lights turned back on.  He doesn't really have arms, so that's how he hugs things.

Well, I got to watch rugby practice, but unfortunately since my host was busy participating in practice, she didn't get any pictures.  So, she took a picture of me with her cleats and waterbottle.



Abby says that I'm going to downtown Vancouver tomorrow.  I'm very excited :]