Victoria BC for President's Day Weekend

What better way to pay tribute to the birthdays of perhaps our country's two most crucial presidents than to RUN SCREAMING TO CANADA! That's what the Fitzpatricks did to take advantage of the three-day weekend. Following below are some pictures from our journey, which was completely pain free! The weather was AWESOME! (and has been for about a month straight. All our usual weather is camping out in So.Cal. Better start moving up here now, folks, before all the other Californians get here and take all the cheap land!)

First stop: the Victoria Bug Zoo. A little two-room museum that you cannot help but spend at least three hours in! HUGE bugs! GIANT tarantulae! RHINOCEROS beetles! MATING, MATING, MATING!!! Here's Harleigh after an exhaustive (but fruitless) search for the Queen of a huge leaf-cutter ant colony (behind her).

Lise and Geoff and some Leaf Bugs (photo courtesy of Almost Seven-Year-Old Enterprises, Ltd.)

Catalina admiring a praying mantis up close.

My gorgeous ladies in the Inner Harbour (the BC Parliament bldg. in the background)

Just after this photo, Catalina yelled "Let's see what this baby can do!"

Was that ANOTHER bald eagle?

Homeward bound on the BC Ferries...Some really tight squeezes for some really big ships!

Contest Answer: AND THE WINNER IS.....

Well, the winner is NOBODY.

The answer to our little romantic Valentine's Day Contest: Harleigh was a bit miffed when she made these two drawings. The one on the left : "Mom, but she's dead." Note the little "x"-shaped eyes? The picture on the right: "Mom's head with my fingers wrapped around it."

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! (and boy, are we in trouble....)

Contest Answer: The envelope, please.....

Alright. Since no one was really that close....no prize shall be awarded by this judge. I'll throw the trophy up in the air and let the 4 responders jostle for it.

The long awaited answer: Harleigh was in a bit of a snit when she drew these. The picture on the left, and I quote: "Mom, but she's dead." Note the "x" shaped eyes. The picture on the right according to Harleigh, is Mom again, with Harleigh's fingers wrapped around her head and neck.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!! (And, boy are we in trouble.)

LAST CHANCE on the Contest!

I'll post the answer tomorrow: What has Harleigh given to Mom?

HINT: This is Harleigh we're talking about, people.....

A "GUESS THE DRAWING" CONTEST!

OK, everyone who looks....have a look at the pictures below. Harleigh presented them to Lise today during a rainy day art session. I think it would be fun if everyone guessed at Harleigh's explanation of what the drawings represent. Closest guess (respond in the Comments!) gets an extra-large sack-o-lovin (read: nothing) from all of us! HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

We'll give you the answer after a couple of days. Guess away!

Harleigh's pre-Valentine's Day Gift for mom.Explanation Above!

From Harleigh's B'Day, Part II, in Seattle at Gramma and Granddad's Jan 29th (Thanks to Louis and his PE!)

A fairly entertaining first day....

Had my first day with the Whatcom County Library System (henceforth and forever foreward in this log to be known as WCLS) today, and saw what a three-person tech staff can do if they are organized enough. Wow, I'm very impressed with the techie-layout stuff and details I won't go into here. Nice to see that some places are actually working towards making life easier rather than harder for their employees!

Anyway, will spend the week learning the techie-equivalent of the "lay-of-the-land", and visiting all the sites (there are 8 plus the one I work in, which is the Administrative center) as well. Already have a few ideas of what needs to be done.

AND, even better....when I leave I go to the building immediately north of ours, and pick up the kids! Logistical heaven, I must say. I could get used to this.

Anyone have any overdue book fines they need taken care of?

News on the Employment Front....

It's official, Geoff's got a new job! His 1 1/2 hour commute each way is history as of Monday Feb 7!

He'll be working in the IT department of the Whatcom County Library System. It's got 9 office-branches and one mobile one, so there will be plenty to keep him busy as far as network administration tasks go. And, a big plus is that the office is right next door to the kids' school! Lucky, no? He'll be cramping the kids' style in no time!

Yeehaw! Happy days for the Fitz's...unhappy days for Europe Express (his former place of biz).