Gabriola Island Lifestyle Blog
Archive for the ‘family life’ Category
Monday, May 23rd, 2011
This past long weekend was abuzz with activities! The Farmers Market kicked off with the first of the Saturday openings, there was a bicycle race, the grand opening of the Hen House - a working Studio and Gallery, a play at The Centre, live music at Raspberry’s Jazz Cafe, Comedy at the Silva Bay Restaurant, a photography show and more! Peter and the Wolf, produced by local dance teacher Miss Mara, was well attended. This lively little show
was danced delightfully by local children aged 3 to 17. With three of our granddaughters involved it is no wonder this was our favorite event.
Posted in family life, Holidays and Special Events, Kids, Music, The Arts | No Comments »
Monday, May 9th, 2011
With three mothers in the family it is no wonder that we celebrate Mothers Day. The weather co operated marvelously with afternoon sunshine and the warmth that we so appreciate. We set up table and chairs and a blanket in the garden and all the family met for tea and fresh rhubarb crumble, custard, luscious brownies and incredible meringue cookies. The children and dogs ran and played and fun was had by all. Being the oldest mother I even got a present – a pretty summer dress from the local dress shop
.
Posted in Buy Local, Cooking, family life, Holidays and Special Events, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Monday, January 17th, 2011
They have told us to be prepared for one of the coldest winters on record. Yesterday, as if mother nature was thumbing her nose at the whole idea, the afternoon temperature crept up to an absolute balmy 15 C and sunny. We spent the afternoon outside walking in the woods and checking out our pond which is much larger than usual (In the picture the pond usually ends at the brush in the background). The girls had a blast pretending to fish and splashing in the water. What a treat in the middle of what should have been a winter day!
Posted in family life, Gabriola Island, Gabriola Living, greener living, Gulf Island Lifestyle, Kids, People, west coast, West Coast Living | No Comments »
Monday, January 10th, 2011
It was a beautiful day yesterday, the snow fell most of the night and the clouds parted to give us a beautiful and sunny winter day. The kids and the dog spent as much time as possible outside knowing that the snow never stays long enough for their liking. We went for a wonderful afternoon walk and came in to have hot chocolate and oatmeal cookies. It was a wonderful day!
Posted in family life, Gabriola Island, Gabriola Living, Gulf Island Lifestyle, Healthy Living, Kids, Recreation on Gabriola, Weather, west coast, West Coast Living | No Comments »
Saturday, November 20th, 2010
First snow of the season and first snow for our 7 month old Boston Terrier, Fargo. Fargo loved it and so did the kids who had the pleasure of making a great big snowman with their dad. We saw about 4-6 inches of snow in our neck of the woods and more snow is in the forecast for mid-week. It sure is cold out there!
Posted in family life, Gabriola Island, Kids, Weather | No Comments »
Sunday, October 31st, 2010
Halloween evening for most families on Gabriola consists of joining with friends and going out trick or treating then off to the park at Twin Beaches for hot chocolate and a fabulous display of fireworks reflected in beautiful Taylor Bay, the smallest are soon exhausted and need a little nap.
Posted in Beaches, family life, Gabriola Living, Holidays and Special Events, Kids | No Comments »
Saturday, October 16th, 2010
We were so lucky today to have the chance to take the girls to a pottery class at Feedlot Studios here on Gabriola. We were greeted by an extremely fun and warm Mariko and her husband Bryan in their large, bright studio space located at 800 Valli Place. The girls started by getting in the Halloween mood with some ghoulish drawings to get the creative juices flowing. Once they had done a drawing Mariko showed us how to create a Halloween landscape complete with owls, pumpkins, snakes, crows, tombstones, cats and “Do Not Enter” signs as well as so much more. Once the creepy landscapes were formed the kids were able to paint them with a non-toxic ceramic paint in fun colours such as orange, green, black, red and white as well as a myriad of other “non-Halloween” colours. Once they were finished the kids were told that there pieces would be put in the kiln and would be ready for a later date. The finishing touch for the kids was a lovely little treat bag with Halloween candy and stickers. What an incredible way to spend a Saturday morning in October! To keep up to date on what this talented couple are doing subscribe to their blog http://feedlotstudios.blogspot.com/ and check out their website at http://feedlotstudios.ca
Photo courtesy of Bryan and Mariko
Posted in Crafts, family life, Gabriola Island, Gabriola Living, Gulf Island Lifestyle, Holidays and Special Events, Kids, People, The Arts, West Coast Living | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010
August is blackberry time, and Gabriola has lots of thickets of these luscious treats at the south end of the island. We try to go out a few times each season to pick berries. This time we took the kids and they helped, mind you they ate as many as they picked. We brought
home enough to make jelly, a pie and blackberry ice cream. Yum!
Posted in Cooking, family life, Flora and Fauna, Food, Gabriola Living, Healthy Living, Kids | No Comments »
Thursday, July 1st, 2010
There was live music today at the Village Shopping Center. We were there to shop for this afternoon’s get together with our friends and family. We stopped at the Village Liquor Store and then on to the Village Food Market. I love our grocery store, it is open every day except Christmas and always well stocked with everything I want. And they gave me and all their other customers a present today – great music and 
a really nice shopping bag!
Tags: Buy Local, Food, Healthy Eating, Shopping on Gabriola
Posted in Buy Local, family life, Food, Healthy Eating, Shopping on Gabriola | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
This past weekend my husband and I had a couple of days off and met up with some friends from Vancouver and camped at the Living Forest campground in Nanaimo. We spent one of the days with them and our girls heading up to Coombs and continuing on to Cathedral Grove (MacMillan Provincial Park). The girls loved Cathedral Grove, the big trees, “fairy holes”, streams and flowers. It was a wonderful and magical day topped off with ice cream cones
for all at the Old Country Market while watching the goats gambol on the roof.
Posted in Camping on Vancouver Island, Daytripping on Vancouver Island, family life, Flora and Fauna, Gulf Island Lifestyle, Holidays and Special Events, Kids, West Coast Living | No Comments »
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was danced delightfully by local children aged 3 to 17. With three of our granddaughters involved it is no wonder this was our favorite event.
Robyn & Carly McMahon and unlicensed assistant Lesley McMahon, your Gabriola Island Real Estate Sales Team