Beach Day!

It was a fantastic, sunny day on Friday and we decided to hit one of the great Gabriola beaches. The girls and I quickly packed ourselves up and went Pilot Bay to meet up with some friends, both the girls and mine. After a fun play in the sand finding shells, skipping rocks, and playing tag we headed up the road to the Twin Beaches Bakery for lunch. The girls gobbled down a yummy lunch followed by a gooey treat consisting of a "Twin Bit" doughnut and a Copenhagen pastry. After lunch we came home, grabbed the bikes and spent the afternoon playing hide and seek and riding up and down the hills in our backyard. It was such a wonderful day, a treat that the weather was so beautiful, spring is definitely in the air!

Gabriola Bottle Drive Fundraiser

This Saturday February 27th on Gabriola there will be a bottle drive fundraiser to help raise money for the Higgins family while John Higgins is in treatment for cancer. This fundraiser is being put on by the Gabriola 4-H Club and will take place at The Gabriola Commons on North Road across from the Elementary School. Please bring down all your bottles on Saturday starting at 10 am or call Cheryl at 250-247-8517 for pick-up of large amounts. Thanks to all who organized this, it is great to see how this community bands together when needed!

A Boreal Ballet on Gabriola

We were treated to a wonderful performance from the dancers of Gabriola Dance School. Owner and instructor Mara Brenner choreographed a lovely production complete with exquisite costumes, beautiful voices and smiling faces. The youngest dancer (who happens to be my youngest daughter) at only 2 1/2 all the way up to dancers who are 16 years of age made this such a fun and entertaining show. The youngest girls were dressed as snowflakes with beautiful tutu's and white crowns. They were lead in their dance by 4 eight and nine year old girls who were absolutely fantastic in making sure the littlest ones were happy, excited and ready to dance their little hearts out. I am so incredibly happy that there is a great little dance school right here on our door step, what a wonderful addition to Gabriola Island. Again a huge thanks to Mara Brenner and all the dancers and parents that made this show happen!
ps. To make it even better the admission was by donation of either a food item or cash donation with all the proceeds being donated to People for a Healthy Community.

Gabriola to Host Radio Conference

Gabriola Radio Society has been selected to host National Campus Community Radio Conference from Monday June 7—Friday June 11th 2010. This premium conference, taking place at Camp Miriam, will be open to all NCRA members as well as anyone interested in expanding their radio skills and knowledge. Gabriola Radio Society will be creating “Camp Radio”, an atmosphere with a total 5-day immersion in all things radio, hosted by experienced radio professionals. Delegates will have the opportunity to be housed in either on or off-site accommodation with a 100 available at Camp Miriam itself and the remainder using local B&B's and hotels There will be a series of advanced upper level workshops which will also appeal to those just beginning in a radio career. Visit www.ckgi.ca for any information pertaining to this conference and the battle to bring community radio to Gabriola Island.

Full day Kindergarten at Gabriola Elementary School

It was announced back in the fall that the province would be introducing full-day kindergarten for the September 2010 school year. What was not announced at the time was which schools would offer the full-day for the first year. Yesterday we found out that Gabriola Elementary would be one of the schools that will be participating in full-day kindergarten in September of 2010. I was ecstatic to say the least, as was my 4 1/2 year old daughter who exclaimed that meant she would need a lunch box because she would be eating lunch at school! Registration for Kindergarten began on January 4th and can be done anytime during the school day at the front office in the school, just bring the child's birth certificate, Carecard, and proof of address.

A Windy Night

Gabriola experienced strong winds with gusts around 100 km/h last night and early this morning. The power flickered many times before finally going out at around 5am (where we live anyway) and was out until the early afternoon. We went for a short drive and saw lots of trucks and workers out wrangling branches out of power lines and getting the electricity flowing again - THANK-YOU!!
Our "white house" which shelters our gardening tools and supplies unfortunately did not make it through the night.

Gabriola vs. Quadra!

It's competition time! Gabriola and Quadra Island are competing to see who can be the most active and in turn help prevent cancer. It begins January 16th and runs until February 26th when one of the 2 islands will be crowned Most Physically Active. The challenge is $10 and you are to keep track of your numbers and call them in every week. Kids are only $2 and thanks to Arbutus Building Supply every child registered at Gabriola Elementary School has been sponsored. The extra bonus is not only the good feelings from being physically fit but all the proceeds from the registrations go to a local charity. The winning island gets 100% of their proceeds as well as 50% of the losing islands proceeds for a total of 150% going to the Lunch program at the Elementary School (when we win). Get your fitness challenge log at IDA Pharmacy in the Village, Arbutus Building Supplies and The Gym @ Twin Beaches. Come on Gabriola, let's get active and show who the winner is!

Happy Birthday Gabriola Artworks!

This past Thursday was the midnight birthday bash for Artworks here on Gabriola, 14 years, hard to believe! It was a great time with door prizes, champagne, food and cupcakes. Many items where marked down substantially with some being on sale until the 11th of January and a few straight through the month. We got there around 7:30 and had a nice evening sipping champagne while chatting with friends and shopping. A very elegant way to shop for sure!! Robyn bought a pair of Lindsay Godfrey earrings while I have my eye on a stone heater and may go pick it up today. Thanks to Artworks for being such a fabulous place to be, so many art shows and events you are a rockin' part of this community! Happy Birthday!!!

What a year!

Well the year is winding down and it is time to look back and remember all the days sunny or rainy, happy or sad. The girls are another year older and our oldest will be registered for Kindergarten in the coming months. The younger will be starting pre-school this year and so begins the yearly adventure of another grade, another teacher and so much to learn for both them and us. We added a new member to our family by finally getting a dog! Dexter is a 5 month old Bichon and is greatly loved by all, especially the girls. This year also came with the addition of 15 chickens of which 12 are still around and kicking, 2 of the 3 roosters became dinner this past summer and were quite tasty. Our garden was fantastic with beautiful tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash and beans, we are still eating greens, herbs and squash that we grew this year. Hopefully we will expand the garden next year and try growing new things such as some ancient grains.

I joined the board at People for a Healthy Community and look forward to working with the other amazing board members to give back something to the community that made me who I am today. Dave's business has taken off and Sleepdeprived Computer Tech's have helped keep many people's computers running smoothly. He also has spent a fair amount of his time volunteering with the Gabriola Co-op Radio. Through all of this we still manage sometime for each other and the kids and have really enjoyed the past year watching them grow while laughing at all the goofy things they say and do.

We always tried to keep Real Estate out of this blog but I am breaking the rules just for a moment. Business was slow in the beginning of the year but then took off at an incredible speed, so much for the "Quiet Year" perhaps that is still to come. Okay so know that the rule has been broken I will endeavor never to do it again and keep this an island lifestyle blog.

Thanks so much to all who have made this such a great year we really appreciate all your support.

The McMahon's/Vincent's/Wishinski's

Gingerbread Cottage

Last year we picked up a gingerbread house kit from Costco with everything you need to make a house. The problem was the ingredients were so awful the girls were not allowed to eat it. This year we decided to do one from scratch and it was much easier than I had anticipated. I used the gingerbread recipe from Martha Stewart, recipe here, and then cut out the shapes needed to build it. Once it cooled I made Royal Icing, recipe here, and then we got to building. We cut chocolate layer mints in half for roof shingle and then I let the girls get right into it. Of course every piece of candy we had purchased was used and I am amazed that it has stood up under the weight. The girls are very excited as they have been told they can start eating some on Christmas Day. It was a really fun activity to do on a rainy afternoon.