Grandpa's 85th - Little Qualicom Cheese Works

Thursday

Thursday was a rainy day, but we made the best of it. We decided to check out a small cheese factory that wasn’t too far away.

It was fascinating and I am impressed by how they have turned it into a bit of a show. It was cool to see how they made the cheese, but I wish they would show us more of the operation.

The best part of the visit was the milk dispenser. They have a sign posted showing what the milk fat is for the day and the milk that we bought was 3.9% fat. It was delicious.

The whole time we’ve been driving around we keep seeing "Piper’s Cove" on the map. We had time, so Justin and I figured we had to see it.

It was a beautiful cove, but it is was interesting to see how it completely empties out during low tide. I didn’t get a decent picture of the cove, so I pulled these two pictures off the internet.

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33% of elephants in Mozambiques Gorongoas Park are being born without tusks. In some areas it is as high as 50%. Historically, only 3% of elephants were born without tusks. Evolution is in action to protect them from ivory hunters.

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Grandpa's 85th - Cathedral Grove

Wednesday

Wednesday we all met at the Shaw house for breakfast and then we left grandpa behind and Carol took us to the Cathedral Grove. First, we went to visit Doug’s grave.

After some time, we bid Doug farewell and headed on to the grove.

The Cathedral Grove is amazing. All the trees are huge, but some are spectacular.

It was a short walk of only a mile or two, but it felt like a sacred place.

At one point we came to a river and a tree had fallen over the river. 

We spent most of our time there playing on the banks of the river.

This is the tallest tree in the grove

When we were done at the grove we headed to a Parksville a park in north Nanaimo. But on the way we stopped at the “Goats on Roof” store. It is nothing more than a glorified convenience store but the fact that they have goats on the roof of their store makes it quite unique. 

Their donuts and ice cream also make it worth the stop.

The park was quite amazing. Some of us headed straight to the beach but others of us hung out in the playground playing with the kids. 

They had a cool zip line that was made safe for little kids, and they had these swings with two seats, one for an adult and one for a child.

Eventually most of us made it out to the beach. For those of us who were used to San Diego beaches it was surprising at how fast and how high the tide came in. It was a fourteen-foot tide and our typical tide is maybe five feet.

The coolest part were the sand dollars. There were hundreds of them and most of them alive.

We searched through them all until we found a few dead ones that we could take home.

We played around in the water until we were all ready to head back to the house. It was an amazing playground right on the beach. They should do this with La Jolla Shores.

Back at the house we just relaxed for a few hours, played games, ate dinner and called it a day.

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Every single kernal in a cob of corn has a tube attached to it. It extends from the top of the cob and we see it as "corn silk". If a strand doesn't get fertilized by wind blown pollen, then that kernal of corn won't develop.

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Grandpa's 85th - The Big Day

Tuesday

Tuesday was the big day; it was the day we celebrated Grandpa’s eighty fifth birthday.

Lori, Jim, Zoe & her boyfriend, Kelly and her husband, Lynn, and Doug’s son Noah all arrived on the morning Ferry. I was assigned to hamburger duty, but Jim came and helped me. It was good visiting with him.

We all sat around the back yard eating and visiting. There were some games out and we played with those a bit but mostly we sat in the shade and enjoyed each other’s company.

We did this until late in the afternoon when those people on the Ferry had to go catch their ride home. 

We helped Nana clean up and put the food away and then we all headed to “Trollers Fish and Chips”.

Not only is the food just amazing, but the atmosphere of sitting on a dock out on the water is also amazing.

After we had cleaned up all the food, Sarah and Sam and their little kids headed back to their hotel room and the rest of us went for a stroll along the boardwalk. 

It was a beautiful evening.

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By 2030, Korean women are projected to become the first population in human history 

with an average life expectancy above 90 years.

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Grandpa's 85th - Butchart Gardens

Monday, June 29

Monday was Butchart Garden Day. We didn’t originally have it on the schedule because it was a total of over three hours of driving and would take an entire day but almost every child wanted to go see it. It really is worth it if you haven’t been there before. I have been there before, and it was still worth it.

Alycia flew into Victoria Monday morning, so we had a relaxed morning, ate breakfast at the Shaw house and then headed south.

One car went and picked up Alycia and the other car headed straight to the Gardens. We met up and ate lunch in the parking lot.

Robert Butchart owned and operated a limestone quarry on this site to manufacture cement. When the quarry was exhausted, his wife took over the big hole in the ground and turned it into this beautiful garden.

There isn’t much to talk about so I will just share some pictures with a few random comments.

They had this little corner that was filled with flowers. Mom insisted that we go into it and it turned out to be an amazing backdrop for pictures. Each of us got our pictures taken here.

Sadly, Mom and I didn’t get a picture together.

It was a long day.

But the day wasn’t over. We drove straight to Montana’s. Montana’s is a BBQ and steak restaurant, and we were there to celebrate Nana’s 80^th birthday. Grandpa’s birthday isn’t until July 29 and Carols birthday isn’t until October, but this was the week that worked out for most of the kids, so we celebrated them now.

Justin and his boys met us there and Sarah and Sam came a little bit later and we were finally all together in Nanaimo. Lisa and I shared a meal, and it was delicious.

From Montana’s we all went to the Shaw house, visited until late and then we all went back to our various beds.

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Africa is the only world region where fertility remains above the replacement level.

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