Easter on Gabriola

I spent last night with a group of Gabriola moms carefully using a kistka and hot wax on eggs to make each of my kids a Ukrainian Easter Egg (Pysanky). Lesley Standerwick comes from a Ukrainian background and set up her house as a Psyanky work space, she had laid out all the materials and had jars of beautiful dyes set up for us. This was the first time I had dipped Easter eggs in anything other than food coloring, and I'm excited to be giving these to the kids on Easter- maybe it will be a new family tradition.
I'm now full tilt in the Easter spirit, and getting the kids ready for the free community Easter Egg Hunt. For the past 10 years, Coast Realty (Gabriola) has been organizing and running this event, helping the Easter bunny hide as much as 10,000 sweets in the grass. This year the Rod, Gun & Conservation club will be hosting and organizing the event. It will be held at the Gabriola Commons and will start at 1pm sharp, the big change is that it will be held on SUNDAY instead of Saturday. Hope to see you with your basket full on April 4th !

A great level walk on Gabriola.

The weather seems to be cheering up, giving lots of opportunities to get outside for some fresh air and a chance to burn off some of the winter reservoirs that some of us may be packing around. Some people have injuries, physical limitations or just prefer a relatively flat walking route and the loop from Brickyard around El Verano Road and onto the beach seems to be one of the favorites on Gabriola.

There are some ways to extend this walk as well by adding in the clamshell/stokes roads, you can make it all on the road or incorporate a walk on the sandy beach into your route by going down the boat launch off El Verano (which is easy to spot – it’s one of the few places on the Island that has more than 5 cars on the side of the road).

There is also history here, brickyard beach use to have a substantial industrial role on the Island, producing over 80,000 bricks daily, brick remnants still line the beaches. If you’re in to creating an adventure, there is a geocache site hidden near the Brickyard picnic site – have fun!

Village Foods - shopping made easier

There's been a great new addition to our local grocery store, mini shopping carts!

They're new, shiny and today at lunch there were a number of them being maneuvered around the isles of Village Foods by Gabriola's youth. It's a fun way to get the kids interested in shopping. Let them cut out photos from a flyer, or write down three items on their "list" and let them do the shopping, it's a great way to include them in some of the family chores.

At the end, while you pay the bill (which may include a few items you didn't see on either list), the kids can head over to the cookie jar- where they can exchange a smile for a cookie. Life is sweet.

Spring Break on Gabriola

Spring Break is in full swing on Gabriola this week. There is plenty to do for those that are taking the week to relax or that want to fill it with fun activities. Here’s just a few things that might help make your spring vacation a memorable one for all of the family:
- Have a bonfire
- Go for a beach walk
- Make a fort
- Play at the school
- Camp in your living room
- Go to story time at the Gabriola Library from 3:15-3:45 on Thurs March 11
- Do a day trip to Nanaimo and go bowling, or skating & swimming
- Have a “family movies” night and look through your photo albums
- Attend Artworks $250 show on Thurs night (mar 11) at 7pm
- Geocache
- Play soccer
- Have a potato bag race
If you’re planning your outdoor activities with some sunshine, your best days are likely to be Thursday, Saturday or Sunday. Check the weather network for an updated forecast.