CycleArt:Downtown Nanaimo

On Sunday June 9th some fantastic organizers from the Nanaimo Design Nerds and a graphic artist team from Awarewolf Creative organized "Cycleart".  It was great, we met up at Maffeo Sutton waterfront park and painted a mural, decorated our bikes and pedalled through downtown on a scavenger hunt to the downtown businesses and ended at the Nanaimo Art Gallery.  We had a great day at this family event and we're now keen to plan a neighbourhood bike parade on Gabriola. To top it off we won some fantastic prizes (thank you New York Style Pizza & Cayo Fashions) and a huge thanks to all those that made this event happen.

Thumbs up to HOLLY TREE DENTAL

We've taken our children to Holly Tree Dental in Nanaimo, about a 10 minute walk from the Gabriola ferry and I must say that I have been very pleased with their service.  They are great with the kids, have an inviting lobby and they are creative !  One of my children had the habit of being a thumb sucker at night and at the last check up they let her know that it would soon cause her some long term damage, they then showed her a "gold thumb trophy" that she would receive if she could make it 30 days without popping that thumb in her mouth.  It's now been 30 days since that appointment and we went in today to have her thumb cast so that they could make her trophy- trust me we had tried a lot of techniques to get her to stop.  I also like the phone calls they make the day before the appointment, reminding clients of their appointments, how long the appointment should take and how much it will cost.    They get two thumbs up from us!

We Live on an Island...

It's pretty evident that someone likes boating! I know this isn't the best photo, but I just had to take it and share with you. The creativity that went into creating this is freeing and it really has to put a smile on your face when your driving, to see such a creation. On the side of the "vehicle" are tire fenders, there are planters off the porch in the back and of course every ship needs a mermaid.


Just one of the joys of living on an Island! (this was from the big island, Nanaimo)

Daytrip to Newcastle Island

The Gabriola Elementary School Kindergarten and Grade 1 students headed over to Newcastle Island Marine Provincial Park for one of their year end events. The ferry to Newcastle Island leaves from Maffeo Sutton Park, near the sea wall in Downtown Nanaimo. During the summer the ferry leaves regularly between 9am and 9pm. Newcastle Island is a 10 minute ferry ride from Nanaimo, and is a beautiful park with great walking trails, camp sites, a dance hall, camp store, concession, biking and no cars.
The students went to Brownie Bay where a marine biologist met with them, had them set up a net in the eel grass and discussed the marine life they found in the net. It was a great day trip from Gabriola and all within walking distance to the Gabriola Ferry, a memorable event for the kids and a great day for the parents that were able to attend.

Festival of Trees

On Saturday night we loaded up the car and took the kids over to the Vancouver Island Univeristy in Nanaimo (a 5 minute drive from the Gabriola Ferry) for the Festival of Trees. We made a stop for a bowl of soup at a friend’s house and then a group of us headed up. There were some amazing trees, from traditional to contemporary, my daughters favourite was a pink tree with lots of silver feathers. After admiring the decorations and gingerbread houses, we ended the night with “sleepy time”, a nice collection of Christmas stories read as we sat in a circle amongst the decorated trees.
The festival runs until Nov 29 2009, for more information visit : Festival Of Trees .
(submitted by:Tina Lynch)