Movie night at the Library

It's movie night tonight (Wed, Oct. 16) at the Gabriola branch of the Vancouver Island Library,  in the Folklife Village.  They will be playing ET at 6pm, get out the kleenex and pull up a seat.

Adventure Racing!

Here we are at the finish line of our first MOMAR!



 

My neighbour, Vanessa, and I have spent a fair amount of time in the trails on Gabriola training for various athletic events.  First on our list was the Ride to Conquer Cancer, after that we thought we'd try a triathlon which we completed at Shawnigan Lake this spring with our friend Julie.  After training through the summer, we headed up to Cumberland to complete our first MOMAR (Mind over mountain adventure race), alongside over 450 racers.  We signed up for the sport course, a 30km trek that included kayaking, running and mountain biking, all while trying to map read to ensure we didn't miss a checkpoint and that we were headed in the right direction.  It was a gorgeous day, at 9:05 we received our map so we could start planning our route, at 10:30 we were in our kayak waiting for the countdown to begin, what seemed to be an hour later we were back on land ready to start our trail run.   The run had lots of elevation (I mean a lot) and eventually led us back to town to start the mountain bike trek, this was about the hardest hill I have ever done (actually, I think it was called a mountain) and had everyone hiking their bikes for at least a portion of the gruelling uphill grind. After a few more checkpoints we were back running again to find the next checkpoint, all the while trying to get a chance to take a glimpse of the gorgeous scenery around us.  For the last leg of our adventure we were back on the mountain bikes, wow there are a lot of good riders out there and a lot of bridges, ramps, and teeter-totters in those trails.  After 5:34 we crossed the line with smiles on our faces, and still remaining "Island View Besties".  Of course, we'll be signing up again, with husbands in tow and hopefully a few more islanders on the course. 

Gertie- Gabriola's community bus.

We were lucky enough to have been near the bus stop last week when Gertie (Gabriola’s Environmentally Responsible Transport for Islanders Express) pulled up and was en route to the ferry.  The kids and I hopped on and took our first ride in Gabriola's community bus.  It's a great service, we currently have 2 buses running on the Island, friendly volunteer drivers on board, the bus is equipped with bike racks, it's comfortable and clean and a great way to get around Gabriola.  If you'd like a copy of the current schedule and for more information, visit A COMMUNITY BUS FOR GABRIOLA 
ISLAND

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.

Gabriola Elementary School @ Track & Field

I took the morning off work on Wednesday to join the kids from the Gabriola Elementary School that qualified for the Zone Track & Field meet in Nanaimo, there were 57 from our school.  It was intense, fun and great to see kids in action.  I do have to say my favourite part was seeing how much these kids care for each other, there were a few kids that had minor injuries, when they did they were surrounded with kids from all grades ensuring that they were getting treatment and offering supportive encouragement, it made me so proud to be with them.  I think the community on Gabriola is doing a pretty good job raising these kids!
(the photo is of my daughter Bianca, she finished 3rd in the 1500 and is headed to the Districts)

Extreme Science at VIU

I was lucky to be one of the parent volunteers that got to go with the Gabriola Elementary grade 2/3 class to the Extreme Science show at VIU today.  It was loud, colourful and had all the kids (& adults) in the audience engaged.  It was a great way to promote the value of science to a young audience.  To start the scientists came out in lab coats armed with marshmallow guns, they later shot darts at a moving target, there was an explosion that sent ping pong balls around the auditorium, lightning, some rain clouds, and so much more.  I can't wait for the next field trip form to come around.

Art Supplies - just a great little shop nearby!

I've recently signed myself up for an online art course, with a catchy title like the "Mermaid Circus", I couldn't miss out.  Teesha Moore is one of the fabulous and talented teachers, she was also the organizer of ARTFEST, the best little art retreat in Port Townsend.  Over the weekend I had to order my supplies online as I just could find them locally, something I do with a cringe as I much prefer to support local business.  This week I heard about the House of INDIGO in downtown Nanaimo (near the Royal Bank), it not only has some great gently used clothing, the temptation starts outside of the door, but it has a great selection of quality art supplies.   Yesterday I found the time to make a 5 min trip into the store.  The store is well stocked with Golden products (including fluid & open paints,medium & texture products), journals and water-colour paper as well as pens, watercolours, beads, feathers & endless supplies.  The prices for the Golden products are better than I've found elsewhere on Vancouver Island, it's locally owned and close to the Gabriola ferry, how lucky !  If your looking for some supplies that she doesn't have, just let her know as she's willing to bring in more products.