Bike Ride to Granville Island

Boat houses at Granville Island

It's already Wednesday and so easy to get behind with updates. Busy weekend with Nicky here. Time flies by and my head spins. Got my taxes done on Saturday...a chore that I am glad to have out of the way. It rained all day, so we stayed in and around home. Bronwyn at her friend's birthday party, Nicky on a play date, River on his own (as usual) playing "Plants vs. Zombies" on his ipad. I need to work harder to provide him with play dates. (What does autism look like? For one thing, it looks like a 7 year old boy who has never been asked for a play date!) He does have a friend to play with, but I need to initiate these play dates, and I need to do more. I perpetually feel like I am failing him. I suspect I am always going to feel that way. But on to Sunday....

Jeronimo!

On Sunday the weather was good and so we decided to bike down to Granville Island. It was a good ride. No complaining from the kids as they sped along. Even River kept up...legs spinning a mile a minute. We tried out the new bike path along Point Grey Rd (an expensive conversion to enable rich people to get out of their driveways). It was weird to ride along there without traffic.

Nicky attempting the bigger jumps

We stopped off at the Jump Park underneath the Burrard St. bridge. Some of the park is for skilled riders...but there is a little slopping part to the side and Bronwyn and River thought they were Evil Kievel (I guess that shows my age!) as they went up and down the slopes - slowly and carefully. "Whoa" yelled River..."Jeronimo!" Nicky is more proficient and can attempt the bigger hills and jumps. He tried a couple and then slipped and got a little injured. But he got back on and tried again.

Glass blowing at Granville Island

There are enough of us to make a 'crowd'

Water taxi parking lot

Had fun at Granville Island; playgrounds, ice-cream, market (avoiding 'killer seagulls'). We stopped off to watch a guy blowing glass in his studio; kids were fascinated as he put the glass into the bright orange furnace and manipulated the shape. We speculated on what it could be...a vase, we decided. The police had quardened off a section of road near the market; a "police incident". Bronwyn and Nicky were morbidly fascinated when they learned that someone had died and endlessly speculated on what could have happened. We found out later that someone had jumped from the Granville Bridge and onto the concrete below...a shocking scene that I am glad we did not see. If we'd been half an hour earlier, we may not have been so lucky. I didn't mention this to the kids. Bronwyn is morbid enough as it is.

Motley crew...we told them to look serious...really!