ABBAmania @ the Red Robinson Theatre

Those of you that are thinking "how is this exercise?" have obviously not seen Jacqueline dance!
In attendance: Jacqueline, Shannon, Tara, Heather, Connie and Liane, all dressed in the funkiest clothes we could find in our own closets!

As ABBAmania began, we ordered drinks and discovered that ordering 2 at a time saved on line up lags. We booted out 2 older ladies who were sitting at OUR table! And we got up and danced...well, to the dancable songs. As we enjoyed the music, we noticed a gentleman about 2 tables away, waving madly and holding up various numbers on his fingers...some sort of code, perhaps? We decided that Jacqueline should make her way on the dance floor towards this man (we shall call him Vest Boy, although we later learned his name is Chris) and that we would take a picture of the 2 of them, dancing zealously right in front of the stage. Most photos of that night seem to feature someone's elbow, but not only did she dance with Vest Boy, she offered Connie's lighter when his own, seemed to, er, peter out! Connie did manage to save said lighter, thankfully!

Next came Night Fever, a Bee Gees cover band. Little did we know how many songs we would know! We even tried some slow dancing, since our significant others were not there!

Finally, around 10:30, we were booted out of the theatre since it was closing...this presented a problem since several ladies still had full drinks that could only be consumed in the lobby, which was also closing, and offered no convenient indoor connection to the Boulevard Casino! What were they thinking? So everyone goodnaturedly downed their drinks...quickly! As we made our way out into the deluge of rain, Shannon had to "take a moment" as she felt a little verklempt from chugging all that wine. Apparently, "taking a moment" is frowned on by casino security! Who knew? As Heather and I ran for water and paper towels, we arrived back to discover Shannon surrounded by security guards and first aid being forcibly administered to her! This is the first time that I have seen sweet, gentle Shannon, well, belligerent! She hotly replied that she did not need first aid, would not be giving her ID, and was perfectly fine, thank you very much! Of course, this was all captured by Jacqueline and Tara, on camera and phone. Tara, being slightly less sneaky than Jacqueline, was made to delete one of her photos, featuring the nazist security guards. Who knew that gambling was such a serious business? :)

From there we progressed into the Boulevard Casino, where Connie and Shannon played some slots, and we watched Tara play Blackjack like an expert! Then we proceeded to the snack bar (we had burned off a lot of calories dancing, feeling outraged at the guards, and laughing) where we talked until late. Tara rethought her order of nachos when Vest Boy showed up, told her his name was Chris and that she was a "really good dancer"! Nice! Finally, Liane, the designated driver, dropped off the ladies one by one until almost 2 am. Yes, we all suffered for it the next day, realizing we are not 20 years old anymore. Nonetheless, memories were made, and the right to "take a moment" was righteously defended!

Photos to follow, though most of them will be of elbows!

Minnekhada Regional Park

In attendance: Jacqueline, Shannon, Liane, and Jackie (Jacq's cousin - a very nice girl!)

MIA: Tara (lazy - oops, I mean visiting with MIL) and Heather (no child care)

Minnekhada Regional Park in Port Coquitlam was our destination this week. It is rated as an easy hike, but can be a bit challenging in spots for new hikers. This is our third or fourth? time hiking this park. Plenty of wildlife can be seen which is a bonus. Previously we have seen beavers in the marsh, and once a mama and baby bear as we left the parking lot.

This hike was pretty uneventful on the way up - apart from the fun conversation of course!





However, the days are getting shorter and it was definitely dark on our way out of the trail. Thankfully Jacqueline had brought a flashlight which we actually ended up using. I had the heebeejeebee's on the hike down as the darkness settled in. We were hustling to get ourselves out of the woods before the real darkness set in. Then out of nowhere, just to freak us out I'm sure, these tiny little toads started hopping out onto the pathway right in front of us. They were cute, but still creepy. We continued our way down and after we had crossed the marsh (where the beavers live) we entered into the forest once again and a few steps in these gigantor toads were leaping into the pathway in front of us. There were some bloodcurdling screams (I will not admit those came from me...) and much laughter as we high-tailed it out of there!

We made it out alive in the end and all climbed into the car to head to Tara's house for celebratory glasses of wine.

Previous Hikes in Pictures

Here are some photo's from some of our pre-blog hikes. The fun never stops!

Upper Coquitlam River Trail

The FWDW ladies are at it again! This time on the Upper Coquitlam River Trail - 6K round trip dodging mountain bikers most of the way. Our reward was a beautiful water fall at the end of the trail.



We made our way back as it was getting dark - singing most of the way to keep the bears away. Once again Roxy and Ruby proved their worth by being excellent bear repellent, while Jacqueline proved hers by saving the dogs from falling into the black hole in the bottom of the creek with no concern for her own safety! As a thank you, Ruby and Roxy covered her in muddy footprints and thus have marked her as their territory forever more.

Another successful hike which was tons of fun! Stay tuned for more adventures from FWDW...