Terra Nova Rural Park and Playground.

The family had a chance to visit Terra Nova Rural Park in Richmond on Saturday. It's been touted as a million dollar playground, Roger and Tracey had to check it out for themselves. It is actually a very nice park with structures not all that common in Vancouver. Many of the playgrounds around town have similar apparatus, with swings, slides, climbing equipment, and etc., but the one at Terra Nova has a different feel incorporating a lot of natural timber into the park. The weather was pretty perfect, they'd even tell you it was hot at times, but with the wind blowing off the water it was definitely comfortable. Here are some pictures from their visit.

Papa and etc...

Yes, as you can see from the title I'm sad to report that Papa is still in the hospital. The good news is that he is much better, the pneumonia has cleared and his leg is much better too. The last thing that remains is that the wound on his leg is still bleeding, last report shows that the wound has almost closed though. Today we got some devastating news that will ultimately affect Papa's return home, he's been confirmed to have a superbug. Even visitors will have to gown-up to see him. Which also means that the kids can't go any longer. Interestingly enough, he's always had this superbug, it's basically a fungus in his lungs that is resistant to any anti-biotic. We'll have to see what happens in the coming days. :(

In other news, it has been a rather eventful period with respect to health. Tracey has a full-blown cold and is coughing up a storm. On Friday, Melody got a bout of food poisoning and threw up at the hospital whilst visiting Papa. Since then she really hasn't eaten much, even at Auntie Shannon's Karaoke birthday party on the weekend. She's been quite sensitive about things these days. Roger and Tracey have been dealing with her feelings of sadness and perhaps some residual effects from watching the movie Frozen. There seems to be some anxiety related with separation all of a sudden. We can only hypothesize that her feelings stem from the story, the circumstance of Anna and Elsa, whose parents were killed at sea. Suffice to say, she doesn't want us to leave her anywhere or be out of sight, especially Tracey. A lot of "Mommy, Mommy, mommy".... these days.

Reflecting back on the winter Olympics in Sochi, we're so proud of our Canadian athletes. They did fantastic this year netting 25 medals in total, 10 of those being gold. Canada finished 3rd overall! Roger went over to Chris and Jennine's house for the 4 am men's hockey game final. Although bleary eyed and sleep deprived, it was a great effort. In the evening, the family went down to Jack Poole Plaza and dinner out to Dunn's to see the Olympic flame. Too bad, Melody wasn't feeling well, here's a shot that Roger managed to get of Malcolm. Below are some other pictures from the past week, including some from Taisho's skating party.
  Shannon's birthday party: Taisho's birthday party last Friday: