Canada Day Three

From Splendid Eliza

Today we want for a walk at Stanley Park. While we were on the walk we came across these things called Totem Poles. Totem look a bit like Pou. The Totem incorporate animals in theirs. 

This is the Totem you see when you walk in

These are the Totem

This is probably my favourite Totem 

My Brothers (Logan and Jonty) and Me
standing with a very cool one.

From Spectacular Jonty

Today on our walk we saw some black squirrels. We were walking and I found a black squirrel just walking and so we went to have a look. The first one we saw did some poses for the camera, the second one was just on a tree trunk and was eating.

Doing some poses for the camera, going up on his
hind legs

Going to hide his food in his secret stash

RUNNING AWAY! 

Close

Closer

Super close. Super Cute.

We did see some other non black squirrels but we thought that we had enough photos of squirrels.

From Amazing Logan

The berries

unripe and deliciously tasty blackberries

Prick! Everywhere you go you see blackberry plants with delicious tasting berries. Funnily all the berries are back of the plant so it is odd to see berries at the front of the plant.  The reason for fewer ripe berries is because it is berry season and the berries are popular.  Usually when you see the berries at the front part of the plant they are not ripe.  The blackberry plant is very prickly so you have to watch out when you pick them because Jonty got pricked.

From Awesome David

From first arriving in Vancouver, I have been interested in the vehicle origins on the road. I expected to see a lot of American made cars, so I've been a little surprised by the actual results. The kids and I have done several random samples of 10 vehicles, in differing locations around the city and at different times. 

There has been little variance among the samples; with an average of half the vehicles being Asian (Japanese or Korean) models, three from every ten being American models, and the remaining twenty percent being European models.

The exception to this rule seems to be the fact that 100% of public service vehicles are American, be they ambulances, fire engines, tow trucks, or buses.

Another surprise has been the driving. Being a foreigner, I was expecting to be the cause of much confusion on the road. I haven't been (except for sitting at a red light, when supposedly I can take a free right turn at any time). Driving on the highway at rush hour, there is a fair amount of unexpected craziness and poorly planned lane changing. Perhaps it's this bad in Auckland too, but I'm just more familiar with the driving. Having to concentrate more on my driving actions may make me more aware of others' driving.