Special Events

I was actually going to make this post yesterday, but I thought the dogs-locked-in-hot- cars post was more important to get out there, so I put this one off, and now I have MORE to post about anyway so I think it’s worked out for the best!

On Wednesday night we FINALLY made it out to the fireworks. For those of you who don’t know, every summer Vancouver hosts a four-nights-in-two-weeks international fireworks competition.

Since 1990, Vancouver has been home to the Celebration of Light (originally known as the Symphony of Fire). This international pyro-musical fireworks competition has attracted the world’s leading fireworks designers and is seen as a highly prestigious event. The fireworks festival creates an exciting arena where spectators can enjoy each country’s representatives unveil their latest techniques and use the most innovative fireworks materials as they compete to be crowned the winner.

Basically for two Wednesdays and two Saturdays, hundreds of thousands of people pour through our neighborhood to get to the beaches, hooting and screaming and drinking. Since I’ve lived almost exclusively in the West End since I was 17 I’m pretty used to it/over it and don’t generally go to every night of the competition. Symphony really wanted to go though, and since she was too asleep on Saturday I figured we’d go down for the Mexican team’s show on Wednesday.

The usually start around ten pm, so after taking the dogs for one last walk we walked down to Sunset Beach (it’s closer to our house and less crowded than English Bay). It was pretty fun, although for some reason fireworks seem to bring out the existentialist in Sym so I usually spend the whole show answering her weird questions.

omg Fireworks
omg Fireworks
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omg Fireworks
omg Fireworks

Taylor took these using his knee as a tripod so he thinks they came out to blurry but WHATEVER MAN, I still like them. I made the third last one my desktop background.

On Thursday night I really wanted to go to the Fresh Air Cinema
screening of The (Original) Karate Kid at Ceperley Field in Stanley Park. Symphony was going with her dad (Clay) and stepmom (Colleen), so after a whirlwind visit to the gym (go us!) and a quick stop to pick up some poutine (our reward for going to the gym lol) at La Belle Patate Taylor and I went and met them. All the dogs came also. Georgie loves Daniel LaRusso. Also I may have had a crush on him when I was a little kid shh don’t tell.

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It was so fun, I’m kind of bummed it was the last show of the summer! There were tons of people and kids and dogs, some people showed up carrying a COUCH to sit on, people were cheering and hooting and going “WOOooooOOOOOooooo” when Ali and Daniel kiss. We also learned some valuable lessons, like BRING CAMP CHAIRS (or a couch, haha) unless you want to kill yourself sitting awkwardly hunched on the ground for two hours. Two hours and six minutes, actually. I had no idea the movie was so long!

Now the only really mad & sad & feelin’ bad part of the evening: The movie started at 9:40 and since it was two hours (and six minutes) long, Taylor had to leave early to get to work by midnight. He left a half-hour or so before the end of the movie and missed the exciting conclusion (spoiler alert: Daniel-san wins). I stayed and watched the movie with Sym, Clay and Colleen, but I was on my blanket and they were smooshed together on theirs so I was kind of by myself. After the movie was over I walked them to their building (they live on the same street as us, seven blocks west) but then I had to walk up the hill all alone, carrying all our blankets and stuff. I was pretty depressed when I got home. You all know I try not to let this whole opposite schedules thing get to me, but when it spoils a fun evening I can’t help it.

Anyway. It’s Friday- the weekend is starting! Also it’s a long weekend (Monday is a holiday in BC), plus Taylor took Tuesday off as well because he worked on Canada Day, and anyway I’M ON VACATION NEXT WEEK. That’s right, I’m about to have NINE blissful work-free days, six of which I get to spend with my handsome husband! Hooray!!

2 Replies to “Special Events”

  1. I am curious about what breed the larger of the two dogs is. We have a dog we recently adopted from the SPCA and we are trying to figure out what breed(s) she might be. Your larger dog looks similar to her.

    Thanks

    1. Well first of all, congratulations! If your new dog is anything like Dougal you’re really lucky, because he is a GREAT dog! Dougal is a mix of a lot of different breeds: husky, malamute, canadian eskimo dog, greyhound and mayyyyyybe a little bit of wolf. He’s kind of runty and small though- he only weighs about 45 pounds and all those breeds tend to be larger. A lot of people have asked us if he’s part border collie (due to his size and colouration) and while we know he’s not, that could be an option for your girl!

      Hope this helps!

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