Hi y'all :) This week we're coming to you from the USA: Thursday 04.04.13: Brr it's cold today, rainy & very overcast - a great day for a project! When we first bought Toby, Ed told us that the shower didn't work - the drain just needs replacing/fixing. Benny had made it his mission to fix it ASAP so we could go dry camping & be fully self sufficient. And so that was to be today's project while I made a start on last week's blog. He was going great guns till midday when he worked out he didn't have a paintbrush to do the fibreglassing. Since the shops are only across the bridge we decided to brave the drizzle & head over to Home Depot. After we were done we stopped off at the food court for some Japanese stirfry and then back home again where Benny got straight back into it & I procrastinated finishing off the blog. I think it's an art to stretch a few hours writing into a whole afternoon's work haha. It was pretty damn cold inside so we sussed out the furnace & it worked an absolute treat - soon Toby was toasty & warm. Spaghetti bolognaise for dinner & then it was an early night for us. It was really nice to hear the rain on the roof as we were drifting off to sleep :) Friday 05.04.13: I think the nice weather has gone for a while, this rain seems to be sticking around. Today was a big nothing day, it was really cold & miserable so we spent the day inside again - Benny surfing the net & me reading. Thankfully the smell of the shower fibreglass has gone today making it much nicer inside! With the weather being cold I've been drinking so much tea & coffee - reminds me of our Berg winters Jen - 6 or so cups of tea per day ha :) Mostly everyone here drinks plunger or brewed coffee & I've been pleasantly surprised to finds it's all been pretty good - yay! The downside is that I cannot find a good instant coffee for when I'm feeling lazy & want a quick caffeine fix. I've only seen Nescafé and Maxwell House & both are on the same taste level as International Roast... I don't think anyone really drinks instant over here coz after trying those I went out & bought a coffee plunger quick-smart! Mum I might have to get you to bring a jar of moccona over when you come :) Saturday 06.04.13: A big happy birthday shout-out to Karen - hope you have a great one! :) xx Today it was again cold & rainy all morning so we didn't even go out till lunchtime. I'm stoked coz we tried the oven earlier & it works so I have to buy some baking stuff! I'm so making muffins & cakes!! :) We caught the bus out to Capilano Mall & headed to Walmart again - we're on the hunt for some pushbikes this time. They didn't have to one that Ben wanted so we grabbed some lunch, wandered the mall & came home again. By the time we were done shopping the day had cleared up a bit & it was sunny but still cool. Sunday 07.04.13: Yet again another rainy, cold & miserable day so we stayed in reading etc. I'm missing the sunshine a bit... Ben did some research & found a Walmart superstore over the border in Bellingham, US (90km away) that had bikes in stock. Since we're still waiting on my drivers licence and our SIN cards to come in the mail & for our camera to be repaired we figured we might head down there tomorrow to kill a few days. I can't wait till we have all of our stuff and don't have to just hang around anymore - we can hit the road! Continuing in the lazy day theme we got takeout for dinner from White Spot next door - Benny had the teriyaki chicken stirfry & I had the bourbon BBQ ribs - yum. Monday 08.04.13: Happy birthday Saz. Hope you enjoy your first birthday with Brooke & that Chris spoils you - never know he may have another can of 'floral bouquet' up his sleeve hehe :) xxx We packed up & checked out of Capilano River RV Park this morning & hit the road. There wasn't too much traffic so it took us about an hour to get to Peace Arch border crossing. We had all of our documentation out ready so we joined the queue with everyone else & waited.... It only took about half an hour to get through the lineup of cars & it really didn't feel that long. Once we were at the booth the US border guy asked us a few questions, scanned our passports & within 5 minutes we were on our way again. Easy peasy. I thought it was going to be more in depth than that considering that when you fly in they take your fingerprints & eye scan etc... Once we hit Bellingham we headed straight over to Walmart and off for a big day of shopping. Ben says I should stop mentioning Walmart on the blog because people will think that's all we're doing haha but I'm telling it like it is (we have been there a fair bit). This Walmart is a superstore so it's huge & has everything.... Except Ben's bike lol... They won't have it in stock for another 2 weeks so no bikes for us, but we found plenty of other goodies to buy. I can't believe I forgot 2 things about shopping in America: 1: how cheap everything is & 2: that you can buy booze anywhere. Benny was stoked coz he found his beer from Hawaii super cheap. And the Molson he's been drinking (canadian beer) is half the price here than in Canada - go figure right. We had lunch at Macca's since it was right there & I rediscovered iced tea - so refreshing & yum, I love it - there's so much to love about the States! Again we didn't really see any Walmartians, BUT Benny did make a special friend. We were standing in an aisle when a lady came up to Ben & says 'hey its 99, nuuuumber 99, olllld 99 eh' etc (99 was on his jumper) and proceeded to have a big old chat with him about sports, where she's from, her friends she's made over the years & smoking dope... She sure was a happy lady, it was about 10mins before we got away & it was an interesting encounter to say the least haha. I'll post a pic of Bens infamous 99 jumper, it gets everyone talking to him. When we were in Vancouver there are quite a few homeless people wandering downtown - they're harmless & sometimes talking to themselves. So this one day we stopped walking for something & a homeless guy was coming up the street muttering to himself. Then he spots Ben & starts with 'hey it's 99, I see you, the old 99 hey' and laughing to himself. I didn't catch all of what he was saying but Benny sure caught his eye haha, so funny... As we came out of Walmart the day had cleared up & it was a bit sunny & warm which was sooo nice to see some sunshine :) In the time we'd been shopping 3 or 4 other RV's had pulled in & were setting up for the night. We weren't camping at Walmart tonight (although Ben is still dead keen to give it a go) so we headed over to Bellingham RV Park. We were just winging it & didn't have a reservation, so it was lucky we arrived when we did as they were closing. The guy in the office saw us pull in & was nice enough to open up again & give us a site for 2 nights. Once we were settled we jumped onto Walmart's website & ordered our bikes - in a weird twist the Bellingham store was now showing Bens bike in stock so we'll be able to pick them both up tomorrow. Happy days :) Tuesday 09.04.13: Haha what a saga... There was obviously a glitch in the Walmart system last night coz when I got up this morning Ben tells me our order was cancelled & refunded as his bike isn't really here in Bellingham. But it's all good, tomorrow we're off on a roadtrip to Puyallup where he's ordered them from the Walmart down there. Haha this bike better be good :) I've never heard of Puyallup & I don't know how to pronounce it but I know it's about 2.5hrs drive south from here (126mi/202km), past Seattle. Today has a bit of a nothing day again. It's pretty cool and overcast so I pulled out my brand new mini vacuum I bought yesterday & had a crack at it. Its no dyson but its too bad for a $20 job and it got Toby clean so thats a win in my book! After lunch we headed out for a walk to the servo down the road & ran into another lady staying here. She was super nice & we ended up chatting to her for a good 10-15mins about places to visit etc. I though Canadians were meant to be friendly but we were at the last RV park for a week & no-one spoke to us, yet we've only been here for 24hrs and had a chat with several people. Everyone complains about americans being rude & obnoxious - maybe we're just lucky but I've always found them friendly. At the last park we'd smile or wave as people went past & I only ever had one lady wave back, everyone else pretty much pretended they didn't see you... Here everyone goes out of their way to wave or say hello. We were sitting inside earlier & a couple walked past, saw us through the window & gave us a big old wave! :) I spose it depends where you go hey. I can't wait till it warms up & we can sit outside a bit more, it's a lot more social for meeting people. On another note, today we got an email that our camera is fixed & ready to pick up so that's a bonus. Benny is a very happy camper indeed :) I don't have any new lingo this week, as you can see we haven't really been up to much so I haven't heard any new words.... Been feeling a bit nostalgic and missing home a little bit this week - wish we could be there for our loved ones going through rough times at the moment. We love you all xxxx