Live Life Now – Golf Anyone?

Golf is an easy game right? I mean how hard could it be – swinging a stick and hitting a tiny little ball into a hole. Well I’ve been golfing for well over 35 years and quite frankly, I still suck! No worries because I love the outdoors, I love the laughter with friends, and most importantly, I really love consistently shooting in the mid 90’s. I also get so pumped up when I occasionally shoot over 100. I can remember many times telling my so-called better golfer friends that 100 is a great score because the more shots, the more value you get and the cost of the round goes way down! 

I’ve never done more praying in my life than on a Golf course – a peaceful way to get away and talk to God on every single hole – O God, Why God, Oh No God, Help me God, Please God, if you just let me sink this putt God, etc, etc. It’s a place that you can obviously be one with the universe LOL.

Having Fun, Making Memories, Living Life to the Fullest! Where does the game of Golf fit in here for me? All 3 of them for sure, although I kinda would love to ERASE many of the rounds from my memory. I’m just kidding of course, as every time you are doing something you love, then you are Living Life to the Fullest! What does Living Life to the Fullest mean to you? It really is all about discovering what turns you on in life and getting out there and doing it. For me, Golf is way up there on my list of beautiful things to do and I’m passionate about finding people to do it with. Of course, I’m not too excited to play with all these hotshots, but as in this picture here, I am interested in playing Golf with a 3-year old – I might even win this time!

This is a great shot of little Rianne, my great friend Ricky and Anne’s daughter who is also excited to take a lesson. This was the shot of the day, as she is a little upset at my friend Paul Nijar and is saying, “Paul, could you please stop tweeting, come over here and teach me what you promised right now!”

So now you know Golf is a great game and a heck of alot of fun. Having said that, it’s finally donned on me after all these years that why not take a Golf lesson or 20 and find someone who has the patience, the passion, and the love for the game who will show you all the things you are doing wrong and help to make them right!

Enter my new and awesome friend Rahim Gulam, who put it out there to me, our friends and the YVR Bloggers that he is a great Golf Coach, and he was right! We had a great day of learning and fun and the one on one individual attention that everyone deserves. And I discovered that if you Love Golf as much as I do, you should actually take a lesson!

Rahim Gulam is a PGTAA Golf Teaching Professional ( Professional Golf Teachers Association of America) and teaches out of two facilities, one in Richmond at an outdoor facility and one in Port Moody in an indoor facility. 

Great Day, Great Friends, Great Kids, Great Lessons; what could be better than that! This is a shot of me, Balraj and Paul. In Golf, it is always important to have a pre-shot Selfie Routine which is always a crucial and important part of the pre-game routine – right coach Rahim?

This day was honestly a treat and a half starting off with hanging out with my buddies and for the first time ever, rocking a golf lesson with my great friends.

**If you would like to know more about the game of Golf; if you are a newbie with a not so graceful swing like me that worries on every shot that you might hit someone on the head even if they are beside you; if you are a seasoned golfer that simply needs a slight tweak to your swing, then my greatest suggestion is to search out someone like Rahim, or better yet, search for Rahim!

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A Cool Video of the experience from my new friends Sheeba and Shaheed..

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Passionate about helping others discover a purposeful life filled with Grateful Happiness, Robin encourages others to Make Memories and Live Life to the Fullest! He enjoys Spreading Joy, Loving Life, and Making a Difference!

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Monster Fun at Monster Jam..

Why do you love Monster Trucks? That was my awesome question for two kids who were sitting in front of me while my friend and I were setting up our camera’s for some EPIC Monster Truck shots! His answer: “They’re big, so cool and they go fast. I want to be a Monster Truck Driver!” Well to be honest, even at my slightly older age, I’m even thinking about being a Monster Truck Driver. I do remember my Mom always saying I was a Monster, so maybe she knew something! But seriously folks, that did happen, those kids were jumping for joy all night, and this experience was exactly why I enjoy being a part of and supporting any event that can inspire people to a happier life.

My passion has always been to Make a Difference, Have Fun and Live Life to the Fullest, so it absolutely makes sense to support and throw some Love to those who are doing the same. Recently I had the opportunity to once again be part of Monster Jam Vancouver and understand why this is such a popular attraction for kids and adults of all ages. Monster Jam was a heck of an experience and wasn’t just about loud noises, huge trucks, big crashes, crazy flips, demolition cars, etc; It was about massive fun and adventure for the entire family. It was amazing to see so many people rocking out to a great show while capturing wicked images with my photographer Justin on the day. We captured some great ones as you can see.

I can easily sit here, post a few pictures, write some great content about all the crazy flips, jumps, turns and downright ridiculous high flying moves, and YUP I sure will, but what really excites me is finding out about how something or someone is making a big difference in the lives of others. In this case, talking about what Monster Trucks means to the little ones. There were literally thousands of young kids smiling, screaming, of course covering their ears, and jumping up and down upon seeing their favorite stars shining brightly in the air, mostly upside down, at BC Place stadium.

In fact, here’s one of many great stories of what the Monster Truck team did to support others, and how they are doing their part to make a difference for their fans all over the world.

Just a short while ago, The Maple Leaf Monster Jam team partnered with the Starlight Children’s Foundation to bring Big Trucks and Big Dreams to the Desa Family. Little Jayden Desa received a special Monster Jam bedroom makeover from his favorite Monster Jam drivers.

CLICK HERE to read this awesome story

For those of you who do not know what Monster Jam is all about, it is one of the most popular touring family entertainment sporting events in the world reaching more than 135 cities around the globe and over 350 performances per year. Monster Jam is a high flying, car crushing, explosive event of demolition, speed, power and unbelievable stunts with the world’s best Monster Trucks and drivers whose skills are an awesome spectacle of “rock-and roar” that will bring fans to their feet cheering for more! 

Now that should be enough to get you out there with your family to check them out! I promise you will not be disappointed by all this amazing fun, craziness and adventure. You can always find out more about Monster Jam by clicking here.

Speaking of Crazy stuff, here’s a few pictures from my photographer who was there with me who just happened to capture the very best moments of the night! Cars exploding, trucks flipping over, fire all over the place, kids and adults screaming. What could be better than that!

Here are our favorite, coolest and craziest pictures of the night!

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Passionate about helping others discover a purposeful life filled with Grateful Happiness, Robin encourages others to Make Memories and Live Life to the Fullest! He enjoys Spreading Joy, Loving Life, and Making a Difference!

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Having Fun – Wild Play, Wild Day

Our adventure to Wild Play can be summed up in one word.. FUN!

I’m a challenge junkie who loves to find and create adventures everywhere. My motto is to Have Fun, Make Memories and Enjoy Life to the Fullest, so Wild Play was the perfect stop to make those things happen. What a great surprise we were all in for, and to be completely honest, much better than I expected, except for the part where I embarrassed myself and pooped my pants somewhere between tree 10 and tree 50. That’s a long story LOL.

Wild Play is an adventure park located in Maple Ridge and is well worth the visit for the young and young at heart! As a group of friends and Bloggers, 20 of us gathered to experience something many of us had never tried before. It was pretty cool standing around with so many people saying, “Really, we’re going up there!”

After a quick hello and short training on how to be safe, we were off to the Kiddie section to prove to our guide that we could manage being thousands of feet in the air. Speaking of guides, the entire staff under the direction of Wendy Mein did an amazing job of making sure we all had a great time. For me, although my fellow bloggers still do not believe me, I intentionally messed up every Grip and Rip test just to show them what not to do! Although a great strategy so I thought, having to go to the very end of the line for re-training was not fun, however I did finally pass the test and was off into the trees with my fellow monkeys.

The coolest part of this crazy Monkey see Monkey do adventure was that it was set up like an obstacle course, never with the same challenge, and constantly getting higher and higher up into the trees. Each challenge became harder as well and were great learning experiences. I also really enjoyed seeing all the park guides watching us to make sure we were all hanging in there. Many great pictures were taken, so enjoy a couple of them below. At the end of the day, we all made it out alive and well – yay!

As a group, we leaped, we clung to trees, we stepped to the edge and jumped! An awesome experience to say the least. Sometimes in life, you just have to “Go for it” and step over the edge into the unknown, and that’s what we did, and by the responses afterwards, I could tell that some pretty awesome memories were made that day.

If you are reading this, do yourself and your family a favor and visit the Wild Play website for more information and to book your own amazing adventure. It will be a very worthwhile experience!

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Passionate about helping others discover a purposeful life filled with Grateful Happiness, Robin encourages others to Make Memories and Live Life to the Fullest! He enjoys Spreading Joy, Loving Life, and Making a Difference!

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Adventure – Roller Derby Rocks!

As always, I love to Have Fun, Make Memories and Live Life to the Fullest! And because of this, I tend to stumble across experiences and opportunities that enlighten me to a world that offers so many unique and exciting adventures. Roller Derby, who knew this would fire me up, not just to tell you about it, but also to strap on a pair a skates, and  give this thing a try.

It was a great day at the Cloverdale Arena in BC. I was invited to attend by my friend Justin from JR Media Group to see, hear and experience Roller Derby for the first time in my life! It was fun, awesome, exhilarating as I found myself often yelling, “Hit her, knock her down” and so many other phrases of kindness LOL. The Anarchy Angels invited us to the event to see what we thought, and in a word, 3 words actually, “we loved it!” Not only was it fun and exciting, but the team did amazing in the tournament, with my highlight being a final brawling and exciting match against the #2 team in Canada and #18 in the world, the “Terminal City Roller Girls.” The Anarchy Angels were awesome and not only held their own, but also had the crowd rockin the whole time, and although they lost the match, they can certainly hold their heads up high big time!

Yeah, when I was in high school, I did watch roller derby on TV and always thought I would be a great Jammer. A Jammer is the one who is pretty much like the Rugby player with the ball who’s job is to break through the pack and score as many points as you can. There are many video’s on the rules, so check them out! I did visualize being a champion in this sport, so now having seen what these gals do and what this sport can offer, there seems to be plenty of opportunity to get involved.

This picture on the right is me with Sgt. Skittles who simply says, “Get your butts out here and try this sport.”

 I must admit, I was a little disappointed when I walked in that the track did not have banks and railings where you could push someone over the edge and they would fly into the crowd, but I quickly got over it when I saw all the gals coming in and getting ready for action. Everything from the warming up, to the mock scrimmages around the fast track, to the cheers, and to the songs and anthems were just great! Speaking of the track, solid concrete. I found that out as I saw a couple of the gals come crashing down on their butts – ouch!

Apparently, Roller Derby is a quickly rising sport all around the world, in fact, one gal I was talking with mentioned that they are trying to get Roller Derby into the Olympics. That would be killer! All in all, I was very impressed by the team, the comraderie amongst everyone, the friendliness of all the competitors and also for me, the kindness of those who were able to teach me a few things about the game. I even had the chance to ask a few stupid questions too like, “Why can’t you elbow someone in the face?”

All in all, an amazing introduction to this sport which I enjoy and will check out much more; I hope they see me coming and give me that nudge to strap on some skates and join them in kicking some butt as well LOL.

To learn more about Roller Derby in the Vancouver area, click here:

 

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Passionate about helping others discover a purposeful life filled with Grateful Happiness, Robin encourages others to Make Memories and Live Life to the Fullest! He enjoys Spreading Joy, Loving Life, and Making a Difference!

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Hot Hot Hot, just like Big Splash Water Park!

In addition to Making a Difference and Changing the World, I love Having Fun, Making Memories and Living Life to the Fullest. Having Balance is such a key ingredient to a happy life, so whenever you get a chance, create that by doing things that make you smile and enjoy life!

This week I was fortunate to be able to visit Splashdown Park (now called, “Big Splash Water Park”) for an adventure of a lifetime with some amazing friends and fellow Bloggers. The weather has been amazing and HOT in Vancouver this summer and I can’t think of anything better than water, water and more water! Big Splash Water Park proved to be one of my favorite highlights of the summer, not only because of the 13 crazy, exciting and amazing slides, but also because of the warmth and hospitality of the entire staff. They did a great job hosting our epic adventure.

I actually do remember visiting Big Splash Water Park about 12 years ag0 with a couple friends, but this day was extremely special because there were over 80 of us who had the time of our lives! I think I was scared and cried back then, but can’t exactly recall that experience; I just know that it was a blast and one of the highlights of that summer!

The layout of this place is amazing. They have many different picnic areas, tents for groups, a volleyball and basketball recreation area, a great refreshment and ice-cream parlor, and so much more! We started the day with 85 of our YVR Blogger group, mostly awesome kids with waterwings saying, “Can I go into the water now!”As a group, we all spent about 4 hours frolicking in the water and connecting with old and new friends.

This is a place I highly recommend for a day full of fun, friendships and relaxation. Speaking of recommendations, when you have a ton of moms telling you that you need to wear sunscreen, just listen to them ok and don’t do the Lobster routine that I’m still currently experiencing. I remember telling a few of them that “this Chinese Newfie don’t burn” – I was Wong!

You can learn so much more about Big Splash Water Park by clicking here to visit their website:

Yes this day was amazing, which started with an opening meet and greet with Harold Fredericks, the awesome manager of Splashdown Park. He was around all day to say hello and inspire us with his recommendations. We all scattered as soon as we heard “GO” and as I said above, the rest of the day was about fun, connecting and having the time of our lives. Check this cool Short Video I produced to share some of my favorite highlights, but just for the record, I do want you all to know that I did not “Pee in the Pool”

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Passionate about helping others discover a purposeful life filled with Grateful Happiness, Robin encourages others to Make Memories and Live Life to the Fullest! He enjoys Spreading Joy, Loving Life, and Making a Difference!

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Great Adventure, Bard on the Beach

It’s important to Have Fun, Make Memories and Live Life to the Fullest. A bunch of us did just that and more and had a great experience and another Memory that will last a lifetime! Life is so precious and when you have an opportunity to get together, to experience life together and to simply just create your own adventure, then don’t hesitate!

It’s been years since I attended a show at Bard on the Beach, but what an opportunity a few of us YVR Bloggers had the other night! This is the 25th year of the Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival and what an amazing lineup of shows to check out! This place was packed and the show, well let’s just say I’ve never been to a show where everyone was so happy giggling, laughing and having such a good time from beginning to end.

Midsummer Night’s Dream was in a word “fantastic!!” It was literally one of the funniest things I had seen in a long time, since the day I dropped my car keys down the hole in an outhouse one summer (a shitty story perhaps to be told or written into a Shakespeare play).

I’m really happy that most of us watched a video or read about the plot first because as I looked around the room, there were many people that had that, “what just happened, what did she say or duh” look on their faces. I could tell they finally got it, but I’m sure they are at home right now saying, “Can you explain that to me again.”

For me though and the rest of our crew, we were in stitches the whole night. As a group of friends and bloggers, it’s very cool to re-hash the great BC adventures that we have been on and share great things with our readers.

I was also blown away by the costumes and the amazing acting skills by everyone in the cast. I highly recommend checking this show out, and of course every single Bard on the Beach event. Get more info. about Bard and all other event information at:
Bard on the Beach

Here’s a Brief from their website:

Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival was established in 1990 with a mandate to provide Vancouver residents and tourists with affordable, accessible Shakespearean productions of the finest quality. A fully professional, not-for-profit theatre company, Bard on the Beach now engages thirty actors each season as well as a team of exceptional directors, designers, and technicians; it is also supported by more than 200 volunteers. The productions consistently receive both critical and audience acclaim and repeatedly play to sold out houses.

And as a bonus, what a pleasure meeting Christopher Gaze, Artistic Director and Founder of Bard on the Beach. His story of love and persistence for his dream was nothing short of an inspiration to us all.

 

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Passionate about helping others discover a purposeful life filled with Grateful Happiness, Robin encourages others to Make Memories and Live Life to the Fullest! He enjoys Spreading Joy, Loving Life, and Making a Difference!

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Having Fun, Making Memories, Dinotown

This was a very cool experience; so cool in fact, I decided to Rock a video that I must say is pretty awesome and captures the essence of the fun we all had that day at Dinotown Funland.

Dinotown is located in beautiful Cultus Lake and is surrounded by the most awesome and pristine mountains. Across the street from the Cultus Lake Waterslides, Dinotown is a must attend for you and all your youngsters. 

As soon as we walked through the gate, we were greeted by such a friendly staff, some crazy roaring dinosaurs, and an amazing array of things to do – a big shout out to everyone who made our adventure FUN and one to remember.

**Unfortunately, Dinotown recently sold its property and does not exist anymore, but provided years and years of enjoyment and great memories for all.. thank you Dinotown.

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Enjoy this video and check out the friendly dinosaurs of Dinotown..

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Passionate about helping others discover a purposeful life filled with Grateful Happiness, Robin encourages others to Make Memories and Live Life to the Fullest! He enjoys Spreading Joy, Loving Life, and Making a Difference!

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