It’s currently Spring Break in Vancouver for most school-goers and even though it’s grey and blustery there are still many activities around town that are fun for the entire family.

Vancouver Aquarium A staple of Vancouver attractions and education, the Vancouver Aquarium has events and performances planned each day this week including appearances by Bobs and Lolo, a Sea Otter Talk, Birds of Prey in Flightthe dolphin show and Once Upon a Tide presentation. You can view the entire schedule for the week here.

Stanley Park Farmyard and Train The farmyard in Stanley Park along with the minature railway will open this week and welcome a new addition of three alpacas. They are open 11:00am until 4:00pm but it is weather permitting.

May I also recommend a trek through some of the trails including the Merilees trail high above the Sea Wall between Prospect Point and Siwash Rock, or a stroll around Beaver Lake.

Bear Creek Park Train The miniature railway in Bear Creek Park is open year-round. During special events like Christmas or Halloween this is a penny-saving option in comparison, but otherwise the prices are similar to Stanley Park. I’m not sure if they have any specials for Spring Break but they are gearing up for the special Easter Train coming up in April. Find out more from BCTrains.

Surrey Arts Centre Not only is it a community gallery and a performance venue, they are also running a Spring Break Theatre Day Camp all week.

Science World For more indoor options, Science World is always a favourite as well and this week’s theme is Colour Chromatic. They have workshops and interactive displays such as Colour Your Whirl, Light Fantastic (featuring a light-based remix of a Van Gogh work), Leland Faulkner’s World of Wonder, aRHYTHMetic Book Launch, Pantomime Robots and more.

Rogers Play Dome Eat cotton candy, ride the Zipper and the Ferris Wheel, and play some Whack-a-Mole inside BC Place at the midway.

Photo credit: sinsiwinsi on Flickr

Museum of Anthropology Probably one of my favourite places in the region, the Museum of Anthropology follows everything from the history of man to modern-day cultural art. Their current feature exhibit is Samoan Tattooing and Global Culture and once you’re done inside, take a walk around the grounds and Pacific Spirit Park.

Fort Langley The Fort has programs year-round but you can stop by to explore and learn about the birthplace of our Province as we know it during Spring Break at the Fort.

Top Things to do in Surrey Back in 2007 I profiled some of the top activities in Surrey and some are still relevant including a day trip to Redwood Park (I also listed it as one of my top things to do on a Sunday when I was profiled in The Province newspaper), visiting the lovely Surrey Museum in Cloverdale, going on a nature walk at the Serpentine Fen, and stopping by the Historic Stewart Farm.

Day Tripping I’d like to pull from my Day Tripping series and offer up the following suggestions and even though some time will need to be spent in a vehicle to arrive at most of these destinations, the drive time is less than an hour for each: The Othello Tunnels (near Hope, BC), Chuckanut Drive (just south of the border), Hell’s Gate (take the airtram across the Fraser Canyon), Gibsons (just a quick hop across the ferry to Langdale, stop by Molly’s Reach).

In town you can even stop by the Avalon Dairy, or Maplewood Farm in North Vancouver (currently featuring a milking demonstration, and potbellied pig feedings).

If you need any more ideas check out my Park Series as well, which includes contributed entries from guest authors along with entirely inexpensive yet fun and nature-filled options for a great day out (such as Lynn Headwaters, Burnaby Lake Park, and Blackie Spit).

Update from the Comments Gary has suggested the Vancouver Police Museum which reminds me of Shannon LaBelle, a museum blogger who gave a talk at Interesting Vancouver last summer. She runs The City Diorama which is filled with events and activities year-round.

Being a blogger and social media consultant (along with a WordPress coder… but enough about the day job), my talks at speaking engagements usually evolve around blogger outreach, building your brand, and blogger relations however one of my own most powerful tools for not only me but my site, is Twitter.

Back in October of 2008 I wrote a post on my company’s blog that was a general overview of Twitter for Business. Now, months later, after giving a talk at the IABC‘s luncheon speaker series, I have been able to expand on several of those points and also step back to give a basic look at this tool that is far more than the latest buzz word.

Two of the applications I mentioned during my live presentation that will make your life a whole lot easier:

• HootSuite – for multiple account management and scheduling updates (read my post Dec 2008)
• TweetDeck – manage your account, follow trending topics, have a list of your top people to follow/filter your stream (read my post from Oct 2008)

I have put my slides up on Viddler and I also recorded some audio that you can find over my the sixty4media blog. Today’s event was very encouraging, there were many questions about tools, tips and even things like privacy, so I hope that this can be a conversation starter for business communicators. Should you have any questions, I’ll be answering them via the comments here or on the sixty4media blog.

Over the next two weeks I’ll be featuring a series of posts about the Juno Awards as they will be hosted in Vancouver on March 28th. My series will feature the awards themselves (from my view in the press box), satellite events, the street festival, and even the people involved in the process, such as the Uptown Gift Box Company.

On Friday March 27th at the shiny new UBC Thunderbird Arena, NHL alumni will hit the ice and take on Canadian musicians in the Juno Cup.

Juno Cup is an ever-growing popular event among fans that mixes music with sport, matching NHL alumni with top artists and entertainers in support of MusiCounts, Canada’s music education charity, associated with CARAS. Juno Cup has helped raise more than $700,000 for MusiCounts and music programs across Canada.

Canuck fan favourites such as Cliff Ronning, Dave Babych, Garth Butcher and Gino Odjick will take on the likes of Barney Bentall, Craig Northey, Sarah McLachlan, Aaron Pritchett and Captain Scotty from the CFOX morning show (just to name a few).

Tickets are $14.99 and available online, the puck drops at 7:30pm.

Tonight I’ll be at GM Place to liveblog the Canucks game. We’ll have photos, video, commentary and a live chat up on the Fan Zone section of Canucks.com, and we’ll also be following the conversation on Twitter, using the hashtag #Canucks.

Chris Zimmerman, President and CEO of the Canucks stops by the live blog

On that section of the site, you may also notice a new video player which will live stream tonight’s game versus the Colorado Avalanche.

Along with today being the 250th consecutive sell-out for the Canucks, it is also the Canucks for Kids Fund Telethon, benefiting Canuck Place Childrens Hospice. You can donate online or by calling (604) 777-CARE (2273).

The puck drops at 7:00pm Pacific time and you can watch the action on Sportsnet or follow along with Team 1040 radio.

Comedians, Peter Kelamis & Jamie Hutchinson

Update: Wow, the crowd is electric tonight and the game hasn’t even begun! We’ll be live blogging and chatting on the Canucks Fan Zone page alongside the live video stream. So many people are stopping by our kiosk (including Karl Dawson and his family) it’s really exciting.

Looking back, it seems the last time I wrote about CelticFest was in 2007 so I’m not sure what happened in 2008 but it may have involved a kilt and several pints of Guinness.

The official kick off to this multi-day event was on Wednesday but there’s more in store this weekend including the parade on Sunday, March 15th @ 11:30am downtown.

There will also be free entertainment on the Market Stage from 10:00am on Sunday, and the Celtic Village at the art gallery which will be filled with entertainment (including fun for the kiddies) on throughout both Saturday and Sunday.

Download Parade Map (pdf)

Street closures: 8:30 am and 2:00 pm – Alberni St from Cardero to Jervis, Broughton St from Robson to W. Georgia, Nicola St from Robson to W. Georgia. 10:00 am – 2:00 pm – Howe St from W. Georgia to Nelson 10:00 am – 2:00 pm – Parade Route, West Georgia from Broughton to Howe St. There will also be rerouting of buses.