vancouver

At the beginning of October, us girls and kids took off for a weekend trip to Vancouver.  Thankfully my Aunt offered to drive while my Mom and I entertained the kids (with the help of Cars 1 and lots of snacks).  We stayed in a beautiful hotel, had great weather, visited with Aunty Kaity, ate amazing dinners, shopped, walked the city, went to the Vancouver Aquarium and a Canucks game.  It was perfect!  And we're al still talking about how much fun we had.

Getting ready to depart.  Loading the car turned out to be the most frustrating part of our trip.  Avery's car seat was not cooperating.  At all.  But look at these two happy-campers.  They didn't mind the delay.

Avery slept for all of about 25 minutes (!?) of the 4 1/2 hour trip and Jake made a lot of bathrooms stops but we made it with no other troubles.

The hotel was a huge highlight for the kids.  Elevators to ride.  A room full of floor-to-ceiling- windows to look out of.  Three beds to try and jump on.  And a long, narrow hallway in our room that turned out to be a perfect place to play soccer and to run back-and-forth at full speed.  Jake was literally bouncing off the walls with excitement.  

And when they needed a little fresh air, we just popped outside and to run around in the green-space out front.

Eating out went off without a hitch.  No highchairs?  No kids menu?  No problem.  Jake ordered the sushi both nights and we pulled the stroller up to the table (and brought the bumbo for night number two.  So smart).  Our food was delicious.  Good company also helped and we were so spoiled by Aunty Brenda.

\
The Aquarium was so much fun.  We saw a million different things but some of the big hits were the jellyfish, octopus, starfish, stingrays, belugas and penguins.

And Stanley Park is always so beautiful.  Next time we'll need to devote an entire day to roam the park, it's forested paths, ancient trees and beaches.

Aunty Kaity babysat (and played and played and played) while we did a little shopping.  And funnily enough, Billy was also in Vancouver for a business trip.  Even though he was in a different hotel we were within walking distance, so he met us for a dinner and he and I were able to sneak out and go to the Canuks game.  Such a fun atmosphere and such a treat to sit and watch a game with Billy.  This is only the second time that has ever happened in over eleven years!

Until next time Vancouver.

road trip

A long, long road trip.  Round-trip it was four days in the car, totalling over thirty-hours of driving.  Avery was not impressed but we pressed on.  Naps were missed, meals were skipped, Shrek was watched, snacks were doled out, kids were crying and we watched Canada change from orchards to farmland to mountains to prairies.  

Some noteworthy moments included: hitting 200,000 km on the odometer, driving in complete silence in hopes Avery would fall asleep (it only worked for a couple of minutes), running around in a farmers field to get the kids to stop crying and thirty hours in a car with a three-year-old and no accidents.  

We'll call it a success!  

Because even though the travel was challenging, visiting with Bill's family made it well, well worth it.

summer list

Well, I plum forgot to make a spring list but we jumped in plenty of puddles and planted tomato plants.  That will have to do.  As for summer, here are some things I hope we accomplish...

ONE | swim in the lake

TWO | go to the farmers market

THREE | picnics!

FOUR | go cherry picking

FIVE | fly a kite

SIX | waterpark

SEVEN | gelato at carmelis goat farm

EIGHT | raspberry lemonade smoothie or 

watermelon strawberry lemonade  

NINE | nature walk in rotary park marsh

TEN | birdwatching in maude roxby wetlands

ELEVEN | rent paddle boards 

TWELVE |  blizzards on the city park board-walk

Anything missing on here?

worm hunt

The first thing you must do when you get a fishing rod for your birthday is to go hunting for worms!  A shovel, a bucket, a dad and a grandpa; and you're all set to go.  The worm hunt begins.      

  

Boys, dirt and worms...

Jake carefully placed the worms in the bucket and hopped around the garden with glee.  The worm hunt was a great success.  Watch out fish, here they come... 

winter wine tasting

We decided to go to a couple of wineries last Saturday.  The weather was cool and grey so it was the perfect excuse to get us out.  

Our first stop was Quail's Gate.  The adults tasted while Jake coloured and sipped apple juice.  We came home with 2012 Merlot and a 2012 Rose.  We walked along the edge of the newly pruned vineyard. The sommelier told us that each individual plant will be tended to by hand at least fourteen times during the growing season! 

The we continued up to Mission Hill.  We enjoyed the wine, the view, the bell-tower chiming and Jake sipped on some local sparkling peach juice.  Billy's favourite was the 2009 Compendium but at fifty dollars a bottle we took a pass.  Misson Hill has been awarded Best Canadian Winery twice but funnily enough, I left thinking of that peach juice -- so, so good.        

lately

 This is long overdue...

Read Lullabies for Little Criminals and American Wife over Christmas.  Both so good.

Aunty Brenda took us all out to the energy plex (Pictures ten and twelve) and Jake had the most fun, ever.  So much climbing, bouncing and jumping -- he's still talking about it.

We cannot keep-up with Avery these days!  She has been crawling and crawling and crawling...  perpetual motion with no signs of slowing down.    

 These videos have me thinking Amy Poehler is just the sweetest person ever.  And even though they're basically for teenagers, I'm totally into them.  She's so sincere.  (This one is especially good around the 1:30 mark.  Why didn't I ever realize that?!).

Made this in the slow cooker and it was so good.

And if your toddler picks out neon orange sunglasses at the supermarket, just say YES!   

a few favourites

Stuffed Animal: Cuski

Toys: farm puzzle, building blocks and train set

Activity: sticking stickers, reading, building bridges, playing hockey and playing fetch with Hailey

Food: Boursin on anything, raspberry jam, pears, pistachios, porridge, feta, havarti and croutons

Miscellaneous: The entire cast of Cars, skipping naps, waking-up at six am asking for snacks all-day-long, talking non-stop, and reciting books. 

Stuffed Animal: Nothing specific but any tags she can chew on

Toys: Jake's mini sticks, Jake's mini pucks and Jake's building blocks (hmmm, interesting trend here!)

Activity: rocking on knees, jumping, chewing everything and scooting

Food: oatmeal, bananas and yams

Miscellaneous: Likes naps in the crib; doesn't like bedtime, waking-up at four am to eat, cannot sit still though an entire book, making g sounds and smiling always

I thought I had better get a few of those things down.  About time, really.  I am doing a horrendous job of keeping up with the kids baby books (confession: I haven't even bought Avery's yet...).  And I remember a sweet time when Jake loved to go for walks and smell flowers which goes to show that favourite things are forever evolving (quickly, I might add) and I should stop and record them from time-to-time.