Adventures on the West Coast - Vancouver

Tom and I embarked on our first holiday as a family of four. Lacey is now 2.5 years old, and Scarlett is approaching 2.5 months. The first challenge was packing. Previously Tom and I would share a suitcase, and Lacey would get her own (large) suitcase. This time, I mashed Lacey and Scarlett's belongings into one suitcase. I was actually amazed by how compact I managed to pack their bag!

Expertly packed luggage.

The next big step was getting all of our stuff in the car, and to the airport. Honestly, we only had two more items (another car seat, and a small bag) more than what we travelled with, with Lacey alone. But we also had a second child to navigate through the airport with. Luckily everyone we encountered at the airport was both understanding and helpful as we hauled our load, and herded our family along.

We arrived in Vancouver with one major toddler meltdown (which in retrospect-- was totally our fault), and got everyone to bed in our hotel.

The next morning, we started visiting! We spent the majority of our time in Vancouver with Tom's aunt and uncle. The weather was beautiful, sunny and warm, and we were able to enjoy their back yard, take Lacey to the park, and get out and about in the city a little.

Scarlett and Lamby enjoying family visiting.

We visited the Bloedel Conservatory in Queen Elizabeth Park. The conservatory is a refuge for some large birds-- various parrots and other breeds. Lacey enjoyed seeing all the colourful plumage. The conservatory is perched at the top of a hill, and offers some beautiful views of downtown Vancouver. Lacey was not interested in the views, she entertained herself by going up and down a set of stairs several dozen times. 

Vancouver skyline.

We had hoped to take Lacey blueberry picking, but we never managed to find the time to get out to a field. Lacey loved picking raspberries of her grandparent's bushes earlier in the summer, so we thought she'd enjoy picking blueberries (which she loves to eat more than raspberries). But we figured we'll be back another year, and she'll love it even more when she's a bit older.

We rounded out our Vancouver visit with dinner at Tom's cousin's house. They have a beautiful 100+ year old home in Vancouver, and Lacey enjoyed jumping on their trampoline, and starting a band with yours truly-- which included a bright yellow ukulele, and some sort of bongo drum. Lacey was the entertainment for the night, marching around singing and dancing, and bossing people around.

Lacey and Mommy band.

Our next stop... Victoria!

West Coast Weekend

I don't have a lot of holidays planned this summer, and I can hardly believe that it is already mid-July. It seems like the winter and spring flew by, and suddenly the summer is half gone already too!

My first mini-trip of the summer was to Vancouver for Tom's grandma's joint birthday party. Tom's grandma, Ethel, is turning 94 in August. Her older sister, Auntie V is turning 97. Her youngest sister, Marg, will be 82, and Uncle Walter is turning an undetermined age in September (somewhere between 82 and 94). Yes-- this family has some amazing longevity.

Auntie V, Ethel and Uncle Walter.

We celebrated their birthdays at the River Rock Casino by stuffing ours to the point of uncomfortableness at the buffet brunch. There was everything you could imagine. Omelet, corn dogs, cabbage rolls, steamed pork buns, perogies, soft serve ice cream... You name it, they had it. I feel bloated just thinking about it.

And just when we couldn't possibly imagine eating any more food... We cut the cake!

Birthday cake. Blerg.

Following the ritual birthday stuffing, Andrew, Ashley, Tom and I decided we would attempt the Grouse Grind on Grouse Mountain. The Grouse Grind is a 2.9km trail up the face of Grouse Mountain that covers approximately 2800ft of elevation gain. This is the equivalent of about 2830 stairs, and takes the average hiker between 1.5-2 hours to complete.

It was smokin' hot in Vancouver on the weekend. And as we changed out of our fancy birthday clothes in the parking lot, the asphalt felt steamy, and waves of heat could be seen coming off it. But thankfully, the trail itself was not too bad. It was under tree cover and was relatively cool-- at least compared to the soaring temperatures in the parking lot.

Grouse Grind Trail (basically, straight up).

Considering our full bellies, we made pretty good time-- arriving at the top in under an hour and a half. I couldn't believe how busy the trail was!

I also couldn't believe how unprepared some people were for the trail. Dresses, jeans, open toes shoes! I cringe to think of it!

The Greig's at the top of the Grind.

Much to my surprise, the view from the top of Grouse Mountain is beautiful! It seems silly to be surprised, but the last time I was up Grouse Mountain it was wet and rainy, and there was fog and clouds as far as the eye could see. During that first visit, I didn't even realize what a view of the city we could have had. 

View from the top of Grouse Mountain.

 Downhill travel on the Grouse Grind is prohibited, so we forked up our $10 a piece to take the gondola back to the base.

Then we headed to Tom and Andrew's cousin's house so we could stuff ourselves with chicken wings and homemade lasagna. As you can tell, the theme of this weekend was eating.

On our last day in Vancouver, Monday, we decided to enjoy the sun by heading out to Lynn Canyon for some swimming.

Having experienced the joys of squat toilets in China, I couldn't help but laugh when I saw this sign in the Lynn Canyon washroom:

No squatting on the flush toilets!

While squat toilets were bizarre for me in Asia, flush toilets are apparently equally confounding to foreign tourists visiting Canada. I guess there are so many tourists who try to use flush toilets as squat toilets (how does that even work!?), they had to post signs!

 If any of you have been to Lynn Canyon before, then you know that the water is cold. COLD. C-O-L-D.

I've never been good at swimming in cold water. My mom used to make me wear a t-shirt over my swimsuit when I was in swimming lessons because my lips would turn purple from the cold water. It probably took me 15-20 minutes to ease myself into the water in Lynn Canyon. And even then, the water was so intensely cold, it made my wrists throb and ache-- like what I imagine carpal tunnel syndrome feels like!

Boulders in Lynn Canyon.

Waders in Lynn Canyon.

Andrew, Ashley and Tom were brave enough to swim up the canyon to check out the waterfall, but I stayed behind and watched some of the cliff jumpers working up the nerve to jump into the plunge pools.

The Greig's at Lynn Canyon.

In the late afternoon, we headed to the airport so we could catch our flights home. Overall, Vancouver and Richmond treated us well.

Mount Baker.

As we left Vancouver, we had a great view of Mount Baker from the airplane. We will be hiking in the North Cascades National Park in mid-August, and I fully expect that there will be more exceptional view of Mount Baker before the summer is done.

Visiting Vancouver

This weekend, Tom and I caught a flight out to Vancouver to do some visiting. Tom's brother, Andrew, moved out to Burnaby in April to do a 12-14 month field rotation at his company's pipeline terminal. We stayed with Andrew at his condo near SFU and did some sightseeing. We arrived late on Thursday, and decided to start fresh on Friday afternoon.

First we took the gondola up Grouse Mountain. The weather wasn't exactly cooperating, so it rained continuously while we were on the mountain.

Grouse Mountain Gondola Tower.

View off the mountain.

Andrew texting Ashley, while taking in the rainy view.

Grouse Mountain resident, "Grinder" the grizzly bear.

We had sushi for dinner, and let me tell you, it was DELICIOUS! Salmon sashimi was fantastic! And it was so cheap compared to at home! The three of us ate until we were completely full, and it was only $55!!

On Saturday I made a batch of blueberry lemon muffins to fuel us for the day. Then we drove down to Gastown to meet up with Heather for lunch. A jazz festival was going on outside the restaurant, so we were able to hear some live music while we ate and caught up on the latest gossip.

Later in the afternoon the clouds cleared up and we headed into Stanley Park. We walked down to the beach and came across a family of geese. This dumbass kid (pictured below) kept trying to sneak up on the geese. I'm not exactly sure what his ultimate goal was (maybe to touch the goslings?), but he got close enough that on two occasions the geese hissed at him in warning. He really didn't seem to be taking the hint, and I secretly hoped that one of the geese would peck at him.

A family of geese harassed by a dumb child.

Geese with their three goslings.

We also saw a sea otter during our walk through Stanley Park. Prior to that, I had only seen otters at the zoo!

After Stanley Park we headed to Granville Island for a seafood dinner at the Sandbar Restaurant. Tom and Andrew had salmon, and I had scallops. We also stopped at a swanky Gelato restaurant for some dessert.

Our final stop on Sunday was at Tom and Andrew's aunt and uncle's house in Richmond. Tom's Uncle Bob BBQ'd up some burgers, and despite a large amount of smoke, managed to keep his small BBQ fire contained. Their Aunt Corinne also made one mean strawberry rhubarb crips! We also visited with Tom's great aunt Marg, and his cousin (once removed) Lorraine.

Me and Peanut enjoying the backyard patio.

Peanut, circa 2008.

I had a very pleasant romp in the backyard with Peanut, a pug/mini Pincher mix. He's pretty much the silliest looking dog I've ever seen, but very sweet. He has long spindly legs and sometimes his jowls don't quite cover all his teeth, so you can see his underbite. I think if Peanut were in a children's movie where dogs talked, he would have a mobster-style accent.

And after a very satisfying weekend, we jetted back to Calgary. Thanks for hosting us, Andrew! Your condo is great!

Now it's only a three day work-week until the Canada Day long weekend.

Woo-hooooo!