We flew to Vancouver at 5pm on Friday March 25th. We were all so excited to see our BC Chosen Family. Our flight was delayed slightly because they had to de-ice the wings, so once we got up and towards the West we were ever so excited to see GREEN and flowers! Not Dusty dirty gravely snow covered roads..... landing safely the first face we saw was the beaming smile of Scott on the other end to pick us up.
The weather was beautiful, I could feel my skin instantly re-hydrating. My hands had been so dry from the endless Calgary winter that I had an awful crack on the bend on my finger :(
We got to Scott & Dee's and were so pleased to have our own room with COMFY bed and Quinn had his very own room to. Great use of space guys! Scott used to have a home office in their sun room, and now they have a Comfy queen size bed in this beautiful space.
Alex & Heather came over and we headed out for a late night Thai feast. Quinn was SUCH a good boy! It was 8pm our time when we headed out and he was so well behaved. He didn't want to eat and we didn't force him, so we let him have Mango ice cream for dinner :)
Saturday, March 26
Dee was about a week into a 40 day Yoga challenge. This was awesome because I was able to join her. My first session was free as I was a guest, then I got a super sweet deal - 8 classes for $25. Stellar! So I bought the pass. The studio Dee prefers is at Granville Island behind the Emily Carr studios. It has white walls, large wood beams, and two walls of windows over looking False Creek.
We had nummy wraps for dinner from a local eatery then Lawrence headed out to meet up with some old friends.
Alex & Heather came over. This night was 'earth hour' night. Where everyone is supposed to turn their electricity off for 1 hour. We turned everything off except the music, and Dee lit a bunch of candles. Quinn absolutely loved this! It was a unique experience for him :)
Funny thing is, after Quinn was in bed, and Earth hour was over - we never did turn any lights and for the whole night visited in candle light.
Lair came home and we were all still up and hanging out. I decided to let Lair stay up and went to bed to catch some sleep before little man woke...
Sunday, March 27
Candles still burning, People still visiting, Quinn woke and crawled into bed with me and watched a movie. His getting up was the sign for the others to go to bed ;-)
Q & I had a lovely quiet morning, playing Mario Cart and Carcassone. By mid afternoon the sleepy heads arose and began epic preparations for a fantastic Potluck. Mike & Amber joined us - so nice to see them!! Amber is looking fabulous! And I can't begin to describe how comforting Mikes smile is.
The food was excellent, the company was terrific ~ the night was a true success.
Monday, March 28
We were going to head to the Aquarium, but got a late start to the day and decided to head to Granville Island instead. With wondered around, grabbed a snack, went to the Kids place, let Quinn run around in a play center for an hour. Went back to DVS and Dee & I headed back to Granville Island for Yoga. We came home to a Taco feast.
Tuesday, march 29
Hooray, Aquarium day! We got there good an early, but man was it ever busy! It was Spring Break after all! It was good. Had to slow Quinn down to stop and actually look! I always enjoy the aquarium :) The Seahorses are my favorite!
Afterward we drove through Stanley Park and went on the Train. It meant a lot to me because I told Quinn to Stanley Park lots when he was 1 - 2 yrs old and I always took him on the train. I had to ask Lair to get off Facebook and enjoy the scenery....
Dee & I went to Yoga, Quinn hung out with Uncle Scott, and Lair went over to Alex & Heather to play Arkham Horror with them and Amber & Mike. Dee made an awesome pasta dish with Sausage & Broccoli. She picked up the fresh ingredients and meat from Granville Island Market.
Wednesday, March 30
Ben made his way from Burnaby to visit us! We went for a nice long walk to a place called iSushi. On the way we passed a large construction site and were able to stop and watch a big digger do some work. Quinn was thrilled!
After our glutenous meal (Lair & I WAY too much tempura), we wandered by a few school parks for Quinn to swing and blow off steam.
Again, this night we went to Yoga, and for dinner, we ended up going for Crapes! Myself, Dee and Quinn had Dessert crapes for dinner. MMMmmmm MMMmm MMMmmmmm.
Thursday, March 31
It was another nice day and Dee took us to Lynn Canyon. The drive was quite nice. It's just a little past Capilano suspension bridge, only difference is it's FREE! The bridge itself is shorter but taller than Capilano bridge, regardless it was so very beautiful and we all really enjoyed our little walk through the rain forest. We took a path to see 'Twin Falls'. This was another breathtaking spectacle of nature. I enjoyed how on one side of the bridge, it was beautiful, misty, stunning, then 1 meter, the other side it was roaring loud! Incredible force of water rushing belong. Some of our pathways had washed away in mud and rain but we pushed through and had fun.
As we were walking through the gorgeous beautiful wonderful magical Forest, the canopy of tree high above kept the path shaded. Then we came to a little clearing with a bench... and a Sunbeam! It was a little pocket of awesome. So we stopped for a granola bar and drink of water.
That evening Lair went out again, Scott had to work late, and we missed Yoga :( Dee made a great stir fry and we just chilled for the evening. I wished Lair didn't go out as I would have like to go on a little date with him, just dinner and a walk. Oh well, guess we can do that here! Just need a sitter.
Friday, April 1
We woke up to a rainy day.... I woke up feeling a little house bound and grumpy.
We played Carcassone with Dee. Lair & I took Quinn Bowling! A very retro, lost in time bowling alley. We played two games and had a lot of fun. It was just what the doctor ordered!
Afterwards we drove down to false creek and went for a walk with Quinn along the water. We went out on a Boat launch and a dock. Quinn threw sticks and stones into the water and went into the water with his rubber boots. It was actually quite miserable, rainy and cold! But we made the best of it.
This evening, Lair & I planned to go on a date to the Boathouse on Kitsilano Beach. We had a sunset reservation. A few hours before, Alex called to ask what we were doing for dinner. They were totally up for joining us! Laine was in town too, so we ended up going for a feast. I didn't look at Prices, just ordered what I wanted. Including sharing 2 bottles of wine with Laine! ha ha! That was awesome. Saucy!!
Afterwards we went to Alex & Heathers for a quick drink, then Heather drove us to Organix.
It was really awesome to walk in there. I've always enjoyed the space. The artwork was fresh, the people were open and I danced danced danced danced non stop for about 3.5 hours. It was a FULL ON none stop assault of aggressive, near psy-core music, which is not my thing BTW, but I enjoyed the night regardless. One thing I found amusing, was my take on some of the clubbers. There was a big Spanish presence, which is cool; but a lot of these guys were dressed like 'yo-yo-mo-fo gansters'.... Yet they were all totally into the night, lost in the music, big smiles and sociable.... I dub them 'Spanish Psy Gansters' LOL
I finally came off the dance floor at 2:20am... We decided to leave and grab a cab before the whole club came out looking for a cab. We very VERY lucky and it only took about 5 minutes. A quick ride home and I melted into the super comfy bed.....
Saturday, April 2
Quinn woke up at 9.... I got up and hung with him for a big; he got settled into a game of Mario cart so I went back to bed!!!!
Alex & Heather picked up Quinn around noon for an afternoon adventure to the Science Centre.
This gave us a nice afternoon to be Quinnless with Scott & Dee. We went for brunch to a great little hole in the wall called 'Abbygails Party'. It was quite delicious. Afterwards we went for a walk to Kits beach, 4th, window shopped, checked out some shops ~ the weather was gorgeous! The sun was shining, a light breeze, it was PERFECT Spring weather. We made our way up to Commercial Drive where Alex & Heather own a condo. I LOVE COMMERCIAL DRIVE! It was incredible! Reminded us of Toronto. Blocks and blocks and blocks of Diverse crazy little shops, eateries and coffee shops as far as the eye could see! Hippies and artsy peeps. The amount of ETHNIC eateries was insane. Nom Nom Nom I could spend a lot of time and eat alot of calories down there. AWESOME! Love it! We have nothing like this in Calgary at all. It's what 17th ave wants to be, or Inglewood or Kensington; But Calgary just doesn't have the infrastructure to ever house anything as awesome as Commercial Drive....
I tell you, If we had been introduced to this place 10 years ago, I bet we'd would have picked up and moved back then..... Oh well, can't dwell on the shoulda-coulda-woulda's!
So after our awesome long Commercial Drive wonder we made our way back to Alex & Heathers where they were preparing a Feast. The meal was marvelous, company stellar. After dinner we took Abby for a walk and made our way to a Gelato shop. On our way back we stopped by a school field so both Abby and Quinn could literally RUN OFF some steam. Man Quinn has a lot of energy. At one point Scott asked Q if he could run around the whole field. And off he went! He was cutting corners but still did an impressive job of running and when he made his way back to us was not even panting! Then Alex got in on it - and I will admit, I was impressed with his ability to run the field on a full stomach! LOL He was panting upon return LOL
Back at the condo, Quinn found a violin. Don't quote me on this, but I believe Heather told Alex the man she would Love would play the Violin - so he went and bought one! Such a romantic. He doesn't have a pitch fork so I tried to tune it by ear.... I didn't do a very good job, but did manage to scratch out a bit of a tune! I haven't picked up a fiddle since 2003.... and in doing so, this has inspired me to find a cheap Fiddle to buy as mine is toast and beyond repair. So my personal goal for this year is to acquire a cheap fiddle ($200? if possible), so I can practice again. It does bring me great enjoyment.
Quinn also found 2 of Alex's OLD typewriters. One I believe is a true Antique, but it is broken. The other, a very old, but nice typewriter does work., So Alex showed Quinn what the typewriter did, then typed Quinn's Spring Break Story. It turned into an hour long process and Quinn now has a legal sheet of paper with his Spring Break 2011 story typed. Once this was done, it was near 11pm, we all headed back to DVS to tuck in Quinn and have a final late night visit before we said our goodbyes... :(
Sunday, April 3
We got up around 10, packed and left for our 2pm flight (which was not a direct flight); We had a quick touch down in Kelowna (30 minutes on the ground) then home sweet home.
We went to Karma for some fine Indian food, then came home and tucked Quinn in bed.
Final thoughts. Quinn's sleep schedule was way off, but was totally worth it as we all had so much fun. He is still trying his best a staying dry at night and he only had a few accidents. I got to enjoy a few glasses of wine almost every day ~ Lawrence is not a wine drinker, so it was so nice to share a glass (or more) with the Vanderlee's. We can't thank the Vanderlee's enough for letting us stay with them for 9 nights! Our family needed a family vacation and were so happy to spend it with our Chosen family in BC.
