Vancation - Thursday, August 2nd

Good Bye Vancouver!

A long, blurry day. Up early to wait for delayed departure. The flight crew got in very late the night before and they have a mandated amount of rest before flying again. So we wait. At there very least, we get to thoroughly explore the playscape I eyeballed over the railing on the way in. So handy.

In Dallas, we have another long wait for a delayed plane. We strike up a conversation with folks we saw napping in Vancouver this morning - they are headed to Austin after all. They have a lovely little girl and she and Jasper have fun playing. They look vaguely familiar. Don't they? Or do they just look like cool Austin people in the sea of travelers?

It is not until I'm at the bookstore 2 days later till in dawns on me who this family is. As my fingers slide towards the new Jasper Fforde book my eyes fall on:



This book has been popping up in my consciousness lately and I decide to look at it yet again. I'm pretty sure this guy was on my swim team way back when. And I flip it over and see the author on the back. Yup. That's the guy from the airport. Small world ya'll.

Vancation - Wednesday August 1st

Our last sunny day.

Initially, we had plans to check out of our place today and check in to the lovely swank hotel whose escalator deposits you at the departure counter of the airport. It looks most elegant from down at the bottom. The restaurant is top notch. We have an early flight tomorrow and it makes sense to be there instead of hurrying from farther away. And I’ve always wanted to stay there.

Until. A) Our host informed us that his next guest wasn’t coming until Friday so we could stay an extra night if we needed to. B) I asked Smith how much that lovely and oh so convenient room was going to cost… $350. Whew! That’s almost 4 whole nights at our current place. So we’re gonna wake up 30 minutes earlier tomorrow and spend our today leisurely packing and doing something nice rather than moving our stuff from point A to point B.

We went to the beach. We went early enough today that the tide was out – waaaaaaaay out. Tides are around 9 feet here. At this beach, one could stroll out onto the sand bar a good couple of football fields before hitting the waves. It’s also a popular spot with the “skimmers” as I call them. They have the super thin flat boards that they run and jump onto at the water’s edge and skim across the top of the water. We also discovered that sandbar quickly gives way not to more sand but muck. Bondafide muck. The consistency of pudding. At first the boys were hesitant at the ground shifting and moving around their feet. Then, after a little getting to know you period, there was the expected mudslinging and rolling around in the muck. Matted to hair. Inside of ears. Inside of suits. You get the idea. I did not emerge unscathed.

Vancation - Tuesday July 31st

Another gift of a day.

We vow that on our next trip up here we will plan for some days of camping. We had wanted to go camping on Salt Spring Island – to the same place we camped over 4 years ago. We were going to rent our tents and stuff too, but at the end of the day, we really weren’t prepared for it. So. A day trip it is.

Our round of Ferry roulette [arrive at one of the two ferry terminals and leave on the next ferry, wherever it goes] delivers us to the Sunshine Coast. N was very pleased to see how all the cars get on to the boat. I don’t think he expected it to be so big.

We drive for a bit next to beaches and trees that remind us a little of northern California. Smith and I remembered a park with a little walk in the woods next to the beach. Was it around the next bend? no. the next bend? We finally gave up and drove back to Sechelt. We hiked on its beach - large pebbles in lieu of sand.








And the very last picture we took on our vacation (and I secretly thought that gee! we could use this on the placement! ((each family in N's class sends in a family picture and they put it together on a placemat. It's ever the challenge to get a shot of all 4 family members.)) Looks like this one will become a photoshop challenge.

Vancation - Monday July 30th

A sunny, warm, clear, gentle breeze sort of day. A bottler.



After a morning of fortifying television for the children (remind me to shoot myself in the head if I ever see the “doodlebops” ever again.) This is the boys in their favorite TV viewing position: the windowsill. Also the site of many a puppet show.





We hiked to Tatlow Park (the “dark park” as my friends calls it because the trees provide extreme shade) for the kids to get together and play. I met up with Eva & Natasha who also have 2 kids each now and we spend our day catching up. The kids run amuck. Sadly, I only have one good picture of the day: "Django with stick."



After dinner another walk to the beach to dig in the sand.

Vancation - Saturday July 28th

A sunny day!


A shot of the hydrangeas outside our door. Hydrangeas bloom in so many hues and shades of pinks, purples, blues, whites, soft greens, they are just amazing.



We took the bus downtown to the Vancouver Art Museum to see a couple exhibits. Sadly, we had to miss the main exhibit - Monet to Dali - a collection of master work, due to lack of interest in ½ of our little party. Instead we traveled up to the less occupied floors to see works by Andrea Zittel and a Chinese artist we'd not heard of. Zittel has set herself up to live in public spaces that are very small, storefronts in NY and the like. She has created very minimal living spaces to accommodate all of her needs. Some to the "living pods" were there on display. Looking at the set-up of her kitchen, I am aghast at how much stuff we have. She has just what she needs and everything has a place. It is so functional and so organized and so simple and so elegant. I’m in awe.

I’m seeing a garage sale in our future.

We wandered through an Islamic Cultural event, watched some downtown thrashers and then took a bus to Granville Island again. The kids got to play, Smith and I got to shop at some galleries. We also bought some fresh pasta for dinner. Yum. The kids sacked out early and Smith and I watched a little junky tellie.

Vancation - Friday, July 27th

A sunny day!

We play at the “elephant park” (aptly named because there are monkey bars in the shape of an elephant) while Smith does some work. I am standing there watching the boys and I see a car drive by, back up and then stop. Out pops a woman who starts walking over to me – it’s my friend Eva! She happened to be driving by and thought she recognized me. Ha! We made plans for our kids and her kids to get together and play later.



Late afternoon we packed up for a hike in the University of British Columbia Endowment Lands (aka Pacific Spirit Park.) A portion of the UBC has been left undeveloped. It is a lovely forest in the city, full of tall pines, blackberry shrubs, huckleberry trees and tons of trails. One can get lost very easily. It is also is a favorite spot for professional dog walkers (i.e. one woman + 6 huge furry dogs.) We started a hike at the same time as another family who were collecting huckleberries from the trees. N got very interested in gathering and was delighted to find tree after tree full of berries to munch and shove in his pocket. (we had some on our salad later on too.) It was so quiet in the woods, apart from the huckleberry chatter and we stopped to look at giant slugs, fungus, mossy trunks and burnt out logs. Sadly, the pictures of the slugs just look like regular slugs. These babies are longer than your hand. Here are the huckleberries on the tree:






N brought an offering of huckleberries to meet our friends at a park for dinner. Ariel and Reika are 4 ½ and 3 respectively and got on immediately with N & J. Eva and I were in a prenatal yoga class together and after the kids were born we’d get together often for walks and new mom commiserating. We caught up while N & Ariel went screaming through the park. J was fascinated by the pond that was in the middle of it. We played until almost dark (dark starts around 9:30 or 10 way up here in the north.) They were all VERY sad to have to part.

Vancation - Wednesday, July 25th

A beautiful sunny day!




Smith ran some errands and met us at beautiful Kits beach. Most of the beaches here are a coarse sand and offer huge driftwood logs to use as benches, backrests, windbreaks, whatever. Apparently we were stationed at the Harry Potter log. I stood up to stretch and noted that everyone within my immediate vicinity was reading it. UP here they have a completely different cover and size of book. Also to note is that there is a "kids" version with one cover and an "adult" version with another cover design. The adult version is lovely. I wish I bought it instead.





N adopted himself into a summer camp class that was spending the day there. He was having such fun with the “green shirts.” Although I felt a little sad for him – these folks were probably 7-8 years old and were paying him zero attention. They weren’t mean or rude or anything, but you could tell that they just could care less if he was there or not. J chased birds. And tried to steal other people’s beach toys.

N and Smith ventured out a little further into the waves to wade out to the floating dock. It wasn’t in very deep water, more of a lifeguard stand than anything. N got to jump off a few times though, returning shivering with blue lips.

That night we had dinner, fabulous Chinese take-out, at our friend Evelyn & Len’s. They are grandparents and had all the appropriate trappings to keep our boy(s) amused. N passed out cold on the ride over and slept through most of the evening. We had a lovely time catching up. Len reminded me of a book that came out when we were here: “How to be Canadian.” He also told us about “Corner Gas” a Canadian sit-com that we might enjoy. Those funny Canucks.

Vancation - Tuesday, July 24th

It's totally not raining!



And why is it that I ALWAYS forget to pack sunnies when I go somewhere?

I walk the little trotters off of N to get to Kits (Kitsilano) beach where I sadly discovered that Kits Pool is closed due to the “Labor Disturbance.” Sigh. The garbage folks are on strike. I forget about strikes. They are something we study in history in the US and every once in a blue moon someone threatens to go on strike. For like a day. Anyway. Our kind landlord is hustling our dirty diapers to the dump for us. Not everyone else is so lucky.

We did walk on to play at the playscape and I promised another beach trip, complete with toys, after lunch. N counts 11 cargo ships out in the bay (BOAT! His brother yells! BOAT!) and is eager to look for crabs on the beach, now that he knows that the beach isn’t scary. On the walk back for lunch, we stopped at almost every bench to rest his feet. I’m such a mean mommy. He was delighted though, as we walked along and found pockets of wild blackberries to munch. He was so proud to bring a handful of nearly ripe beauties home to dad.




I raided the nearby toy store for beach toys and the rest of our afternoon was spent in sunny afternoon delight at the beach, digging, scooping, pouring. Smith and I swapped off reading chapters of Harry Potter.

Salmon for dinner! and we set off the fire alarm again. Nothing says dinner's ready like the fire alarm going off.

Monday, July 23rd

It’s almost raining.

I haven’t complained about the rain yet, have I? I mean we expected it, it’s part of where we are. But we had just had so much rain in Austin, I wanted to go on vacation and have it be different, ya know? You go away to get away from what you already have. At least we have a system of keeping dry-ish while walking with only 2 umbrellas. And it’s never raining like it rains in Texas – it’s a much gentler rain. More manageable. We’ll even play at the playground in a certain amount of rain.

I don’t think my birks will ever be the same though. I can’t even remember what it feels like to put them on dry.

We take the bus to Science World -- a children’s museum with a science-y focus. It was very loud (although J slept through all the loud bits) and it took us awhile to get to the quieter, younger children areas. They loved them.





Although when asked about the day, N’s favorite part was the "aquabus" ride back. On English Bay, you can take a ferry across to get to downtown, Granville Island, Science World and other key points on the coast. The ferries are tiny – maybe a little bigger than a mini van really, and seat about 8-10 people.
This shot is ripe for a caption, eh?

a shot of this boat resident juggling on deck. why not.




As we putt-putted our way across the bay, we noticed the clouds had lifted and the sky was blue in patches. We got off at Granville Island and had dinner on the docks watching the boats and feeling the warm sun hit us before it set.

Vancation - Sunday, July 22nd

It’s raining.

We go out to get the paper, only to be reminded that there is no Sunday paper here. It is a weekend paper. So we read yesterday’s news. Slowly. The boys get read to from their new stash of stories from yesterday. We have pancakes (setting off the smoke alarm) and play the longest round of hide and seek that you could conceive of in a one bedroom apartment. (in the shower is my favorite spot to hide, although the wet tub usually triggers an urge to pee...)

Also, we went to play at the elephant park.
boy tai chi.



mom works the digger and boy these hummers are tough to maneuver.




Also note the denuded raspberry canes in the background. Perhaps one tiny berry (unripe) remains. I am guilty of eating them. all.





And now, I’m sitting, ever so the cliche, in a coffee bar with wi-fi. Blogging. Drinking coffee. I swear I should be 10 years younger. (if only I had my ipod with me!)

Vancation - Saturday, July 21st

It’s raining.

Today we walk ourselves silly. We plan a walk to our favorite crepe place, with many stops along the way. We find an armful of books at the kid’s bookstore. Poke my head into the consignment store that I designed the logo for 5 years ago and see they are still using it. ☺ We stop at the community center playground and the kids run amok and make all kinds of friends.





Walking around is sweet. Each corner produces a memory of when we lived here. The scent of flowers and rich earth and things growing is abundant. The air is thick with fragrance. Heavy with it.

Vancation - Friday, July 20th

It’s raining.

We take the bus to Stanley Park to see the Aquarium – home to sea otters, dolphins, beluga whales and more. They also have a wonderful “BC exhibit” with an underwater tank showing what lives in different parts of the province. Each cove offers a stunning array of seastars and anemones. N gets a sea turtle painted on his face.

Raffi singing “baby beluga” did not leave my head the entire time we were there.

We have fish and chips in Stanley Park and watch the rain. We have always laughed at the fish restaurant being next to the aquarium. Sort of cruel seeming. We also note most restaurants serving fish around here have a little blurb on the menu saying that they are approved by the Vancouver aquarium for its source of fish. As we watch the rain, I am stunned by the intensity of the color green here. It is almost oppressive it is so rich.

Our bus driver on the way back lived in Dallas for a spell, and we talked about all kinds of here vs there things. Lots of people here have asked us how much we pay each month for health insurance.



I note to Smith that the stroller has already paid for itself.

Thursday, July 19th

It’s raining.

We plunk down a whack of money for a stroller. We had hoped to buy a cheapie umbrella type, but a store offering that variety is MUCH farther away. I hear Sinda's voice in my head, calculating the cost per day and the craigslist return when we sell it. It does come with a raincover.

N and I take an exploring walk while Dad works and J has a monster nap. We walk down to the beach (4 blocks) and descend the steps to the rocks below. Growing down all the rocky cliffs here are wild blackberries. Tons of them. If only we could reach them all (and they were ripe) we’d be in utter heaven.



N hesitates on the last step – looking out at the sea and the rocks and the beach. The tide is way out. I can see the worry of “living creatures everywhere” on his mind from one of our Berenstein Bears books. I assure him that all the rocks we see are not suddenly going to turn into giant snapping turtles.




He comes home with pockets overflowing with treasures, dirty knees and a huge smile on his face.

Vancation - Wednesday July 18th

It’s raining.



We meet the gracious host of the house we are staying at (we have rented a one bedroom apartment in his 4-plex. He and his in-laws live upstairs. Next door is under construction. He apologizes for any noise, and I laugh at the comforting sound of banging.) Knowing we got in so late, he left us a bunch of fruit to nibble on for breakfast – including a bucket of blueberries. This is not the meager little half pint that we (in Austin anyway) have become used to when we buy berries in the store. This is about 4 of those in one bucket. FULL of the biggest BC (British Columbia) berries and probably for the same price as one of those tiny little bits.



We head off to Granville Island – the Vancouver equivalent of Pike’s Market in Seattle. No throwing fish though – but tons of good food and great handmade items. We submit to the purchase of umbrellas at the umbrella store. Even one that is Nbear sized.

We also check out the model train & boat museum. Two gleeful hours of hearing J say “TOOT-TOOT!”

We walk to dinner at our all time favorite vegetarian restaurant and stuff ourselves silly.

Tuesday July 17th, en route

I think this day could not get any longer until we run into a family of Canadians in DFW who had been there on a 6 hour layover from Vancouver to Toronto. They have 4 children; a 9 month old up to a 9 year old.

SIX hours in an airport!

They are chipper though. Dad said they ended up saving a boat load of money by flying through the US and putting up with the long layover. Crazy.


We arrive very late in the dark to one of my favorite airports – we pass through an area decorated with Pacific NW/First Nations artwork in a diarama complete with running water, stuffed ducks, a canoe and sound effects. The HUGE raven art (raven plays a huge part in First Nations creation mythology) hanging from the ceiling gives Nbear a pause. I look over the railing to see the other waiting areas for the departure gates below. I spy a playscape IN the airport.

Then we descend the escalator accompanied by a waterfall over rocks. I can’t describe how calming and beautiful and how unlike a normal airport this is. Let the Vancation begin!

We step outside and immediately smell the sea.