Potty Christmas

Last night, our friends from North Vancouver threw their annual Christmas Party. There were 30 adults and 20 kids and while they have a cozy home, it was a success. Our friends love throwing parties and we're so blessed to have met them almost as soon as we arrived in Vancouver. We've met a lot of people through them and know they can always be counted on for fun, a good meal and play date (they have 2 kids, ages 3 & 1). 

Anyway, lots of food, drink and desserts as usual. Polar Express was shown for the kids, which enabled the adults to be able to eat and talk in peace for awhile. They also had Santa come to distribute gifts for our kids exchange. It was a wonderful night. 

This morning, Julian and Amélie woke up to gifts under the tree from Santa, mommy/papi and Tita May. They played so nicely while Melvin made a pancake breakfast.

So why the Potty Christmas?  WELL, Amélie decided this past Wednesday that she wants to start peeing in the toilet. Therefore, today has been the first day since then that we've been home and able to encourage it. Personally, I'm not ready to potty train (she's only 20 months), but this girl has been taking her diapers off since our trip to Hawaii (picture Amélie commando in random Hawaiian food court).  Nevertheless, we don't want to discourage it and who ever said kids care about our schedule?

We had a breakthrough this morning! Amélie finally did #2 in the toilet. Whoo Hoo! The things that excite us these days.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Tree Rentals

Before I get into the rentable Christmas Trees, I want to mention that Julian had a ski lesson on Sunday and did wonderfully. We were pretty surprised and impressed and he felt all cool doing a couple jumps in his skis. I think we've been watching too many skateboarders at the playground.

Anyway, onto the topic at hand...I've stated before that people are very "green" and environmentally friendly here. Today, I encountered a concept I have not heard of before and it's pretty interesting: Rentable Christmas Trees.

They are potted and delivered to your home. Once the season is over, they are picked up and re-planted. Ingenious! Too bad our building doesn't allow for real trees, but I do like that concept rather than the thought of all these poor trees being cut down to decorate one's home for a few weeks and then disposed of!  Don't get me wrong, our chemically filled fake tree isn't any better, but this is why I feel I had to share this concept.

Here is a company local to Vancouver, but surely this can be found elsewhere.

Evergrow Christmas Trees Co.

Night boardin'

Melvin and I are recovering from a night of snowboarding at Cypress Mountain. The local mountains, all located within 15-25 minutes from downtown Vancouver are Seymour, Cypress and Grouse. Grouse is the closest, and most tourist-friendly, so we've always gone there with the kids and our guests. All of them have night skiing, so we figured we'd heard great things about Cypress and checked it out finally. We snowboarded from 6:30 until 9:30pm last night, with a break for a burger and poutine in between. It was super fun! 

My goal this season is to figure out if I want to get ski or snowboarding gear. I found that skiing was really easy to pick up and I'm comfortable on skis and find it relaxing. Snowboarding has not been as easy for me and certainly NOT relaxing. I find myself falling way more, harder to get up and it's harder to get the technique down. After 4 runs last night, I was nowhere close to being "good" at it, but I definitely found it fun (finally) and I started to get more comfortable on the board (finally). I am going to give it a go one more time and I think at that point, I'll be ready to make a decision and get some gear. Stand by for updates...

Oink, Oink

As if all the eating we did in Hawaii was not enough, I had ordered 1/2 a pig from Gelderman Farms in Abbotsford, B.C. prior to our departure. It was ready for pick-up the day we landed! I've always wanted to buy part of a pig or a cow from a farm ever since I saw it on Jon & Kate plus 8, especially since I'm a big supporter of local farms, produce and vendors (no matter where I'm living). I've been buying pork chops (bone-in of course) from Gelderman Farms at the local farmer's markets when I figured, hey, why not? Our friends agreed to split 1/2 the pig (so we got 1/4 each) with us, since I was afraid it wouldn't fit in our freezer. 

Well, what does 1/2 a pig get you, one may ask?

3 rolled roasts (butt or shoulder) or 8 steaks

3 loin roasts or 27 chops

4 hams or 18 cutlets

7 lbs bacon

1 spare rib

12 lbs trim (sausages and/or ground)

Turns out our freezer could handle it just fine!! We'll likely have Pernil (Dominican Pork Shoulder) on Christmas Day and perhaps, Baked Ham on New Year's Day. Oink, Oink

To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living. ― Anthony Bourdain

We're Back...again

I know our trip to Dominican Republic was only a month ago, but we just returned from Hawaii for a friend's wedding. Occasions always seem to happen around the same time rather than spread out, so off we went on a flight to Honolulu 3 weeks after unpacking from Santo Domingo. Luckily, it was a hop, skip, jump from Vancouver and we did not have to endure an 11 hour flight from New York. We returned on a red-eye this morning and are already almost done with the laundry. Success!

We packed a lot (beach gear and toys takes up a lot of space) and as we get on the plane, I realize we forgot our suiter!! This was problematic, considering it held Melvin's suit AND 4 dresses (rehearsal lunch, wedding + 2 casual dresses) of mine. AHHH!! My mind was racing. Upon landing, I called our good 'ole friends, Robyn & Reggie (the ones that visited us in Aug) who were coincidentally in HI for ANOTHER wedding. Long story short, we wear the same sizes as them and we rocked their outfits at the wedding. PHEW. Crisis averted. It was also a good conversation starter at the wedding, according to Melvin: Hi, nice to meet you. We forgot our clothes at home and this is our friends' outfits. 

Our friends, Roland & Maeann (the ones that helped us find our apartment in Vancouver) are now newlyweds and had a fabulous wedding at Kathy Ireland's estate on the island of Oahu. It was literally picture perfect. 

VIEW FROM OUR TABLE

Aside from the wedding, we were able to meet up with friends from University, which was a great reunion. We went to a traditional luau at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and it was a really fun night, which the kids enjoyed so much. I feel like we went on a food tour of Oahu, which was no joke. Wailana Coffee House, Side Street Inn, Giovanni's Shrimp Truck, Leonard's Bakery, Papa Ole's...Sinfully delicious! My sister and her fiancé also met up with us there and we shared a condo together. It was beautiful watching them spend time with the kids and they took care of them during the wedding, which was perfect. We had plenty of beach and pool time, as well as visited the North Shore to see its amazing waves.

Banzai Pipeline during a surfing tournament

Living further has made us take more of a conscious effort to spend "quality" time with people when we see them. It has been so fun spending time with people in other states/countries. It is a great revelation.