Canada Day

Today is Canada Day (equivalent of 4th of July in the States). We checked out the festivities at Granville Island this morning, but it was a little rainy (they have that spitting rain here), so our visit was short and sweet. On this day, I thought it'd be appropriate to list my initial observations, comments, etc. on Vancouver and its differences from New York.

- I don't get the weather. It is really comfortable as I can't stand the NY humidity, but I certainly get why layers are necessary. It could be cloudy and 55 degrees in the morning and then 70 degrees in the afternoon (always after 2:00pm - strange). I hope we will get used to it quickly!

- People are immune to rain. While Melvin & I struggle to put our stroller cover on the kids, everyone walks around (some in shorts, tank tops and sandals) like it's not raining.

- For a "green" city/province, they don't have garbage cans on every block like NY.

- Canadian money is magnetic (sticks to the magnet in my coin purse; can't tell you how annoying that is).

- They call the $1 coins "loonies" and the $2 coins "twonies". No comment.

- One is able to navigate the entire city and surroundings on a bike or with a stroller (without having to fold it up). All the buses accommodate strollers with a ramp and standing area. People actually get up and move to the back!! Today, we discovered "Cyquabuses", which are the transit boats in the city. Awesome. It is the most kid friendly city I have ever been in.

- People are extremely fit here, annoying but motivating.

- Everyone has a 604 or 778 area code. They are scared of my 917 area code. I have had to tell them that I am on a US and Canadian plan and it's okay to call me!

- There is a Starbucks or Blenz Coffee on every block in downtown - more coffee than Seattle!

- Sockeye Salmon is abundant and way cheaper here...we won't be short on our omega-3's while living here.

- I swear, about 80% of the kids here are of a mixed race. Pretty cool for Julian and Amélie!

What we would've done...

Judy & I were discussing how her visit to Vancouver would've been slightly different had we not had 3 children with us at all times. Don't get me wrong, we love them, but again, kids change your life! I wanted to do a follow up blog about "what we would've done".

* Ate at more restaurants, and nicer ones too! (Although our 3 visits to Urban Fare were good and reliable, not quite what we would've done if we didn't have the kids)

* Rented a boat at Coal Harbour (we looked longingly at the boats when we found out it was only $35/hr rental)

* Perhaps tried kayaking or paddle surfing from False Creek

* Shopped

* Mani/Pedis

* Checked out that Thai Massage Place (although our husbands suggested we go, we knew they didn't mean it when they both took naps that afternoon!)

* Gotten drunk? I don't know if we would've but there is definitely more chance for that when you don't have to wake up at 6am with the kids!

* Day Trip to Whistler for some ziplining, mountain biking or something

* Visit to Grouse Mountain, which is only 15 minutes from Downtown, but would've been a whole day process with kids

Judy - do you remember our "itinerary" during the week in London? VERY DIFFERENT!

First Week in Vancouver

I managed to escape to Starbucks and they close in an hour, so quick update...It has been a full week since our arrival so lots and lots to write about. Our things are not arriving until Friday (THREE full weeks after it left us!!) but we cleared customs this morning so things are falling into place! Phew! I'm too short on time to upload pics, so we'll be posting them on Monday on Picasa, after our internet gets installed...

Day 1 - June 23

Arrived into YVR with 7 check-in items, 3 carry-on bags a toddler and newborn. Toddler was overtired and threw a 20 minute tantrum with dad on plane (mom slept through it) and newborn was an angel and slept the whole time...A beautiful airport welcomed us, there was no line at our "special" immigrations area and we were blessed with a lovely customs officer. The other ones were super scary sounding when I heard them interviewing other "immigrants". Anyway, we got our visas stapled into our passports, collected our things (breast milk made it!) and we were on our way....We got to the apartment, blew up our Aerobeds, unpacked our Balikbayan boxes and walked around our 'hood. We crashed the Sheraton Wall Centre business center to email and print up some items regarding our car (which is still in NY) and checked out the Yaletown Montessori, which happened to have 2 mornings available for Julian, so he'll be starting next week! The weather was amazing, we walked everywhere. We ended our day staring out our window's stunning view and watched the sun set at 10:00pm.

Day 2 - June 24

I woke up as sore as can be! I'm not used to all the walking. We continued to explore today and rode the metro and bus for the first time. This is when we discovered the metro has an honor system and no one checks your ticket but you need a ticket for the bus...huh? Anyway, we sought out a babies r us because I lost / forgot a couple things for Amélie. The neighborhoods of Vancouver are pretty cool, each one having it's own personality and having its own "downtown". I can see why people enjoy living in all parts of Vancouver, even if it's further from the downtown core. Melvin did some work at the Starbucks and I sought out the local park. The walk to the park is amazing, right along the seawall passing a marina and right on the waterfront. We ended the day staring out our window again.

Day 3 - June 25

Today we attempted to use the printer at the Four Seasons. No such luck there. Off we went to an internet cafe, where we printed up more things to become "legal" and to get Julian enrolled into preschool. We applied for our SIN #s (similar to SS #s) - it was painless. The guy that helped us lived in the next building and was getting laid off on Monday, whoops. He didn't seem bothered by the idea. That night, Joe, Judy & Nikhil arrived - yay! We had a fun dinner at an Italian place at Roundhouse (across the street from us), so the kids could run around outside. Amélie slept through the whole thing. This was Joe & Melvin's date night, while Judy babysat Nik at the hotel and I with my kids at home...they each paid $16 to get into a club and partied it up until 3:30am. Seriously? Seriously. I think they took their date night a little too seriously.

Day 4 - June 26

We met the Philips at their hotel in Coal Harbour; took us forever to get there as we got off the wrong metro stop and then our bus never came, so we walked. I am still sore...We proceeded to have a noisy breakfast (with Nik & Julian being the noisy ones, of course) at Whitespot. This is a popular and yummy diner in Vancouver - finally, the American breakfast I was looking for. I had a frittata. Anyway, we proceeded to load up the GMC that Joe rented (literally took us a half hour) - this entailed installing 3 car seats, Judy climbing into the middle of Julian & Nik and Coleen climbing through the back trunk to sit next to Amélie and jamming two strollers (one being a double) into the back. It took awhile but we did it! Off we went to Capilano Suspension Bridge in North Vancouver, 15 minutes away (took longer to load the truck). It was amazing. Pictures to follow. Back to the hotel for nap. After naps, the boys (dads included) played soccer on a lawn in Coal Harbour and we walked to a local cafe that served Filipino Chicken Adobo. Seriously? Yes! I ate that right up. Tonight was Joe & Judy's date night. Melvin and I struggled to put Nik to bed, but they had a nice dinner. Happy Anniversary Joe & Judy!

Day 5 - June 27

This morning, we went to Granville Island with the Philips. We loaded up the car in record time. It was a little drizzly, but we stayed in the covered area of the market and also checked out the Children's Market, where Julian & Nik went crazy with the $1 rides and games. It was a good time (always all about the kids, right?). We returned for naptime, which is when Judy & I ran to Starbucks for an internet fix. When we returned, Joe left for Seattle, which is where he was working the past 2 weeks and off we went to the park. We had a casual dinner for the kids and it was me and Melvin's date night. We had a fabulous seafood feast at Coast - awesome. Seafood is AWESOME here, melts in your mouth, love it.

Day 6 - June 28

Melvin went into his office for the first time today so it was Judy & I with the kids. Oh boy. I had a 9:15am appointment with Julian's preschool, so we loaded them up and off we went. We decided to take a different route. Well, guess what? It started raining...and we got lost. Julian proceeded to kick his storm cover off, Amélie was crying and we were in a desperate search for cover. Judy took out her map and we finally made it, in the rain. I swear, the director of the school thought we were nuts. It was a calm oasis in there, while Nik decided to try to go potty, both he and Julian attacked the toys and Amélie was crying for milk....oh, and we were SOAKED, by the way. Anyway, we decided to head back home to regroup, looked at our watches and discovered it was only 10:30am!! What? We decided to go to this small train museum with the boys and ordered food for lunch. The boys proceeded to plaster the food all over the floor, walls and ceiling (not really, but kinda!) and then it was naptime. Judy and I were exhausted. When they woke, we decided to go to the beach (we are crazy). We waited at a bus stop and the bus never came, so we waited at another one and finally we were on our way. We had a wonderful time at English Bay. Finally, it was me and Judy's turn for a date night and we ate it up at Sanafir - yummy. We didn't party it up til the wee morning hours, but we had a great meal, great conversation and got a couple freebies. Miss ya already Judy!

Day 7 - June 29

Judy & Nik left for Seattle this morning (tear). I decided to go to a Mom & Tot playtime at the community centre across the street while Melvin worked at Starbucks. Met a crazy mom there, from LA, whose husband is filming a commercial here for 2 weeks. I kept trying to move away from her and she followed me. Julian had an accident (pee) and I had no extra pants - wonderful - so Melvin ran over to help. Exhausting. Great news though, our household goods are at the warehouse in Vancouver (car is still in NY though!).

Day 8 - June 30

Today, we had to "clear" our goods through customs today. Our moving company told us to avoid Mrs. Chow. Apparently, she asks a billion questions, requires extra paperwork and always declines people's goods. Okay, this should be interesting. It must've been her day off, because we got a young man that cleared us in 5 minutes - yay! Melvin left for work and I spent the day with the kids, got a library card, went to a singing event at the library and went to our building's tot lot. Now, I'm here writing a book as fast as I can about our first week. Sorry if I'm rambling!

So our things arrive on Friday (tomorrow is Canada Day, which is like 4th of July) and internet/cable/phone get installed on Monday! I'm just so excited to feel somewhat settled. We're tired of wearing the same outfits, eating out of tin pans and sleeping/eating/nursing on the floor. I will write again when I can!

Settling in...

Just a quick post from my phone. We arrived yesterday and love, love, love it so far. The weather has been great, we have walked miles exploring and end our days looking out the window at the stunning view. The sun does not set until 10:00pm so it is a treat.

I will write more soon but just wanted to update the blog!

Interesting Vancouver tidbit: the metro runs on an honor system so no one checks your ticket!

Where's the table, mommy?

The movers are taking it to Canada, sweetie.

This picture was taken this morning. My cousin took our patio table for her new house, so we had one day with no table. Julian noticed pretty quickly. He is a creature of habit though because he plopped himself down right where the table was. That was when I found myself feeding my son yogurt in a tin tray on the floor...LOL

It is now the night prior to our flight. We have seven check-in items (OnePass Gold Status saves us again!) and three carry-ons. It amazes me to think about how many of our parents came to this country with absolutely nothing and practically no money. I always think about that during our tough times the past few weeks, which isn't even tough if you think about how we had 3 men pack up our house and how my husband's company paid for the move. I'm definitely more excited than nervous or sad right now...I think it'll hit me later though.

We got an update today that we will probably clear our stuff through customs Friday or Monday and then our goods will be delivered within 24-48 hours. That means, one more week of living on the floor. Stay tuned as I won't have internet until after that!!

Our Life the Past 2 Weeks

The past couple weeks have been tough. Living off take out/fast food and 2 Aerobeds and a Playpen as furniture - not fun. These are some of the highlights from our life the past couple weeks, as we prepare to leave the country.

We had the following conversation maybe 10 times:

Coleen: Do we really need this? Should I pack it?

Melvin: Yes

Coleen: But we haven't used it since we got it. I forgot we even had it.

Melvin: I know, but we might need it

Coleen: I'm not packing it

Melvin: Okay

We had the following conversation maybe 20 times:

Melvin: What do you want to eat?

Coleen: I don't know, what do you want?

Melvin: I don't care

Coleen: Neither do I, just pick something

(mind you, delivery in the suburbs consists of chinese or pizza)

Questions from Julian:

Where's my stool?
Where's my bed?

Where's my train table?

Me on the phone with Dry Ice, Corp:

Coleen: Hi, do I need to reserve some dry ice to be picked up?

Man: No, we don't reserve, but what is it for?

Coleen: I have to check-in my breast milk on a flight out to Vancouver

Man: Well, how much do you need?

Coleen: Well, I don't know, I have about 50 ounces in bags. (awkward)

Man: Are you sure the airlines will take it? We sell a minimum of 10lbs

Coleen: Yes, I've confirmed about 3 times already

Man: Well, sometimes we have it in stock, sometimes we don't

Coleen: Well, I really need it or my supply will be ruined (sweat is running down my forehead)

Man: Well, come by tomorrow, you should be fine

Coleen: Okay, thank you (UGH, they better have it!!)

Here's another one:

Melvin: How am I going to work without my desk and our kitchen table?
Coleen: Let's pull in the patio furniture!

Melvin: Good idea!

All of us, including Julian, everyday after we pulled it in: DAMN ANTS!!

Good Timing

Ran into this article today: Canada's economy is suddenly the envy of the world

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Canadas-economy-is-suddenly-apf-807130582.html?x=0

Go Melvin and Go HSBC! LOL

On another note, Father's Day was fun...Julian and I took Melvin to the Subway Series and checked out the new Yankees Stadium. Garlic fries and cold taro bubble tea were "my" highlights - Mets lost 4-0 and Julian had a meltdown before bedtime because he was overtired from missing his nap. Fun day with friends and Papi though!

New Vocabulary

In addition to Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Little Star, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Julian has added a new song to his repertoire....Birthday Sex.

Birthday Sex by Jeremih

Hmm, next time we'll have to change the radio station quicker! Our trip to the store was quite comical with Julian singing this song at the top of his lungs.

Rants & Raves about Moving...

Three men showed up at our doorstep on Friday, June 11th with a huge moving truck at 7:45 a.m. Mind you, the time window they gave us was 8:00-10:00a.m. so needless to say, we were not ready for them! Julian was the only one that was excited to see this truck so early in the morning

Even though these three guys were doing the packing, lifting and moving for us, it did not "seem" easier. We still had to set aside items for a family of four (including 2 young kids) to live off of for two weeks. That means, I had to remember to set aside the following and then some: breast pump (check), bottles (check), butt paste (check), pack n play (check), fluoride vitamins (check)....Gosh, life was so much easier when it was just Melvin and I.

He packed up our entire kitchen all by himself...impressive.

Amidst the morning madness, our sweet Amélie fell asleep in her pack n play. I made sure to put a post-it note indicating "do not pack" on the pack n play, don't worry. Soon afterward, the kids and I escaped to my friend's house for the day as I couldn't take the madness any longer. It was a good thing too because they did not roll down the street until 9 hours later.

Now we face the challenge of living with limited clothes and shoes, no furniture, pots/pans, etc for the next 2 weeks. I'll let you know how it goes!

We (heart) NY

Today we were in the city and I was saddened by the fact we have not taken the kids to NYC's major landmarks yet. We're just going to be too busy to do so before we leave and I feel we're not savoring this wonderful city that we often take for granted.

It'll always be the best city in the world, in our eyes....

Melvin said we can just show them the sights when we visit. Well, that's just what I was afraid of...I don't want them to feel like foreigners. Melvin responded by saying he'll just show them their birth certificates, so they can remember where they are really from.

A little list of things we'd like to do with them during our many returns.

1) Empire State Building

2) Central Park (Amélie)

3) Statue of Liberty

4) Citi Field & Yankee Stadium (Julian will be going here on 06/18/2010, but we'll have to return with Amélie)

6) Bronx Zoo (Amélie)

7) Christmas Spectacular at Radio City (gulp, mommy doesn't know about doing this again!)

8) Blue Ribbon Bakery (mommy's fave restaurant)

9) Pizza Shop on Dyckman Street (papi's fave)

10) Tram to Roosevelt Island

11) Rockefeller Center during Christmas Season (Amélie)

12) Dim Sum in Chinatown and a visit to Nha Trang (mommy's fave Viet restaurant down there)

13) Coney Island

14) Chelsea Piers, for fun stuff and to show them where our wedding reception was

15) Museum of Natural History (Amélie)

Movers are coming tomorrow!!

Moving is hard....especially with two kids.

That's all I have to say about that.

Skype Mobile

Download Skype Mobile onto your phones (http://www.skype.com)...Select Verizon Wireless phones now have access to Skype Mobile and you can speak to other Skype users for FREE anywhere in the world!

• Motorola DROID
• Motorola Devour
• HTC Droid Eris
• Blackberry Storm
• Blackberry Storm 2
• Blackberry Curve 8330, 8530, 8830 World Edition
• Tour 9630

This will be particularly important on June 23rd when my phone switches over to the Canada Plan (eek)...good thing is, I won't have to change my phone number...yay! Don't worry, if you can't upload Skype, you and I can still text without international charges. Phew!

Nursery University

www.nurseryuniversitythemovie.com






Early last year, my husband and I watched this very interesting documentary called Nursery University, which is based in Manhattan and discusses the competition of city children applying and getting into (or not) a decent (or any) pre-school. This referenced children about 3 years in age. After the movie, our reaction was both the same - "that is absurd". Last night, I found myself in a very "crazy mother" state, similar to the parents in that movie. As we are prepping for our move, the next question on our minds is where will Julian go to school. Well, guess what? Seems Vancouver is very similar to Manhattan and every pre-school that exists has a wait list of about 400 kids or more for this September. I came across articles that there is a shortage of daycare and preschool programs in the city....wonderful!!

He currently goes to a daycare/pre-school and is in such a structured environment five days a week that I didn't want to take that structure away from him. However, the question remains...does he really need all that at the age of 2? Very long story short, we found a couple spots at Montessori schools, but decided against it.

At the end of the day, myself and my husband both did not go to pre-school at age 2 and neither did a lot of our friends. I did a pre- program at age 4 but again, he's only 2, so why am I acting so crazy? We came out alright, didn't we?

I got some very sound advice last night from a dear friend: "We are their first and best teachers."

Tell me, did you go to pre-school as a toddler?

Second Beach

How cool is this picture? This is a public pool 5 minutes from our new apartment, located within Stanley Park. I'm so jealous my husband is on the way to the airport to Vancouver now leaving me with the kiddies (no offense Julian & Amélie, but mommy needs a break...and some sleep). He'll be there for a couple days "setting up" our new place, picking up the keys, opening a bank account, and running a bunch of other errands I've listed out for him :)

http://vancouver.ca/parks/rec/pools/index.htm

EAT! Vancouver

I can't believe I'm missing the EAT! Vancouver Food Festival...

That would've been the best way to welcome our arrival into the city. Oh well, we definitely won't miss it next year!

http://www.eat-vancouver.com/

Vancouver Convention Centre

Overcoming Sleep Deprivation

We got 6.5 hours last night!!

Thank you Amélie! My little girl is growing up...

Let's try to do that again tonight.

I must say, even those tough nights make moments like below worth it...

regardless of whether it's 5:00am or not!

Health Insurance Hiccup...in Canada

We haven't arrived in B.C. yet, but so far our only complaint is that Canada has a rule where you cannot access their National Healthcare plan for 3 months after moving there. This is the case for immigrants (that would be us) or even nationals that move from province to province (they'd have to go to doctors in their old province for 3 months). Of course, this makes me crazy considering we have a newborn - one that needs vaccinations. Unfortunately, my Pfizer insurance does us no good over the border. We had to buy private insurance for the 3 months and that solves the problem.

I found this website very useful -

http://www.health.gov.bc.ca/insurance/bcresidents.html

Let's see how we adjust to National Healthcare...the insurance guy on the phone was laughing at all of Melvin's nervous questions about referrals, prescriptions and access to any doctor, etc. so maybe that's a good sign.

I'll keep you updated!

Hoarder

As we are going through our things, we realize how much we've accumulated...things we DON'T need. It feels so great to purge our house and really ask ourselves what we need and don't need. We're moving from a townhouse to an apartment, so this question is very important during our move. Questions such as, do I really need 3 woks? Or, wow, where did that electric water boiler come from? Or, gosh, why didn't we ever install that portable bidet in the toilet? I am trying to imagine how it'd be if we were moving from a 4 bedroom house...actually, I'd rather not imagine that!

Next time you find yourself in a Home Goods or Target, ask yourself...do I really need that?

hoard

   [hawrd, hohrd] —Related forms: hoarder, noun

–noun

1.

a supply or accumulation that is hidden or carefully guarded for preservation, future use, etc.: a vast hoard of silver.

–verb (used with object)

2.

to accumulate for preservation, future use, etc., in a hidden or carefully guarded place: to hoard food during a shortage.

–verb (used without object)

3.

to accumulate money, food, or the like, in a hidden or carefully guarded place for preservation, future use, etc.

Move Date

I've never booked a one-way flight before. It is very bizarre. We settled our move date - we fly out bright and early on Wednesday, June 23rd. It would've been nice to leave a day or two later; however, fare prices were more than double. Isn't it sad that we based our decision on a cheaper fare?

My one gripe on the whole thing (aside from the fact it's at 7:00 a.m.) is that the flight is being operated by Air Canada, instead of Continental. They won't select our seat assignments for us and we need to do it at the airport! My Gold Status with Continental is not getting me anywhere today.

Before I sign off, I have a travel tip - www.seatguru.com is a wonderful tool that has every plane listed and comments on the pros/cons of seats on specific flights. For example, this seat doesn't recline, this seat has limited overhead space, leg room, etc. Use it and enjoy!

No PB&Js for Julian

Due to popular demand (based on the poll to the right), stories about the kids are being requested. The latest update is that Julian is allergic to nuts. It was confirmed yesterday by an allergist (we are obviously going to every doctor we can think of before we leave the country).

Great things in life he'll be missing out on:

...PB&Js

...Ritz PB crackers

...Pistachio Ice Cream (one of my faves)

...Melvin's PB & Vanilla Ice Cream concoction (some of you know what I'm talking about, so gross)

...Aimee's cookies & brownies with walnuts

...95% of a Thai restaurant menu

...Kare Kare

...and other things I can't think of right now!

I am happy it's not milk or eggs or the dreaded Celiac's Disease that many children battle. It's just that some of the things on the list above are so darn good.

www.foodallergy.org - Did you know that the FDA exempts highly refined peanut oil from being labeled as an allergen? Thank goodness because that's what almost all eateries fry their french fries in!!