Feliz Cumpleaños

BUSY, BUSY WEEK hence the late post.

+ still recovering from cold

+ insane amounts of appointments and errands to run

+ decided to host a cocktail party for husband's birthday mid-week

If I did not have a toddler and pre-schooler hanging onto my leg 24/7, this would have been a seamless, enjoyable and easy task. However, this is not the case. Nevertheless, I put on my "party planner" hat and while I decided NOT to cook (good decision), I wanted to dress our apartment up a bit. No paper plates or plastic wine cups in this house, oh no. Casual china ALL the way! 

So...Thursday rolled around and after dropping Julian to school, I proceeded to run some errands before running back to pick him up! Then, proceeded to run more errands....

 - Whole Foods on Cambie - nuts, fresh bread and quiche (which they did not have)

 - Les Amis du FROMAGE - cheese, charcuterie, cheese cutlery; love this place

 - Pâtisserie Le Beau - mini spinach quiche

 - BC Liquor - luckily, this is across the street from my building, but DO picture me hauling 2 six-packs at a time with Amélie on my back in the Ergo Carrier across the street a couple times.

 - House of Empanadas - 3 dozen assorted empanadas por favor!

 - Dairy Queen - Yes, mortified to say, my 30-something husband requested a (gulp) blizzard cake, for his birthday.

 - Williams-Sonoma, Cookworks and finally, Pottery Barn - I found those wine charms I was looking for!

WINE CHARMS -  Amélie only broke 3

We had a ton of wine, so thank goodness that was already covered. This post is exhausting me, so long story short, party was a success and everyone left after midnight, kids slept right through it and we managed to store all the toys out of sight! Once a "party planner", always a party planner :) Happy Birthday Melvin!

'Tis the Season

The fact that Amélie & I have a cold this week gives me some indication that the cold season is rearing its ugly head. I guess it didn't help that I rode my bike in the pouring rain to a 2-hour yoga class on Saturday and then attempted to ride my bike uphill for 21 blocks right after to meet the fam and some friends for dim sum. Whatever it was, I was out of commission today. 

I found an article called, "How to kick your cold out of your system quickly". One of the first suggestions was, "Call out sick." Yeah right!! That was not happening with the kids today. Of all days, Melvin had a 7am conference call too, so he was out of the house by 6:30am. After I got Julian to school, I ran home to throw in some laundry, make lunch, and then quickly ran out again to pick him up for his dentist appointment. He absolutely loves going to the dentist, which was the only reason that was a painless trip.

Luckily, my friend Christine called. She heard my voice and suggested she pick up Julian to take him to the beach. I felt terrible, mainly because she has a 4-year old and a 17-month old (who shares Amélie's birthday) to tend to AND she does not have a car. I felt so sick and weak, I quickly accepted her offer, thanked her and got Julian ready for sand play.

One may wonder how she managed all three boys with no car? Well, she put Julian and Finn (4-yr old) in a trailer behind her bike and Liam (17-mth old) in a front seat carrier. I said good-bye to Julian, he climbed in and off they went. LIFESAVER.

I laughed to myself as she rode away, as that would have never happened back home. Instead, a Honda Odyssey, where the doors open automatically, would've been the likely vehicle of choice. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but just SO different here in the left coast.

The Best of New York

Melvin and I were speaking in the car about how 90% of the people we've befriended here are business owners, most of them run their businesses as a couple, which is pretty amazing. We're not sure if it's just the circle of people we've met, but many say Vancouver, B.C. is one of the best places for small, private businesses to succeed. I speculate it's also more common in Canada, because people don't have to worry as much about having health benefits, especially those with kids, when starting something new. 

Anyway, it crossed my mind yesterday at a restaurant as the kids were eating Nathan's hot dogs for lunch,  that it'd be fun if someone opened a place where we could access all the things we miss about New York, or even the States. It'd be like a HUGE mall or something that has what the States has, that Canada doesn't, and without 12% HST added to all the products!!

Stores would include Target, Barney's, Carter's, Janie & Jack, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdales, Saks and Barney's Co-op, plus many more I'm sure.

The food court would include Bagels (the good stuff), Nathan's Hot Dogs (natural casing of course), Fresco to Go, Pax and real NY pizza, preferably from that no-name pizza place on Dyckman Street in upper Manhattan.

Restaurants would include Blue Ribbon Bakery, Stanton Social, Son Cubano, Sushi of Gari, and I wouldn't mind Katsuhama, even though there are enough Asian places in Vancouver.

Ahh, Vancouver's food scene will never beat NYC's, that's for sure.

Luckily, we found a fun sports bar a block away where the kids can still enjoy a Nathan's Hot Dog every once in awhile! And yes, it has the natural casing, thank goodness!

Hmm, where do I start?

Never Forget

As my son and husband are biking the seawall in Vancouver, B.C. on this warm summer evening, I sit in our living room quietly (Amélie is asleep) reflecting on how things have changed from 10 years ago. Ten years from today, I was fresh out of Drexel, had started my first "real" job 2 months prior, returned from a company trip to St. Lucia the night prior, and experienced one of the most, if not the greatest, catastrophic event in U.S. and NYC history -- 9/11.

I'll never forget waking up that glorious sunny morning, after a wonderful long weekend in St. Lucia with co-workers (we often called it "the trip that never happened", as we never had a chance to exchange pictures, laugh about it, or even speak about it after returning to work on 9/11). I remember getting to work around 9:05am, or so, after a long wait for the most expensive omelet I've ever had at Fresco. I came in to work grumbling about how omelets should not cost $10, as if it were the biggest problem I ever encountered. Man, do I miss that place.

At the time, I sat in our company's "air department", since I was a newbie and there was no room for me in any of the offices. My ex-colleague goes, 'some guy accidentally crashed his plane into one of the towers' (I assumed it was a puddle-jumper, what the heck did I know, I was only 21). My retort: What an idiot. Can you believe this omelet cost me $10??

In hindsight, I reacted that way because the events of that day were just unfathomable. Long story short, I was relieved my dad had not made it to work just yet (he was on his way walking to the South Tower, where he worked and saw the first plane crash and then brought this woman to the hospital as she started having a heart attack) and Melvin was on a project in NJ (he worked in Two World Financial Center-the one with the dome). We quickly evacuated (1/2 to a colleague's apartment and the other half to our CEOs apartment on Park Ave). I joined the crew at the CEOs apartment, soon felt awkward, and started walking with the only other coworker that lived in NJ (I lived in Jersey City at the time). We walked and walked and walked...thank goodness, I was never one to be embarrassed to wear sneakers to work and change into heels there. It took me 7 hours to get home that day, 5 hours of it on line for the ferry to get to Jersey. I witnessed the collapse of Building 7 from that line on the West Side Highway. I also clearly remembered all these people giving blood in Hoboken, NJ....blood that was never used, as there were no survivors to give it to. I took a cab from there to my apartment and remember being so rude and angry at the Arab who was driving. Melvin was working with Canadians on his project and wasn't able to leave work immediately (I continue to believe people far from NYC just didn't get it), but came straight over as he wasn't able to cross any bridges or tunnels. He was stuck in NJ, which was fine with me...and yes, they made him come to work the next day. I remember my friend, Dianne and I sitting in a diner the next morning practically crying into our breakfast as the news on TV showed the towers over and over again....we spent the next week sleeping at each other's places, scared to be alone. 

The weirdest memory I have is Melvin and I had made plans to go to the top of the WTC that following Saturday, because I recently told him that I have never been up there. 

The events of 9/11, and following days, are so vivid in my mind, so I thought I'd just jot them down in this post. It took awhile, but I try not to relive those moments by way of emotion (anger, sadness, hate), regretful thoughts (what if I did this, what if that person were there, what if we were still in St. Lucia) or action (explode at Canadians that say it could have been avoided, mistreat Muslims, assume all Arabs are horrible, etc). Instead, I've found peace in recognizing that 9/11 happened and it's okay to remember it, but not let it consume me as it did the weeks following. 

And today, we were able to explain this part of history to our eldest child (Melvin was watching today's events in NYC and our inquisitive Julian had many questions), as matter-of-factly as possible. This is what happened and it is just that. 


After that conversation, we continued with our day and met another family on The Drive (Commercial Drive) for brunch at Little Nest. We spent most of the day in that neighborhood's new park/playground, explored the shops and had great sandwiches for lunch from La Grotta del Formaggio. It is amazing how things can change so drastically in 10 years. 

First West Coast Earthquake!

Today, there was a 6.4 magnitude earthquake on the Western Coast of Vancouver Island. The city of Vancouver is actually not on "the island", so that is a misconception. Anyway, it was quite far but around 12:45pm or so this afternoon, I started to see my computer screen sway.


Melvin was working from home and simultaneously, we asked each other:
Coleen: Are we shaking?
Melvin: Do you feel that?


Apparently, the quake was felt as far east as Nebraska and as far south as San Francisco. It was also felt in Kamloops, B.C. which is the interior. Thankfully, it was "minor" within the city and a lot of people didn't even feel it. However, we live on the lucky 13th floor, so we got a taste of it.


Hopefully, that'll be the end of this topic for as long as we live here. 

Camping

I like to travel and I love nice places to stay at, such as hotels, resorts, B&Bs, etc. It never occurred to me to try out sleeping on the hard surfaced outdoors, with only a flimsy tent that a bear could rip down with a tap, to protect me. 

Well, then we moved to B.C....where there is a crazy camping culture here and vehicles such as the below are seen at least every few minutes in the streets of urban Vancouver.

Our friends managed to secure a 4 family campsite at Alice Lake, which is an hour and 10 minutes north of our apartment close to the town of Squamish, B.C. They did it on January 2nd when Vancouver Parks Board posts all the campgrounds for reservation and it usually sells out for the major weekends within 3 minutes, so we got VERY lucky. With much convincing, thought and consideration, we agreed to go camping as a group. Our friends provided us with all the gear, so we figured this would be our only chance to have the courage to do it with the kids so young. They were going for 3 nights, but I was convinced I'd only survive 2, so that's what we did this past Labour Day Weekend from Saturday morning - Monday afternoon.

It was SO not what we imagined. It was actually very spacious, clean, outhouse was a 15 second walk from our site AND we paid extra for electricity. Each campsite was separated by trees and it was quite private with your own fire pit.The weather was wonderful, but we actually didn't pack enough layers (who would've thought it'd get so cold with trees covering the site after sunset?), but no worries, Wal-Mart was only 10 minutes away!

We were a 5 minute walk from the beautiful Alice Lake, which I was convinced would have a million mosquitoes, but it DIDN'T! Instead, it had 3 beaches, picnic tables and views of the snow-capped mountains. Long story short, we had a blast chatting by the fire every night and the kids had a blast in the wild outdoors. Oh, and that pesky cougar went away so the trails opened up again. Julian loved riding his bike around with Melvin.

Sunday night was our (Melvin & I) turn to make dinner, so we had decided to make a Dominican Feast. That was before 3 more families decided to come up for the day, but no problem, we had 2 chefs at our disposal and they were able to help us get our menu together in the wilderness. We brought all the meats marinated and I must have bought 10 lbs of produce -plantains, bell peppers, mangoes, avocados, tomatoes, onions, etc. We successfully fed 14 adults and 11 children with white rice, black beans, tostones, pico de gallo, chickpea salad, guacamole and steaks/chicken on the grill. Everyone was happy and we ended the meal with banana boats (bananas with toppings-chocolate, marshmallow, nuts, etc in foil thrown on the fire) and s'mores. Divine!

My general outlook after my first weekend camping is this: It's loads of fun with a group of people, we'd be eaten alive out there if we went alone, it requires A LOT of work if you want to eat well (eating canned beans/chili and nuts all weekend is not acceptable), kids have a blast and it's healthy for them to be outdoors and be dirty every once in awhile, 2 nights max, great weather and electric hook-up is mandatory. Oh, and never forget the Aerobed and warm clothing for night time.

Oh alright, the title of this post should really be "Luxury Camping"....

Pink Salmon Festival

This afternoon, we hit the beach after Amélie's nap. I LOVE the fact we can access several beaches within 5-10 minutes of our apartment. First we went to Kits Beach and that was WAY too packed, so then we wandered over to Vanier Park, which I had never been to before (but Melvin had passed on a bike ride). It had a sliver of beach, which was enough for our little family of 4. The best part is the kids are so self-entertained at the beach that it is an easy activity for all.

We could see the downtown skyline, north shore mountains and Stanley Park from where we sat. And this, my friends, is why Vancouver is so amazing - water, mountains, beach, city all within 5 minutes from each other. The map below is a good reference. Our apartment is over the Burrard Bridge and to the right and we were sitting on the coastline by the Vancouver Museum.

Moving on, we were VERY lucky to be at Vanier Park during the Pink Salmon Festival!! It was organized by the Pacific Salmon Foundation and promoted pink salmon as a sustainable seafood choice.  We had no idea it was here today and who cares, one may ask?

Well, free pink salmon for everyone!!  We played on the beach until the line whittled down, which was right in time for dinner. They had some of the best seafood chefs in the city making pink salmon 3 ways. We had salmon baked, grilled and poached (I think) with potato salad, green salad and coleslaw as sides. 

DELISH!

Salmon: another reason to love B.C. 

Chocolat

Melvin and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary this weekend. We typically go on a trip, but we have so many trips we've committed to that we decided to keep it low-key this year. In addition, his company had so many events the day of our anniversary, so it was good to be around for that.


Anyway, we decided to indulge in Fleuri's Chocolate Buffet. It is held every Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, with 2 seatings - 6:30pm and 8:30pm. We went on Friday at 8:30pm after having a picnic dinner with the kids by the seawall. I made some stuffed peppers and pan-fried some wild rockfish. The buffet was pretty insane and we felt pretty bad about ourselves afterward, but whatever. You really can't beat chocolate bread pudding as a dessert.


Yesterday, we had HSBC's annual Latin Diversity BBQ and the spread was pretty impressive. Tomato Salsa, Chickpea Salad, Guacamole, Salad with Homemade Dressing, Grilled Ribs, Steak, Sausages, Corn, Yuca and Watermelon. It was super organized and the weather was spectacular. After the picnic, we got ready to host one of the manager's from the U.K. and another coworker, plus their wives. We had beer/wine at our place and walked over to Hapa Izakaya for a great dinner of Japanese Tapas.


I think me and the kids will hit the beach today, while Melvin's out for a bike ride with his friends. It's so hard to believe that Hurricane Irene is hitting the east coast right now!

Grindin' Grouse

I'm not sure why I keep coming back to him...Grouse Mountain, I mean. He certainly leaves me breathless and when I'm on top, I feel wonderful. 

I attempted the Grouse Grind for the 2nd time today with a friend, fellow mother of two, fellow Filipina with short legs like me. On a serious note, it's a good workout, and you're sweating bullets 1/4 of the way and I've cut my time miraculously and finished it in 1 hour, 12 minutes. 

I just think that when you can feel your heart beating in your ears and you feel light-headed, you got problems. Nevertheless, I finished, am happy with my time and probably won't do it again until next year. I much prefer taking the red gondola up the mountain. :)

Destination: Lynn Canyon Swimming Hole

After a few weeks of atypical summer Saturdays, this morning started off the way it usually does.
- Wake up
- Breakfast
- Load of Laundry
- Leave for Julian's soccer activity while laundry is drying
- Drop Mommy & Amélie at Farmer's Market, while boys go to soccer
- Mommy & Amélie take bus to soccer and load up the cooler in the car 

It's a process and it works. Usually, we'll proceed as a family to wherever we need to be - birthday party, BBQ, whatever. Today, we decided to go to Lynn Canyon Park & Ecology Centre for a hike to its swimming hole. The best part is the park is completely FREE!

Julian was our "hike leader" and he took his job very seriously with map in hand and always making sure he was in front of our pack. It was very cute. Anyway, the hike was well worth it and this is what we arrived to...We ate our baked goods from the West End Farmer's Market and snacked, while dipping our feet. We also watched the crazies jumping in from the cliff above.

Stupid Inventions

...Play-Doh
...Face Painting
...Markers
...Crayons

Bright colors and toddlers just do not mix!!!

Cougar Sightings

http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/alice_lk/We're planning to go camping with friends over Labour Day Weekend (my first time, should be VERY interesting) at Alice Lake, which is just north of Squamish. 


Check out the headlines: Hunt for aggressive cougar closes select trails in Alice Lake area

Read more: Click here

LOVELY!

Post-Visitor Blues

J&M left Vancouver for New York today and R&R left on Wednesday....they were our last set of "scheduled" visitors for the remainder of the year, so it was quite sad to see them go. We had such a blast with them though, as did my belly - we ate so much and certainly indulged. Phnom Penh Monday, Afghan Horsemen Tuesday, Cobre Thursday and I finally decided it was time for a home cooked dinner on Friday (sockeye salmon, quinoa salad, grilled chicken breasts and avocado with my favorite B.C. gourmet find, Ají Sauce). Taking people around always reminds us of what a wonderful city we live in now and how it's such a shame we can't share it with friends from back East and family on a regular basis.

J&R totally hooked us up with goodies from the program they were working on. Aside from the free massages, round of golf, bike rentals, canoe rental, cocktails at 21 Steps with my old colleagues, dinner at Quattro, Nitro Ice Cream & a Champagne saber at Bearfoot Bistro, etc. - tons of cereal, popcorn, applesauce, local goodies, a bottle of Grey Goose, about 20 bottles of local beer, 13 bottles of red/white wine. I think I need to have a cocktail party now...

Melvin and Julian brought J&M to the airport this morning and once again, it's back to the grind. Not the Grouse Grind, but the daily grind...We went to Costco right after the airport drop-off, did 3 loads of laundry and then met up with the Brown Family for a 15-mile bike ride through Stanley Park and a homemade picnic dinner at the spray park, while the kids ran through the sprays. It was a beautiful day, despite the departure of our guests from back home.

Whistler Part V

This past weekend marked the 5th time we went up to Whistler. My friends / ex-coworkers were up there since July 28th working on an 850 person incentive. Knowing we lived close by, they decided to fly their husbands up this past Friday, the same day we drove up. We all spent the weekend together and this week we're entertaining each couple separately (one couple went to Tofino while the other started the week with us).

Whister was a BLAST with these guys...first off, my friends got the hook ups on everything after bringing such a big group to Whistler - massages, golf tee times, bike rentals, breakfast, 11 bottles of wine, dinner for 10 and other goodies. Nothing like freebies a la client.

Now, my friends R&R are with us until Wednesday and we're showing them our beloved city. Yesterday, we started with Capilano Suspension Bridge, Granville Island, Happy Hour in Yaletown, Gastown drive by and dinner at Phnom Penh in Chinatown. J&M arrive on Thursday from Tofino and we'll do it all over again gladly when they arrive. These are our last set of "scheduled" visitors this year, so it'll be sad when they leave.

Who will be next!?

Kid Updates and then some...

Kids change so much each month, each week, each day...It's very hard to chronicle everything without feeling you're enjoying the moment....especially when that moment is called "teething".


This summer, Julian has...
* learned how to ride a 2-wheeler!  straight from his Strider to a 2-wheeler. so proud.
* rode the seawall with his mommy for the first time
* started writing his name, over and over and over again, backwards, forwards, upside down...
* discovered a love for art...always taking paper from our printer and taping his art on walls
* started piano lessons (actually I think that was in the spring)
* continued to love his swim and soccer activities


This summer, Amélie has...
* a new molar...tooth #9
* discovered a love for jewelry...she snatched the bangles in H&M and shows them off daily
* showed her love of shoes
* started to climb the stairs in the playground and attempt the slide by herself
* started saying: mama, papa, bye, hello, thank you (we think)
* kept her morning and afternoon naps, despite mommy's attempts to drop her morning nap. Don't get me wrong, I love the down time!


On a completely separate note, Melvin's company announced they will be doing 30,000 layoffs this past Monday. It will be over the span of the next couple years, but of course, we're not protected. Conversation of the month: where should we move to next? Spain, perhaps?

I'm back...

So, people have been encouraging me to keep writing (even if mainly for myself) and I keep coming across things this summer, I want to write about so it just makes sense to keep doing so!

Our one-year anniversary in Canada has come and gone and this summer is vastly different from last. The main reasons for this difference is we know more people and feel like Vancouver has become more our home. It's been so great going to BBQs, festivals with people, birthday parties, etc. At the same token, we are certainly feeling that "all things familiar" (family, NY, bagels, Americans and all their idiosyncrasies, etc) are SO far away. Even though America is just 45 minutes and a border crossing away, Canada and its people are still VERY different!

Since I "closed" the blog, we had the unfortunate incident of the Vancouver Riots over, what else, but The Stanley Cup Final. What do I have to think about that? LAME. The cops here were a sorry bunch...half had the day off and the "reinforcements" sent from the suburbs consisted of two police cars (which we saw racing across Cambie Bridge) 30 minutes after a lot of the fires started. It's been a bit funny hearing of the stories of people getting fired from their jobs, the arrests of spoiled rich kids, etc since then.

NOT TOO FAR FROM OUR APARTMENT!

Fast forward after the riots and we enjoyed a wonderful time at this year's International Jazz Festival, which is held all over the city. The nice part is the final weekend is a huge festival at David Lam Park which is a block from our apartment. We went both days and sat out in the hot sun with friends...The first day, we were out for 6 hours and I got a nasty farmer's tan on my arms...Typical mother: makes sure everyone is lathered up with sunscreen and then slaps some on herself carelessly. I'll be paying for it til the fall, I'm sure.


What else? Hmm, we saw Wicked, the musical.  Absolutely amazing and surprisingly funny. It was our first time at Queen Elizabeth Theatre, which is about a 10 minute walk from our apartment, fairly new and pretty impressive. It was nice to go to a musical without fighting huge crowds, longing for free parking or dealing with massive amounts of tourists. 

The weekend after we watched Wicked, we packed up the kids and went to Kelowna. All I have to say is AMAZING. It was about a 3.5-4 hour drive and Napa North welcomed us. Melvin and I agreed that it was actually more pleasant than Napa though because of this beautiful lake and a number of beaches that were accessible. Also, it was less commercialized and touristy...residents were abound with their local produce stands on the road, family vineyards and wine shops. We hope to go back again soon.

July's weather has been a disappointment on most days. It's been warm but quite grey. August seems to be making up for it though and I don't think I prefer to be in the East Coast's stifling heat either. At least we are able to go outside in comfort....If most of the year weren't so grey and rainy here though, we have to admit that it's the perfect climate to live in.

This is quite a long blog post, so I'll save more for later, especially all kid updates. We also have more visitors in town next week, so more fun in the sun (I hope) is to be had!


It feels great to be back :)

Announcement

...no I'm not preggers!  HAHA

Actually, I was referring to the announcement that was made on my United Airlines flight on Friday night. Hello Ladies & Gentleman, we don't know who your pilot will be, where they are or when they will get here, but sit tight and we hope to have an update shortly. We cannot let you off the plane because this is an international flight and all your documents have already been checked.

Isn't this the most ridiculously thing you've ever heard? Long story short, we waited on the plane in San Francisco for 2 hours before we took off for the 1 hour, 45 minute flight to Vancouver and I got home close to 2:00am. Ahh, life on the road. I filed a complaint the next morning and should be hearing back within 10 days, according to United's automated system. They SUCK!

Yesterday, we went to Grouse Mountain for the lumberjack show and to Eat! Vancouver (food & cooking festival) at the new convention centre. I had major déjà vu because I clearly remembered blogging about this event last year before we moved. I had lamented that we missed out on it and that we'll have to go "next year"...that being this weekend. I can't believe how time had flown. It's actually a bit scary.

With that said, the real "announcement" is that I reflected on life a lot this past week and I've decided to bring this blog to a close...Our "relocation process and experience" is technically over and now this is our home. We just signed a 2-year lease on our apartment, so we'll be here for awhile and hope to paint a bit. This summer, we have plans to take a paddle surfing lesson, explore more of B.C. (fingers crossed that includes Kelowna and Tofino) and of course, will be welcoming more visitors to show our city to. 

Now that we've come to this time in our "experience", where we've got a daily routine, know people, have a pretty full schedule, etc., I believe it is time to enjoy and savor the moments, rather than spend it documenting, journaling and hoping we won't and don't forget it. It's like having a baby, right? A lot of mothers worry so much about writing down what time that baby pooped, slept and ate that the entire experience just passes by. Or, it's like being on vacation and trying to capture every step, sight and moment on camera. You just can't...so why not just savor it?

That being said, we're off to a BBQ in East Vancouver and to enjoy the sun! As always, thanks for reading. Until next time...

Kimpton

I'm experiencing my first time at a Kimpton Hotel. So far so good...I arrived San Francisco at 8:00am this morning and my room was ready after my breakfast at Grand Cafe. It's a boutique hotel, which I really like because when you're in and out hotels often, you can only take so much of a Marriott or Hilton. The hotel hosted us for a lunch "meeting" and who can beat a lobster club sandwich and truffle fries? After lunch, I went back to my suite and received a bottle of red wine as an amenity...They really know how to win me over!



So Kimpton actually started the whole "afternoon reception or gathering in the lobby". Apparently this was something Mr. Kimpton liked to do, so alas, a tradition was started. Whoever started it, it's a great idea. Unlimited wines (and good ones), snacks, massage chair??  Goodness.

I'm hanging out in my room before my dinner event begins. Tomorrow, I have an early breakfast and meeting start time of 6:30am and won't arrive in Vancouver until 11:00pm, so best enjoy my night. Ahh, life on the road.

I'll be nice and bring the bottle of wine home to share with Melvin.

Go Canucks Go!

Go Canucks Go...This is the very sad "chant" that Vancouver has created for their precious Canucks Hockey Team. You would think they could be a little more creative. Anyway, we went out to dinner with our friends on Saturday night during the 2nd Stanley Cup Playoffs game and got ridiculed for not wearing blue. The Canucks won that night and Vancouverites, as well as "bridge & tunnel" (or should I say, bridge and ferry) people, proceeded to celebrate as if they won the Stanley Cup. It was fun to watch and listen to, but not at 4am when people were still honking their car horns.

They were silenced very quickly this week by Boston...Monday's game was 8-1 Boston and tonight's game was 4-0 Boston. I'm not a hockey fan, but I'm rather embarrassed for Vancouver; I even feel pretty bad for the fans.

I guess we'll see how Friday's Game 5 turns out. Too bad I won't be here...I'll be in San Francisco for a work program. My flight is bright and early at 6:00am tomorrow, so I better get packing.

More Visitors

A day and half after returning from our cruise, our dear friends Erica & Jim came out to visit us. They did a combo Seattle/Vancouver trip, so I picked them up from the train station on Thursday and they stayed until Sunday morning. It's been quite a whirlwind of making sure there are clean sheets, clean towels and Aerobeds with enough air the past few weeks, but it has been fun.

We had a great weekend, as we welcomed Vancouver's first official summery days and it was hot. We checked out Granville Island's Children's Festival, Capilano Suspension Bridge (again) and Grouse Mountain, whose resident Grizzly Bears are out and about. Melvin overcame the Grouse Grind with Jim, while still officially closed (twice this season), so he's becoming an expert. We were also lucky enough to take an awesome boat ride out of Horseshoe Bay on Saturday. We closed the weekend with dinner at Hapa Izakaya (pleasantly surprised by the food). I discovered Hapa Izakaya makes their own chocolate banana crepe mille feuille, so of course I was in heaven and will surely be returning specifically for that!

As with every restaurant/bar in Vancouver Saturday night, the 2nd Stanley Cup playoff game was being shown. Crazy Canucks fans everywhere, probably wondering why we weren't as excited as they were each time someone scored....

So Jim & Erica left early this morning and we attended a 1st birthday party for Julian and Amelie's friend, Gavin. He spent some time in BC Children's Hospital's NICU after his birth, so in place of a traditional birthday party, we did the Kids Fun Run to help raise money for the hospital. Team Gavin raised over $6,000 CAD.

Needless to say, we are exhausted! I can't believe I'm saying this, but I welcome the daily grind and routine...and the diet starts tomorrow! The Aerobeds will take a break until end of July when our next set of visitors arrive :)