Chickenpox??

NO! It is not chickenpox!!

We've been home for 4 days now from the Dominican Republic and about 5 people (mind you, we haven't been outside THAT much) have asked us if our kids had chickenpox.

Instead of my typical retort: No, we were just in the Caribbean and they got bit up really badly.

I should respond with: Yes, actually, we wanted to infect everyone at the (playground, store, swim lesson, etc), why don't you bring your child closer...

One may wonder why Melvin and I aren't bit up as badly. Well, during our 2-day road trip, it rained overnight and since grandma doesn't have air conditioning, all the windows were wide open. Those little "buggers" (pun intended) must have smelled fresh blood and they went to town on our kids, particularly Julian's face. He has about 50 bug bites just on the right side of his face - not joking - and literally hundreds on both his arms. 

I can't even bare to take a picture because I feel so bad for him. Hopefully, they will clear up a little bit before his 4th birthday this week. 

Mission Accomplished

We returned from D.R. at 1:00am yesterday and we are so proud of our little ones!


Each way the endured the following: 
17 hour journey 
3 planes 
2 security lines
2 customs lines
2 immigration lines
1 red-eye
long connections, with a switch in terminals

They were rock stars and we couldn't believe it! All in all, the travel portion was painless and the only problems we encountered were the 100s of mosquito bites each kid got and Julian tripped over my luggage getting out of our cab at 1am and bit his lip open. Yes, he is not picture perfect right now between the bug bites and busted lip, so hoping child services is not going to come after us. :)

We had an amazing time. It was wonderful to see family and to see our kids meeting family for the first time. We had a birthday party for Julian and Melvin's dad's 70th separately, so plenty of Dominican Cake to go around! Melvin and I also took a 2-day road trip, leaving the kids with grandma, and explored the entire island with his dad, brother and 3 uncles. Hopefully it won't be too long before we go back. 

Coson Beach - Las Terranas, Samaná

Mission Impossible

...YVR --> LAS red-eye --> EWR --> SDQ (Dominican Republic)
...3 airports = 3 take-offs, 3 landings
...2 sick kids; 1 recovering from croup
...1 luggage full of donations, including 20 lbs worth of Costco products my husband picked up
...1 car seat
...50 degree weather to 91 degree weather
...2 grandparents that will no doubt overwhelm and fight over the 2 sick kids when they arrive


Prayers, miracles...we'll take it.


Santo Domingo, here we come!

When it rains it pours...

Last October, we were in NY for most of the month, so I was curious to see what the weather would be like this month. Well, sun has been in the forecast and we've been quite happy that the consecutive days of rain has not started just yet. We went out to Abbotsford, B.C. a couple weeks ago and went apple and corn picking...we went on a hayride and did the whole "Hudson Valley, NY experience" except in B.C. It was lovely. I really do love Autumn in New York though. 

When I referred to the "rain" in the subject matter, I meant "life"...things were super slow and steady in regards to my daily grind this summer and it was really pleasant. Out of the blue this week, I end up with a part-time job from home (which I'm anxious, but excited about) and had 2 local meetings I've been asked to work on. Also great, by why all the same time?

On top of this, we have Halloween, Kindergarten Registration and of course, our trip to the Dominican Republic next week! As I said, when it rains, it pours...I guess it all contributes to the rainbow afterward though. 

We're slowly packing and getting our donations for D.R. together, as well as praying for uneventful travel with the two kids and an unforgiving flight itinerary. I will surely send an update...before that, Halloween comes first!

The American Cheesesteak Co.

We've been waiting for months and months for this new place to open called The American Cheesesteak Co.  It will be opening a handful of blocks up the road from us on Davie Street. Melvin and I both went to university in Philadelphia, home of the cheesesteak, so we're both curious and skeptical about whether this place will live up to Philly's iconic, greasy, savoury and satisfying cheesesteak. 

There is no official website yet, however, I found this link chronicling the months prior to opening. While it was due to open this past summer, it seems like they've gotten their act together and we saw the staff-in-training today. 

The owner actually went to Philly to see "how a real cheesesteak is made." This was one of the spots he visited. I actually emailed the owner to see if they need us to taste test their product before they open!

Hmm, we'll see what the outcome is! Stay tuned!!

Sample Sales

I forgot to mention in prior posts that this is one of thing major things I miss about NYC-- sample sales! There's a lame website here called www.ilovesamplesales.com but it's really limited and it's geared mainly toward snowboarders!! UGGGHH. There has been maybe one acceptable sale I would've gone to, but it was located way out in Burnaby.

For those that have been missing out and don't know what a sample sale is (shame on you):

Sample sales are used by retail businesses in order to discard excess merchandise. Sometimes these samples have been used by agencies to sell products that they will distribute to local vendors. Sample sales are often associated with the fashion industry. These sales are an opportunity to get near perfect merchandise at a fraction of the price (sometimes up to 80% off). It is often difficult to have information on the date and time of sample sales.

Melvin scored an awesome deal on a snowboard, bindings, boots, the whole deal,  but I've had no luck whatsoever. I just went to a sale tonight looking for skis...all they had were snowboards and boarder type gear. I was quite irritated, came home and as I'm typing this, Melvin just ran out to catch the sale before it closes. See, there's a misunderstanding when people look at us. People assume I'm the shopper in the relationship when in actuality, it is Melvin. 

Trip to Woodbury Commons? Melvin = 5 bags, Coleen = 1, if lucky

Special Day

Today was a special day. While I realize that I will be one of those women that lie about their age, I didn't feel so bad about "aging" today. Perhaps it was the body wrap and deep tissue massage Melvin treated me to on Sunday? Who knows...Melvin worked from home and I spent the morning with Amélie. We all had lunch together and everyone sang that dreaded song and had cake pops from Starbucks (so good, by the way). 

Once Amélie was down for her nap, Julian and I went on a bike ride. The weather is glorious today - perfect Autumn weather with the sun shining, crisp air and various colored leaves on the ground. otally my favorite season - reminds me of my soccer days. As we were riding, I couldn't believe my eyes that 1) I have a 3 year old. 2) He is able to zip around on a bike without training wheels already. 3) We live in Vancouver, like, another country. 

We rode all the way to English Bay (his distance is getting greater and it's so fun) and I was so happy to be home and enjoy the moment. Moments like these, which I would not have enjoyed had I been stuck in an office or traveling for work. It's really nice to come to that realization over and over again, especially when there are times that I question whether it was the right decision. 

Well, enough of that...I'm very excited for dinner at our favorite French Bistro in the city - 

Café Salade de Fruits. Frog's Legs here I come!

Kindergarten

I can't believe I'm already doing this, but we're researching K options for Julian. Since he was born outside of Canada, our situation is a bit more complicated (ugh). We have to register him at this centre (which is not exactly close) BEFORE we can go to each individual school that we are interested in to register him. THEN, we are not guaranteed a spot, but rather in a "lottery" system, since we're in the city and classroom space is limited (like most cities). Luckily, the quality of schools in Canada are pretty similar across the board. Registering for a public 'inner city' school does not mean it has metal detectors at the door.

Here are our options:

Elsie Roy - our neighborhood school. It is 2 blocks away. Who could ask for more in terms of convenience? The view from the school library is outstanding and the locale provides walks to the central library, Vancouver Art Gallery, and boat rides to Granville Island. However, I met the principal and SHE DID NOT impress. Clearly, the school is overcrowded, being the most popular downtown, the teachers have been on strike since January and are teaching but not doing administrative tasks (testing, grading, report cards, etc). Normally, we would recognize all schools have issues, but we have so many other options, we're not sure what to do. 

Henry Hudson - this is a 2 minute drive over Burrard Bridge. Two issues: we have to get in a car to get there and it's full FRENCH IMMERSION. This concept was totally foreign to us. Apparently, the teachers speak french all day long, including all lessons. Melvin is not keen on this as he thinks it'll interfere with Spanish. I'm a bit torn. I think it could be healthy for our kids to learn a foreign tongue and would encourage them to speak Spanish more freely. I mean, when I go to a French restaurant, I can understand most of the menu because I can read Spanish...doesn't that mean the same thing? I am not sure. One thing that concerns us most is that we wouldn't be able to help with homework or would be limited to Google Translator. Since French Immersion is such a popular option here, the overflow school would be Strathcona, which is located on the "east side" (think Harlem, but whiter and trashier). I think I'd be okay with that if we chose to go French Immersion though because it's the same curriculum and Strathcona is getting amazing funding, plus it's important for our kids to see all walks of life in their surroundings.

Tyee Montessori - we are really loving the Montessori Method. Julian's preschool is Montessori and at first we were indifferent about it, but we've seen how positively he's responded to it. It's all about kid-led learning without a teacher in front of a classroom. Without going too much into the method, I think it really promotes independent learning (you know how when you were younger, if the teacher left the room, everyone would turn around and talk to their friends? Well, in a Montessori setting that doesn't happen and kids wouldn't even notice if they left the room. It goes to show how dependent we are on teachers to tell us what's next and what we're supposed to cover that day), teaches time management and self-awareness (the kids create a personal lesson plan with teachers at the start of each week), promotes compassion and respect, as well as responsibility. The kids are in mixed aged classrooms (no grade 1, 2, etc), there are no letter grades (instead, it's typically 'learned', 'mastered', etc) and the older kids are an example to younger kids, help teach each other, etc. They also cover "practical life", like setting the table, knowing when to wash hands, take a break, etc. Anyway, we love it and there is a public option here, BUT it's lottery AND it's a 12 minute drive away. In Vancouver, that translates to "far" and feels more like 45-minutes. I know it's a weird concept but we're not used to driving more than 5-minutes anymore.

THEN, there is Catholic School, St. Patrick's K-12. We never even considered it and are big public school supporters, but we've become parishioners of a church here that is predominantly Filipino and really like the neighborhood. It's about 5-minutes by car and in a really great neighborhood on the nicer part of the east side. Anyway, we had no idea Catholic Schools in B.C. are government subsidized (main reason for consideration)! Therefore, tuition is only $225 - $300 per month for parishioners. Apparently, this is one of the most expensive Catholic Schools too -  crazy cheap. So, it kind of bothers me that it's predominantly Filipino because, as I said, it's really important for the kids to be exposed to all walks of life, BUT we really like the sense of community there and Filipinos are not so bad :)  This will be our back-up.

Phew, so much to think about before NOVEMBER 1st! Yes, we have to register him on Nov. 1st and then when we get back from our trip to D.R., we have to go to each school to register. I think we're honestly going to register to all of them and just see what happens (since it's lottery). The kicker is that I found a SPANISH IMMERSION preschool that is opening Sept. 2012 (for Amélie) which would typically be a no-brainer. However, it's located in North Vancouver, which is a 25-minute drive (now that's far) and over a bridge away in the OPPOSITE direction of all of these schools. Can it get more complicated? Yes...we only have one car.

Also, I think I need to ask myself if I'm okay with sacrificing another 2 years trucking the kids around. I think I pictured in my head that once J is in K, that I can walk Amélie to his current preschool (5 min walk, starts at 8:30am) and then Julian (2 min walk, starts at 9:00am) and then have the morning to myself. Hmm, that would be lovely. Well, we'll know what our future holds by end of February. Updates on this topic to follow!

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!

I wrote about this last year, while we were visiting New York, but now we're actually in Vancouver to enjoy our first Canadian Thanksgiving...in October! It feels SO weird to be at the start of Autumn, and far off from Christmas, to be planning a menu to cook on Thanksgiving. Oh, and on a Monday??

We didn't have a Thanksgiving at all last year because we were in NY in October and then in Vancouver for American Thanksgiving, so I'm REALLY looking forward to making my Maple Roast Turkey, which I have made every year (with the exception of last) since 2001. Traditionally, we (well, my sister and cousin) decorate our Christmas Tree on Thanksgiving. Well, I think October is way too early to be rockin' a tree, so we won't be doing that. There is also typically a football game on, as well, but that is not happenin' in Canada. I guess it's time to start new traditions. 

Initially, we were going to spend it alone as a family, but then my friend asked if we wanted to team up for a dinner. I was going to cook anyway, so the more the merrier. We'll be hosting another family at our place and will be cookin' up some Maple Roast Turkey, Cranberry Sauce, Mashed Potatoes, Stuffing, Green Bean Casserole and Pumpkin Pie! I also took a trip to Michael's and picked up some Autumn crafts for the kids. I love the taste of Thanksgiving:) 

In a way, we are extremely lucky to be able to celebrate two this year! Melvin is promising me some pernil for American Thanksgiving...hmm, we'll see if he comes through. I think he forgot he will have to work that day.

Salud! (Cheers in Spanish)

I love how my kids start the morning by sitting next to each other at the dining table, looking at each other with huge smiles on the faces and clinking their milk glasses, while Julian yells, "Cheers".

Thanks for this wonderful life lesson Tita Robyn!  LOL

We had a blast in Seattle, but just have been so busy to write about. Quick snapshot: we had a nice room at the W Hotel downtown, kids were wonderfully quiet and asleep for most of the car ride back and forth, we picked up packages and mail in our mailbox, we did a cheesy duck tour, but it satisfied Melvin's need to "know more" about the city. We even stopped off at Birch Bay in Washington to throw rocks in the water and look for crab shells. Our highlight was a trip to Trader Joe's and had wonderful meals at Wild Ginger, Le Panier, Athenian Inn, PF Chang's. Trader Joe's and PF Chang's do not exist in Canada. tsk tsk. Man, do we miss the world of consumerism. So bad, but it's really insane how there are SO many stores in the States and they go strong. It's probably the biggest difference we've noticed.

Okay, gotta get Julian to school, but wanted to write about the "Cheers" incident :) hah

Nexus Approved!

Cross often? Make it simple, use NEXUS.

NEXUS is designed to expedite the border clearance process for low-risk, pre-approved travellers into Canada and the United States.

I got the above quote from the Canadian Border Services Agency Website. They make it sound so darn easy! Well, it was technically TOO hard, but it was certainly a process.

1) I had to create separate log-in and passwords for all 4 of us.

2) Adults have a $50 application fee.

3) Each application (yes, 4) took FOREVER to complete and you have to list every country visited the past 5 years. This was a little tough with my elephant memory. I was so cross-eyed by the time I did the last application (Melvin's) that I accidentally entered Mozambique as one of his countries. We had to then send an email since you can't edit an application!

4) Then, we had to wait....and wait, and wait, and wait.

5) Finally, after about 4 weeks, Melvin & I got emails within a day of each other saying we were conditionally approved and we could make appointments for our "interview".

6) 4 weeks AFTER that, the kids got approved (weird), so we had to make their appointments, which at that point were booked for more than a month out after ours.

7) Interview Day: Melvin and I got interviews the same day. The Canadian officer was so mean, said we couldn't process the kids' cards and they had to wait like everyone else. The American officer was SUPER nice (big surprise) and said, "oh, I'll just do the kids too. It's just a formality". Hah. An iris eye scan and fingerprints later, we got approved.

8) Our cards arrived in the mail a week later.

We're heading to Seattle tonight to try them out! Let's see if they really do make a difference in the time it takes to cross the border....our fingers are crossed. We also have some items from Amazon waiting for us in our mailbox. Yay!

Next blog post will be about our Seattle weekend. It'll be my 2nd trip there and Melvin & the kids' first. I tend to think it's very similar to Vancouver, but Vancouver is cleaner and more beautiful, but let's see if I think differently after this weekend.

Until next time!

Earthquake Kit

Julian's school asked us to make an earthquake kit to keep at school. This is certainly not in my 'raised in NY' vocabulary, so needless to say, I was a bit flabbergasted by the task. 

Here is a list of things the requested in a Ziplock bag.


(2) Granola Bars
(1) Bottle of Water

(1) Extra change of clothes (t-shirt, pants, underwear, socks)

(1) Stuffed Toy / Item of Comfort

1-2 Photographs of Parents and Family

A letter from parents

Out-of-town Emergency Contact Details

My friend explained that it's really important to just think of it as worse case scenario. Like, if I was stuck on Granville Island and couldn't get across the water and Julian had to spend the night with his teachers and classmates. She said think of that as I'm prepping the bag and then just forget about it...yeah, that's real easy to do after you write a letter to your child "just in case"!

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!