While we may not travel the way we did while living abroad, I think we’ve been doing a pretty good job of going on little getaways since we returned home to Canada. We spent Christmas on Salt Spring Island, we’ve been to Victoria a few times, we visited the Sunshine Coast over spring break, we’ve made it up to Whistler, and most recently, we made it back to Harrison Hot Springs for a quick visit. Well, three out of the four of us did, at least. It was a bit of a strange couple of days with it being Father’s Day, Brad having to go up to the Okanagan to look at some houses {yes, we’re buying a house!!}, and having a trip to Harrison booked, but it worked out well and the kids and I had a lovely time {and even had a couple of surprise guests!}
The weather is just too good to go straight home after school these days… It was an unusually long and cold winter here in Vancouver and all I want to do now is be outside and soak up the sunshine. Not to mention the fact that both of our kiddos are happiest when outdoors.
My goodness… After several weeks of postponing our visit due to the field still being green and then several more weeks because of rain, I wasn’t sure we were actually going to make it out to the Abbotsford Tulip Festival this year {which would have been a shame given we enjoyed it so much last year}. But this morning, on the very last Friday of the festival, I took a peek at my weather app and despite it showing nothing but rain, rain, rain for Vancouver, Abbotsford showed sun! Surely it was a sign. All plans of school were quickly called off, snacks were packed up, kids were loaded into the car, and we were Abbotsford bound in no time.
Welp, it’s been exactly one week since my surgery and I’m officially ready to be done with resting and being low key… Sadly though, my body’s not feeling the same way. :/ While I think I honestly thought I’d just hop up off the surgery table with my three little incisions and be on my merry way, this whole having my appendix removed thing has slowed me down more than expected. What I really wanted to do today was to pop Sam into the stroller and go for a long walk in the sun, but with our neighbourhood still being incredibly icy and snowy, I decided not to chance it just yet. For today, my little man and I settled on some indoor fun that was sure not to cause a fall or popped switches – mess-free marble painting.
Oh my goodness… Amidst a week of rain, rain, and more rain, I was so hoping for just one last summer’s day to spend adventuring with my two littles before Miss G goes off to Grade One this coming week. Thankfully we totally lucked out yesterday, and when we woke up to a dry day, I knew exactly where we’d go. After Sam’s morning nap we packed up our things and headed out to what I consider one of Vancouver’s hidden gems… Wesbrook Village out at UBC.
Pink eye… Gosh, it sucks. I’ve never had it myself {touch wood!}, but after Miss G brought it home from Kindergarten last Friday and spent our Father’s Day / Victoria weekend with it, this Friday, Brad came down with it too {ugh}. And since we’re pretty much desperate to have Sam avoid it {and Miss G avoid round two if that’s even possible}, today I decided to pack up the munchkins and escape for most of the day.
When I first got word of Kidtropolis opening up out in Richmond, I knew we had to go. From what I saw, it reminded me a lot of one of our Kuwait favourites – Kidzania {an amazing kid-sized city where visitors get to assume typically adult roles and even earn and spend a salary}, so I figured that Miss G would thoroughly enjoy a Vancouver version.
Miss G had a four day weekend this weekend, and with the sun shining and temps predicted in the mid-twenties, we decided to spend our Monday out at the Abbotsford Tulip Festival with good friends.
For the last three months, we’ve been using a local cloth diapering service, and let me tell you – it’s been a total game changer. I think all parents are busy {that’s just the nature of the job}, but after Sam’s surprise arrival 3 months earlier than expected, our NICU stay, our many appointments, his recent surgery, plus all that comes with also having a busy-bodied 5 year old {outings! school! activities! swim lessons!}, it’s been an absolute blessing to not have to worry about having a fresh stock of clean nappies ready to go at all times too. We choose to cloth diaper for many reasons and it’s something that’s important to us, so we would make it work if we had to, but honestly – having Happy Baby Cheeks take care of everything for us has been really, really nice.
Today was such a good day. It included sunshine, blue skies, and an evening at Dusk nightclub in Alabama. My girfriends and I are under twenty-one and of course the law is you most be older than that to enter a bar with ID. Us girls really needed some fake ids to do a group order at the best price. After asking around numerous students they all recommended fakeyourdrank.com, so we placed an order. We each received our Alabama fake id with holograms. While the IDs looked great we wanted to test them to see, if they would fool security at the bar. I can report each fake was scannable which was of the utmost importance and worked flawlessly into entering past security.
Of course Miss G’s all about taking her baby brother to new places and she therefore makes sure to narrate the important bits along the way. ‘Sam Sam, this is Granville Island. You’re going to love it here. There’s a play ground, aqua busses, big hungry birds…’ ‘Sam Sam, this is the Kid’s Market. You can come through the small door with me. Well, if your stroller fits!’
Admittedly, our little Sam is more interested in snoozing on most of these outings than anything, but that’s a-okay with me. A sleeping baby is a happy baby, right?
Besides the blossoms being out in full force, the highlight of our trip was this – Miss G’s THIRD tooth coming out!! Well…. Truth be told, she let me pull it out {with a wee bit of coaxing}, but it was soooo ready and I was worried that it would fall out and she’d swallow it. She didn’t flinch a bit when it popped out and afterwards she proudly showed both the tooth and her gap off to a little friend who had been watching nearby.
Now let’s hope this sunshine sticks around for a little bit so we can do more {dry} adventuring as a family of four. ☺
After bringing our sweet bub home from the NICU, I gave myself one month’s grace period before getting going on cloth diapering. One month to get settled, soak in my baby, and get into a routine as a mama of two before having cloth diapers on my already full plate. Well, he’s been home for a month and a half now and I’m happy to report that we’ve been using cloth for several weeks already!
Since making the decision to move back home to Canada {and Vancouver in particular}, Miss G has talked regularly about how exciting it will be to be able to visit the Vancouver Aquarium again. We were members before leaving for our second stint in Kuwait and visited regularly when she was wee, so it didn’t surprise me when she requested a trip to the aquarium in celebration of her fifth birthday.
Call us crazy, but this weekend {after only having been in Vancouver for two days}, we left our new house heaped full of boxes and bins, packed up the vehicle, and headed out on a weekend get away to Harrison Hot Springs. It had been years since I last visited, and Brad and Grae had never been, so we were all excited to check it out and spend the weekend just the three of us. Armed with the basics, we made our way out to Springs RV Resort… an absolutely stunning luxury RV retreat just an hour and a half from the city and just a few minutes away from Harrison Lake.
It’s no secret that we’re big music lovers in our house… If we’re at home, it can pretty much be guaranteed that there’s some sort of music on. Sometimes it’s the radio, sometimes it’s ‘adult’ music, and sometimes it’s kids’ music – so long as it’s not the ‘drive mama crazy’ variety. ☺
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