After our recent Shopping Sense tour, some of my {awesome} mama blogger friends and I planned on grabbing a cup of coffee, sitting down, and catching up for a bit. The thing was, it was already lunch time, we were all hungry, and the kiddos were tired of being restrained in shopping carts. They needed to play. So where can you go to catch up with friends, grab a fresh delicious meal, and let your kiddos play all at once? Luckily we were in my hood and I knew the perfect place. Rocky Mountain Flatbread Company.
I’ve written about Rocky Mountain Flatbread Company before, but if you haven’t heard their story before, it’s truly pretty amazing. First off, their entire menu is designed to use the freshest, most nutritious ingredients possible. The produce they use is local and organic, the meats are Canadian and free range or organic, and their seafood is all Ocean Wise approved. Their promise is that their food includes minimal salt and sugar and absolutely no GMOs, additives, or preservatives. (Talk about a place you can feel good about eating out at!) Of course, every single thing – from dough to sauces to breads and desserts – is made fresh on site. And it doesn’t stop there. Rocky Mountain Flatbread restaurants are all carbon neutral. Amazing, right? (Read about how they do it here.) In addition to all of this, they pride themselves on being family-friendly, which is huge when you’ve got munchkins in tow. The Main Street location, which we visited, has an awesome little kitchen area, complete with felt food and miniature aprons, that kept our wee ones happy during a nearly two hour visit. And as always, the food was delicious.
What I just learned about Rocky Mountain Flatbread Company, and didn’t know before is that they do all kinds of fun special events. Some, like their family nights, date nights, and pizza making nights happen on a weekly basis, and others, like the Green Cleaning Products workshop I’m attending next week, happen only on special dates. Please note that this camp takes place in Vancouver, BC on March, 21st and is open to children ages 7 through 12. The winners will be chosen at random on Friday, March 15th, 2013.
There are FOUR ways to enter. Please leave a SEPARATE comment for each:
–> Leave a comment telling us why your child would enjoy this camp
-> ‘Like’ Rocky Mountain Flatbread Company on Facebook, come back here and leave a comment saying you did so (or already did)
–> ‘Like’ Mama.Papa.Bubba. on Facebook, come back here and leave a separate comment saying you did so (or already did)
–> Follow us on Twitter come back here and leave a separate comment saying you did so (or already did)
–> Tweet about the giveaway and leave a separate comment saying you did so
(Win a FREE @flatbreadCo Kid’s Camp spot on Mama.Papa.Bubba.com! https://mamapapabubba.com/2013/03/08/a-local-favourite-rocky-mountain-flatbread-company/ #YVR #giveaway #springbreak)
Obviously the more times you enter, the better your chances of winning. ☺ Don’t forget to leave your email address! The winner will be announced on March 15th and contacted via email. Good luck!!
♥
For extra fun, like us on Facebook here and find us on Instagram here.
Something I absolutely love doing on weekends is going on little family adventures. Driving to a part of the city we don’t frequent often, parking the car, and exploring. Add in a sunny gorgeous day after a long run of rainy ones, and it’s that much better.
It seems like one of our weekend traditions has become going out for afternoon tea as a family of three. We have lots of little local cafes we love to support around the city, but one thing I’ve noticed is that many of them close between 4 and 5, which often doesn’t work out well with Gracen’s afternoon nap. 
While they don’t have a kids’ area like many of our favourites do, I did spy a big empty corner near the washrooms that would make a perfect kid-friendly space, so maybe it’ll happen one day? I don’t know… I do realize not every establishment wants to cater to children and I completely understand, but I can still hope right? ☺
Our drinks were good, the baked goods were yummy, and the overall space was lovely – bright, open, and modern. Gracen loved watching food being made from above and I enjoyed {politely} checking out the 
We arrived to find everything set up for us and ready to go. Miss G was given a large paint smock, and together we painted all of the pieces according to Grae’s colour selections. While the paint dried, Gracen got washed up and played with the felt boards in the little nook, and then we drew the faces on with pencil and markers afterwards. 
The project was difficult enough to absolutely require our involvement, but easy enough to allow Gracen to participate in the process fully. In the end, we left for home with a very happy bubba and our new nesting dolls in a box.
And judging by its popularity already, I just know that this colourful wooden family is going to quickly become a favourite.
Story time with Mrs. Claus.
A visit to Santa.
Lovely horses in the post office.
Santa’s toy workshop.
Elf school in the barn.
Goofy Gracen and Papa.
It’s no secret that 
The feature film was 
After The Polar Express, we all gathered around the Pacific Canada Pavillion to await the arrival of the jolly old fellow in the red suit.
It seems he had carelessly dropped his jingle bells in the tank and therefore needed to hop in and search for them…
Luckily, with a very excited audience cheering him on, he found his bells and all was right in the world again. ☺
Today we popped in and after very patiently waiting for me to browse the selection of new items, Gracen retrieved a brown paper bag and began filling it with treasures of all sorts. With a tiny bit of help from Mama {who had specific projects in mind}, the bag was brimming with crafting goodies in no time.
In the end, this is what we came home with in Gracen’s $6 bag… Everything from gift wrap to acetate sheets to brown boxes to medicine bottles and puzzle pieces…
This is how I found Miss G this morning. I was getting ready for the day while she played independently when she came to me and asked for a bowl of o’s. I retrieved her one and went to deliver them to her room to find that she had laid out a blanket, circled it with books, and was needing the o’s in order to read her Cheerio book.
Just recently, we found another way celebrate Grae’s love of reading. Through the 
At our location, the lady who runs story time (Erin) is absolutely amazing! She’s soft and gentle and makes a purpose to get to know each child and call them by name. She’s just one of those people who is meant to be around kids, you know? She’s got this way about her that makes you drawn to listen to her every word, and it totally works. Gracen enjoys each moment and then asks if we can go again the following week. 
We normally arrive a little bit early so we can explore and take in the beauty that is PBK, and then we stay for a little bit afterwards so that Grae can play. We never feel like we’re overstaying our welcome – in fact, the staff members are very sweet and invite Gracen to play and explore for as long as she likes.
Located on the corner of Fraser and 19th (not far from our other munckin-friendly cafe, The Outpost), SweetSalt is super bright and inviting, even on the gloomiest of days. We ordered some hot drinks, a couple of baked treats, and settled in. 
The coffee was strong, the pretzels were exactly as they should be, and Brad’s hot chocolate was ridiculously large and serve in a beautiful bowl (we also ordered a cinnamon bun, but it disappeared so quickly that I didn’t manage to get a bite… I take it it was delicious).
The cafe, though beautifully decorated, maintains a very laid-back vibe, making parents visiting with children feel completely at ease. Gracen (along with two other little ones at the cafe at the time), played freely in the kids’ corner, made her way back to our table for a bite of pretzel now and then, and then back again for more fun and at no point did we feel like she was in the way or bothering other patrons. The play area was fully stocked with a mini kitchen, cooking tools, a chalkboard-topped table, colouring pages and crayons, wooden building blocks, nesting cups, and toy trucks, which was perfect for keeping our little lady happily busy for our entire visit. And though we didn’t bring ours in, there was plenty of aisle space for strollers, not to mention a big bathroom, complete with stroller space, a change table, a step stool for hand washing, and possibly the most adorable alphabet cards turned wall art I’ve ever seen.
On the way out, the super sweet owner, who is also a local mom, sent us on our way with a loaf of pumpkin seed bread and this adorable little dragon-shaped chocolate chip pastry (we visited just before closing on a Saturday) and both were absolutely delicious. So delicious, in fact, that we may have to make a weekly trip just for the bread alone.
Wee cowgirl on a wee pony.
Puppy dog face.
Goats need hugs too.
‘Hello piggy!’
Back to the riding ring.
On the ‘BIIIIG’ pony, as requested.
Doesn’t get much better.
Cowgirl Grae.
Tractor driving.
Bouncy horse!
A giant sensory pit… the hay pile.
Yay for hay.
Ahhh… Comfy.
Future firefighter?
“Big fishie!”
Friends.
Dolphin watching.
Dolphin Grae.
Dolphin talk.
Perhaps this will lure them over?
Arm painting.
“Mama! Grae Grae penguin on arm!”
Penguin puppet.
Sniff sniff.
Following the music.
Bouncy castle sliding.
Sitting still.
A little kitty.
Star decorating.
‘1, 2, 3, 4, 5 G’s!’
Dancing time.
Bubba and her balloon.
Gracen really enjoyed the play areas. Besides loving the different types of swings (as she always does), she really liked the playgrounds too. Both were different than the ones we normally visit and had some great new tunnels and climbing structures for her to try out.
The wading pool was a hit also. Although it was COLD (like really cold), she was happy to alternate pool play periods with warm up breaks on our blanket in the sunshine. What I really liked was that I could easily go in wearing my skirt and because it was so shallow, I felt comfortable sitting along the edge while Miss G splashed her little heart out.