Maplewood Farm Visit

6 / 15 / 126 / 16 / 12

I had planned to sub today, but late last night, we decided that I’d skip what would have been my final work day this school year, and we’d head over the bridge to North Van as a family instead. And I’m so glad we did. With me working the weekdays that Brad has off, our one day a week as a family often becomes a ‘to do day’ instead of a day to get out, do something fun, and enjoy one another’s company.

A trip to Maplewood Farm as a family was just what we needed. The sun shone all day, we all had a blast, and Gracen got to show her Papa all of her animal friends she met on our last visit. We brought along with us a picnic lunch, a bag of bird seed, and by recommendation of North Shore Mama, some fresh mint for the rabbits (best tip ever seeing as the rabbits are so well fed that they turn away carrots and lettuce left and right, but gobbled up our mint leaves!)

Ooh! And did I mention that our visit cost a whopping $5?! When I got an email from Groupon advertising 2 adult admissions and 2 child admissions all for $10, I jumped on the deal. Little did I know, Groupon was having a deal of their own – $5 off any Groupon. Whew! Doesn’t get much better than that, now does it? Especially since admission for the 3 of us would normally cost about $20. (Have I mentioned that becoming part of the Ogasawara family has made me a sucker for a good deal?!)

Here’s our visit in photos…
The ‘moos’.

Pot-bellied piggies.

‘Hello, turkey!’

Gracen’s favourite – the horses.

Duck feeding.

‘Come, ducks. Come!’

Papa and his little lady.

Family favourite – goat visiting!

Goat watching.

Hands washed and ready for lunch.

Picnic lunch!

Duck feeding never gets old.

Fresh mint for the bunnies.

Cow milking.

Kisses.

Farmer Grae.

Last stop – the playground.

Do you think she enjoyed our day?

♥

Penguins!

5 / 24 / 125 / 24 / 12

Although I really wanted to take Gracen to the members only penguin premier last week, events that start at 5:30 p.m. don’t really work for our 6:30 p.m. to bed gal. But that’s okay. I’ll happily skip evening events order to continue having a little lady that sleeps 12 hours through the night and another 2 during the day any day of the week. In our house, a well-rested munchkin equals a happy mama. We meant to get to the aquarium the day after the premier, but play dates and days-too-gorgeous-to-not-spend-at-the-beach got in our way. We finally made it there this morning though, and let me tell you, the penguins are ridiculously cute. They even wear beaded bracelets around their flippers. The penguin show was good {from what I could hear over the audience chatter} and the new habitat is pretty cool, albeit smaller and less grand than what I was expecting. Gracen’s favourite part was a little kids’ area they had set up in a corner where they were offering penguin bingo sheets and mini pencils. The only thing I was a little disappointed about was the fact that there is no seating or standing area where children can see the penguins when they’re up on the rock area of their environment (which is where they were both times we visited). Of course, you can just hold them up for a better view, but it makes for tired arms and a lack of good photo opportunities if you’re the only parent accompanying your child. A little inconvenient, but not a deal breaker. We enjoyed seeing the penguins enough to stop by twice during our visit and will definitely be back again.

♥

Aquarium Date

4 / 13 / 124 / 14 / 12

Today Gracen and I got to go on a long overdue date with an old friend of mine and her adorable little girl, Jaiden. We met up at the aquarium and spent our morning visiting with creatures of the ocean and tropics. The highlights included being some of few who got to watch a seal training and feeding session, seeing a freshly-born monkey, and watching our little girls walk from tank to tank holding hands (melt my heart). Here are a few shots from our day:

♥

Bloedel Conservatory: Round 2

4 / 2 / 123 / 1 / 14

Today we headed back to the Bloedel Conservatory in Queen Elizabeth Park, but this time with friends! Gracen and Ava had a great time together and Jordan was the most wonderful helper and role model. How cute is this? Melt my heart. ♥

Sunday Morning at Granville Island

3 / 25 / 123 / 25 / 12

This weekend was GORGEOUS and today was no exception. Wanting to take full advantage of the weather, Gracen and I got ready and headed down to Granville Island just after breakfast. Our morning was filled with all of the usual Granville Island treats… Good coffee, delicious bread, quality time with the birds, playground fun, boat watching, and sunshine! It doesn’t get much better than this…

‘Hello, birdies!’

Boat watching.

Chilling out waterfront.

‘Why don’t the birds want to play with me?’

‘Wheeeeee!’

Getting dirty.

Tunnel walking.

Checking things out.

Captain Gracen.

Cool girl.

Goat Petting

3 / 23 / 123 / 27 / 12

My little animal lover in action…

Maplewood Farm Visit

3 / 23 / 123 / 23 / 12

Today Little G and I had the most wonderful visit to Maplewood Farm, a little piece of rural paradise tucked at the base of Mount Seymour in North Vancouver. The sun was shining, the temperature was just right, and although it was a busy day due to Spring Break, we never felt crowded or rushed. Gracen had the freedom to roam and explore, but always stayed near. We slowly made our from paddock to paddock, visiting the animals and taking in the nature along the way. It was perfect. Here’s a very small sampling of photos from the hundreds I managed to take during our 2 hour visit…

First stop – visiting this colourful feathery friend.

Visiting the turkeys.

An adorable miniature donkey.

Hanging out with the hens.

Roaming with the roosters.

Taking in the garden and its visitors.

One of Gracen’s favourites.

She wanted to come back to visit this beautiful peacock again and again.

A new friend.

These Belgian draft horses, Tom and Prince, were another favourite. Gracen watched them very closely as they lowered their heads and exhaled deeply while letting their lips flap together and then mimicked this behaviour during the remainder of our visit.

Enamoured with the horses. I think she would have stayed here all morning if I hadn’t convinced her to move on.

Taking a break and watching the ducks on the pond.

Exploring.

Collecting bits of nature, as usual.

Offering the ducks a twig. For some reason, they weren’t all that enthused. Weird.

Getting a sneak peak of the farm’s jersey cow.

Watching the sheep.

In the forest paddock. So amazing that this is part of the city.

Grae thought this goat was pretty funny and giggled at him again and again while calling him “Papa”… Not sure what that’s about other than we have a non-fiction book about goats that explains that male goats have beards and when we read it, I call them ‘papa goats’. Maybe she was making the connection?

The highlight of the trip was being able to go into the goat visiting area and actually touch the goats.

Miss G was brave!

I showed her how to hold her hand out flat for the goats to smell first, and that’s exactly what she did.

This teeny tiny baby goat was experiencing his first day outside with the public and was a hit with all of the visitors.

Waving goodbye.

These little guys were just roaming around as we made our way over to the hand washing station.

Checking out Sofie and Judy III, the giant hereford cows. Of course Gracen moo-ed at them as she tried to wedge her little wrist through the wire fence to pet their fur.

Visiting the rabbits. Gracen stood up and signed ‘Rabbit sleeping’ after seeing this chubby bunny.

Stopping to see Gus the goose.

Inside the cement duck pond visiting area.

Getting a close up view of Lima, the jersey cow.

Lunch break!

We loved the goat visiting area so much that we had to go back to visit once more before leaving the farm.

Lucky for us, it was much less busy the second time around and Grae got to put it some quality time with her goat friends.

Saying goodbye for real this time.

After this visit, we may just have a little future farmer on our hands.

Last stop, the Maplewood Farm playground.

A perfect way to end a lovely morning outdoors!

Our trip ended with a very content little lady falling asleep in her car seat as we drove back into Vancouver. When we arrived at home, I transferred her into her crib, where she lays now, still sleeping, over two hours later. I’d say the fresh air, sunshine, and farm life tired her right out… Yay for that.

The Bloedel Conservatory

3 / 6 / 123 / 6 / 12

This afternoon Gracen and I finally ventured out to a place we’ve been meaning to visit for a while – the Bloedel Conservatory in Queen Elizabeth Park. Grae was in heaven before making it anywhere near the dome. The surrounding area is home to sculptures, fountains, and endless room to run, which was more than enough for our easy-to-please little lady. We took our time, explored a little, watched the fountains again and again, and eventually made our way to the doors. Inside the conservatory is a little slice of the tropics. Exotic plants and tropical flowers fill the dome from ground to ceiling and birds fly freely over head. Mix that with the warmth, humidity, and sounds of running water and birds calling, and you feel like you’re on vacation in the rainforest. Of course, Grae soaked up every second. Birds, flowers, sunshine… This place was right up her alley. We slowly wandered along the paths visiting birds and stopping to smell flowers along the way. The absolute favourite of the day had to be a little cove inhabited by several small birds and one larger parrot. There was a puddle of water in front and Gracen was absolutely fascinated by the fact that the birdies were having a bath. She repeatedly signed ‘Bird. Bath!’ with big eyes and a look of disbelief on her face as we watched them and then requested that we go back to the bird bath several times later on. Here are some photos of our afternoon:

A little unsure of the fountains.

Much braver when they weren’t at full power.

Taking in the view of downtown Vancouver and the mountains.

Ruby, the bird that greeted us in the cashier station.

Macaw watching.

Carmen and Maria, green-winged macaws.

Flower sniffing.

The pink orchids were G’s favourites.

Must. smell. each. and. every. flower.

Kiwi, the talking bird. I think he fancied G quite a lot… He kept saying, “Muwah!” and “I love you” whenever she got near.

Clyde, an Eastern rosella parrot.

Very into Clyde.

Watching the birdies bathe. Completely captivated.

Bird talk.

Mmmmm… Flowers!

Grae told me that these leaves were “pretty pretty pretty”.

Casey, a yellow-headed Amazon parrot.

Copying Casey’s calls (scarily well actually).

Outside after a great visit with her birdie friends.

Soaking up the sunshine.

Our visit was probably only an hour long (and that was walking through twice), but it was so much fun. We’ll definitely be back again soon, and hopefully this time with a picnic to enjoy outside afterwards.

An Afternoon at the Aquarium

2 / 5 / 123 / 6 / 12

The weather was gorgeous today, so Gracen and I decided to head down to Stanley Park to visit the aquarium.

First stop – the beluga whales.

Next stop – the sea otters. This little guy was totally performing for Grae and she was just soaking it in. Sea otters have to be one of the cutest creatures ever.

After being outside for an hour and a half, we headed inside to warm up a little bit. Grae loves the giant tank by the entrance way that is filled with all kinds of sea creatures.

Next we headed to the dolphin underwater viewing area.

This dolphin was very playful with Grae and provided all kinds of entertainment by doing flips and twists, touching her nose to the glass, and diving in and out of the water.

After seeing most of the main exhibits, we parked our stroller and headed into Clownfish Cove for some playtime.

Gracen explored, played, and made some new friends before it was time to head downtown and meet Bradley for dinner.