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…
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.
We spent our morning in the house, and by the time the afternoon rolled around, we were more than ready to get out and enjoy the sunshine. We brought along some bubbles, some sidewalk chalk, and my camera and headed out into the front yard. Sometimes a little sunshine is just what you need.
Today was Brad’s virtual Saturday, so we headed down to Bellingham for our monthly stock up and some fun. First, we hit up our two favourites, Trader Joe’s and Target for the essentials. Gracen was a champ about spending a couple of hours roaming up and down store isles and enjoyed riding around inside the shopping carts. Afterwards, she and Papa headed to the mall’s play area while I got in a full 45 minutes of clothes shopping by myself (a post-Grae first)! It was already past nap time, so we snuck in a quick lunch at the Chipotle knock-off, The Habenero Factory, and hit the road to do a few errands while G snoozed in her seat.
Gracen awoke from her nap to find that we were parked out front of this shop (hmmm…wonder whose stop this was…) and naturally, we had to get out of the car to investigate the big green guy. She wasn’t so sure of him at first, but she quickly warmed up to him and ended up giving him 5s, kissing his knees, and rubbing his rock hard abs. After all that, I’d say Miss G and The Hulk are good friends, wouldn’t you?
Tired and done with shopping, we headed back towards home when we decided to make an impromptu stop in White Rock. It was absolutely freezing by the ocean, but we layered up and headed towards the beach. Lucky for us, a train was making its way down the tracks as we got to the boardwalk. Grae watched closely as it nosily clunked on by, until it stopped. I mean, completely stopped, creating a barrier between us and the beach. We waited and watched until it finally started with a jolt, and continued along its path.
Gracen loved ‘Grizlee’, the bear statue and kissed his fur (she’s all about kissing things she likes right now) and rode on his back. We played on the grass, collected rocks, threw them in the ocean, and walked along the boardwalk until we were frozen solid and could no longer stand being out in the wind.
Once we got home, our little helper helped empty all of the grocery bags, we ate dinner, and it was bath time and bedtime for G after a long day.
After a lazy morning at home, I knew we’d both enjoy getting out for the afternoon. So when Grae woke up from her nap and had had her quiet time, I asked her if she wanted to go to the beach. As soon as I said “beach”, she started signing ‘Rock! Rock!’ (we always collect rocks at the beach), then ‘Birdie!’ (we watch the crows and seagulls), followed by ‘Drink! Drink!’ (we often cross the street to get hot drinks at Starbucks). Smart little cookie. I took that as a yes.
Today Grae and I had a busy day filled with all things green. It started out with a happy little munchkin waking up extra early and extra hungry, so we got to it and prepared a green breakfast.
Finding something green to wear was a bit of a challenge as this little lady has very little green in her closet, but it was nothing a ridiculously big green bow couldn’t fix. It was so adorable in fact, that we ended up having a little impromptu St. Patty’s Day photo shoot.
The weather forecast called for a rainy, snowy morning, but by 9:30, neither had made an appearance so we packed up our things and headed down to Granville Island to get some fresh air and do some exploring. We picked up our usual Granville Island treats (Terra Bread cheese flutes for G and a coffee for Mama) and headed to the playground where Gracen played in sand, slid on repeat, and made some friends.
Afterwards we headed back to the Public Market area and visited the birds, boats, and performers like usual. Apparently Grae was pooped after a crisp morning outdoors because she was out like a light after just a minute in the car.
After a great nap, I prepared lunch while Gracen begged for pieces of green onion below me. I ended up giving her a whole green onion and the little monkey was pleased as punch, headed to the living room with it, and chowed down. Luckily she saved enough room for our green lunch. The afternoon turned out to be beautiful too, so we took advantage of it and headed outside to do some art. Grae was beyond excited to use bingo dabbers (sadly, we didn’t have green, so we ended up with blue and rainbow coloured shamrocks, but oh well…) and dug the sidewalk chalk as usual.
By late afternoon, G had worked up an appetite, so we whipped up a quick green smoothie to hit the spot. Shortly after, it was time for our last green meal of the day. Of course this little monkey carefully picked out and ate each pine nut and avocado chunk before eating anything else.
Gracen’s second St. Patrick’s Day… Whew! How things have changed in a quick year. Just take a look at my chubby-cheeked, spiky-haired little munchkin last year.
Today Bradley took the vehicle to work, which left my little adventurer and I car-less for the first time ever. Of course there were a couple of walks in between bouts of rain, the usual stories, and some favourite games, but not having wheels definitely sparked some silliness… Just check these out:
In the backyard caw-ing at crows.
Buckling Quatchi for safety.
Attempting to walk in Mama’s shoes.
Bottoms up while smelling the flowers.
Hanging out in the dryer.
Hahaha! Hopefully it’s business as usual tomorrow.
Papa getting off work early + picking him up at the Canada Line station + stopping at a new park on the way home = Pretty much the best thing ever in Miss G’s books
Gracen LOVES rocks. It’s a new obsession of hers. Everywhere we go, she stops to carefully select new rocks to add to her collection. We take them in the house, wash them with warm soapy water, and add them to her yellow bowl that sits on our counter. Crazy, I know. Well imagine today when we pulled up to our usual scrapbook supply store and found this instead of a sidewalk. Miss G was in rock heaven. She sat there for several minutes, and inspected rock after rock in order to fulfill Mama’s ‘just one’ rule. It took some time, but she finally picked out the perfect one and we carried on our way. Silly little doodle.
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.