British Columbia 2010: 3 of 3

FINALLY! The last post from our big B.C. trip!

OK, so Vancouver is in the rearview mirror and laid out in front of us is the Tsawwassen ferry terminal in all its glory. We got on a morning sailing in order to take advantage of Auntie Jan's time off of work with a bit of a day visit on the Thursday. The weather was pretty nice for the sailing, but the wind was up a bit. Highlights from the trip include:

White Spot breakfast for the family.

Trying to track down the "captain" of the ship on all decks (essentially a wild goose chase for the chief steward's office - he actually gave the kids colouring books, so that was cool)

Playing around in the sparsely-furnished kids' area (inventory: one slide, two plastic boats to sit on). Shockingly, the kids both loved this stop. Maybe they will be minimalists when they grow up.





When we got to the Island, we set up camp at our third HQ and got our bearings. This included meeting the dogs (Scout and Lucy), exploring the yard and checking out all of the cool toys people had lent Auntie Jan and Uncle Brian. Once again, Leo was ambivalent regarding the dogs (unless they seriously got in his way) while Max was skittish. By the end of the visit, though, Max was talking about being sad without Mr. Scout so he is definitely working on his fear of dogs (developed when he was a wee one and was nipped by a few small dogs).


While we were on the Island, we had a few adventures, including:

a street fair in Sidney. We shopped a bit, checked out some local musicians, ate some mini doughnuts and hung out with the locals. And yes, the kids were photographed in the company of mascots. Holly adds: At least they come by this honestly as we have multiple pictures of John with mascots over the years and Uncle Murray WAS a mascot in high school. Those wild Stardom genes!

a day trip to Victoria. This included the Victoria Bug Zoo (where Leo crawled on the ant display and instantly became covered in the critters - yuck), a sumptuous lunch at rebar where we ran into a Trent housemate of Holly's who we haven't seen in 10 years with her new baby who is almost the same age as Leo, a trip to Silk Road tea shop to stock up on some of our favourite teas, and a gelato stop where Max got his own free kiddie cone. Furthermore, the Naval Centennial was being celebrated out there at the time so rumour has it that there was some eye candy of the international marine variety.

a morning trip out to Island View beach. We were apparently outsiders, given that we brought children instead of dogs. No matter, we still had some great times in the sand.

a trip out to East Sooke Park, including lunch at the My-Chosen Café in Mutchosin. This park is one of Holly's favourite places ever. A view of the sea. Beachcombing. Hiking. Beautiful scenery. Oh yeah, Leo threw up at the restaurant.

a visit with Brenda and Jim, friends of the family. We had a wonderful evening and the "big kids" at the house really took Max under their wing. He was honoured to eat at their table and join them for some TV.




While we were on the Island, the World Cup of Soccer got underway. Max hadn't seen much soccer before, so I thought I would educate him regarding the sport during one of the early mornings when Leo and Holly were still sleeping. There were two things that Max really latched on to, both of which surprised me and still come up almost daily...six weeks later! First, Max was gaga for the refs. Holly believes that Max was amazed by the fact that adults could reprimand adults...better yet, that it could be done using colourful pieces of paper...better yet that the red piece of paper essentially kicks a person right out of the game. The first mind-blowing moment for him came in Portugal's first game when two players simultaneously earned yellow cards. He talked about the ref getting two people in trouble for days. Yellow cards and red cards have even made their way into our discipline tactics, and they are quite effective. I joke all the time about how in phys ed., when everybody else is either running to get into the game or willfully moping on the bench, Max will be the one kid crying because the teacher won't let him adjudicate. At home, we have to try to get him to play goalie or player, as opposed to reffing. So funny.

Anyway, the second thing that caught Max's attention was in a game between Serbia and Ghana, maybe? Anyway, the ball had gone out of bounds and so the cameras presented a couple of shots of rambunctious fans. One of them was topless, wearing a lot of body paint and enjoying a beverage. Max asked "Who that guy?" and I answered that it was a soccer fan. I expanded, saying that's what soccer fans looked like; they did not wear shirts and drank beer. Max immediately shot back "I want to be a fan. I want to drink beard." So he convinces me to strip down, he takes off his shirt and then there we are, two fans on the couch. No wait, then Holly comes into the room brandishing two bottles of Keith's, doles them out and THEN, we are fans. To this day, every time Max sees either a topless person or our friend Jamie, he asks "Is that person a fan?" Awesome.


Finally, on our last day out west, Max and Leo had some adventures alone with Holly and Auntie Jan.

Holly adds: We had a totally awesome day. We went to the Beacon Hill Children's Farm, an amazing kid-centred petting zoo in Beacon Hill Park. Max was on a bit of an emotional roller-coaster that day so it was hard for anything to keep his interest for more than a few minutes but Leo loved it. The centrepiece of the zoo is the goat enclosure where dozens of very friendly mama goats and kids jump about and patiently get petted and groomed by everyone. Leo and Auntie Jan got lots of goat love! Max did enjoy grooming the goats - the boy loves him some tools! After the farm, we went to a great little diner on the edge of the park for lunch and some great soft-serve ice cream.





A tad blurry but the joy of a blueberry swirl cone is still pretty palpable, no?

Where was I on that last day? Well, thanks to a car-booking snafu, we were forced to drive the car back to Kelowna as we weren't allowed to do a one-way drop without incurring something like a $2,000 surcharge. Not kidding. So Holly had the brainwave to do the drive the day before the trip ended and then have me fly back in the evening to pack. That had me leaving on the 7 a.m. sailing out of Swartz Bay and arriving in Kelowna at 3 p.m. for a 6 p.m. flight back to Victoria. The weather cooperated beautifully, the Mitsubishi Lancer was a gas mileage all-star and my iPod was cranked all the way to 11.

Here are some other, random pictures from the third leg:


Daddy and Leo catching some Zs

Chiilin' in Auntie Jan and Uncle Brian's wicked garden

Max and Uncle Brian had a blast giving each other rides in this tricked-out garden wagon.

What's this picture doing here? This is me getting kind of stuck in the home-made dog agility course at the house

Max, unconscious in the toddler bed he borrowed while on the island

Uncle Brian and Max enjoying their morning routine: breakfast and watching for "suns" on the Weather Channel. Holly adds: I love this shot because it shows Max cuddled right up to Brian rather than sitting on the rest of the couch. Cute!
Epilogue

Just before I left for Kelowna, we figured out that Leo had probably come down with an ear infection - Holly confirmed this during a clinic visit on the Monday. Tuesday morning, before hitting the plane home, Max, Auntie Jan and I hit the Shaw Ocean Discovery Center in Sidney, where we saw an octopus, pile of jellyfish, anemones and starfish and were able to poke around in a tide pool. Then, as if we weren't pumping enough Tylenol into Leo, after Max fell asleep in the Vancouver airport, he woke up with a raging fever. The next day, we found out that he had come down with another case of strep throat. So that made for two delirious, radiating, tired chickens all the way home. However, once we landed (late) at the airport, the kids saw their Nana and came to pretty quickly. Sadly, this meant they got to bed at 2 a.m. Yuck. The one good thing for Holly once we got home was that Max immediately got over his "I want Dad for everything and I don't want to deal with you for any reason" kick.

All in all, it was an amazing first family trip as a foursome. BIG thank-yous to everyone who fed, housed and visited with us. We had a blast!

British Columbia 2010: 2 of 3

I agree that this past weekend was awesome. Many kudos to Holly for pulling the wool over my eyes with that dinner/karaoke combo!

So where were we? Oh yeah, leaving Grand Forks and moving onward. The last time we did the Grand Forks - Vancouver drive, it didn't go so well. Max was almost 5 months old, had never really spent more than 30 minutes in a car, the weather was terrible as in "the road was closed shortly after we started driving on it due to the whiteout conditions" terrible, it was the middle of January, etc. We were cautiously optimistic that things would be better this time and they sure were. The trip was split into 4 legs and they went as follows:

GF-Osoyoos for brekkie [Leo slept, Max played with his new Bob toys];

Osoyoos-Princeton for lunch [we switched Leo's seat forward to stop a brief episode of screaming - he recovered and Max was still able to entertain himself];

Princeton-Manning Park lookout [Leo stayed awake and happy, thanks to Mum Mums broken into many enticing pieces, Max was starting to ask about our destination, but was happy to chew on a fruit roll-up...yes, they apparently still make those]

Manning Park-Vancouver [Leo cried for the last 30 minutes into town, but we weren't stopping. Max had his first sleep of the trip and it lasted all the way through to Abbotsford].

So, all in all, the trip was quite enjoyable. I'd never have guessed that it would go that well. Thanks kids!!

Our only parenting misstep was having breakfast at the beach in Osoyoos. It was a beautiful day and Max and Holly spent some time splashing around in the water near the local itinerants' hangout. Max really, really, REALLY loves the beach so he completely lost it when it was time to go and he realized that he was getting back into the car for a long stretch. This is maybe one of five times in his life where he was so upset that he was almost hyperventilating. I guess we owe him a longer visit to Osoyoos at some point.


Leo loves the Osoyoos waterfront!

Max frolics in the water with Mom.

The bag Max's Bob toys came in which also doubles as a nice hat. Yes, it says "Helping Children Learn".

Leo's first look at mountains.
We arrived in Vancouver around dinner time and moved in at our friends' house in East Vancouver. Their place is perfectly set up for hosting visitors with a beautiful two-bedroom suite in the basement with its own entrance. We were treated to dinner on the first night and Max was treated to his own bed, which improved his sleep dramatically. Most importantly for Max, our host family included two girls (ages 2 and 4) and therefore, LOTS OF TOYS. The backyard of the house included a swing set and huge sandbox so the kids spent many happy hours playing outside. I want to extend a big thank you to the M-Cs for putting us up so close to the heart of the city and especially to the girls for being such wonderful sharers and friends for the boys. Speaking of sharing, a big thank-you to C for sharing a few amazing bottles of French wine with us too.


Our first dinner on the M-C's back deck.

Max's spot at the kids' table - so cute!
We got up to a lot of adventures in town, mostly things that we would normally want to do on our own, but with a focus on things that we thought Max would like. As it turns out, this leg of our trip was a crash course in "what you think your kid will latch on to is not necessarily what they will latch on to". Aquarium: Max bust, Leo hit. Skytrain: Max hit. Casa Gelato: Max bust (possibly related to the tongue-lashing he got for splitting Leo's lip open via a push minutes earlier). Granville Island: big hit. Ferry: semi-bust for Max. I think the Aquarium was by far the most disappointing for us given a) the cost, b) how cool we thought it would be for Max and c) the lameness of the object that attracted nearly all of Max's attention, causing him to lose interest in everything else (see below). I hate you, Baby Kermit.


My green arch-nemesis, testing me. Call me Sir Gawain.

Leo marvels at the belugas. The day we went to the Aquarium, one of the (grey) babies was having its first birthday.

Leo peers into a tank at the Aquarium.

Max was totally into the Aquabus that services the False Creek area between Granville Island and downtown Vancouver.

In fact, Daddy was even able to talk Max's way into the captain's seat of one of the shuttle boats.

Max enters the toy store area of Granville Island through the kids' door.
Other adventures included a wonderful group hike with our hosts at Lynn Canyon Park, a cool breakfast at Commercial Drive's Little Nest (an eatery for hip parents with babies), an afternoon apart (Holly was with the boys at Burnaby Mountain Park while I gave a seminar at SFU), lots of park time in our temporary neighbourhood and a wonderful dinner with the Vancouver contingent of my family (home-made indian cuisine! Eco Mac 'n Cheese for Max! Great moments, including Max exclaiming "I love that green guy!" of my green-clad cousin after exchanging some excellent high-5s. Thanks for the great evening, family!).


Two families toward the end of a long day in Lynn Canyon Park...

...not that Leo remembers any of it. He slept like this on Holly's back for roughly 2 hours. Unprecedented!

Leo goofs around at a park. This was the playground where an elderly passer-by told us that we shouldn't put Leo down the slide as he was looking terrified. You know how much we LOVE the drive-by parenting tips from complete strangers.

I didn't take this picture. Could it be Leo's first self-portrait?.

Max plays on some of the monuments at Burnaby Mountain Park.

Leo enjoys his Great Aunt Christine's company while Max enjoys one of her gifts.

"See how your brother is biting my leg? This is something you should not do to Leo, Max." Great Uncle Don dispenses some wisdom...

A timed family self-portrait.
Overall, the Vancouver leg was a little more exhausting than the previous week. We were on the go a lot more so juggling fun time and nap time was more challenging. However, in retrospect, I feel like it provided good practice for how I schedule my days, now that I'm home with the boys. Next stop - Vancouver Island!