Vancouver: Day 3

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden in Chinatown:












Shopping in Chinatown:




Noodles in Chinatown:


Wandering Granville Island and Market:








Queen Elizabeth Park and Gardens:






Dinner at the famous Vij's (it has a reputation as the "best Indian restaurant in the world"):

We arrived about 20 minutes before the restaurant opened for the evening, knowing there would be a crowd. We were one of the last groups to get a table, just avoiding a 1 1/2 hour wait. The food was soooo good. Best Indian I've had. The service was great too. The owner personally went around to each table a few times to check on things. While we waited for our food, they brought around yummy "snacks" to each table.




The famous lamb popsicles were delicious. Our waitress told us the sauce was so good we would want to bathe in it. I think it was an accurate statement.


The all-female kitchen staff.



Since it was Halloween, we finished off the night by watching "Wait Until Dark." True to form, I fell asleep half-way through. But, I just watched it (in its entirety) with Ben tonight and it was fantastic. I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it. Oh so suspenseful. Just make sure you're awake for the whole thing.

Day 4 of the trip involved a long day of travel. It is much harder to cross the border back into the U.S. from Canada. Long lines. But we made it the airport and I enjoyed lots of time for reading and ipod-listening on the flight home. The girls were so excited to see me, even though they had to pick me up at the airport at midnight. I also came home to a very clean house, courtesy of Ben.

Vancouver: Day 2

We had not planned on driving anywhere in Vancouver, just walking or taking public transportation, but we decided we could get around faster and get to more places by driving. Unfortunately, that meant cramming 6 of us into our little rental car. Rachel volunteered to ride in the trunk...





We headed out of the city for a bit to get a taste of the beautiful green mountains. This was a suspension bridge in Lynn Canyon Park:











(They have really big leaves in Canada)

Views from Stanley Park:








We visited the Vancouver Aquarium:









This bird pooped on me. I had just finished telling everyone about how I had been pooped on in my backyard a few days earlier, which made the timing of this splat particularly amusing.


Delicious pizza for dinner in Gastown.


Totem poles in Stanley Park.


Evening view from Stanley Park.

Erin, Rachel, and I ventured out that evening in the pouring rain to explore. People there didn't seem to be deterred by the rain. The streets were filled with lots of interesting people. Being Halloween weekend, it was difficult at times to tell if people were in costume or their regular clothing. We passed a very interesting street performance/dance/mime (a reenactment of the crucifixion) as well as a homeless man holding the biggest rat I have ever seen (yes, it was alive, and yes, they seemed to be good friends).

We found a great little crepe cafe and because crepes are not enough, we also stopped at a cupcake shop. Sometimes cupcake places are not as good as they look, but this place did not disappoint. We headed back to the hotel and stayed up late playing Shogun and eating cupcakes.


Enjoying crepes.

Vancouver: Day 1

I had a great girls weekend with my mom and all my sisters and sister-in-law. We traveled from Virginia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, and Utah and met up in Vancouver, B.C.–not exactly a central location, but my sister Stephanie was there for a conference so we joined her at the end. (It should definitely be noted that Stephanie is now CANCER FREE!!!! Wahoo! She has been through more and suffered more in the past few years than I could ever imagine, but I'm so glad she's on the road to recovery...and on the road to my house for Thanksgiving!)

I had a very early morning flight on Thursday, but I was rewarded with some lovely views of the sunrise. I also enjoyed traveling with one small handbag and a small messenger bag. I have never traveled so lightly. It was wonderful.



We all flew into Seattle and actually timed it so we arrived within minutes of each other. We rented a car and drove up to Vancouver. It was rainy but the drive was still pretty and so fun to chat with everyone.

After arriving in Vancouver, we headed out to find a place for dinner and ended up at this really nice seafood place. The food was so delicious, including the parmesan frites! We stayed up way too late that night talking and laughing.




And dessert of course.

Halloween Festivities

The night before I left, we carved our pumpkins. Elsa was not a fan of touching the goop inside the pumpkin. Amelia had fun coloring all of her little pumpkins.











Ben was able to watch the Halloween parade at Amelia's school and then watch her class perform some songs:






Ben took the girls to a trunk-or-treat at our church on Friday night and they had a great time. Here they are on Halloween night heading out for more trick-or-treating in our neighborhood: