Vancouver Aquarium!

On our second to last day on the west coast, we made our way down to Stanley Park to have lunch.  Emma has her first 'real' job this summer, working at one of the concession stands, so we thought we'd go by to support (harass???!!!) her!!!  Crazy to think the little spirited toddler I met many moons ago in the booths of Milestone's is now this beautiful young woman working at the cash.  I vividly remember my first job (at Tim Horton's, how very Canadian!) and the excitement of getting a paycheque (that I could just spend on whatever I wanted - oh those were the days!) and it's so hard to believe that Emma is already that age......

After eating our 'food', videotaping and photographing Emma to death (did I mention how 'supportive' we wanted to be??!!) we decided to head down to the aquarium while we waited for Emma to finish her shift.  We always loved going to the aquarium when we lived in Vancouver, and hadn't been for years so decided to splurge - and I'm so glad we did!  So many favourite exhibits to revisit, new ones to discover, the octopus came out to say hello, and there were so many new jellyfish which I found endlessly fascinating!  A great afternoon - which you will now proceed to see far too many photos of (from both my camera and cellphone)!!!!  Enjoy - and just be happy I weeded through the hundreds more:-)

Another sunny day in Vancouver - we miss you already!  xo

Jericho Beach

Back in Vancouver, we'd set up a play date with friends from the girls' preschool days (so many moons ago!) and since the sun was shining and Vancouver was going through a heat wave, we opted to meet up at the beach!  Jericho Beach is definitely one of my favourite beaches here, and we lucked out on arriving at low tide - so the kids were able to try out skim boarding in the shallows!  PLUS, the water was so shallow for so long that it really warmed up, making swimming in the ocean much more enjoyable!!!!  

It was hard to get a decent photo with the sun shining so brightly overhead, but I think you can get a sense of how much fun they were having with Sam, Noah and Juliet.  The visit was far too short, and as we were leaving everyone was wishing they could meet up again soon:-)

(I know the kids look like pros here, but I just opted not to share the many, many more I have of them falling flat on their faces and on their bottoms:-)  I can be kind like that, every once in a while!)

Beacon Hill Park

One of the nights we were in Victoria, I took advantage of an evening where the kids were thrilled to hang out with Aunty Clare and Uncle Alex in order to go for a long walk through Beacon Hill Park.  What a beautiful and varied park, and after a week or so of single parenting and non-stop traveling/visiting, how nice it was to just have some time to my own thoughts and to play a bit with my camera!  Here's a glimpse at what I saw during my wanders...........