Tomohawk BBQ!

The other night, we were invited "up" to dinner by the couple who own the home we're staying in. They live upstairs in the main house, and are a very sweet Vancouver couple. They invited us up for dinner on Sunday and we were treated like royalty. We were made amazing martini's by Jon, treated to gourmet appetizers with Liz as Jon cooked a gourmet Spanish meal with chicken, pasta and seafood and finally we were delighted to have a delicious dessert of cheesecake topped with fresh strawberries. We enjoyed our company all the while Logan slept sound as could be downstairs in our apartment. Love it!
 While we were in the company of some locals' we thought we'd grill them on what the best things to do and see in The Couv are! First up - Breakfast! Where should we go? Where is the best? Without hesitation, Jon said "Tomahawk" - he was solid in his response so we took him up on it...

 The next morning, after waking up and getting ready we headed out for Tomahawk BBQ. Jon told us it had been featured on the Food Network show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives so that publicity paired with the fact that we ended up there on Victoria Day (Canada's equivalent to Memorial Day) meant we were in for a bit of a wait for a table. Thank goodness they had fun hats for Logan, a "Rubber Ducky" pond and friendly patrons who were willing to entertain Logan (And give him a Native name of Running Water) to make our wait a bit easier!

Lookit Daddy! Duckies!

In the parking lot, making a speech...

Totem Poles!

Hi Uncle Dave! I'm YOU...30 years in the past...

Friends watching rubber duckies

Bike Ride at Stanley Park

Yesterday we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and headed down to Stanley Park to rent some bikes and take a ride along the well known SeaWall. I can't even express how great this little excursion was. We rented a cruiser for me. and a mountain bike for Jas which was equipped with an I-Bert Seat for Logan up front. I've had my eye on of these I-Bert seats for a LOOOONG time. I think I first learned of them when Logan was about 4 months old and I've wanted to get one for him ever since. They're pretty expensive so I was able to easily talk myself out of getting each time I would look around for them...but after our trip yesterday I'm not sure if I'll be able to resist much longer. Logan absolutely LOVED being up front and seeing all of the action. He was waving to people making friend after friend as we zoomed by rollerbladers, walkers and dogs, kids and geese. We had so many people shout to us "I love your child!" or "Oh my! That kid is so cute!" it was hilarious. The whole ride took us about 90 minutes and it was so great. We only paid $36 to rent all three units and we will absolutely do this again before we leave (as long as the weather cooperates!).

Enjoy the photos and videos!

Outside of Spokes Rental

Lions Gate Bridge (We cross this every time we drive into Vancouver from our home)

Me, giving the most awkward Thumbs Up on my bike

Dada and Logan!

Big Water

We can see the Howe Sound from our balcony and Logan refers to it every day as "big water"...I'm not quite sure what he thinks "little water" is, but maybe that's bath water or faucet water and he knows that whatever is out THERE beyond our deck is MUCH bigger, and therefore he calls it Big Water. He knows that MoMo (Nemo) lives there, and maybe some sharks and crabs and duckies on occasion. Recently, we took a walk down to the Big Water and had a blast. Jas and I were amazing at how easily Logan made his way through the logs and jagged rocks of the beach we were on. He also climbed a rock without much effort. blew dandelion seeds for the first time and determined that pine-cones are "Yuck Yuck" (I totally disagree by the way). I was hoping we would find some crabs under some rocks, but we weren't so lucky. We did find some seaweed "bulbs' that Logan threw into the sound, but only because I forgot to show him what happens when you step on one (*POP*!) - we'll do that next week :)

here are some photos and videos of our latest outing...enjoy!

Family photo at the beach

The boys walking back to the car

Jas and Logan at the Berensteins Bear table

Making wishes

He danced the whole way back to the car...Silly Logan

Momo! Big Momo!!

On our second day in Canada, we decided to take Logan to the Vancouver Aquarium! He had an absolute blast and Jason and I had a blast watching him run from fish-tank to fish-tank shouting "MoMo!! Big Momo!! Ooooh woooow! Momo!" the whole day. It was hilarious and we all enjoyed ourselves immensely! For those of you who don't know, Momo is Nemo, as in the fish from Finding Nemo. Only, in Logan's mind anything except for Turtles and Sharks that swims in the water is a Nemo - so it made for a pretty exciting afternoon at the aquarium because he thought he was surrounded by his little buddy from the movie!

My cousin and I took Logan to the zoo back in January, but he wasn't as in to it as he was the Aquarium. I'm not sure if that's because he's a few months older now and understands things more, or if it was just a better time of day to take him, but whatever the reason he was ecstatic from the moment we entered the Aquarium and he was tuckered out by the time we left...the pictures and videos below speak for themselves!

The Momo's in this tank were as big as Logan!

So excited to "touch" the Momo's!

Touching the fish!

The aquarium had a whole toddler section that was ALL ABOUT CLOWNFISH (that's what Nemo is) when we got to the end where they actually have a tank of clownfish (round area in the upper right) Logan wanted NOTHING to do with it and instead wanted to sit in the cubby...huh?

Large aquarium with many many different fish

Otter!! He looks cute and innocent here, but a few minutes after taking this picture Jas realized the otter was attempting to be VERY innapropriate with that tube which we're pretty sure he thought was his girlfriend...naughty otter!

Logan and Daddy (I have no idea who Jason is mean mugging here...)

Final tank with SHARKS and TURTLES!

His best attempt to "Stop and smile for mommy!" I'll take what I can get

SOMEONE wasn't up for picture time on our way back to the house...

There's that smile!

Oh, Canada!

We Made It! We Made It! We Made It!

It's been a long day but a good day and Jason and I are relaxing in our new "home" while our baby sleeps in the master bedroom and we enjoy a cocktail (or 2) in our lounge chairs before we get ready to take a dip in the hot tub...life is gooooood.

Our day started early - 6am for Jas and I to get ourselves ready and do some last minute packing. Logan woke up at 7 and our chauffeur, "Uncle Huy", arrived promptly at 8:45 to take us to SFO for our 12:15 flight to Vancouver.

We arrived in plenty of time (Which was a blessing in my mind because the airport stresses me out), and boarded our plane after eating a delicious lunch with no problem. Logan did fairly well on the plane, and thanks to a kind woman who was across the aisle from us, he did better than he would have if it was just up to Jas and I to entertain him. This very kind woman took a liking to Logan and once we hit our cruising altitude, she handed me her iPad (!!!) and told me there was a fun kitty cat game that her grand-kids love to play and that Logan was welcome to check it out. This game provided HOURS of entertainment for our little laubster - literally. One flight attendant kept walking by us and just laughed that our child had been laughing for 2 hours straight. Hilarious. He definitely had moments of TODDLER-TIME (pouting, shouting and some minor screaming) but for most of the time, he was either watching the kids cartoons on the monitor in front of him (go, AirCanada for having one of Logan's favorite cartoons, Caillou on their TV Show rotation) or laughing hysterically at Tom the Cat on the iPad.

We landed at 2:30 and made it easily through customs. The customs area was divided into two sections - the first for Canadian citizens and the second for non-Canadian citizens. Jason joked at one point that he was going to leave Logan and I to fend for ourselves in the Non-Citizen line and use his ID from when he was 7 to get himself through customs faster in the Citizens line...that theory lasted all of 2 seconds ad he joined his wife and child in the longer line. :) .

We grabbed our 2 large suitcases, 2 medium suitcases, 1 Pak-N-Play, 1 carseat and 1 toddler and made the long walk to the Enterprise shuttle. Once there, we hopped on board and took a 5 minute drive to the rental car office. We were all set to rent a minivan which I was SO excited about (Do not read sarcasm there as I am genuinely excited about the prospect of driving a minivan one day) - but Jas was easily persuaded into renting the fully loaded Ford Edge for the same price...hurumph (At least he asked if I would be crushed if we DIDN'T rent a minivan before jumping on board with the nicer car). Our first stop was Starbucks (of course) as both Jas and I were exhausted and feeling the need for a pick-me-up...nevermind the toddler in the backseat who was 4 hours past his nap and in a state of absolute delirium...he probably could have gone for an iced Americano too...if only he'd known how to ask for one...It was at this point that Jas and I had the same thought at the same time: "Aren't you glad we aren't in Italy? Can you imagine feeling this tired and having to communicate in another language while driving on the other side of the road and having absolutely no idea where you are going?" We are probably the only 2 people who have ever said "Aren't you glad we aren't in Italy" in their lives...That's why I love him...we're meant to be!

It took us about 1 hour to get through Vancouver traffic and to our new home...all the while Mr. Logan was in the back seat either hysterically crying, or laughing to himself...the kid was beyond help by this point.

We got to the house and instantly fell in love with our new home (Sorry, no pictures yet!). The woman who owns the house helped us get settled and showed us around. The view is unbelievable and the size of the space is just perfect for our family of 3 and the few visitors we'll have throughout our stay. And a side note to my Mom and Dad- our host and hostess here in Canada (The couple that owns the home we're staying in and lives upstairs) is NOTHING like the woman whom we rented a basement from during Expo '86...Liz is delightful and i have complete confidence that she will give us privacy and we won't hear a peep from her unless we need to...I don't anticipate having to leave in the middle of the night on THIS trip to Canada! Hahaha!

We learned today that the Nanny Agency we contacted to set up some childcare for Logan so Jas and I can have some nights out together while we're on vacation confirmed all EIGHT of our dates so we are ELATED that we get EIGHT DATE NIGHTS over the next three weeks (And that's not even counting the 1 or 2 nights we'll get while my Mom is here!) I kind of can't believe I get that much alone time with my husband and I'm absolutely giddy over the thought of it!

Tomorrow we're going to hit up Stanley Park in Vancouver and take Logan to the Aquarium - he's going to be in heaven since we just saw they have an entire exhibit on Clown Fish...aka NEMO!!!! Or as Logan calls him, MOMO!!! It appears to be geared towards kids Logan's age or a little older, and there is a ton of hands on stuff so he's going to have a blast.

Jas and I are so excited for the next 3 weeks and feel so blessed to be able to take this time together and enjoy our little family.

More updates to come! Stay tuned...

"Kai's House"

So tomorrow is the big day...I'm not sure if all of you have heard, but I GOT A JOB!! It's a bit crazy, I know, but it just kind of fell in my lap and I just couldn't turn this opportunity down. I'll be working at The Bridges Golf Club as an assistant banquet coordinator! Some of you may be asking why The Bridges Golf Club sounds so familiar, and it's because that's where Jason and I got married a whopping 2.75 years ago!

To make a long story short, I'll just say that when I was planning our wedding I definitely fell in love with the whole wedding & event planning process and realized that I would much rather have that as my career than a Project Manager for a construction company. Without really know where it would get me, I emailed the main coordinator at The Bridges when Jas and I got back from our honeymoon way back in 2009. I told her to just keep me in mind if any job openings came up, as it was our plan to eventually move up North. We kept in touch here and there throughout the years but she never asked me about any job positions until January of this year - which is just one month after we moved to San Ramon (2.5 miles away from The Bridges to be exact)! When she emailed me initially, she said that while she would have to go through their standard hiring protocol of posting the job position online, she wanted to see if I was interested first because she thought I would be perfect for this job...my jaw hit the floor at that point. Of course I told her I was definitely interested and couldn't wait to hear more. About one month later, she asked me to come in for an interview with herself and the catering coordinator. I did just that, and when I left, I felt like I had gotten the job! It didn't seem like they had interviewed anyone else, and from the way the gals were talking, it didn't seem like it was in their plan to talk to anyone else! Could this really be happening!? Then about two weeks after my interview, I got an email asking me to join their team! I couldn't believe it and I am so excited! So it's a part time assistant position that only requires me to work 9-5 Fridays and Saturdays. I'll be helping out the two coordinators with anything they need as well as giving tours of the venue to potential clients, writing contracts for events and answering phones etc. It's such a great position for me at this time. I really wouldn't want any thing more that would keep me away from Logan right now so it's just absolutely perfect.

So along with tomorrow being my first day at a new job, it's also the first time I'll be leaving Logan for more than a couple hours since quitting my job last November! I'm definitely feeling some apprehension about leaving my little laubster, but I think we found a great woman to watch him so I know once we get into a routine all will be good. The gal who will watch him just on Fridays (As Jason will watch him on Saturdays) is a gal form my Mom's group. She has 1 son a little older than Logan and his name is Kai and then an 8 month old daughter named Evie. They live in Danville, just about 15 minutes away. Logan and I have gone over to their house twice to est things out. The first time was just for a couple hours to make sure the kids all got along, and the second was in the afternoon so Logan could eat lunch over there and take a nap there (I put him down for the nap so he could be ok with everything). Both times went great. He did end up napping the second time, but it took some time to get him to go down and he only slept for 1 hour (As opposed to his regular 2 hours). The gal watching him really seems great though. She's a former preschool teacher and she has her masters in nutrition so she's really into feeding her kids healthy food which I love! Kai and Logan got along great, and I think that everything will go just fine...I just have to get over leaving my little munchkin tomorrow morning!

All day today I've been prepping Logan for tomorrow (aka prepping MYSELF for tomorrow) and have been telling him that he's going to spend the day with Kai and Kai's mommy and that his own Mommy won't be there with him. Periodically throughout the day I would ask him where he's going tomorrow and got a very sweet "Kai's house" response...I finally caught a video of it this afternoon (Ignore the first part as something settled in our trash can and made a loud noise that startled Logan a bit...and he thought either a cat was in there or Elmo...who else?), enjoy!

1, 2...1,2,3,4!

A couple days ago, Logan and I were having a major jam session - I was pretty sure our neighbors were going to call the cops because we were just getting down and it must have been SO loud! Ok, that may be an exaggeration, but we DID annoy the cats with our intense drumming skills. While I thought we were just having a fun time pounding away on some drums, Logan was apparently busy soaking up some information I was giving him. Each time I would start drumming, I would count it out (ya know, like drummers do) with a "1, 2...1,2,3,4!!" and then start drumming...well, look what I caught Mr. Logan doing this afternoon (Listen carefully at the beginning of the video)....