Happy Feet in Vancouver

19.5 Go on 10 "adventures"

We've decided to let J define the adventures we have and it's interesting to see what she deems an adventure and what she figures is just everyday life. For instance, Sunday's excursion was a trip to the aquarium and it was most insistently called an adventure, but when we went with J's little cousin C before Christmas, well, that was just how we rolled.



Yesterday started with a very special treat - a visit to the local-seattle-based-soccer-mom-mega-coffee-shop where J got to have a kids hot chocolate, half-sweet, no whip, IN a COFFEE CUP! It probably could have been slightly sour steamed milk and she would have been okay with it if it had been served in a coffee cup.



First stop at the aquarium was the new penguin exhibit to visit the tuxedoed birds. They were super friendly and would swim right up to the glass and wave with one flipper.



At least, that's what it looked like they were doing. Maybe they were just trying to get a better look and dry off one flipper. Who knows.



J was super excited about the penguins, but also a bit apprehensive. We're planning on going back soon (thank you season's pass, you rock), so maybe a few more penguin visits and she'll be excited to see them.



J was pretty excited by the mini jelly fish. They are small - maybe the size of a loonie - and they were quite cute.



I like the big jelly fish. They take pretty pictures and they are mesmerizing to watch. I could watch them swim around all day long....I love the blue lighting too...



J found the sea stars a big confusing - they don't do anything. They just sit there, stuck to the glass or the walls and sit there. She figured they must all be in the middle of nap time or something!



And this, this is the real reason we go to the aquarium...like most children who were brought up on Raffi, J loves beluga whales. And insists that the three giant belugas are all BABIES!

It was most definitely a successful day! We came home with not one, but two penguins of our very own. Well, three, but one went in the mail to England.



This one is pretty special. J saved some money she got from her grandparents to buy something sometime and decided that she wanted a penguin to take home. She was pretty proud when she gave the woman at the till her money. And a bit confused to get some change back...

But they don't have oatmeal!

It's been a week. You know, one of those weeks. Not that anything particularly bad happened, but it's been a long, trying, difficult week.

And because it's Friday and the week is almost over and we get start from scratch on Monday, well, I decided I *NEEDED* a fancy coffee from the local-seattle-based-soccer-mom-mega-coffee-shop.

There was a long line up. But I didn't care. Behind me there was a group of ladies from a clinic of some sort - doctor, dentist, I'm not sure, but they were all wearing scrubs.

I ordered and moved over to the side to wait for my drink and I heard one of the ladies order. She asked for some kind of coffee and oatmeal.

But there was no oatmeal.

This proved to be a minutes long dilemma for this lady. She turned to one of her co-workers and said "I don't know what I'm going to do. I need to eat and I really don't want a pastry or a cookie."

It was all I could do to keep from laughing.

You see, this particular location of the local-seattle-based-soccer-mom-mega-coffee-shop happened to be located in one fully-functioning, completely open for business, fully-stocked GROCERY STORE.

Barely a glance...

A while ago I was complaining about people who were giving me dirty looks for drinking out of a take-out cup from the local-seattle-based-soccer-mom-mega-coffee-shop, even though it wasn't even coffee and if it was, how was it any of their business anyway! Today I stopped by the liquor store (which opens early...it was only 9:30) to pick up a gift for someone. The security guard gave me the once over when I walked in but I think that was due to the rather large, somewhat empty grocery bag on my shoulder that could easily hold a few bottles of wine and not anything else. I bought my bottle of wine, had it placed in a paper bag emblazoned with BCLIQUORSTORE, not once, but twice, so everyone could see and went home, with my very obvious, about eight months pregnant belly leading the way. No glares, no second glances...nothing...

So, remember this: wine in a paper bag is okay, but a take-out cup from the local-seattle-based-soccer-mom-mega-coffee-shop is not when you're pregnant.

The sideways glares

That's right. Glares.

I haven't really been drinking coffee since we found out the cub was coming. I've been told it's all good and fine to have one or two cups a day, but when I had an aversion to all food except potato chips and ginger ale, well, I stopped drinking coffee all together and never really started again when food stopped being public enemy number one. Coffee is full of acid and acid just adds to the heart burn anyway. Occasionally I'll have a small cup of mostly milk with some coffee for colouring, but it's not a daily thing or even a weekly thing. Maybe once every two or three weeks.

But...I have made a substitute. Hot chocolate with about 1/3-1/2 the usual chocolate in it. I'm not a fan of dairy products...milk is nasty, cheese is (mostly) gross (although lately it's been okay which makes me think the baby will like cheese) and I need calcium. Soooooo the hot chocolate.

And now that the cub has started to stick out and I don't look like I've just been eating too much, well, I'm getting some nasty glares from people. I usually have my hot chocolate in the morning before I leave the house or in the evening instead of tea, but sometimes, usually when I have to be at work early or I'm running late, I dump my hot chocolate into a travel mug and take it to go.

And that's when the looks start. The ones where women (very very very rarely men) look at my tummy, look at my travel mug, look at my tummy and then look me in the eye and give me a disgusted glare. Today was even worse - I actually stopped at the local-seattle-based-soccer-mom-
mega-coffee-shop and picked up a hot chocolate there. In one of their disposable cups (I know, bad Shannon, bad, use your travel mug!).

You'd think I was wandering around with a bottle of wine in a brown paper bag, surreptitiously taking sips on the bus while simultaneously rubbing my belly and fingering the cigarette behind one ear and the joint behind the other, just waiting for my stop to arrive so I could light up.

Sigh...at least none of those people have seen me with my (soon-to-be-banished) Nalgene bottle.

Airport hang out

I got up this morning and started checking the departures from YLW and the YVR arrivals for Kelsey's flight. Even still I managed to get there a good hour before she landed.

I was treated to the super-spoiled family trying to figure out how they'd all fit into two $800/night room at Whistler...because the 12 and 14 year old boys couldn't share a bed and one couldn't take the extra bed in the adjoining room where grandma and the 10 year old girl were sleeping because the boys needed to be together so they could ski together. And even the promise of their platinum credit card was unable to secure them a better room. And the kids got crankier and crankier as the twenty minutes I sat next to them wore on because they all had to share one sandwich because there was to be NO EATING until they got to Whistler. I got to listen to this because the dad took a cab into downtown to pick up their rental car and had to drive back to the airport to get them and then go to Whistler. Huh? Why not all go into town and then go directly to Whistler. Might save a couple of hours.

Anyway, Kelsey arrived and we spent a good four hours at Milestones playing Scrabble. Then, when we had been ignored long enough by our waitress, we moved on to one of the local-seattle-based- soccer-mom-mega-coffee-shop kiosks and set up shop there on one of their couches.


We got a lot of strange looks, not because we were playing Scrabble or because we had a bunch of luggage, or because we sat in the restaurant for hours - it's an airport - people do out of the ordinary things in airports. No we got strange looks because of Kelsey's bike. That's her bike in the mega box there...only one person made a comment about it, the rest just stared, with their mouths wide open, because apparently they'd never seen a box in an airport before...the biggest gapers were the people who formed a huge line up to get on a west bound flight and probably half of them didn't even have suitcases, they had boxes, but Kelsey's box, well, it was definitely a big attraction.

Bye Kelsey...we'll miss you. Have a great time in Australia!

Trying to do my part

So, it's been chaotic (that could be an understatement) in my life in the last two weeks. Between our impending move, Christmas approaching at three times the speed of light, the cold hasn't managed to take a permanent hold - yet, and work, well, there's barely been time to stop and think.

Just think. Things like, hmm, I wonder what I should eat for breakfast. Or I wonder what I should wear. You know, the everyday stuff.

This morning was particularly rushed and slow at the same time. When I finally got myself showered and clothed in grey pants and a black sweater, someone had stolen a good half hour of my time and so I decided to skip the raisin bran and home-brewed coffee and grab a hot beverage and a (stupidly high in calories) pastry from the local Seattle-based, soccer-mom, mega-coffee shop, something I don't do very often, but apparently I've done twice in the last eight days now.

In I walk, order my 4,000,000,000 calorie breakfast substitute, hand over my travel coffee mug and pay. I move down to the end of the counter where they smack the beverages down when they're ready and my jaw drops. As the nice lady behind the counter makes my drink in a PAPER CUP and then POURS it into my travel mug and then THROWS IT AWAY.

HUH?!?!?!?

Besides the convenience of using a mug that is somewhat insulated with a lid that closes securely, I like to pretend I'm doing something small for our world by not filling the landfill with yet another disposable coffee cup from the local Seattle-based, soccer-mom, mega-coffee shop (or any other coffee shop for that matter). I use my mug almost every day, usually filled with the aforementioned home-brew. I have a second mug for when I bring tea with me, because coffee flavoured tea, well, it's just gross.

And just to make the stupidity of the making it in one cup and dumping it in another even more stupid...my travel coffee mug is from the local Seattle-based, soccer-mom, mega-coffee shop and is the size of the drink that I ordered - I didn't order something smaller for my big cup...I just don't get it...

And just because the day started off so well...those grey pants I put on, remember them from way up there?! Yeah, well, don't get dressed in the dark or while half asleep. I got to work to discover they were green.

Good thing green and black go together.

Too bad I look like a bruise.

Still shaking my head...That's all.

The pineapple express doesn't bring PINEAPPLE :(

There is a problem with this picture...

That tap is in the ON position and there is NO water coming out of the faucet. Alex discovered we had no water last night when he was getting ready for bed. As I would be more than content if I could go to bed at 8:30 pm, I was already in bed but very aware of some kind of chaos on the street. Which I ignored. Until Alex came in to say we have NO water.

Then I looked outside and the end of the street was all lit up and there was a fire truck sitting outside our house.

big truck (but not the fire truck) right in front of the house

About ten minutes after I got up this morning, after not sleeping much due to all the noise outside, there was a loud pounding on our door. The nice man from the city was there to let us know it would likely be at least 2:00 pm before we get our water back...Our street is closed and since it got light out, the number of utility trucks has doubled. I can hear one of the guys singing to himself. The office is the perfect vantage point to see lots of workers in yellow slickers and lots of city vehicles, but not much else...

view from the office

The rain is coming down in sheets and I just talked to our landlay K. She figured she could just go stand in the downpour and wash her face that way. I think there is going to be a long line up at the local Seattle-based, soccer-mom, mega-coffee shop so that people can get their morning coffee and use the facilities!

Leaving the big city...

Alex and I left the big city yesterday and went for a little excursion to the 'burbs.

While Alex pampered himself at the spa, courtesy of a birthday gift certificate from his brother, I had to find other ways to amuse myself.

So I decided to feed my yarn addiction and made my way to the local yarn shop. Once I'd browsed sufficiently, I went in search of a wireless internet connection so that I could do some work. I didn't find a connection, but I found this lovely example (although, very blurry...ummm, yeah, blurry to disguise the identity of the poor children) of bad hair styles in the local Seattle-based, soccer-mom, mega-coffee shop. Both of these children are sporting scary rat tails...

After Alex and I spoiled ourselves, we met Alex's brother and nephew for lunch...which happened to be at a restaurant near the giant "M" craft store...which was good because clearly I NEEDED more yarn.

What a nice Saturday...it ended with a visit to Alex's parents and his nephew, Trey, coming home with us for a sleepover.