Vancouver baby

I thought it was about time I got around to telling you about my trip to Canada at long last. I thought I'd start with a picture of my friend Buck who I met in the Gastown neighbourhood. Mum and Dad were going to walk straight past but old Buck here shouted out to me so I persuaded Mum and Dad to go inside and take a look around. It turned out to be an amazing cowboy boot store, having never seen cowboy boots up close Mum couldn't help herself but try some on, they were actually very beautiful and for a brief moment she considered buying some but couldn't think of anything she'd ever wear with them so she decided not to buy any. Unfortunately the ones she was trying on got very very stuck on her foot and the shop owner had to come and help her get it off. I have to say although it was kind of funny I was a little embarrassed that Mum had to get an old bloke to help her take her shoes off. I'm not sure why Dad didn't help her, I think he was too busy laughing or something.

On our first full day in Vancouver we went to Stanley Park to visit the beautiful aquarium there, I saw lots of birds, fishies, jellyfishies, Beluga whales, turtles and crocodiles.

After the aquarium I figured I'd be dragged around to look at buildings but Mum and Dad had another surprise for me, we found a little children's farm hidden away. These were the first guys we saw, their new haircuts were keeping them cool in the sun and here they are listening to everything I had to say. After these guys I got to play with bunnies, and mini-goats, a chicken and a goose. It was great fun. My mum says that when Mamgu comes over we can go to SF zoo and do it all again. I can't wait!

So after all that fun I figured the folks were going to see if I fell asleep and sneak me off somewhere really boring but I was wrong again, just down from the farm there was a lovely playground where I got to practice my standing up and play peek-a-boo with a very cute blonde boy who came to see me. Unfortunately he was a bit older than me and because he was a boy he couldn't stop running around, I couldn't follow him so I just stayed here looking cute hoping he would come back which he did several times! Dad was a bit slow to work out what was going on but pretty soon he picked me up and took me over to play on the slides and said something about me not being able to play those games until I'm 18 or something. That seems like an awfully long time to me, I'm pretty sure that boy was only 2, not 18.

The next day it was time for some proper sightseeing so here we are by Canada Place which is now used as a cruise ship terminal.
It was a little bit windy that day but I was in the Bjorn and Mum was telling me rude jokes and making fun of Dad so I didn't mind at all. We were supposed to be walking along the waterfront back to our hotel but Dad had the map and he took us through a building site, up an elevator, across the front of a conference center, back down the elevator, back through the building site then up to the street where we abandoned the waterfront and just went back to the apartment to place chase instead (which I actually thought was a lot more interesting anyway).

The next day was a bit of a disaster. We went to Gastown which was one of the older parts of town but we found yet more building sites (preparation for the Olympics apparently) and a whole lot of dirt. We moved onto a playground which was nice but it really wasn't a nice area, Dad put his sunglasses down and 10 minutes later they were gone. Mum then decided that we would try one last thing to see in the area before heading home, somewhere where we could sit down and relax and get me some food. Unfortunately Dr Sun Yat-Sen's Chinese Garden although very pretty had no grass, just cobbles, so nowhere for me to sit down or practice walking. Mum ducked me into a little room that was pretty empty to give me some lunch but sat around the corner I found this guy:
He told me that it is his job to look fierce but you can see that I wasn't convinced. I just thought he looked smashing and I was so glad my outfit matched!

I had a smashing time in Vancouver, I got to play in lots of playgrounds but really enjoyed the new game that Dad invented which involved chasing me around the apartment growling and grabbing my ankles as I try to crawl away as fast as possible. I get a bit excited and a bit scared and shriek and shriek and shriek. I often had to cool down with a nice cold drink afterwards:
Although for some reason Mum wouldn't let me order the nice sounding 'Kahlua', they mentioned 18 again. Hmmmmm

A not so wanted first...

No adventures today but we did get our first proper tantrum. A few months ago we witnessed Leah shouting at us when we took something off her, today we were on the receiving end of a full body tantrum. We can't even remember what triggered it, something insignificant like Leah not getting picked up the precise moment that she wanted to be and it resulted in her throwing herself onto her belly and kicking her legs and smacking her hands on the floor. Of course being the vigilant and responsible parents that we are we just burst out laughing. Seeing our little baby throwing a "terrible two" tantrum was very very funny but we're quickly researching the correct response so that we can nip this in the bud....any suggestions anyone????

My first Mother's Day

Several months earlier, in an effort to support a friend who wanted to lose a bit of baby-weight I signed up for a Mother's Day 5km race thinking it would be full of mums showing a bit of solidarity and having something of a fun run together. I persuaded Natalie to join us figuring Erika and Paul could look after the girls while we enjoy a gentle run on a beautiful flat course that would take us along the Marina, through Crissy Fields and back again.....and then the competitive spirit kicked in.

I'd been pushing myself to improve on my Run Wild 5k time which was 27m30ish and completed after a night of no sleep and only 4 months after Leah was born. I'd been pushing it on the treadmill during my lunch hour and was confident that I'd be able to comfortably beat my time. And then I got sick. Oh the joys of early motherhood! Leah has been picking up every cold under the sun and a few weeks ago she developed a temperature and had a miserable miserable few days where all she could do was throw her head back and cry. It was awful. Then as she started to get better she got covered in spots...and then I got it. Fever, shivers, spots and then the cough. I was completely out of action for a week and the cough kept me awake at night for another week so the training went out the window.

Anyway, I did my best and managed a 26min 5k but it definitely wasn't comfortable. I had passed Natalie at my mile 2 and her mile 1 and as a result wasn't expecting her to make it back for a good 15 or 20 minutes after I had finished but clearly the competitive spirit got hold of her and she appeared a mere 8 minutes later. How she managed to increase her speed so dramatically only she knows but I wonder if her warm up routine had something to do with it:
We celebrated in style with a donut (OK OK two donuts for me) then the Linden-Naylors headed home and the Weatherall-Denchs headed off to Sports Basement where Paul was in need of some retail therapy having been the person to watch the sporting event rather than the person participating. Several hundred dollars lighter but me sporting a snazzy new sports watch (thank you lovely) we headed home for a fish and chip picnic and general lazing about at the little park across from our apartment block.

A perfect day.