Alaska and the Pacific Northwest: Vancouver

Dan and I had an incredible two-week adventure traveling to Vancouver, Alaska, and the Olympic National Park. The first and last parts of the trip were just us, but we got to spend the middle section with my parents, sister, and cousin! I can't wait to tell you all about it. Here are the first few days in Vancouver:

Day 1:

We got an early start in the Capital One Lounge (my happy place) before our flight to Vancouver. How fun is this Bees Knees?

The Vancouver airport is stunning! So many cool water features and sculptures. We took the train downtown to our hotel (shoutout The Victorian!) and walked around the city, ending at Granville Island.

We ate a million samples at the Granville Market (pickles, pastries, alcoholic boba pearls) and settled on a fantastic soup from Chow Atchau. I wasn't feeling great, so I took the aquaboat back while Dan stayed and explored Granville Island.

I rallied for a quick ramen dinner and some of the best drinks I've ever had. I highly recommend the Radio Saigon at Prophecy Bar, listed as one of the top 50 bars in North America!

Day 2:

Today was a big day--we completed the Grouse Grind, which is a 2 mile hike straight up Grouse Mountain! But first, breakfast at Cafe Medina (delicious!). 

I was intimidated by this climb based on my research. The official signs didn't make me feel better. It was clear this was a hike for serious climbers. And while it was challenging, Dan and I were prepared for the challenge, finishing in 90 minutes and feeling great! 

It was cold and rainy at the top of the mountain, but we still made the most of it by watching the Lumberjack Show and meeting the rescue Grizzly bears (adorable and adorable). 

After taking the cable car down the mountain, we caught the bus to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. It was a little pricy but so worth it! The bridge itself is so fun (almost 500 feet long and 230 feet in the air), but I was surprised how great the rest of the park is. 

We walked the tree tops, took a nature tour, met a banana slug, and saw a bald eagle. We capped the day off with a gorgeous and tasty dinner at Botanical. 

Day 3: 

Today we biked 17 miles through the city. We rented bikes from Spokes (highly recommend!) and went through Stanley Park along the Sea Wall. We saw the Totem poles, the light house, beautiful lakes, and gorgeous scenery. We continued past the park around Granville island, past the science museum, and back over the bridge. The path is paved the whole way with dedicated bike lanes. I loved it! 

We grabbed some veggie soup dumplings for a post workout snack before heading back to the hotel to clean up. We had a terrific dinner at Folke, an upscale vegan restaurant. We did the 5 course chef tasting, which came with a few extra snacks and a dessert course. My favorite was the potato rosti bite with scape aioli. Dan loved the flowering cauliflower with congee. 

We wrapped up our time in Van City with drinks at Keefer Bar. I loved the weird medical vibes of this place. Drinks were called prescriptions and had funky components. Not nearly as good as Prophecy, but lots of fun.

The next morning, we took a bus from Vancouver to Seattle to meet up with the rest of the family!

Sweet Nori

 This week we lost our sweet kitty, Nori. 

Dan and I adopted Nori 14 years ago when she was only a few weeks old. Nori had been with us through three houses, two countries, two kids, and so many wonderful memories. Anyone who met her loved her. At times she was more of a dog than a cat. She'd run up to anyone and immediately start showing affection. When she was little she even played fetch!

She was a fantastic cuddler and would make sure you knew she was happy by her extremely loud purrs. The flip side of Nori's friendliness is that she really wanted to be around us all the time. If we were upstairs, she would meow very loudly until we came and gave her pets. If we were asleep on the couch or in the guest room, she would climb on our faces and nuzzle us until we woke up and pet her. 

Nori was my number one co-worker. True, she could be disruptive by sitting on my laptop, walking across the screen during video calls, and knocking my pens off the desk, but at least she looked cute while doing it. 

Nori put up with a lot and was so gentle with the kids. Zahara loved Nori with a passion. She took care of her, feeding her, petting her, and making her toys. Asher showed his love a little differently. He roughhoused with her but also would tell her how much he loved her. Catching those sweet moments is something I will cherish.

Nori, thank you for being exactly what we needed. Our family will miss you terribly.

Mother's Day 2020

Well, this Mother's Day was obviously a bit different than previous years. What wasn't different was how special I was made to feel by my family. Dan and the kids did a great job working with what we've got to give me a relaxing day filled with love.

Breakfast

As is our tradition, Dan made me a delicious smoked salmon benedict topped with salmon roe. I had a nice cup of tea to go with it.

Gifts

Dan got me some nice smelling candles and bubble bath--just what I wanted. The kids each made me very sweet cards. Zahara spent all week picking flowers and arranging them into a picture frame. We had a little photo shoot the other day where she took a picture of her blowing a kiss. Then we printed the photo and she taped it into her frame. So sweet and creative.

She also wrote me a couple of other very sweet notes that told me she respects me and that I help her. Asher didn't totally get the concept, but he is such a love bug all the time that I have no doubts as to his feelings.

"Dear mom, we appreciate you. We respect you. You help us and we love you. Thank you. Love, Zahara."

"Thank you. You're welcome. I hope I like it. I wish I could have another one. I wish I could have a bear colored in a circle. I wish it could be real. I hope you might like it."

Outing
We've started a new tradition of exploring towns around us. It's been so nice to get out of the house and see new sights, even if it's all a bit strange. We've found towns where we can get carry-out food and walk around a main street or downtown. This week we went to Ellicott City, MD. It's pretty close to our house, but we've never managed to visit.

The town has had several years of extreme hardship, with two devastating floods in 2016 and 2018. The town has managed to rebuild a good portion of the downtown, and recently had some help from Gordon Ramsey! Sadly, we didn't get too many pictures, but it was a really nice day out!

See some of our previous Mother's Day celebrations here:
2018
2016
2014, 2014

England Week!

After a successful first country week, we packed our bags, grabbed our passports and headed to England!

The kids picked the location for this week, and I'm sure it had nothing to do with them wanting a tea party. If you've been following for a while you know that we used to live in England, though we left when Zahara was 14 months old. Asher was born here in the States. I've been back a couple of times since then, and even brought Zahara on a girls trip last May. So needless to say, we have very fond memories of England.

Making Jam
Our first activity for the week was making our own jam. When I lived in England, there was a summer I went a little crazy making jam. Once you start though, it's hard to stop. It's so easy, if a little messy. This round we made strawberry-rhubarb and strawberry jam. We tried the Joy of Cooking's strawberry recipe, but it was only OK. I am still in love with the strawberry-rhubarb recipe--highly recommend!

Making Scones
You can't have a tea party without scones. We used my favorite recipe from BBC and they turned out perfect, as always. Dan also made a different recipe with raisins that turned out well too. And he made Fat Rascals, which are a local treat we used to enjoy at Bettys in Harrogate. Bettys' recipe is secret, but these turned out pretty close.

Tea Party
For our tea party, Dan made clotted cream (from scratch!) and finger sandwiches (nutella and jam; and cucumber and hummus). We drank our favorite Yorkshire tea on our fancy china. Hot tip, check your local thrift store for tea sets. We bought all our china for pennies. They don't match, which I think is part of the charm.

Talking to Friends
I thought it would be fun during British week to talk to people who actually lived in England. I arranged for a call with many of my British friends--my yoga mums. We still all keep in touch regularly but we rarely have time for video chats anymore. Among the eight of us, we now have fifteen kids! And to think we all met when we were pregnant with our firsts! The video chat was chaotic, but fun nonetheless. It's always good to connect with friends.

Funny story about Zahara. She's been listening to a ton of audio books lately. She listens while she colors, snacks, in the bath...any free time she has. And a lot of these books have a British narrator. So now Zahara can speak in a really good British accent!

Other British Food
Yes, England week was pretty heavy on the food elements. And you know what, that's OK! To round out our week, we also had a big brekkie--one of my favorites. It includes hashbrowns, baked beans, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms, runny eggs, toast, and sausage.

We also picked up fresh fish and chips from a local pub. We've never been there before, but the Queen Vic was really good. The fish was super flaky, which I love. The mushy peas weren't great, but everything else was.

We had a great week in England. Next up, Mexico!

See our other country weeks here.

Japan Week!

We just wrapped up week seven of our covid-19 stay-at-home orders with no clear end in sight. There have been a lot of ups and downs and figuring out things as we go along. And while there are plenty of difficult moments (hello two working parents, plus distance learning, plus a preschooler!), there are also a lot of bright spots. Getting to spend more time with the kids and with Dan is certainly a bonus.

I'm always looking for ideas to how to make our days a little easier and more enjoyable. My friends Laura and Nick* had a great idea they've implemented at their own house that I knew I wanted to copy. Each week they pick a new country and plan their meals and some activities around that. What a great way to introduce our travel-loving family to new places and cultures!

We started our stay-at-home-world-adventure in Japan--mostly because I was craving sushi. A restaurant near us was open for carry-out, so that cemented it. Then I did what I always do and scoured Pinterest for other ideas for Japan-themed activities. Here's what I came up with:

Activities included making a volcano and a Japanese flag, painting Mount Fuji, reading books about Japan, doing a Japanese craft, learning about a Japanese school, and eating Japanese food. I found most of my inspiration from this website that had a treasure trove of printable activities and recommendations.

Making the Volcano:
Japan has more than 100 active volcanoes, more than any other country in the world! To celebrate that fact, we made our own volcano. There are a few ways to do this (here's a good tutorial), but we took the easy route and opted not to make a papier mache version. Instead, we buried a plastic bottle in dirt and let the eruption flow.

Here's what you need:

• An empty 1 liter plastic bottle 
• 4 tablespoons of baking soda
• 1 cup white vinegar
• Red and yellow food coloring
  

Instructions:
Use a funnel to put the baking soda in the empty plastic bottle. Mix the vinegar with food coloring until the color looks like a burning lava (nice and bright orange). Bury the bottle in a patch of dirt or grass so that only the neck remains above ground. Pour the vinegar mix into the bottle and watch the eruption!

Painting Mount Fuji
This was a fun activity too. We took this template and let the kids go to work. I cut out materials for Asher and let him glue them on a background. Zahara had fun making her own scene.

Kimono Bookmarks
We used this template from Crayola to make these adorable kimono bookmarks. Then we went online and learned about kimonos and saw lots of beautiful examples.

Japanese Culture
Dan went to Japan 15 years ago, so we did a slideshow of his trip. It was hilarious though because he remembered the highlights, but this trip was before cameras had GPS and he couldn't quite remember every place pictured. There were a few educated guesses and a few ask Googles. It was fun.

We also watched a video about a school in Japan and what their lunchtime ritual looks like. It's incredible. They are so disciplined and orderly. Check it out here.

And then, of course, we ate sushi! I love that my kids love sushi as much as we do. We also had soba noodles, miso soup, and edamame. What a successful first country. Next up, England!

*You may remember Nick from my Spouses on Sabbatical Days. They're back in the U.S. too raising their two adorable munchkins.

See our other country weeks here.