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| "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift" 2 Cor. 9:15 |
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Monday, December 9, 2013
Canadian Thanksgiving
We have been wanting to go to Canada, so we thought, why not Thanksgiving?
We left Thanksgiving morning. It was a breeze. No one was in our way. Everyone in Canada was working so everything was open, yet not many customers. Fabulous. Our kids ran like wild banshees and we only got dirty looks like we were rude Americans.
First we checked out the Capilano suspension bridge, or otherwise known as the "shake shake bridge". For R's reading pleasure, each steel cable can withstand 100,000 lbs of force. It replaced a hemp rope cable that, amazingly, when tested once removed, withstood 100,000 lbs of force. The steel cable was replaced sometime after world war II, but the hemp rope was placed there in the early 1900's. My favorite part of this park was the cliff walk. They made a board walk along a cliff that was set up so you feel like you have jumped off the edge of the cliff and are floating right before you hit the ground. I kept feeling like all of my children walking in front of me were about to fall to their deaths. They had no problem walking around or leaning on the metal mesh railings while my stomach dropped every time they would lean on the mesh.
T and W had a different favorite part. The miniature "shake shake bridges". Essentially these were six bridges roughly in the shape of a hexagon up the side of fir trees. An adult sized treehouse! I didn't read the signs until after we got done about how parents are responsible for keeping their children from running until we got down. I was wondering why the other kids weren't having nearly as much fun as ours..... But we had fun.
Jeremy was there for the food. We pigged out on schnitzel, teriyaki noodles, dim sum and warm soup. T and w also enjoyed their meal bar breakfasts and......... the chocolate turkey.
Instead of cooking a turkey we ate chocolate turkeys from Sees. Sweetest one I've ever had. Plenty of juice oozing out of their mouths as they ate it big mouthfuls at a time. Tucker downed the entire thing in about 5 minutes. I had turned around to help Ethan with something. When I looked again, all that was left of Tucker's chocolate turkey was the front part of the claws. I told him it's ok, that he didn't have to eat it all and could save it for later. He looked at it and said. "oh yeah. I'm full. I'll save it for later" Whitney had eaten half and commented that she was "feeling full". I bet.
Tucker called the hotel room the "quiet place". It might be because after all that turkey, he felt like bouncing off the walls. Who's idea was that??!! Jeremy was trying to keep them settled down and quiet so Ethan could sleep. There was no pool in the hotel like Mommy was planning on to swim in during Ethan's early bedtime. Oops. The next morning, though, we found a ball pit in the shopping area downstairs. Major bummer. Had I known it was there, we would have hung out there so Ethan could sleep. Oh well. We spent the entire next morning there, once it was discovered.
Although I'm not sure why we were worried about Ethan sleeping. He doesn't sleep in public. Apparently hotel rooms count as public places. He fell asleep around 7 pm after having three 1/2 hour naps all day long. Then he screamed from 8 until 10. Whitney was the only one that could sleep through that. The rest of us were up until 10, including Tucker.
Thanksgiving night. They had fun bouncing from the cot to the bed and generally checking out the new room to sleep in. There was also a balcony and we could see a bridge lit up as well as the ferry dock from the balcony. We braved the cold to snuggle together and watch it all.
After the ball pit the next day, we went to the aquarium. The Vancouver aquarium is definitely worth going to. Especially when all the kids are free admission. One of the benefits of having twins. That place was comparible to the the Monterey Bay aquarium. We spent hours and hours just looking at the first five tanks. We also had fun watching the sea turtle and the sting ray for a long time. Daddy and Mommy were interested in the Beluga whales and the dophins, but the big kids especially liked the moving lights, the strawberry anenomes and the blue starfish. They were having a jellyfish month. I was in heaven. I love looking at them and there was exhibit after exhibit to look at them.
After the aquarium we had the fastest yummiest dinner as all the kids had had it with being good in public looking at stuff for two days straight. One last restaurant was about the last of it. All in all we had a blast.
We left Thanksgiving morning. It was a breeze. No one was in our way. Everyone in Canada was working so everything was open, yet not many customers. Fabulous. Our kids ran like wild banshees and we only got dirty looks like we were rude Americans.
First we checked out the Capilano suspension bridge, or otherwise known as the "shake shake bridge". For R's reading pleasure, each steel cable can withstand 100,000 lbs of force. It replaced a hemp rope cable that, amazingly, when tested once removed, withstood 100,000 lbs of force. The steel cable was replaced sometime after world war II, but the hemp rope was placed there in the early 1900's. My favorite part of this park was the cliff walk. They made a board walk along a cliff that was set up so you feel like you have jumped off the edge of the cliff and are floating right before you hit the ground. I kept feeling like all of my children walking in front of me were about to fall to their deaths. They had no problem walking around or leaning on the metal mesh railings while my stomach dropped every time they would lean on the mesh.
T and W had a different favorite part. The miniature "shake shake bridges". Essentially these were six bridges roughly in the shape of a hexagon up the side of fir trees. An adult sized treehouse! I didn't read the signs until after we got done about how parents are responsible for keeping their children from running until we got down. I was wondering why the other kids weren't having nearly as much fun as ours..... But we had fun.
Jeremy was there for the food. We pigged out on schnitzel, teriyaki noodles, dim sum and warm soup. T and w also enjoyed their meal bar breakfasts and......... the chocolate turkey.
Instead of cooking a turkey we ate chocolate turkeys from Sees. Sweetest one I've ever had. Plenty of juice oozing out of their mouths as they ate it big mouthfuls at a time. Tucker downed the entire thing in about 5 minutes. I had turned around to help Ethan with something. When I looked again, all that was left of Tucker's chocolate turkey was the front part of the claws. I told him it's ok, that he didn't have to eat it all and could save it for later. He looked at it and said. "oh yeah. I'm full. I'll save it for later" Whitney had eaten half and commented that she was "feeling full". I bet.
Tucker called the hotel room the "quiet place". It might be because after all that turkey, he felt like bouncing off the walls. Who's idea was that??!! Jeremy was trying to keep them settled down and quiet so Ethan could sleep. There was no pool in the hotel like Mommy was planning on to swim in during Ethan's early bedtime. Oops. The next morning, though, we found a ball pit in the shopping area downstairs. Major bummer. Had I known it was there, we would have hung out there so Ethan could sleep. Oh well. We spent the entire next morning there, once it was discovered.
Although I'm not sure why we were worried about Ethan sleeping. He doesn't sleep in public. Apparently hotel rooms count as public places. He fell asleep around 7 pm after having three 1/2 hour naps all day long. Then he screamed from 8 until 10. Whitney was the only one that could sleep through that. The rest of us were up until 10, including Tucker.
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| The end result of our Thanksgiving tree. The pictures below are just close ups for me to remember what kind of stuff they chose to put up |
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| Best pic we have of how long this bridge is. It is up probably about 160 feet above a river canyon. We could see a few straggling salmon coming up the river. They were about the size of our pinkie nail, if that helps with how high up it is. Or two full grow firs, about 80 feet in height at full maturity |
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| They were on a log over a pond that they made into a bridge/path over the water and balancing on the log in a safe manner |
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| Papa taking pictures of wildlife. We then saw this same bird at the aquarium the next day |
Thanksgiving night. They had fun bouncing from the cot to the bed and generally checking out the new room to sleep in. There was also a balcony and we could see a bridge lit up as well as the ferry dock from the balcony. We braved the cold to snuggle together and watch it all.
After the ball pit the next day, we went to the aquarium. The Vancouver aquarium is definitely worth going to. Especially when all the kids are free admission. One of the benefits of having twins. That place was comparible to the the Monterey Bay aquarium. We spent hours and hours just looking at the first five tanks. We also had fun watching the sea turtle and the sting ray for a long time. Daddy and Mommy were interested in the Beluga whales and the dophins, but the big kids especially liked the moving lights, the strawberry anenomes and the blue starfish. They were having a jellyfish month. I was in heaven. I love looking at them and there was exhibit after exhibit to look at them.
After the aquarium we had the fastest yummiest dinner as all the kids had had it with being good in public looking at stuff for two days straight. One last restaurant was about the last of it. All in all we had a blast.
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| The park had set up this picture frame thing you could take pictures in. T wanted his picture in this frame. I put in all of the pics we have of him in this frame because each one is a very real facial expression I regularly see on his face everyday, actually captured in a photo |
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| T giving the fish a leaf. He was pretty smart about this. He asked if he could throw in a leaf because "a leaf won't hurt the fish, Mom" |
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| one of three of E's snuggle naps |
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| Accidently disobeying the rules. I was encouraging it unknowingly |
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| my favorite part. This is also where J saw a bald eagle flying below us to capture some of the salmon in the river |
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| a purple tree for W! |
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| This light moved slowly on the floor. They spent a lot of time chasing it |
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| This was a tiny area that they could just fit into to look up at the fish |
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| at the end of running on one of the shake shake bridges |
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| best view of these adult sized tree houses 2-3 stories up off the ground |
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| walking on the log and looking at the fish |
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| proof all three kids were on this trip. I'm squatting down because to stand up this close to the plexiglass made me feel like falling |
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| This must be what it is like to walk the plank. I did ok and then stopped short about 3 feet from the edge. W and T helping me get to the end. You can see through the grate we were standing on |
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| balcony snuggle at hotel room |
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| in the cubbyhole viewing area |
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| balcony snuggle with the tree on top of the building in the background |
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| amused with the glass coffee table. Poor maid |
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| t being a meow meow and excited about where he was sleeping that night |
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| W and T jumping from W's bed to our bed, just getting it all ready |
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| Nemo lives. What aquarium can't have a clown fish display these days? |
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| Dori too! |
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| J took a long time to get the shot of front and back of them with the turtle |
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| With their favorite pink display |
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| first exhibit. Spent about 10 minutes alone here looking at blue starfish and pink anenomes |
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| E nap! |
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| Turtle observing children |
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| some of my favorite jellyfish |
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