Oh Canada

We had a wonderful time in Vancouver. We took a carriage ride through Stanley Park, took the ferry to Victoria (and we saw seals just out beyond the trail of the ferry), ate lots of Asian food and toured a fun market. We also crossed a 100 ft high suspension bridge and walked the rainforest on a series of raised wooden walkways.

Vancouver has a large population of Asian folks (I think mostly students) so we had Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, and a couple different kinds of Chinese. We had absolutely delicious food and surprisingly it wasn't a big weight gain week for me. Yeah!

The market had a whole case of different pate(s) and one with more olives than I have ever seen. Most of it was just pretty food and nicely presented. And it had awesome gelato, yummm.

I would definitely go back to visit again. Fun, fun, fun!

Have You Seen Herman?

A couple weeks ago, Hubster and I were able to have a mini vacation alone. Without kids. Did I mention we were alone? It was lovely. We went to Herman Missouri and stayed at a B&B. But, we stayed in the private cottages there. So we had our own space, with a private deck that had a hot tub and grill. We also brought our bikes along and one day we rode on the Katy Trail. It was very nice but terribly hot. We took a nice long bike ride and I was feeling it a bit once I got off my bike. Good thing I could soak in the hot tub when we returned!

This was the view we woke up to every morning and what we looked at from our hot tub. There was a lot of wildlife around complete with small rabbits that would run almost up to our deck.

We also toured a couple wineries in the area. The wine tastings were fun and we brought home a few bottles with us. Notice how relaxed we look? This was at the start of the wine tasting so it really was the time away and not the beverages we were drinking.

Our trip was really a lot of fun and I can't wait for our next visit away.

Smores, Fireworks and Reindeer

We had a blast camping! When asked what the favorite things about this camping trip, Princess answered: 1) roasting marshmallows and making smores 2)fireworks 3)seeing the reindeer (which were actually white tailed deer, but hey, who am I to disillusion a little girl who thinks Santa can be checking up on her at any time?!)
Wolfgang answered: 1) making smores 2) hiking and family bike rides 3)fireworks.
Unfortunately, we didn't get to the sparklers so we still have them to look forward to using. We did use the pudgie pie makers, thanks to all those who suggested them.
We also got lots of exercise while camping. We loaded up our bikes (which was an adventure all in itself to be recounted later) and we took Maggie with us in a basket on my bike. She loved riding there! I was concerned that she would jump out but she just sat nicely and looked all around. I can't wait to try the bike trail here with her and the kids.
All in all, we had much success with camping and we have all decided to go back there again next year. The kids were sad we had to leave and truth be told, so was I.
Now, it's off to do all the laundry. Definitely not my favorite part of camping.