Road Trip Recap

Posted in Family, Travel by

Warning: This post is wordy!

Once a year my mom and I try to make our way down to the Vancouver area to get some solid family and shopping time in. This past weekend we loaded up half of my house our stuff and headed out for a fun, four-day visit!

(Seriously though – I drove our truck down because we had SO MUCH STUFF. Between our regular luggage and everything I needed for Norah, it was necessary to take the truck.)

The girls did great on the ride down only having to stop twice, once just to stretch our legs and the other time to have lunch. We were lucky enough to have great driving weather and once we got down to the Fraser Valley the traffic wasn’t even that bad. When we arrived at my grandpa’s we were welcomed with margaritas! Can’t say no to that ;)

After dinner we went for a short walk up to the park where the girls had some fun on the swings and teeter totter. Soon it was time to walk back and turn in for the night, as Saturday we had a busy day planned out!

My grandpa drove us to the Skytrain station where we hopped on the train to go right into downtown Vancouver and meet up with my brother! He met us at the stop closest to his apartment and we picked up some lunch from Freshii (which I’m still drooling over) on our way to his place.

After lunch we headed out towards the Seawall and walked along there until we got to the Aquabus dock. We hopped on the cute little ferry and went across False Creek to Granville Island and checked out the Public Market and Kid’s Market! Isla was having a ton of fun and she was SO sad/upset when it was time to leave, but we had a lot of walked left to do to get back to the Skytrain station and head back into Burnaby. (I think my brother said we walked just over 15,000 steps, according to the app on his phone.) I’m so glad I was able to borrow a Sit & Stand stroller, because Isla wouldn’t have survived the trek back to the station.

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Sunday was our shopping day and we headed out to Ikea (conveniently only 10 minutes away from my grandpa’s) to BUY ALL THE THINGS pick up a few items. I bought a bookshelf for Norah’s room and some new dishes, as well as a couple odds & ends because Ikea. I was also able to meet up with Callie, which was wonderful as we don’t get to see each other very often! (Especially in her neck of the woods!) We all went back to the house afterwards for some lunch and then my grandpa dropped us off at the Skytrain station so we could hop on the train and head to Metrotown to do some more shopping!

Old Navy just so happened to have an amazing sale on baby and kid’s clothes (BOGO free!), so I stocked up on some summer gear for Isla and Norah. We also visited the Disney Store where Isla REFUSED to leave, (can you blame her?) and I got suckered into going to Lululemon by my brother:

Him: Don’t you want to go into Lululemon?
Me: I don’t really need to. I don’t need anything.
Him: Well, I want to look at shorts for running.
Me: Okay, fine. 
(I buy a new bag, my brother buys NOTHING.)

It was time to head back to the Skytrain, and that’s when the hilarity begins. First, we ask Isla if she needs to use the bathroom, which is at the complete opposite side of the mall from the Skytrain station. (Of course.) She says no, so we head towards to station. We get to the exit, and what is Isla doing? The potty dance. I walk/run allllllllllll the way back to the bathroom with her, then we walk/run allllllllllll the way back so we can get on the train. One just pulled up when we got to the platform, so we rush and get on the train only to realize after it takes off that we got on the headed in the OPPOSITE DIRECTION of where we needed to go. Ugh. So we get off at the next station, get on the train going the RIGHT way, only to realize that we were on the train going to SURREY, not our stop. We rode that train until we couldn’t anymore, then FINALLY got on the train that would take us to the station where my grandpa was picking us up. Thankfully the Skytrain “regulars” could tell that we were total newbs and were so wonderfully helpful in making sure we got on the correct trains.

Needless to say, I was happy when my grandpa busted out the margarita machine when we got back!

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Isla would’ve rode the train all day if we let her.

Monday morning we loaded up the truck (which took some planning out due to all of our shopping) and we were on our way home. It was bittersweet leaving because we had such an amazing time, but the girls were starting to get a little restless and needed to get back to their normal schedule. They did SO well though – especially Norah – and neither one of them made me regret driving all the way down to Vancouver for a few days.

We can’t wait to do it all again next year!!

What I’m Reading: Where’d You Go, Bernadette

Posted in Book Review, Books, What I'm Reading by

13526165From Goodreads.com:
Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she’s a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she’s a disgrace; to design mavens, she’s a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom.

Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette’s intensifying allergy to Seattle—and people in general—has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic.

To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence—creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter’s role in an absurd world.

My review:
I really wanted to enjoy Where’d You Go, Bernadette after hearing so many rave reviews. I wouldn’t say I didn’t enjoy it, but I felt a little let down by it in the end.

The characters themselves were all great. I loved reading about Bernadette and all her craziness, although sometimes she seemed to be a little too crazy. Why her husband didn’t intervene earlier and try and get her help is beyond me, especially considering the state of their “house” and her agoraphobia.

The way the story was put together didn’t quite make the mark for me. When I read the book cover I thought the story would be more about Bee trying to figure out where her mother disappeared to. Instead, it was a little discombobulated and when Bernadette finally does disappear, the remainder of the story seems rushed and plot lines seem unfinished. (What about Soo-Lin? Audrey?) I was rapidly turning the pages to see what happens, only to feel a little let down.

(I’d also like to know what Bernadette has against us Canadians, haha!)

Still, Where’d You Go, Bernadette is still an OK read. There a hint of satire and sarcasm that really spoke to me, so I’m still going to give it 3.5 stars out of 5.

 

Thirty

Posted in Birthdays by

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Today I’m 30.

I thought I would have some kind of deep, profound post all set out and ready to go for this day, but alas, I do not. All I can think about is what turning 30 means, and even then I don’t really have an answer. I really thought would feel more emotional over turning 30 – depressed, even – but when I look at everything gained over the past few years, between now and whatever the last “milestone birthday” may have been, how can I?

I got engaged to and married the love of my life. I have two amazing daughters. I have an amazingly supportive family. I have friends I can lean on regardless of how crazy or boring I may be.

There hasn’t always been gains though – there’s been losses and struggles. While I try not to dwell on them I cannot go through life not acknowledging that they happened. That’s what makes life life, after all. The tougher times keep me humble, so to speak, and make me cherish all of the good even more.

Today I don’t care that I’m 30. All that matters is that life has been pretty darn wonderful.