High Tea

One of the highlights of our visit to Vancouver was the afternoon we left Chris with the kids and went off to enjoy high tea at a local tea shop.  (Why do I feel like I should write "shoppe?")
 

We spent two hours chatting, sipping tea from our own personal pots, and stuffing ourselves with fancy sandwiches and pastries.  We barely ate that morning in anticipation of the coming feast.
 

 

I tried to listen to the server as she was telling us all the details, but my mind had already raced ahead and was pre-tasting everything.  Besides, it's taken me so long to get to this post that it's all a little hazy.  Here's what I do remember:  we started with the savory bottom layer and ate our way to the top.  he bottom layer featured sundried tomato puff pastry and miniature BLTs on homemade poppyseed buns... and something else that didn't register.

 

This was the scones layer... there might have been lemon almond loaf perhaps, but it's definitely the scones, Devon(shire?) cream and raspberry jam that I remember the most.  In fact, I had been craving these after having them 2 years earlier when Jonathan was born.  
 

And the top layer was sweet treats... something was lemon, something was chocolate...it was all good.

 Guess I got as bit too close - it looks like the plates are floating in mid-air!

On your mark, get set, EAT!   No, really, we were all quite ladylike... although I guess "real ladies" might not have finished every last crumb. 

The only one missing from this picture is Evie, who spent the entire 2 hours sleeping (in her cars eat on the floor) like a champ!   It was great to spend some uninterrupted time with my mom and sisters and the elegant tea and pastries made it even sweeter. 

Vancouver Part 1: baby, hugs and parks

From Halifax we flew across the country to see my sister Julee and her family.  She couldn't wait, and had her baby the day before we arrived - and it was quite an exciting delivery!

We spent half of our days taking the kids to various parks around Vancouver; a necessity to let the kids run off energy, and to let Julee and Evie get some rest.  The rest of our time was spent playing with trains (kids) playing board games (adults) and eating. 

I have fallen seriously behind in my blogging so here are the highlights of the Vancouver visit.

park

baby

bath hugs

baby... just kidding, big girl

hugs

more hugs

Izzie not too happy because she just bonked her head on the bar!

a ball pit- in lieu of a park

baby

chair spinning on the way to a park

more chair spinning

the park we got to after the chair spinning - cool water play

same park

you guessed it... park

park (note: the tongue acts as a counterweight and helps with balancing!)

park

park

park

park

park

park with water

park

park with huge tree stumps

park

park

park (you could see the salmon jumping out in the water)

2 kids wedged into a single stroller on the way home from a park

Yes, our visit pretty much consisted of baby, parks, trains, games, hugs and food.  It doesn't get much better than that. 

Needs Work

I definitely need to work on getting more natural smiles.  What do you think?

What a bunch!

Nose Tricks

During her last cold this is what Izzie learned to do... all by herself.  What a girl!

Overheard from the bedroom

Ben and Izzie have their share of squabbles, but for the most part they play together really, really well.  This morning Izzie asked Ben to read a book (Take Care, Good Knight) to her.  The next thing I know Ben is not only reading the book to Izzie - with great expression - but also teaching her that night and knight are homophones!

Last pictures from eastern Canada

On the way back to Nova Scotia we took the ferry.

From all our trips to PEI as a child, I remember the first few moments of the ferry being the most exciting!  Driving on, getting out of your car and making your way up to the deck where you can feel the wind and smell the salt air.  The excitement as the ferry pulls away from the dock and you are no longer touching land, watching the trail of white foam being cut by the boat... I think the best word to describe the whole experience is invigorating.

After the initial excitement wears off it's time for ice cream:  very expensive - but also very tasty - Cows ice cream.  That smile Izzie is wearing is probably worth a dollar!  Unfortunately she didn't quite finish hers (or was that Ben?) but I stepped in and did my part.

There are some very scenic views as you are leaving the island.

We found a quiet spot on deck and the kids spent about 20 minutes running from the rail to Grandma Val.

And hugging.

One last picture with Grandpa John before we left for Vancouver - with Grandma Val!

PEI part 2

A couple more pictures from our first day in PEI.

We had to leave PEI by early afternoon the next day but we packed a lot in, starting with Ben and Izzie's lobster which they hadn't gotten to eat the night before.

Izzie wasn't so sure about lobster for breakfast.  Or lobster in general.

We also flew a kite,

(with a little help from Grandpa John)

went to the beach,

built a sand castle

smashed the sand castle,

and visited my grandma before catching the ferry!