the longest shortest month

This week has passed in a blur, so my gap in writing has been a little longer than normal. In part, this was because of a very busy return to work after Reading Week which has meant a lot of evening and weekend hours for me. But in part it’s because we were blessed this week by visits from not one but two out-of-town guests.

The first, Granny Tankard, arrived a week ago and left us only today. The Pasta and his dad took the new Canada Line skytrain out to the airport to meet her. Though the Pasta had definitely been a little anxious about her stay–correcting us each time we told him she would be arriving tomorrow or today with “no, she’s coming in 3 weeks”–he was excited enough by the train and the airport to even give her a hug. After that, they were best friends as though her visit last April was but “3 weeks ago.” She showed infinite patience in helping him do stickers, write numbers and build train tracks. What’s not to love with a Granny like that?

Hermajesty enjoyed Granny’s visit too, though she’s definitely reached an age where friends and hobbies hold more appeal than family, even much adored family like Granny. Her dad and I have been noticing a shift, but it wasn’t until Granny arrived–which used to be an occasion to cancel plans with friends–that we saw how she has changed in the last few months: on Granny’ second day here, Hermajesty accepted an invitation to go home after school with a friend, only returning home at 8:30 that evening; other activities like choir, skating and school projects kept her fairly occupied for much of the week. Luckily, she is still very fond of her Granny and they have many interests in common: we enjoyed watching them do adult-ish things together like watching Pride and Prejudice (A&E version, bien sur!) and discussing books. How many kids have grandparents who know what Kenneth Oppel has written?

Granny’s visit was also an occasion to do a few touristy things around Vancouver, though I confess I missed many of these because of that aforementioned busy-ness at work. We took her, of course, to Granville Island where a winter festival added to the usual attractiveness of the spot. We didn’t end up seeing much of this winter festival because of a serious case of the crankies on the part of the Pasta (and who could blame him? his banana broke!). But we did have a chance to show her where I work, and I was able to introduce the family to some co-workers who were part of a traditional weaving workshop at the Aboriginal Gathering Place. Hermajesty and Granny enjoyed looking at the weavers in action and the samples of traditional Coast Salish weaving on display. The Pasta wasn’t much interested in the weaving, but he was very interested in the pelts draped over several pieces of furniture in the room: he particularly liked the reindeer fur and a river otter pelt. He was not, however, at all impressed with the muskox hide: it was too hairy to be anything but scary!

Our visit to the island ended, much to our satisfaction, with a ferry ride that carried us most of the way home (though sadly it couldn’t transport us up the big hill!). The little harbour ferries that ply the waters on False Creek are a source of constant delight for me: they are like rainbow-coloured bathtubs with windows and a soft vinyl door to keep out the rain.

The same day we visited Granville Island we were also treated to a visit from another out-of-towner: our dear friend and former neighbour Alison. She was in town doing research for a story and made time to see us on her last day in town. We had planned to have her meet us at our place for dinner, but imagine our delight when, in walking the seawall en route to Granville Island, who should we run into but Alison walking in the opposite direction. For a brief moment, we felt like we were back on the corner of Linsmore and Danforth! Alison was very gracious in tolerating our near-desperate conversation both during our chance encounter and later for dinner and a long evening of walking and talking–it’s been a long time since we had an old friend visit, and Alison and her family were among our favourite people to swap stories with, even when we didn’t have eight months’ of news to share. Alison also understands anxious children, so was a source of some comfort and advice as we discussed our recent issues with the Pasta. A long evening ramble in search of beer and dessert led us to discover that Vancouver–for all that it’s a “big city”–goes to bed remarkably early on a Saturday night. Apart from the nightclubs on Granville Street and a couple of coffee shops, we could find very few places open after 9:30pm!

On Monday, Granny, the Pasta and his dad also went to the Aquarium for the day, one of our favourite places in Vancouver, at least in the less busy winter months. They watched beluga whales and a dolphin show and even got to see the giant octopus out of hiding.

The weather was too miserable to enjoy many other parts of Stanley Park, but the Pasta insisted Granny visit his favourite tree. As she will be returning for 2 weeks in April, we plan to do more extensive explorations of the park during that, hopefully warmer and drier, visit.

haircuts, housecleaning and hikes…oh my!

This weekend was much more low-key than our last few, so there aren’t any big outings or excursions to write about. So it’s the perfect opportunity to tell you a little about our new life here in Vancouver and how many of our weekends unfold.

Saturday is often a lazy day for us: it’s the one day of the week that we have no activities and, since we have no friends here, often no plans with other people. So we play the day as we choose, which is strangely liberating (though sometimes kind of pathetic too, especially when it’s 11:00am and no one is dressed yet). We often start the day with pancakes and then migrate slowly toward whatever it is we want to do that day. This Saturday, because of an upcoming visit from Granny, we spent much the morning cleaning cleaning cleaning. This was long overdue, what with being away last weekend. So the two parents and one 11-year-old tackled 2 weeks’ worth of dust and dirt with brooms, mops, dusting cloths and a washing machine. The 3-year-old “helped” by putting mountains of stickers all over the living room floor.

Luckily, our place here is small enough that with 2.5 people working (Hermajesty usually exhausts herself after a couple of loads of laundry ), we can get through the worst of the chores in a couple of hours. This meant that after lunch we were ready to head out. Which was a good thing, as the kids had appointments to get their hair cut at Granville Island.

Our proximity to Granville Island has been an endless source of delight to us in our 7 months here. Of course, I walk there every day for work and I can never walk along False Creek without murmuring a small thank you for this blessing in my life. Especially at this time of year, the seawall is a place of beauty and discovery: herons catching crabs, seagulls eating starfish, rhododendrons in flower (in February!!), crocuses poking up among the grass.

Scenery along the seawall to Granville Island

For a while, I was the only one to see these things, but more and more our family life is evolving in the direction of  the island as well. At least once and often twice a week the Pasta comes down to the island for an open gym at False Creek Community Centre and a visit to the Kids Market. Hermajesty now walks herself down to the island one day a week for a drama class at Arts Umbrella. And more often than not, we walk down to the island on weekends to play in the amazing playground, ride the little harbour ferries or just eat treats and watch the boats. I suspect this will change in the summer when the tourist crowds get insane, but right now it’s such a wonderful destination only 30 minutes from our door.

This Saturday, though, we first had to get through a haircut before we could enjoy the island. And my goodness, what a lot of getting through there was! Even the promise of a Thomas the Tank Engine chair wasn’t enough to convince the Pasta that the hairdresser intended only to cut off his hair and not his head. I’ll spare you the details of the Pasta’s histrionics and instead show you this fantastic before and after:

Hermajesty looked pretty good herself:

After the trauma of the haircut, we treated the kids to a visit to the amazing 3-story indoor play area in the Kids Market (across the hall from the hairdresser). They spent a happy hour climbing through the elaborate structure and going down the “HYOOG” slide, as the Pasta would say, while Jeremy and I settled our frazzled nerves. A bonus: the woman running the play area is a big fan of Emily Carr so offered me a hefty discount any time I want to bring the kids there. Good to know!

We capped our visit with enormous cookies from the Netloft which we ate as we watched boats and birds in the harbour:

And that was, more or less, our Saturday. Sunday was, as usual, busier with skating in the morning and a choir rehearsal for Hermajesty in the afternoon. So we didn’t do much besides walk a lot between these destinations and home… though someday I’ll talk about the amazing Olympic centre where the skating lessons happen. But that’s a story for another night! Have a great week all!

Stanley Park

For anyone who’s ever been to Vancouver, Stanley Park probably needs no introduction. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the city, and deservedly so. It is over 400 hectares of undeveloped parkland that sits on a peninsula at the northern tip of downtown Vancouver, and locals and tourists alike spend hours there walking/biking the forest trails or the path along the seawall.

Today, the FitzTankards decided to walk the full length of the seawall around the park: a distance of just under 9km. It was a misty, drizzly day (again), but being the first ever Family Day holiday here in B.C., we decided that today we would do what we had planned in spite of inclement weather. (Yesterday, in contrast, was sunny and gorgeous and we all had pink noses after an afternoon of walking.) So we donned raingear, booked ourselves a rental car (buses are all well and good when you’re dry, but when you’re wet and cold, the idea of crowding onto a full bus is just too much to take), and headed out shortly after 10:30.

We took a stroller for the Pasta and scooters for both kids, with the plan of moving at a fairly good pace. But we had not reckoned on the Pasta’s determination to walk on “beams” (the bike path is elevated above the pedestrian path, and the edge, painted bright red, looks like a balance beam).

We started our walk at Second Beach (see map above) and the Pasta walked–at 3-year-old speed–all the way to Prospect Point: a distance of about 2.5km. Needless to say, we were impressed. But we were also freezing: 3-year-old speed doesn’t really get the heart pumping enough to warm the hands and feet. We had a brief huddle after our picnic lunch and decided that doing the whole wall at that speed was not doable within our available time, and that we were all too cold to attempt it in any case. So we turned back, not entirely unwillingly–that stretch of the seawall between Third Beach and Prospect Point is so wild and open with a smooth cliff face towering above you that we were all happy for another look. And with the Pasta in the stroller for much of the return walk (against his will, I might add), we all started to feel a little less frigid!

Stopping for a well deserved treat!

Three slightly soggy FitzTankards on their way home!

the girls go shopping!

This week, our exploration of our new home took us a little further afield–into another country in fact! One of our promises to Hermajesty when we moved was that we would take her to Seattle to go shopping, Vancouver being within easy driving distance of an American Girl store. So on Friday, we loaded two FitzTankard women (one small one) and a largely empty suitcase into our oversized rental vehicle and hit the highway.

Apart from an epic wait at the border–not too much of a problem for us as we were listening to Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl for the whole trip down–the journey was very straightforward. We had decided, given our limited time, to stay in a hotel near the mall housing the American Girl store, so we didn’t have to go into Seattle itself (which was too bad in some respects, but my rusty highway driving skills were happy to be spared the navigation of a new city!). So we parked our car for the weekend and went on foot to the enormous Alderwood Mall–which apparently is quite uncommon. It was a beautifully sunny Friday afternoon and there were sidewalks and crosswalks aplenty, but the people driving past looked at us as though we were walking on Mars! I guess there isn’t much foot traffic in these parts!

Feeling like we had entered another world was probably a good way to prepare for our first experience of an American Girl store. Well, truth be told, we had been to one before, many years ago in New York. But that was before Hermajesty owned one of the dolls, so the experience left little impression beyond the “you’ve got to be kidding!!” variety. But now, we are among the initiated, so entering the sacred sisterhood of pink matching outfits is much more meaningful. Or something. Hermajesty, certainly, was beyond happy. She couldn’t stop smiling, and everything she turned her gaze to increased the awe factor. And as you can see from the photos below, there was plenty to gaze on.

We had set a fairly conservative budget of $75 before we arrived, knowing that the temptation of doll-size cellos, backpacks, grand pianos, VW beetles, beds, wardrobes, etc. etc. would soon have exhausted her savings completely. I was impressed with how she went about deciding how to spend that money: she walked the whole store, asked some questions of me and the staff, walked around some more, and finally settled on the following: she would have her doll’s ears pierced (!), hair styled and then she would have enough to buy a cute little backpack stuffed with school supplies. First world problems indeed.

I also treated Hermajesty and Ginnie (the doll) to a late lunch at the American Girl bistro where everything was served in the shape of hearts, stars  and flowers (see below). The food was mediocre, but unlike everything else in the store, reasonably priced, so I didn’t get too grumpy!

To end our day of shopping, we attempted to purge (or at least dilute) the pink ponytails with a visit to the gigantic Lego store across the hall. My favourite feature: fill a container with random lego pieces from the wall of Lego for only $14.99.

We spoke with one Washington mom who makes a competition of this with her friends: they go home and count their Lego pieces after a shopping trip to see who managed to get the most pieces for $14.99. What a strange world. We contented ourselves with the free kit they were giving out!

our first family trip to UBC

Inspired by my friend Bryanna who has been blogging about her family’s travels in Canada and abroad, I decided to start chronicling our family’s experience of relocating to Vancouver. But as with most things I do, I’m starting 6 months later than I should have. Never mind. My new job has kept me so busy and the weather’s been so miserable that we haven’t had much opportunity or inclination to explore since about September!

Today, Hermajesty had a day camp at UBC–a computer science workshop for Grade 6 girls: how cool is that?–so we thought we’d take the opportunity to explore the campus. Jeremy has been to UBC many times as he takes a kung fu class there, but I have not had the chance to get out there. And even Jeremy spends most of his time on campus rushing to class in one direction and the bus in the other, so he’s had little opportunity to wander and enjoy.

The morning started sunny and bright, so we looked forward to a lovely early spring day. What we hadn’t factored in were the micro-climates in Vancouver. Somewhere around Pacific Spirit Park, the bus drove into a wall of fog that stayed with us, more or less, for our entire visit to campus. I like to think it added a spooky ambiance to our explorations.

Hermione’s camp was in the Computer Science building which is near the southern and western edge of campus. We walked north along the misty Main Mall–very deserted at 9:30 on a Saturday morning–hoping to see the library first and maybe find a nice coffee shop in which to have a snack and tea. But the library, like everything else, was closed. We did however get to see the incredible blue whale skeleton on display at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum. Another day when Hermajesty is with us, we will go inside:the blue whale’s arrival there is apparently an incredible story.

We then wandered down to West Mall where we immediately discovered a beautiful Japanese garden–the Nitobe Garden–just outside the Asian Studies building. The Pasta was delighted by the two big bells we discovered there and then walked all through the beautiful gardens counting rocks. Sometimes his obsession with numbers is really very handy. We also found this great hollow tree just the perfect size for a Pasta.

The Pasta explores possible housing options in Vancouver’s tight real estate market.

From the garden, we crossed Marine Drive and found a path to the beach. We naively thought we’d wind our way through a forested path to the beach, not realizing that UBC sits up quite high on a promontory of land. The trail led us after a few minutes to a flight of stairs, but because of the fog we couldn’t see how far down they went. Thankfully, the Pasta likes stairs (he can count them!) so we started climbing down to Wreck Beach, Jeremy carrying the stroller. We finally abandoned the stroller about 150 stairs down and reached the beach another 250 stairs down!!

But even the thought of 400+ stairs to climb to get back up couldn’t diminish our enjoyment of the log strewn beach at high tide. At that point in Vancouver, you are looking out to the Strait of Georgia (not that we could tell, what with the fog). But we saw a couple of fishing boats emerge from the mist at one point and come quite close into shore. Apparently fishing was good thereabouts because we also saw flocks of birds fishing and a seal swim by in search of a snack (or entertainment, we couldn’t really tell).

The Pasta thoroughly enjoyed walking on logs and throwing rocks into the water, and I thoroughly enjoyed being in a landscape that is so familiar. I saw salal bushes, ferns, red cedars, Douglas firs, Sitka spruces and many other old friends from my childhood. Even the climb out was not too onerous (of course, I wasn’t carrying a stroller), as the Pasta wanted to stop at each square (landing) on the way up, which meant we never climbed more than 25 steps at a stretch.

After our exertions, we felt very entitled to tea and treats which we finally found at the Student Union building, which was very ugly, sadly. But we felt very student-ish as we made our way from there to the bus loop. I don’t envy off-campus students their commute, but you can’t beat the natural setting of the campus. Our bus home took us through a very large regional park, Pacific Spirit Park, which is very wild though it is surrounded by residential neighbourhoods. We are already hatching plans to come back for some hiking on future weekends.