Too much in too long

So...here I am again... it's been several months since I updated this blog... baby arrived May 16th at 4.45pm...a little boy Aydin, he's 5 months old now. I am on maternity leave, we've had family and friends visiting us and our baby over the last few months after week 5. We've been on 5 camping trips, one 5 day road trip on the Gold Rush Trail and a 10 day road trip to Prince Rupert via the Inside Passage. The summer was awfully wet. It's actually still raining today. Autumn is upon us and it's hat and gloves times again.
Skookum is running well.
Maarten is in Alberta for a week for work (again).

Maarten's 32nd Birthday April 21st, 2007

Maarten thinks he's pregnant too... Harmony and Evo
Dave the poser!
Having a good time!
Maarten making his wish(es)

Ad, Kim and Todd

Ariane's pictures... Maarten and Ad Danielle and me
Party people Maarten getting bumped

Maarten, Dave, Matt and Aman
Singing Happy Birthday for Maarten

Getting ready for candles



The Baby Shower in Carol's home

Marije, Marieke, Emily and Janneke
Marieke, Monica, Carol and CZarina with Emily
Irene (escaping as far as she can from Jake the Snake, Hans

Mitra and Monica

Wonderful Birthday for Maarten beginning with a 'simple coffee' at Carol's house in Surrey....turned out to be a surprise Baby Shower with all the Consulate staff dropping in one by one... we wondered what was going on... there were excuses such as Janneke was in the area and thought she'd pop by too, Irene was going shopping with Janneke, etc. tch tch. Really lovely surprise with the best cheese cake, chocolate brownies and a scrumptious lunch to follow.

Carol took the day off on Friday to prepare for it... it's such a beautiful thing they did for us. I really appreciate it.
We stayed till about 3.30pm. The weather was perfect.

We got a lot of cute baby outfits, book, toys and baby vouchers.... not long to go now... before the baby can see them for her/himself. ;)

On the way home, we picked up a tiramasu cake from Sweet Obsessions on Trafalgar and 16th (awesome dessert place for late at night treats), got some alcohol and rushed home to set up for the 8pm party... we had 17 friends over....you'll see the photos. It was a lovely night...everyone came by about 8ish and stayed the latest till 12.30am. Perfect night...lots of talking, catching up with some and meeting new friends like Kim (Todd's sister) and Matt (Dave's friend), Karli (Sascha's friend). Monica met some of the Vancouver crowd too... the actual birthday cake was a hit again....got that at Second Cup in the Bental Centre for all your curious ones.

Maarten got Bumped (Canadian tradition...where friends hold the birthday person's arms and legs and bump them up and down depending on how old they are.... 32 was a lot of bumps for some who's hairs were getting pulled by Ad and who's knee had been bunged up on the ski slopes the week before...it was funny though....Maarten yelling "Addd...stopppp!!")

Quotes

"You're challenging all these truths you were raised to think were self-evident and god-given. That's the value of travelling," Rick Steves

"Travel at its truest is thus an ironic experience, and the best travellers . . . seem to be those able to hold two or three inconsistent ideas in their minds at the same time, or able to regard themselves as at once serious persons and clowns." -Paul Fussell

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." -Albert Einstein

"Internal burning . . . wandering fever . . ."- Kalevala

"I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train."- Oscar Wilde

"I think it would be a good idea."- Mahatma Ghandi (1869-1948), when asked what he thought of Western civilization

"I travel a lot; I hate having my life disrupted by routine."- Caskie Stinnett

Manning Park 10th February

Donna and I (me at 27 weeks pregnant)
Maarten and Ron on their way up!
Getting ready to go...
Awwww, Maarten and I
In action!

(Thanks for all the photos Donna)

Ron, Donna, Maarten and I headed to Manning Park early on Saturday morning. Gay Pride was on in Whistler but unfortunately the 2 for one tickets weren't valid last weekend, so Whistler is postponed. The roads were amazingly clear, the weather was sunny and warm and we had a lovely day. Maarten and Ron hit the slopes while Donna and I had coffee and walked down to the baby lifts...and then all the way up again. Wonderful to be on the snow.

(ps: Grouse Y2Play passes give you 50% off at Manning... not bad when it comes up to $20 for the day pass...another reason for the pass). We stopped in Hope at a cool diner for dinner on the way back.... shared a huuuuge nachos with Donna.
Ron was exhausted and apparently crashed when he got home...not like Ron at all... not the Ron we know. We think he was sick. Maarten loved being on Manning again too.

7 Months!!

Just the one photo for all you hassling me - here's what I looked like 2 weeks ago...

Let's put it this way.... if I were to wear that black top today the buttons would pop... so we're growing really fast, taking over the couch, most of the door space, etc, etc. :)

Grouse January 20th

Maarten and I made it...finally at 9.30am. Was a great sunny day so way too many people. Had to wait about 30mins to get onto the Gondola.

Still... Maarten skied and I went walking till about 12.30, tried the sleigh ride, scouted the snowshoeing treks...even tried it but sunk in. The snow was amazing...powder perfect.

Had lunch and came back home....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-XDmjnnnUo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6ojOj3v-M8

More photos to come...

Snowshoeing weekend!!!

Donna and CZarina with Cypress behind us. Capilano river is just between that mountain and Grouse... you'd hav eto be there to see it.

Digging those toes in while we wait for Donna to take the photo!

Sascha and Donna!!!
That's Cypress Mountain on the background

Sascha, Donna and I...posing on the walk home. Outside the First Nations hut.
Amanda (on conference call), Maarten, Sascha and Donna, almost ready to go



Nice stance girls!!!


View the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__tdHvRAMbs






Grouse was stunning on Saturday the 27 January.


Bright sunny day, Amanda was on time despite the fact that her car wouldn't start... BC AA fixed it all up in 20 minutes and wouldn't you know it...she was early...although standing outside the wrong building, which meant when Sascha saw Amanda, they were both together at the building next door. Ha ha

Anyway, Maarten went to get Donna and they had the tickets and all the passes organised. Amanda, Sascha and I grabbed our coffees and made it there in perfect timing. I think we were on the 9am gondola. Up on the mountain and ready to go by 9.15am! I think.

Donna, Sascha and I got our snowshoes where the ice skating ring is and went from there...along the path up the blue trek. Stopped for photos a couple of times, stopped to ask how to to use the snow shoes. It's quite easy using your toes to push into the snow going up and then also to come down although then you do bend your knees. It got a bit scary on the blue trek when we saw others coming down on their bums...towards us. We did the green trek which takes you around the lake....stunning in the trees.

Amanda and Maarten had some great runs on the paper trail (blue run) and Amanda loved being on skis again... We had lunch at 12 and ran into Katherine. We all went separate ways again for an hour till 2pm. Amazing first time snow shoeing for us.

Great day. 14 degrees....clouds over Vancouver City....

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!!!

And I think it's better weather here than they had in Sydney! Bright sunny day...can't ask for more...ok perhaps we could ask for a meat pie which I am dying for.
Major cravings lately...hint hint.

Up Island
Katherine and I went to see a new comedy
There is a fantastic new play at the Stanley Theatre I highly recommend to all of us who love Vancouver Island and all things Canadian. We just laughed the whole night. It’s a group of brilliant actors who play really fun characters, some of them acting up to 3. It’s a play about relationships, friendships, neighbors and hard times in sickness and breakups.
There are some mad new quotes for us (temporary residents) to learn like "Most people stop at Port Hardy..... After that, they say it's just for hermits and frogs." And “you’re from Manitoba? Taking over eh?”
It’s only playing at Stanley Theatre (on Granville Street) for a month from Jan 25th to Feb 25th so hurry, about $25 per ticket and worth every laugh.

Weekend plans:
Friday 7.30 Incendios on Burrard and 6th. Dinner with Kristy and Behrouz. Yummy to Infinity!! (quote from Up Island)
Grouse Mountain on Saturday for snow shoeing with Donna. Maarten and Amanda will ski.
Saturday evening – girly movie night
Sunday – David’s (Quigg's) birthday sing-along at 2pm till... !!!

January 24th, 2007

A full day of sun in Vancouver today. So beautiful. You can clearly see Grouse from my desk and the Lions from where the sea planes take off. What a difference the sun makes to this city.

2 more days to Australia Day, pity it's not a public holiday here. Will have to make some lamingtons for the work crowd.

Vancouver's Cheapskates is probably going to close in a few months due to new changes in the bylaw that affects second hand goods dealers... making it seem that all second hand goods are stolen. The law itself puts consignment stores, second hand dealers along with the pawnbrokers. The police want records kept of all the people who sell goods to these shops, and then the goods itself have to be kept in storage for 35 days in a warehouse facility on the premises of the shop. Doesn't seem like a viable option for Cheapskates who'd lose whatever money they do make. Seasonal sports goods would be no good sitting in storage while the season goes by. I totally understand keeping a record of people who bring in stolen goods but for a standard trading 2nd hand shop to keep on record the ethnic background, skin colour, eye colour of everyone who walks in to sell their equipment...doesn't seem right or fair. As it is they already take the address, licence details but a further invasion of privacy when it's not their job to do that seems a bit ridiculous. I mean there no law saying they have to close but certainly the new changes make trading really difficult.

For people like Maarten and I who like to try new sports, buy 2nd hand good first it's such a pity that these places are closing or changing the way they trade... like Sport's Junkies.
There are things we can do like writing to the Mayor...so lets do it. Plus there are tonnes of families to who to these places for equipment...I think it's a sorry state of affairs when you also target a certain kind of people who unfortunately may never be able to try new sports due to lack of funds.