The Maple Leaf Country

Earlier this year, we started thinking maybe our family was finally ready for a vacation that did not involve booking our stay at the grandparents. We've wanted to make a trip north to Canada since we moved to the northwest so that become our chosen destination. We quickly learned hotels are far cheaper on the US side and we opted to stay in Bellingham, which is only about a half hour drive from the border. The hotel we picked was brand spanking new and we were lucky to get a ground floor room. We brought the pack-n-plays, which haven't seen daylight in a year. We also bought a couple of cheap strollers to free up some room in the trunk for other necessary possessions. I made up a couple car pillows for the twins but they didn't get much use by them. Laith's spent most of the time on the floor and Vivienne's was used as back support for Bryan. Just outside of Seattle, Vivienne fell asleep holding my phone to her head. She is absolutely crazy about her Sesame Street songs...just didn't realize how attached she had become.

The strollers were a huge hit. The twins thought they were so fun, especially Vivienne, as she gets the bottom of the two-tier stroller with not much view. It helped Laith with his separation anxiety from me, as he could just tilt up and see me easily. We chose to drove a short stretch of the Puget Sound on our way north that had beautiful views. Sadly, every pull-off for a view is blocked by gargantuan trees. At the end of the drive we found a small parking lot and trekked a short path to see tiny peek.

 (This particular view of Laith happens often. Relaxing is just not his thing.)

We stopped at a local Albertson's to pick up the groceries I couldn't fit in the car as it involved an oversize cooler. The kids loved riding in the police car, which completely surprised me, as when we visited Bryan at work one time, they couldn't stand the race car version.

We took a short drive to see a waterfall in Bellingham that included a kiddie park. Vivienne is still fearful of slides at this point, but by the end of our trip, she has the slide mastered.

Our first day into Canada, we didn't have to wait long at border patrol. The guard asked a lot of questions, some being a little odd. Then when she asked the last time we'd been, and we said never, she couldn't believe it. We'd lived in Washington for 4 years and this was our first attempt? I so badly wanted to lean over and say Really? Did you not see the 2 year old twins in the back seat? but I kept my mouth shut. Didn't need to give Canada a reason to search our car.
It was a rainy day the first day in so we opted to do the aquarium that day. I had read up that an orca whale was kept there, but we never found that tank. I've no idea why, other than it didn't exist. The aquarium map didn't show the tank and none of the exhibits talked about it. Yet there were Beluga whales and a couple dolphins. Laith and Vivienne enjoyed seeing the fish a lot more this time around. There is also a rainforest section to the aquarium here, and they had several birds and monkeys. When Bryan walked by with Viv, there was no stroller parking to view the monkeys, but everyone cleared out after he walked by, so Laith had a good giggle over the monkeys' antics.

We had lunch at the aquarium and fish was on the menu (which completely surprised me...I guess fish is kind of on the brain, but it's weird to think you're eating the cousins of every fish living there). Laith enjoyed his cookie thoroughly and Vivienne kept offering her fries and drink each time we snapped a picture.

The famous gas-powered clock. It was only after we arrived in Vancouver, BC, that I learned the clock was not as old as you'd think. It was a 'newer' invention added to the old town area to make it feel more old town. *Sigh*

For day 2 of Canada, we went to the farm in the morning. I thought the twins would enjoy getting the chance to pet a bunch of animals. Boy was I wrong. They loved looking at them, even laughed at the chickens and ducks that were running around, but they would not for all my trying, pet the sheep and goats. Probably just as well, Bryan's germaphobia was on high alert here.

Our afternoon stop was a lighthouse. Several people had mentioned on the web that the trail was good enough to wheel an adult in on a wheelchair, so I took that as the all clear for strollers. The going in was definitely fine. It was all down hill.  The coming back was a whole different story. I kept commenting on all the benches going down and there weren't enough for the pit stops I needed on the way back up.

After our long sweaty hike, we drove north along the Sea to Sky Highway. Once again, the view of the ocean and sound were stunning. It was a perfect day for pictures. Whistler was disappointing. I'd hoped to stop and get some ice cream but it's a ski only town. I'd imagined a little more to it since it was the home ski city of the 2010 Olympics. We stopped at a beautiful overlook on the way back south and had a tiny snack picnic. A kind couple offered to snap our family group after watching us attempt to do it on our own. The elevation on the sign makes me snicker. Living in Utah we were at 4500 feet (thanks to Google, 320 meters Canada is 1050 feet American).

We stopped at another set of falls, just past a ginormous cliff rock face that made me think of pictures of the Rock of Gibraltar. We had a small photo session with my sunglasses just before a tiny black cloud came over us and let a burst of rain.  I didn't think the northwest would find us so quickly.

The final day in Canada, we toured Stanley Park at great length. Bryan got some amazing views of the Lion's Gate Bridge (not the one above...it's far below, the one in green). We took a horse carriage ride which lasted about an hour, and finished just in time for the grumps that the twins started to have. We also bought a piece of artwork from a local artist. It's an image of the Vancouver, BC mountains, the ocean in front with several colorful sailboats. We forgot to check out the miniature train, but we did get a good look at the totem poles, most of which are replicas.

In all, our vacation didn't fare so bad. The twins did quite well staying in a hotel. We got loud a few times, but no one stomped on floors or banged on walls. We chose to do take out more often than eat in the restaurant. Laith had several mini meltdowns, which were captured throughout our vacation and Vivienne had only one super meltdown the very last evening. Thankfully it was in the parking lot of Bob's Burgers before we went inside. We chose to eat elsewhere after 20 minutes of running around in the parking lot hadn't gotten her to calm down. The drive time wasn't too bad, about 5 hours or so to get to Bellingham. The beautiful views along the way (and the chance to eat at Cafe Rio in Lynnwood!) were totally worth it. On our way home, I already started chatting about what we should do for next year's family vacation...