A wonderful day in Vancouver

I don't have pictures, but today was so great in a Rob-and-Sara kind of way that I just have to write about it.

We woke up at 4:45 AM and were at Whistler by 8:30.  We skied until 3 PM - the mountain was fantastic.  Our first time up, but regulars were saying it was the best day all season so we really lucked out.  Visibility was clear (most of the time), the temperature was just around 0, the snow was flouffy and plentiful, and the views and surroundings were breathtaking.

Sara did a great job keeping up with our group of fast skiers, and even (unknowingly) skied down a black diamond. We booked a reservation at one of the chalet's restaurant so our lunch was unusually pleasant -replace long lines and awkward carrying-trays-in-ski-boots with peaceful sit-down restaurant with great service, food, and views.

When we got home, we picked up a movie from Rogers and some take-out Thai food.  We ate and watched Up In The Air, good movie - especially for Sara who's lived the consultant lifestyle.  For dessert, we ate strawberries with hot chocolate which Sara had been craving all day.

Another wonderful day in Vancouver!

-Rob

Mansions on The Crescent

I (Rob) was looking at Google Maps of Vancouver when I noticed a most peculiar street called The Crescent.

Intrigued by this circular street without a standard suffix, I decided I must explore this area at once.  So on Sunday, Sara and I made our way via standing-room-only-Olympic-fans-packed bus to this mysterious Crescent.

Readers, I assure you The Crescent lived up to my wonder.  Sara felt strongly that I shouldn't take pictures of the fantastic old mansions we saw around the The Crescent, so I refer you to Google Street View.  Some were once glorious now decrepit, while others had been maintained and rebuilt.  Several estates had second or even third sister houses built on them which we speculated must be for the owner's grown up children.

That is all for now.  I hope to return to this "Shaughnessy" neighbourhood one day soon for more exploring.

-Rob

Rob and Sara Go to the Olympics!!

We managed to get 1 set of tickets to an official Olympic sporting event, and today was the big day!  We got to see the women’s hockey game, Canada v. Sweden.  It was at the Thunderbird Arena at UBC, so right around the corner from my new office.  It was fun to be there in advance to watch the warm up and everything – just to soak up some of the Olympic atmosphere.  And there was definitely a lot of atmosphere and energy!

It took a few minutes for Canada to get geared up and get goals 1 & 2, but after that, goals for Canada came fast and furious.  Gillian Apps, a high school classmate of mine, ended up with 2 goals and 1 assist.

Rob has been coming down with a bad cold so all of the excitement starting wearing him down.  By the time Canada was up 12-0 about 5 mins into the 3rd period, we decided to head out and beat the crowd (and the long bus line-ups that I’ve had to face other days on the way home from work).  As we were walking out of the building, we heard Canada’s 13th goal, but missed Sweden’s one goal of the game :(  Final score was 13-1. So what’s next for the Canadian women’s hockey team? They go onto the semi-finals against either the US or Finland, depending on the outcome of that game tomorrow.

It was a great Olympic experience, and I can’t wait to see what happens next!!

Go Canada Go!!!!!!!!

-Sara

Happy Valentine's Day, Chinese New Year's, Olympics

Okay, well here in Vancouver Rob is off work for two weeks during the Olympics.  Sara meanwhile has just started a job at the local university. Today was a beautiful day (sunny, 10 degrees) so we took a trip downtown.

Everything looks like Olympics - the conspicuous volunteers walking around with their big name tags and blue jackets/hats, the large advertisements on buildings, and crowds of pedestrians crowding every street corner.

We walked down to the waterfront to see the Olympic cauldron.  Unfortunately, we couldn't get up close since it was fenced off.  We'll just have to wait until the Olympics are over before we climb it.

Next we walked to Robson square where we saw the Olympic mascots on ice (including Rob's favourite - Quatchi) and people zipping across overhead.  Line ups prevented us from joining in the zipline fun (4 hour wait!).  There was a 1.5 hour wait to get into the Vancouver Art Gallery which has a large Da Vinci exhibit on loan from the Queen.  We're hoping to return on a weekday when the line will less crazy.

By this time, the day was approaching 2pm (which is our laundry time) so we decided to head home.  The busses are unreliable with all the foot traffic delays downtown, so we just walked home over the Burrard bridge.  Home to watch the olympics!

Dec 12 - Feb 6 in point form

• Before flying out east for the XMas break, Sara and I decided to celebrate an early xmas eve + day so we wouldn't have to bring our gifts for each other across the country and back again. 
• This is our Vancouver Christmas Eve in VanDusen Gardens

• This is our Vancouver Christmas Morning - it actually snowed!

 

• Flew to Ottawa and caught up with friends and Rob's family.

• Drove to Peterborough on Boxing Day and spent a few days with Sara's folk there

• Back at home in Vancouver, we made some delicious Apple Crumble 

• Rob was a victim of Sara's wildnerness first aid course

• Board game night! Rob's coworker + her significant other came over for a fun night of Balderdash, Scattergories, and Boggle

• Aunt Mary + Agnes were in town for 2 days visiting Mary, I was lucky to spend some time with the three of them. We went to dinner at a funky sushi restaurant called Eatery on Broadway Ave.  We picked up some dessert down the street at Calhoun's and ate it back at my place. Spending time with these ladies warms the heart. 

• For Sara's birthday, we went to a ceramics shop and picked out a statue and painted it.  Mine is the bear, Sara's is the vase. 

-Rob

Local Celebrity Spotting

I was on the bus home from work not three blocks from my house, and who did I see crossing the street?  None other than David Suzuki! I quickly rang for the next stop, but unfortunately the bus took me two blocks before it let me off. I started to run towards where I saw David, but he had walked off.

Well, tonight was fun.  After dinner, Sara and me decided to stay away from the computer and TV.  We played  Canasta - a card game we had learned last Christmas but hadn't played since.  Sara beat me hands down, surprise surprise.  But then - world be my witness - I discovered something Sara's much worse at than me - much much worse, and I'm not even very good at it.  Writing upside-down with her left hand.  This quickly evolved into left-handed upside-down mirrored-image writing.  Proudly, I'm also much better than her. But after that, she took me to town at 3D tic-tac-toe.

Off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush.

-Rob 

Welcome to our front yard!

With a big weekend of skiing last week, we decided to stay a little closer to home this weekend. The beach you can see in all of these pictures is less than a block from home, and the water and mountains are our everyday view. Walking to our local Starbucks, you see the mountains. Walking to the grocery store you see the mountains. Going to the library...well, you get the idea!

Even though we stayed in the city, we certainly kept pretty busy this weekend. Friday night we went to my gym's annual Christmas Party. It was held at a club in Yaletown - a really nice thing for the gym to do, to rent the place out and let us all in for free! Once I finally warmed up in the drafty room, it was a great night. Lots of dancing, a fashion show, people of all different ages...all in all, a really nice event!

Saturday we spent the day getting chores done, but wanted to make our place feel a little bit more festive. Without spending a lot of money to really decorate, we decided we would make our own Christmas stockings, so that we can use them to exchange gifts in our pre-Christmas celebration before we go back to Ontario. You can see we were both hard at work getting our little pieces of felt to look just right... Good to get some creative juices flowing though!



Then Saturday evening, a couple of our friends from university came over to our place for a board game night filled with lots of laughs. We played Boggle and Scrabble and did a lot of catching up in between. Definitely something we plan to do again in the near future!

By the time Sunday rolled around it felt like the weekend had already been SOO long. Rob got a massage, we relaxed and read at Starbucks, and we finished up a few chores.

All in all, a weekend filled with good friends, good music, and beautiful mountain views :)

-Sara