So here is what has been going on since my last post:
Friday
We drove south of Seattle for an hour and a half to take a train ride on the Mt. Ranier Scenic Railroad. It turned out this little railroad has the most working steam engines of any railroad in the US (six engines) and they have some really unusual engines too. Brannon and the kids loved exploring the musuem and talking to the engineers that are actually restoring and maintaining the locomotives and railcars. All three kids got to climb into the steam engine that pulled our train and ring the bell - we had to carry Charlotte kicking and screaming from the train. She really wanted to ride the train some more and couldn't understand why the ride was over. I think it made her third birthday a special day!
Saturday
In the morning we walked over to the Space Needle to catch a "Duck Tour" of the city. These tours are done using WWII amphibious vehicles - you ride around on what looks like a open-air bus for a while and then they literally drive straight into the water and become a boat. The driver was very entertaining with lots of jokes and music as he drove around the city, giving out information and fun facts about various landmarks and Seattle in general. The water portion of the tour included a cruise around Lake Union to see Seattle from a unique point of view and get an up-close glimpse of the houseboats along the shore.
After our Duck Tour, we headed north to Vancouver. The border crossing did not take long at all and was very uneventful. We arrived at our apartment around 5:30pm. We have rented one floor of a three floor house on the corner of Commercial Drive and E 1st Ave. Each floor has their own entrance and is completely separate from the other two floors. Our apartment has two bedrooms, a full bath, kitchen, dining room and living room. It also has a washer and dryer. What it does not have is air conditioning and well insulated windows. Commercial Drive and 1st Ave are both very busy streets with lots of traffic including motorcycles and emergency vehicles. It has taken a while to get used to the noise at night. Vancouver has also been unseansonably warm the past month so the apartment is warmer that we would like. It is ok at night with the help of strategically placed fans, but it would be much nicer if we had actual air conditioning. But I will say that it is easy to get around town from this location and there is a grocery store within walking distance.
Sunday
We attended Mass at the cathedral downtown and just hung around the apartment and relaxed for a bit before going to see Despicable Me 2 at a movie theater. The kids loved it! It was the first time I've ever bought movie tickets for five and wow, does that ever add up fast! We met up with Al and Sandra that evening for dinner. They had lots of suprises for the kids of course, and some extra special things for the recent birthday girl. She is still playing with the mylar butterfly ballon they got for her and I hope we don't have much of a fight on our hands when we have to explain we can't bring it home with us on the plane!
Monday
We spent the whole day on Granville Island. The morning was spent shopping in the various toy stores in the Kids Market (we picked up some interesting games for the kids). We met up with Al and Sandra for lunch and then walked around and window shopped for a bit until the stores closed.
Tuesday
We took the scenic highway north along the coast toward Whistler and stopped at Britannia Beach to tour the famous Britannia Mine. There we learned about mining for copper in the early and mid 1900's. Our tour guide was excellent and very knowlegeable. She was able to answer Brannon's detailed questions about extraction methods and pollution effects but was also able to engage the kids and keep them interested in the story of the mine. James enjoyed trying to work all of the old machinery while Brannon and Madeleine spent a LOT of time panning for gold and other minerals. Charlotte even got in a good nap in the stroller while Brannon and Madeleine panned for gold. They finally kicked us out at closing time.
Wednesday
This is the day that Brannon has been waiting for all week - sailing day! He chartered a 33 foot sailboat and captain for the day. Al and Sandra joined us at the docks on Granville Island at 8:30am and we boarded with our snacks, picnic lunch and drinks at 9am. After the pre-sail checkout (which was very detailed - we learned all about the various safety, power, and water systems on the boat), we set out under motor for the bay. We motored for an hour or so out of the bay, past all the anchored tankers (which are HUGE), out north toward Howell Sound and the good wind. Once under sail, the boat started to heel (tilt to the side) and we discovered that we had water in the cabin below deck. Quite a bit of water, in fact. The captain and I worked on figuring out where the water was coming from while Brannon sailed the boat. After much rooting around under the floor of the cabin and bailing while the bilge pump was running, we concluded that there was a leak in the fresh water tank. The captain wanted to return to the dock, but since we had the water level under control and there was a finite amount of water in the fresh water tank (30 gallons), I assured him I would bail and monitor the water level so Brannon could continue to sail. The kids had a blast playing in the cabin below while the rest of us stayed up on deck to view the beautiful scenery. The weather was fabulous, although the wind was probably lighter than Brannon would have liked. He had a blast though and has spent all his free time since yesterday looking at boats online and reading about sailing around Seattle and Vancouver.
Thursday
Today we drove to the Cleveland Dam to hike around, tour the salmon hatchery there and have a picnic lunch under the canopy of the forest. We watched several people fishing in the stream, but no one caught anything while we watched. You could see lots of fish in the water though, and some of them were very large. I'm sure Dad and John would have caught something if they had been there. We had dinner with Al and Sandra at their favorite fancy restaurant in downtown Vancouver - I had escargot for the first time, as did Madeleine and Charlotte. James was not interested in trying the snails (no suprise there). On the way home we stopped at a playground so the kids could get out some of their pent-up energy. They fell right asleep as soon as they laid down.
Tomorrow is our last full day in Vancouver - we will leave early Saturday morning for Seattle to catch our flight back to Dallas.
Sounds like a great vacation!
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