Welcome to Vancouver:As told by Denise

Dan did an excellent job of catching everybody up on our first weeks in Vancouver...especially because unlike me, he is not lazy and he actually writes about our lives, instead of just posting 50 pictures every three months:)  But you gotta admit, it's better than not posting at all! I did, however, want to add a few photos that he missed...like this charming picture below. We got into Vancouver on Saturday night, and the next morning was Father's Day! Luckily Liam and I had already made Dan a pretty great card the week before, but the pressure was on to try and pull of Father's Day meals for the next day with no food and no kitchen equipment! Camille and I went out for a late night shop to the 'Real Canadian Superstore', which is pretty much the Canadian version of Wal-Mart. It was a lengthy and somewhat painful trip, but I think we pulled off a decent Father's Day...he got bagels with cream cheese and smoked salmon with fruit for breakfast, and gnocci with tomato and green beans, sourdough toast smeared with avocado, and a large and tasty salad for dinner. Aside from the fact that we ate on the floor and Liam trampled the meal about three times, I'd say it was a success!

Camille and I did a ton of exploring while she was here. It was so amazing to have her with me for the first days here. With NO furniture and no friends, I would have been in a sad state. This is where we took our morning walks! Can you believe how beautiful this is? There is a huge forest with walking trails located at the end of my lane. It is pretty amazing to have something so gorgeous so close by.

One day we found ourselves at an AWESOME boat harbor, that we loved! Liam has been so fascinated by all the boats we have been seeing around here. We had a deliciously greasy lunch of fish and chips and did some good shopping at some nearby thrift stores.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this picture! This is the face Liam makes these days when you tell him to 'smile'! He scrunches his nose, closes his eyes as tight as he can and generally looks like he's in pain. I thought it made for a pretty classic photo. This is at Kitsilano Pool, which is right at the edge of the beach so you can look out over the water while you are swimming. You can't see the shore very well through the gate, but in person it is so beautiful. The pool is MASSIVE and 'heated', and uses salt water. It's a pretty great pool.

I know Dan already posted a picture almost exactly like this, but I couldn't resist posting another one...I mean his expression is so obviously different in this one:) He was just SO excited and SO cute while we were watching the Dolphin show, and Camille was genius enough to take a few pictures of his reaction. 

This is the day our boxes finally arrived from U-Haul (more than a week late!!!) and Liam fell in love with this little bike all over again. It was so fun to see him playing with all of his toys. I think he had been sinking into mild depression and rebellion without them.

 Here are a couple pictures of my wonderful sister Camille! I could write an entire post of pure gratitude for having her here during this transition. She was SO helpful...packing the diaper bag three times a day, looking up directions, cleaning, doing dishes, entertaining Liam, listening to me rant and rave about U-Haul, exploring with me, sitting alone in public on numerous occasions while I chased Liam and gave him time out, unloading and unpacking for 12 hours straight, and watching the entire first season of Hero's with me:) Now she needs to come again and have an actual vacation. THANK YOU CAMILLE!

Here is Liam making the most of the empty shelving.

Another hilarious example of the face he makes when I tell him to smile for the camera.

With Camille gone I had to start exploring on my own. One day I set out for my morning walk and on a whim decided to walk all the way to the beach. So I stopped at 'Tim Hortons' (the well loved Canadian Donut shop...there is one on every corner) to grap a few supplies and off we went. It was a great walk and downhill the whole way! So you can imagine me on the walk back...it's about 13plus blocks straight uphill! It was a good workout, though...and definitely worth the adventure at the beach. I was not, however, prepared for Liam to play in the sand/water. I figured he would just stick his feet in a little, but of course the first think he did was fall over in the water then play in the sand! So he ended up in his diaper.

On the way home I covered his legs with a cardigan to avoid a sunburn and let him finish off the last donut. When I got home he looked like this. So sweet...especially the crumbs stuck to his chest:)

We have been loving our backyard! It's totally fenced in, so it's a great space for Liam. However, after watching Camille open and close the gate one time, he figured out how to do it himself.  Now we have a locking system that will hopefully be Liam proof. He was coming in and out of the yard the other day, and when I checked on him I found him "reading" his coloring book in the lawn chair...backwards. He is getting way too old!

We are having a great time here, and trying to soak up as much sun as possible before it goes away for another 9 months. We are now booking visitors for the month of September!