It rains in Vancouver almost 10 months in a year but when the sun comes out, it’s glorious and everyone is out enjoying the outdoors. This weekend, we headed to Squamish for a little adventure. It’s always a treat to drive on the Sea to Sky Highway with its amazing views. We stopped at Shannon Falls to do a quick little hike, had lunch in Squamish town then headed to Porteau Cove on our way home. Happy Spring!
On Tuesday, I attended the first winter workshop at Collage Collage. We learned to make Pom Pom Garlands and Wreaths. When we got there, all the supplies were ready for us all stacked up on the long communal table. I couldn’t help but admire the mountains of colourful yarns ready for us to use. I was excited.
Once everyone were settled in, Erin Boniferro, the brilliant mind behind Collage Collage gave us a demo to make Pom Poms with a little handheld tool. We immediately started making our pom poms and by the end of the 2 hour workshop, we made over a dozen pom poms each. We had a choice to either make a wreath or a garland. I chose a garland and tied my little pom poms together with a white yarn. I couldn’t have been more pleased.
I went home that evening with 3 rolls of yarns and my pom pom maker tool purchased at the shop. I made a few more pom poms that evening before going to bed. I’ve been making more since then as it’s extremely addicting. I think my house will be filled with pom poms soon!
Collage Collage opened 3 years ago and located near 15th and Fraser in Vancouver. It is a shop filled with art supplies, little toys, books and prints. It’s like a mix of art studio and shop all at the same time. You will be inspired as soon as you walk in. There’s a long communal table right in the middle of the shop where workshops are held in the evenings and weekends. If you haven’t been to their workshop, check them out as they are so fun. They get filled up fast though! Details are here for upcoming winter workshop dates.
We’ve been asked many times how we are able to dine out with Luna. To some parents, the concept seems unreal. How do you make a toddler sit while you enjoy a proper meal without tantrums or running around like mad?
Peter and I enjoy dining out and trying new restaurants. We’ve always done it before Luna was born and continue do so. The only difference now is we have a little one joining us with the fun. It’s not always easy. She’s a kid after all and tantrums/meltdowns are part of her life. But I think it’s the way it’s handled that will determine a good dinner out or a disaster night out. We’re pretty chill and don’t totally get stressed out when it happens. I think kids can sense how we feel. As long as we stay chill and attend to her needs and shift the focus to something much happier, then a smile suddenly appears and life is good again.
Here are some dining out tricks with a toddler that has worked for us:
1. Dine early. Come early before the crowd comes – 6pm is usually a good time as most people dine around 7:30-8. This is great especially for cozy little bistros or restaurants with large communal tables. You don’t feel so squished amongst other people and it gives room for a toddler to move around and stretch their legs when they need to. Also, servers aren’t busy yet and are able to attend to your needs.
2. Order a favourite drink. Luna’s favourite is apple juice. That keeps her happy & entertained for a little while and makes her feel special.
3. Dessert. Luna will do anything for dessert. I just tell her if she stays sitting and eat her dinner, she can order any dessert she wants. A little bribery always helps :)
4. Chat & be merry. We always make sure she’s part of the conversation. That way, she doesn’t get bored just staring at the wall. This keeps her sitting down as she happily tells us funny and silly stories.
5. Emergency treat. When the food comes and suddenly she feels the need to get up, run around or become restless and all you want to do is dig into your food – the emergency treat comes out! This doesn’t happen often and that’s why it’s called the emergency treat.
6. Tip well. With a toddler being a little bit more messy with food spilling onto the floor, there’s not much you can do except to tip well and say thank you.
Most restaurants have highchairs/booster seats available and are very accommodating to families. We believe it’s important to enjoy our life with Luna part of it. We love having her around and for her to experiencing the things we love to do. I also think it’s good for children to be accustomed to being in adult like settings. You can’t expect a 4 hour dinner with 2 bottles of wine sipping and chatting the night away. But a 1.5 hour dinner with a couple cocktails, good food, good conversation and a toddler sipping apple juice makes for a great dinner out. That’s really what it’s all about – being together as a family and always enjoying each others company wherever we are.
Lighthouse Marine Park in the summer without all the snow. It’s just as amazing and still feels like a whole different world. I’m glad we discovered this place. It’s our secret gem in Point Roberts, Washington.
There’s a little US town called Point Roberts that is part of Washington state but geographically separated from the rest of the US. It’s practically surrounded by Canada. To get there, you have to drive through Tsawwassen, BC to cross it’s little border or by boat if coming from US waters. It’s a small town and there’s really nothing there except for a few gas stations, US Post, a grocery store, a couple cafés, beach homes, a liquor store and a few mail outlets.
But last year on a snowy winter day, we decided to explore the little town. As we were driving, we spotted an entrance to a beach with a sign Lighthouse Marine Park. We didn’t know what to expect except for a snow covered beach. As we were driving into the parking lot, we started seeing these picnic huts covered in snow. It almost looked like an abandoned Nordic village. We were in awe. So we got out of the car, put on our parkas and explored.
There was absolutely nobody there. The border guards thought we were crazy to go to a beach on a cold snowy day. But look what we discovered. These are picnic shelters set right on the beach. We felt like we were in a different world – like somewhere Nordic. We probably spent close to an hour exploring and taking photos until we could no longer feel our frozen toes & fingers.
I decided to go back to see what it looks like in the summer without all the snow. It didn’t disappoint. See my summer photos of Lighthouse Marine Park here.
We crossed the border to La Conner, Washington last weekend for the last leg of the tulip festival. When we got there, we spent most of the time snapping a billion photos and running around fields and fields of tulips. Quite an amazing site. The tulips were all in full bloom and came in purple, pink, yellow, orange and red. I didn’t have a favourite, I loved them all. Wouldn’t it be so nice to have this as your backyard?!
Not very far from where I live, there’s a little Island called Westham Island. To get to this Island, you have to cross a 100 year old wood deck swing bridge. It’s my most favourite bridge. I’ve been there a few times where I’ve had to turn off the engine of my car while I wait for the old man who manually turns part of the bridge for the boats to get through. It’s such a nice thing to watch and makes me feel like I’ve been transported to another time.
Once you cross the bridge, the scenery is beautiful. Lots of country houses, barns and farmlands surrounding you. As you keep on driving, you will notice all the beautiful mailboxes on the side of the road and they come in all shapes, colours and sizes. Some look like they are handmade and some look like they are custom painted by the owners. Aren’t they so cute?
We hit the Beaty Biodiversity Museum on Saturday with a couple of friends. It turned out to be a great museum kind of day as it was cold and rainy. We’ve never been to this museum but have heard so much about it so we thought of giving it a try. As soon as we walked in, I was completely surprised to see a hanging display of a giant blue whale skeleton. It was massive in scale and hugely impressive. Then as we continued our way down to a much darker space in the museum and hit our first row of bones & taxidermy displays, my jaw dropped. I wasn’t expecting to see giant displays of taxidermy so beautifully arranged and dimly lit behind a glass display almost looking like it was a set for a movie. I’ve never seen anything like it.
The narrow dark rows continued with displays of animal specimens in jars, plants, shells, insects, fish, reptiles…it just went on and on. Luna was interested in seeing them all with absolutely no fear. She was taking it all in and also enjoyed running down the dark rows and rows of displays. At the very back wall of the room is a family zone where Luna and I made an eagle crown. She’s so proud of this eagle crown she made that it hasn’t left her head since then.
Highly recommended. Don’t be surprised if you end up staying there for 3 hours admiring taxidermy. We sure did!
What to do on a rainy Saturday? Go out for coffee & hit our favourite Lebanese restaurant! There’s a delightful french café in the middle of a residential neighbourhood called Le Marché St. George. Not very many people know about it, it’s like a hidden gem in the city that only opened a little over a year ago. When you walk in, you feel like you’ve just flown to the South of France. It’s beautiful, cozy, rustic and serves excellent coffee, teas & pastries. They also carry a selection of gourmet food products as well as a basket full of handmade wool blankets made in a mountain village in Mexico. I wanted them all. Such a perfect place to be on a cold & rainy day.
Then our stomach started growling and off we went to our favourite Lebanese restaurant – Nuba! I was craving for the Najib Special which is exactly what I had. Peter had a bowl of their red lentil soup and garden falafel (so good btw, it taste similar to that amazing falafel place in Paris called L’As du Fallafel). Luna had a glass of orange & carrot juice and happily continued eating her little doughnuts from Le Marché St. George. We usually never leave Nuba without having their turkish coffee but we were over caffeinated by that time. We left full & happy. Until next time.
Happy Monday everyone!
I just started using Instagram and loving it! I like following peoples photographers as it shows snapshots from around the world. But sometimes, I think people are from places they are not because of the subject on their photos. When I was looking at my photostream on Saturday, it could have been from several places from around the world but it was all shots I took in Vancouver.
My Saturday felt like a culinary trip around the world. We started off at Joe Fortes for old school New York style brunch with Oysters Rockefeller and classic Bennys. Then it was off to Thierry for french style patisserie for sweets. Dinner was Japanese Izakaya at Guu Garden. We were stuffed by end of day but definitely a Saturday filled with yummy goodness mixed in with good company.
A few random photos taken the past 2 weekends. Did you have a good weekend? It’s been really cold here lately and been raining way too much which always leaves us having to find fun stuff to do indoors. Went to the East Side Culture Crawl the other weekend and spent the day at the Art Gallery for Family Fuse.
We discovered this cute little sashimi/bar cafe called Gyo-O. It’s the seafood version of Gyoza King. The place is small but luckily, we were there before 6 pm so there were still a lot of empty seats but it did quickly fill up by the time we starting eating. The food was amazing & the flavours so delicate. We also couldn’t help but try out a couple of their desserts so we went for their black bean pudding and assorted macarons. A highly recommended place.
