Fieldtrip in Reflection

Day One:

It was Erin's day off from work to spend with us. We started with 2 hours at the Science Centre.



















And then walked through Chinatown and went for lunch.



















And after making an obligatory appearance at Erin's work to be introduced and buy some jeans, we had supper at a vegetarian hot spot, The Foundation.

And because we walked to almost all of those places at Erin's breakneck speed, after that, we crashed and were asleep before 9pm. But my heart was filled up. It was so fun to be in Erin's space and to have her with us for the day on our adventure. I was in heaven to have my kids around me, laughing, having fun in the sunshine in beautiful Vancouver.













Day Two:

Still rather exhausted from the first frenetic day, and after hitting the speciality BMX store to buy long planned bike parts, (and it was right beside MEC, so I finally bought myself a cushy seat for my bike) we took the bus to the Museum of Anthropology.


Cedar boxes... somehow it was heartbreaking to see these beautiful and useful boxes here... in a museum and I think of them being taken or bought from the people who made them or used them or who had died of the plagues the white people brought...

Rhiannon was excited to see this carving of the Waasco that we just finished reading about. This is a contemporary carving by Haida artist, Bill Reid. The Waasco is a supernatural monster that has the body of a wolf and the fins of a killer whale and is so huge that it carries a killer whale in his tale, with his front paws and in his mouth.



And here, an eerie mask from the Treasures of the Tsiampsian exhibit which was amazing but not very big. I am so glad we got a chance to see it!


An incredible carving of Bill Reid's illustrating the Haida creation myth (man hatching from a clam shell goaded by Raven, the trickster






Then we took the bus to the Vancouver Art Gallery to meet Laura. Unfortunately the Emily Carr exhibit was closed to change it but the Pictorial one was very interesting and the Tree one was fun, too. Then it was out for dinner for her birthday as we wandered all over downtown looking for the right kind of place. We found it - an all you can eat Japanese place. Very good food! I was stuffed until dinner the next night!

Day Three:

After 2 very busy days, we headed over to my brother, Jordan's house to hang with my nieces, talk homeschooling with their mom and chill. Rhiannon and I managed to squeeze in one more visit to Science World before going.


Here's Sweet Baby Jane in the hat I made her. I got to read her lots of stories and accept lots of toys from her generous hands.










Day Four:

The highlight was the Peter Pan Ballet dress rehearsal that we had tickets to. We took the bus and skytrain downtown.
Here are two gorgeous girls dressed up for the ballet on the skytrain. Although Maria was soooo disappointed when she found out that she was going to have to watch the ballet instead of be IN it! She had her heart set on being Tinkerbell.














Then it was over to grandma and grandpa's house for spaghetti and time to hang with other cousins. Can't you tell these two handsome, tall guys are cousins?!















Day Five:
A slower paced day to hang at the park and spend some time with my brother and to make Maria her hat. Drew got to hang with Grandpa and work on setting up his shop which Andrew said was his favourite part of his trip.

And here is us saying good bye. It was so fun getting to spend time with Jordan and his family and getting a chance to bond with my nieces. And Tracy is the Queen of breakfast! We were really spoiled. We headed for the bus for our trip home. At the bus depot, we met my brother Doug and added four of his (7) kids to our entourage who are here to visit for the next 2 weeks while their parents find a new house and pack up and move. So on to our next adventure - two weeks with Madelaine (10), Caleb (9), Mary (5) and Gabriel (3).