Day 21 - Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving day started pretty early, we were expecting mom and the rest of the family to arrive around 10:30 so Sofia got up so she could finish making the deserts. Last on the list was brownies. They ended up really good like most of the other deserts she made. I say most, because that one lemon merange pie ended up in the garbage. I think we should have slept in a bit tho, due to delays at the border no one got here until after noon.


As soon as mom got here the turkey went into the oven and I got put on potato peeling detail. I tried arguing that it was the guys job to watch football on thanksgiving and the girls to cook, but that ended up pretty poorly for me. Rick didn't even make it to dinner, he was out shortly after I got done peeling potatoes.

Even tho the place was really small it worked out well. By the time the turkey was done everybody was ready eat. I think I gorged myself, but after looking at Jon's plate I wasn't sure how he didn't pop afterwards. Stuffed full and still wanting to eat we needed to find some good exercise to work up more apatite. Alex seemed like a good candidate. I think he left with one arm a little longer then the other. Lucky for him he still has a couple years of growth left in him and has a hope of evening them out.

Dinner was fantastic Mom and Sofia did a great job. Afterwards we decided to finish up the day with a little shopping down on Robson St. and seeing Denzel Washington's new flick Deja Vu. All in all it was a great day. Sofia and my first thanksgiving together and her first ever. I think that she really enjoyed herself. I even think that she liked baking all those deserts even with the oven acting up, she did a great job, as of today there is nothing left. I am already looking forward to next year.

Day 20 - The Day B4 Thanksgiving


So, the thanksgiving cooking started last Wednesday for me. I was supposed to bake two pies:
+ Lemon Meringue Pie
+ Chocolate Cream Pie
and a batch of brownies and some rice krispies treat...

So after our cycling class we went to the groceries store to get all we needed...Ty said he was going to teach me how to make a pie crust from scratch, and we tried it out but it just did not work out for us...it kept breaking! So Ty went back to the store to get some pie crusts...3 of them, just in case we needed a third one.

So while Ty was at the store...I started with the Rice Krispies...Ty told me to double the meassuremnts or however they are called...and so I did...one cup of butter and 2 packages of 250grs of marshmallows, tinny ones. And 12 cups of Rice Krispies...so I started adding the rice krispies after the marshmallows were melted...one cup, two cups...three cups, or where they four? hmm..so I decided to pour the whole bag in...Hey! They were really good! XD

Then I passed to the Chocolate Cream Pie. All we needed was the chocolate pudding that comes in a box...!! So darn easy! Yei...we baked the crust first, just to make it crunchy! And then poured the pudding in and tossed the pie into the fridge.

Then, the Lemon Meringue Pie. It all started well...once again, Lemon pudding from a box...so easy! And smelled so good! Then the Meringue...at was all going well...until we forgot the pie was in the oven! (Hey, we were hungry!! And watching tv, hehehe)

So the Meringue got a little bit burnt! Just a little...Oopsie...So we had to make another one! Hmmm...ok, so the second pie...it took us like 10 minutes to make that one!! Wow, we were fast! And it tastes so darn good!! Hehehehe

Day 17 - Santa Claus Parade

Nothing special about this parade...kinda boring. So I am not writting a lot about it...Though, the guys from Stargate SG-1 were there....in the parade...and there were tons of bands...and cars that to my point of view shouldn't be there...yeah, I know, publicity...but bah. And horses and a squirrel...and...and more horses and the Fireman band and some cops and I dunno what else cause we left before it was over...boring. Plus we were tarving!! So...enjoy the pictures! i loved the horses!! :)


These are the guys from Stargate SG-1 ...I recognize the girl...she's a doctor int he show...and the guy next to her...who's the main character and the other guy behind the other guy...hmmm





Ty took this one...they are from New Westminster or something like it... No clue.

Day 16 - The Godfather.



<-- Tyler Corleone for all of you!!







"Fredo, you're nothing to me now. You're not a brother, you're not a friend. I don't want to know you or what you do. I don't want to see you at the hotels, I don't want you near my house. When you see our mother, I want to know a day in advance, so I won't be there. You understand? " -Michael Corleone

Saturday. We decided to go for a walk since the day was clear and somewhat 'sunny'. We walked all the way to the ocean. So beautiful. All of a sudden it got cold...but still clear. We could see the mountains and Vancouver Island...and all the buildings and stuff. We took a few pictures...We had a great time. It was windy and cold and clear and beautiful!! Hehehe





This is me, frozen...and smiling!

"If anything in this life is certain, if history has taught us anything, it is that you can kill anyone."

-Michael Corleone

Day 13 - No water day

So i bet that most of you have heard about our bad luck up here. By this I mean the lack of clean water...!!

"Vancouver residents are advised to drink boiled or bottled water after a powerful storm left city's water supplies without electricity and tap water brown and visibly contaminated.

Two million residents in the greater Vancouver area and its suburbs were told not to drink tap water, wash vegetables or dishes with it, or even shower using tap water without boiling it first."**

We finally decided to go to the store to get some botteled water. Too late. There was nothing left! no ice, no water, no nothing! WOW!! Seems like lots of people paniced!

"So far, city's groceries and pharmacies have received extra shipments of bottled water Saturday, November 18th, as bottled water supplies have been limited in the area until the weekend. Fighting over limited supplies of bottled water several people were knocked to the ground this Friday in Vancouver. Canadian Tire announced it will be donating over 100,000 litres of bottled water to local charitable organizations on an as needed basis over the weekend."**

Some restaurants served coffee and some others did not...they were not allowed to serve pop from their fountains or wash food with tap water.

Starbucks did not serve coffee either. There was NO coffee! No water. No coffee...a big no-no in this house...no coffee leads us to Ty having a headache...Huge no-no! Hehehehe...

Good thing is that water's cleaner now...we can now run the dishwasher...still no coffee at home...bit there's a Starbucks at every corner! It's amazing. :)

Hoping this won't happen again any time soon...there's supposed to be another storm today...yikes!

** Toronto Daily News

Day 9 - A new visit

Soooooo....today, Wendi and Scott came to visit! Yei...it was a lot of fun!

So, we went out for dinner, Japanese food. We went to this place close to Earls, guess where?! Robson Street!! The service was bad...and so was the lighting there...horrible! And hmm, I wasn't even hungry! But it was fun dinner time!

After eating, we went for a little stroll and got some coffee. Not Starbucks, I guess it's called Blenz or something like it!

We thought it'd be cool if we could go to a bar or anything like it...though Wendi had a really long day to work the next day, so Ty thought of Earls...too bad it was Hockey night and full. We waited for a little while until Wendi and Scott decided that it was time for them to go back home...

It was really nice seeing them again! Next time they come visit we'll have to go to a bar or a night club or somewhere else...I dunno...Any ideas guys?

So, we are a little bit behind our blogging...Promise to keep up! :)

Ty: I LOVE YOU MORE!! Almost mostest + 1! :)

[ps] No pics today! :S

Day 7 - Sofia Sofia Sofia

Today Sofia and I went to the YMCA to play racket ball again, and work out. She did incredible well making it through the entire circuit 1 and a half times plus a 20 minute run. I was very impressed. I think that even tho it is only day 2 of this she is starting to like it. She definantly was more aggressive about it today. It total we spent about 1 1/2 hours at the YMCA, it was a really good work out.

Afterwards Sophia thought it be best that everybody finaly get to see the building that we live in. So she set about taking multiple pictures from different angles. Next thing you knew we had pictures of the building, the drive way, the YMCA across the street, the church on the other block, and 45 minutes had gone by. The worst part about it was missing the picture of Waldo. Thats right Waldo, a Canadian dress in full red and black stripes walked bye. We were tempted to chase him down and take a picture by decided not to. I regret now because it was pretty funny.



Later we decided on watching a show at the IMAX downstairs. Sofia is a huge fan of thrillers so the choice of the hour happened to be Saw III. A few of you have seen this movie I am sure. It wasnt bad, not as good as the first, but it was way more gory. This is probably the most gorr show I have seen to date. She loved it.





We ended the day with Sofia making her very first dinner for the two of us. So far I have been cooking with here help, but this night I actually got in trouble for even entering the kitchen. Yikes! She can be scary. hahahah. She made the two of us speggeti, and it was good. But I got in trouble for eating to fast and running of to play video games. Uh oh! I guess for future reference that one is a no no. Note to self: Dont go in kitchen when Sofia is cooking and dont leave di8nner early for video games.

Day 5 - Family Arrives









In general we had a great day. I was able to get back to work with my phone line completely set up. Thanx to my tinkering with the wireless. :D For lunch Sofia and I went across the street to the YMCA and played some racket ball. The place is huge, it reminds me of a giant rat maze. So many different doors and rooms, you have to walk to classes to get to other hallways. I think that it is 4 stories high, atleast we were on 4 different floors I think. There must be 5 different stairwells. It is a crazy building.

Needless to say we were finally able to find racketball court 5, and Sofia was able to test out her new gym clothes. It was a great time we spent an entire hour playing before we move on to circuit training. We headed back to the house for lunch and to get ready for my family's arrival.

My family came up from Bellingham to visit and see Sophia, they arrived around 6 PM. Mom came bearing gifts. COFFEE! Thanx Mom. After we showed them our new place we all headed down to Robson St. and had some crepes. There is a really cool crepe vendor on the street were you can get almost any type of crepe you want. We had to sneek pictures becuase they don't allow them. :)
Even thou mom was hesitant and didnt want to try one at first. After seeing the guy make them on the skillet she decided that maybe it was in her best interest to have one. HA! They were really good, a little messy with strawberry juice dripping everywhere, but the were good. After crepes we visited some shops and then headed to Earls for dinner. I know, dessert before dinner? But it worked great. Alex spent most of his night playing with his new phone with its cool little camera. Which was really funny because the minute he put it away in his pocket, the cast of Smallville walked by. Not everyone but Lionel Luthor, Cloe Sullivan, and another guy. He was flippen out. It was great.

Day 4 - Setting Up the House & Exploring


So, what is it with guys and their instinct on fixing or unfixing everything? Wow, it's simply amazing. So this first picture...there was no fixing...Tyler had to have his own wireless connection so that he could use the office's computer, so he started playing with his router and that other black thingy...and what was our result? The building's wireless internet was disconnected! That was simply hilarious...of course, it's still disconnected and will be until we leave!

So...Monday. We woke up around 8 am, I guess. Stayed home for a while...and after Tyler stopped playing with the building's wireless router we went out exploring; in search for double sided tape. So, we went up Robson St. (second picture) looking for a hardware. Ty was complaining about the directions the girl from the drug store gave him, but, hey! at least he asked for directions! (Hunn, me loves you!)

So we were almost at the Hardware store when we spotted the Public Market, which is right behind me (third picture). Ty insisted on taking pictures of me...Why? Hehehe, just kiding. I'll have to go to that Market sometime...

On the way back from the hardware store we did a little shoping: gym clothes. I tried quite a few shirts...some of them didn't fit at all...and I had some trouble taking a white shirt off...I almost broke it! I bought a pair of black pants with white stripes...they are cool! :) At least Ty liked them! Hehehe, I also bought a couple of shirts one green and another white one...it was a fun day.

 

Day 1 - We Arive in Vancouver, BC.














After 5 long and horrible hours in Customs, we finally made it out of the airport at 5:15 Pm. Thanks to Mapquest we were able to work our way through Vancouver rush hour and to our apartment in only 30 minutes. When we arrived we were worried the landlord had gone home for the night and we would need to stay in a hotel until Saturday.

Fortunately we found that he lived in the same building and we were able to move in that night. It took us only 3 trips to move the majority of our stuff into the living room of our new apartment. Deciding that unpacking could wait until later in the weekend we move the car out of the fire line and into the parking garage, and went in search of food. Neither one of us had eaten all day, so we wondered the streets of Vancouver in search of a good hamburger.

We scoured 10 city blocks before finding a Red Robbins 2 streets over on Robson St. This had to be the busiest Red Robbins in all of Vancouver. The place was packed full of young adults out on a Friday night. The cultural mix was extremely diverse, with immigrants from so many countries all in the same restaurant. We had huge hamburgers we were so hungry even Sofia ate her entire hamburger and French fries. After dinner we worked our way back through the streets of Vancouver to our new home. Our apartment is on the 14th floor, and the view is marvelous, too bad it's cloudy!

The last picture is Vancouver at night...the view from our dinning room, taken by Tyler...if you look close enough, you can even see his reflect on the window!