Off to Canada – Our Home Away from Home!

Off to Canada – Our Home Away from Home! March 16, 2015

Filed under: Family Time,Travels — Amy Scott @ 12:43 pm

It’s crazy the amount of times that we’ve been to Canada. In a little over a year, we’ve been to the Vancouver BC area three times! Owen has been quite the international traveler. Now, I realized that we are half way through March and I haven’t posted any thing until now. Today’s update will be about our weekend up north and then hopefully my next post will be everything between now and my last February post.

I guess I should start of by saying that this trip was sort of a business trip for Jeremy. It developed very quickly. Jeremy came home from work on Wednesday at 5:00pm and asked if I would like to go to Vancouver to purchase an inflatable for our church the next day. Of course, it was Wednesday so we had church that night, but it was also the Pinewood Derby, so it was a big night, full of lots of action. It also meant a slightly later night for Jeremy since after the races he would stay to take the track apart and load it up into the van for return. I agreed to this crazy adventure. Before church, I got Owen packed and booked our hotel. After church, Jeremy and I packed for ourselves. We decided that since we would be up in the area, we would stay two nights to get the most out of the trip.

Thursday morning, we loaded up and took off up north. On the way, we stopped by the church that lent us their Pinewood Derby track and returned it. After that quick stop, I met up with my forever friend, Maggie, to have lunch with her and her daughter, Summer. Lunch turned into a bit of drama when Summer got freaked out by the people seated next to us and our waiter. We ended up leaving the restaurant and taking our food to go into the mall food court near by. Jeremy and Owen were eating lunch there so we joined them. I joked with Maggie that Summer and Owen were having a lunch date. We walked the mall and let Owen run out some energy before loading up and finishing the rest of the venture up north. I always get a little nervous at the border. It seems like the border patrol are trained in integration. However, our lady cracked a smile when we told her the grocery products we had the car where cheerios and graham crackers. Gotta love snacks for a one year old! We made good time into the country and met up with the inflatable guy. He pulled it out and Jeremy and Owen gave it good test. We were able to purchase to it and load it up. Oh, I should mention that yes, we drove around in a 15 passenger van for this whole trip! How else do you transport a derby track and an inflatable? Thursday night, we checked into our hotel room and then took off for Steveston Village for dinner. Steveston is one of my favorite places in the world and the location where they film my favorite show Once Upon A Time. As we drove into town we noticed a sign about filming happening and how there might be delays. The town as completely decked out as Storybrooke. All the signs and storefronts were set up. It turns out that OUAT had been filming there that afternoon and we missed them by just a few hours. Even though the cast wasn’t there, it was still cool to see the town all set up. We enjoyed dinner and walk on the boardwalk before heading back to the hotel. Bed time with Owen was a bit crazy. Owen isn’t fond of the Pack’n’Play, so we got a king bed knowing that he would bunk with us. He did this on our last vacation and it worked okay. This time, Owen was more mobile in the bed and treated me like a giant stuff animal. Sleeping with a hot, sweaty one year old breathing on you isn’t the best sleep, let me tell you.

Friday morning we took back off to Steveston to see if they might come back for more filming. Sadly, when we arrived, they were taking the signs down. We grabbed some breakfast and made a quick stop by Waves Coffee House. This was our favorite coffee place when we last visited and it didn’t disappoint this time as well. After Waves, we drove out to Fort Langley to check out another OUAT filming spot. From there, we drove into downtown to have lunch at Go Fish and enjoyed their yummy fish and chips. Then we wondered the children’s area of Granville Island and fed the birds by the pond. Owen was only getting short naps here and there, so his mood was a bit precarious and he wasn’t super interested in all the car time. We stopped by Costco and then back to our hotel to make a plan for the evening. We walked around a local mall and then took off looking for dinner. We ended up going through the A&W drive thru because Owen finally fell into a deep sleep and we didn’t want to wake him up. Once Owen woke up, we went to Safeway to get dessert as well as we stocked up on some our favorite Canadian foods.

Saturday morning, we made a breakfast stop at Waves and took off for the USA border. Jeremy was worried about getting stopped at the border because of the inflatable. The man who chatted with us at the border thought it was such a great idea for us to buy an inflatable and how practical it was since churches like ours use them at so many events. The border patrol thought that the inflatable was super cool and we had no hassle getting across the border! By far, we had the friendliest border patrol experiences on this trip. Once we were back in the states, we stopped at the Seattle Premium Outlets and had lunch at Olive Garden. From there it was back to the church to drop of our new investment and then head home! It was a great trip and a lot of fun. I love the Vancouver BC area and each time I visit I really enjoy my time there. It was a random, spur of the moment trip, but I’m glad we went. It was a blast!