Oh Can-a-da volume 1

For the 2nd year in a row, Anna and I got a free vacation to Vancouver, Canada while Richard handled business. I LOVE Vancouver. Its less than three hours away, and has so much to do for families. Each day was an adventure and I think that Anna loved the fact that she got me all to herself for a week. For that fact, I approach these Canada vacations as Anna's personal vacation, and I try to plan each day around the things that I know Anna loves to do: explore, play, laugh, and eat.

And every trip starts with a good movie watching spree for Anna. She has a habit of watching her movies with her arms behind her head-- which makes her look like she is a teenager

We were out and about all day every day, so Anna took her naps to the road. The first day we went to Lynn Canyon State park. This was the explore part. Anna is a born adventurer. She loved the suspension bridge there and would have spent hours crossing and recrossing it. We got her a froggy backpack just for this trip and she loved being a big girl with her back pack on, hiking with the big people. No fear for this little one!

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Anna is so indepedent! She wanted to do everything by herself. She was the leader most of the time, while I was the one holding on to her tail-- literally!

The second day we went to the Vancouver Aquarium, home to the infamous (at least in Raffi circles) Baby Beluga! This was such a fun day. Anna is old enough now to have fun in her own right during the whale and dolphin shows. She would giggle and squeal in delight with each spray of water. Everything fascinated her. And I loved to see her love it!

And yet, her favorite part about the aquarium was sitting by Kermit, in his energy efficient car...

and her second favorite part was using the "binockers" in the bird/butterfly house (I know...a birdhouse in an acquarium. Its like having a cat in a dog park)

she pretty much monopolized the binockers the whole time. I think that again she felt like a real big kid explorer while she used them.

The acquarium happens to be located in Stanley park which is this awesome park full of every wonderful and good thing for kids-- trails, water parks, gardens, playgrounds, totem poles, and ice cream.

So after the water park we went to the splash park. Anna just wanted to use the water guns there. She looks pretty powerful behind one of those things-- probably getting that boy who wouldn't share his toy boats with her!

It really was fun to spend time solely with Anna. Sometimes I get caught up with planning outings with my other mom friends and going hiking or park outings in a group, and of course I really enjoy my time with other women, but it is nice to have time just Anna and me-- no other obligations or distractions or responsibilities pulling me away from her. We did exactly what we wanted to do each day. And when Anna wanted my attention, she got 100% of it. I think we came away from this trip both being revived.