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A Day at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

4/6/2010

After spending a few says with Grandma and Grandpa, Papa and Nonna flew down to Arizona to visit. One of our first adventures together was to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.

To get there we drove through the Saguaro National Park.

The views were fantastic!

Here I am taking some shots.

Such different scenery from Vancouver!

When we arrived at the museum Daddy was all set to go with his BIG hat to protect from the sun.

The museum is home to more than 300 animal species and 1,200 kinds of plants.

Look at this friendly creature.

In case you were wondering, that’s not my hand!

After seeing some of the animal life we headed into the caves.

It was dark yet beautiful inside.

I tried these on in case I didn’t hear the kids call Mommy the first 400 times J

There were gorgeous rocks and gems inside.

Hmmm ...when is my next birthday?!

It just kept getting more and more beautiful.

We successful made it out the other side overlooking the more than 2 miles of paths and 21 acres of breathtaking desert.

I think he was looking for gold?

And of course to finish things off we stopped for ICE CREAM!

Yum!

Being the main family photographer does have its advantages J

Good day everyone!

What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

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Tucson 4th Avenue Spring Street Fair

4/5/2010

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The first Saturday on our trip to Arizona Grandma and Grandpa took us to Tucson’s 4th Avenue Spring Street Fair. It was huge, with 400+ arts and crafts booths there was so much to see, and a lot of talent to appreciate!

Here is where we started.

As time went by the streets became more and more crowded.

There were 35+ food vendors alone. Look at all the weight in meat on just this one grill.

I can only imagine how much food was sold at this 3 day event!

There were so many unique and clever vendors I could go on and on for ages, but I’ll share 2 of my favorites that I snapped pictures of.

First are fantastic photographs of mainly doors adhered to metal with rough edges.

I loved these! Aren’t they beautiful?

Another booth I loved contained gorgeous wood bowls and vases.

I particularly love the knots in the wood. These works of art produced visions of decorating a log cabin or mountain home. J

We had a fantastic time at the fair. It is a must do as far as I am concerned if you happen to be in the area when it occurs. The weather was amazing. It was sunshine and blue skies.

And lots of colourful umbrellas filled the streets to provide shelter from the sun.

Many booths contained little works of art dangling in the wind.

I love the gorgeous rainbows prisms create!

Big Brother enjoyed a ride on a mini ferris wheel while we were at the fair.

All of us had a great time, with so much to see and take in. It was definitely a crafter’s paradise, and I loved it. Thanks for taking us Grandma and Grandpa!

Do you have a prism in your home?

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Date Night at Acacia

4/1/2010

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At the beginning of our trip to Arizona Hubby and I went on a date night in Tucson to Acacia restaurant. We decided to sit outside overlooking the courtyard.

It was beautiful with the white lights, and such a nice temperature. I am glad we sat outside because the atmosphere out there seemed more romantic than inside.

To start things off I ordered a pomegranate martini.

The first sip was good.

And so was the second!

Sorry for the picture quality. Things got a bit fuzzy J

After a few sips of my martini it was time for the crazy face pictures.

Here is Hubby enjoying a smear of butter on his bread.

Yum!

My husband started things off with a Jack and Coke.

For those of you who know him well I am sure that comes as a shock. Just Kidding! Jack and Coke is Hubby’s FAVORITE cocktail, and the drink he almost always orders when we go out to eat.

Hubby decided on trying Acacia’s tasting menu paired with wine, and I am glad he did because it was a lot of fun tasting all the different foods and wines. I just ordered a main course and helped him with his plates and wines, and it proved to be plenty for both of us!

Here is the set of 3 appetizers and their corresponding wines.

From the Acacia website:

Malaysian Sweet/Hot Shrimp and Scallop Cocktail
Barth, ‘Allüre’ Riesling Feinherb, semi-dry (Rheingau, Germany) ‘08

Southwestern Caponata on toast point
Grilled Eggplant Salad with Tomato
Aldial, ‘Castillo de Nava’ Verdejo/Viura (Rueda, Spain) ’08

Crisp Potato Fritter filled with Cougar Gold Aged White Cheddar
Keeling Schaefer, ‘Two Reds’ Grenache (Cochise County, Arizona) ’07

Our favorite was the Potato fritter with cheddar. It was also great trying a local Arizona wine made of Grenache grapes. I think that is the first time I have ever had a wine made with all Grenache. Usually you find it in blends.

Next was the main course.

I ordered guaymas prawns tossed with linguine, olive oil, white wine, fresh herbs, campari tomatoes and garden vegetables. It was delicious! I loved it and was very happy with my decision.

Hubby’s main course from the tasting menu was:

Fresh Alaskan Halibut, Sautéed Peashoots, Lemon-Thyme Butter
Gordon Brothers, Chardonnay (Columbia Valley, Washington) ’07

Grilled Pharoah Quail Filled with Spring Mushroom Duxelles
Laetitia, Pinot Noir (Arroyo Grande Valley) ’08

Mignonette of Beef Tenderloin, Port Braised Onions, Humboldt Fog
Valdivieso, Carmenere ‘Reserva’ (Central Valley, Chile) ’07

Neither one of us are huge fish people, although we wish we were because it is so good for you. But our absolute favorite of the 3 dishes was the Alaskan Halibut. It was AMAZING! Light and crispy, with great flavor. I would definitely highly recommended ordering it to anyone visiting Acacia.

Lastly the dessert with Hubby’s tasting menu was:

Red Wine Sorbet

Mango Cheesecake
Paolo Saracco, Moscato D’Asti (Piedmont, Italy) ’08

Warm Cayenne Peach Crisp
Adelaida, Muscat/Viognier Ice Wine (Central Coast) ‘05

The desserts were good, but nothing particularly grabbed me.

It was a fantastic date night! Great food, great service, and a wonderful outdoor atmosphere. I would definitely go back to Acacia again.

What is your favorite kind of fish?

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The Trip Down to AZ

3/30/2010

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It was an interesting trip on the way down to Arizona from Vancouver. Big Brother had his new backpack special for the trip filled with toys and activities to keep him busy. He did such a good job traveling. I have to say being 4 years old now has been by far the easiest travel with him. And traveling with Little Sister made me fully appreciate how good and helpful Big Brother was.

Little Sister was the typical 1 year old. She had a hard time sitting still, and wanted to be climbing from person to person, and left to roam. Hubby said to the person near us “So you drew the short end of the stick, huh?” We were very fortunate to be surrounded by kind people.

We were hoping Little sister would nap in the car, but she didn’t. That may have been the first BIG sign that things were going to get challenging! In the beginning she did the best you can expect a 1 year old to do. She was in pretty good spirits.

When 7:30pm hit, things took a turn for the worse. 7:30 is her bed time. Having missed her nap she was getting very tired, and we still had another 2 hour flight, and 1.5 hour drive to go. About quarter after 8 she started to full out loose it when she was officially OVERTIRED. We tried SO hard to get her to fall asleep on us on the plane, and she was not having it! She was uncomfortable and a wreck. Daddy was walking her in his arms up and down the aisle. It didn’t seem to matter whether she was sitting still or being walked, she was screaming! Hubby and I probably held our breath the whole flight.

Grandpa so nicely drove the long distance to the airport to pick us up. In the beginning of the drive Little Sister fell peacefully asleep. Then after what seemed like way too short of a time, she woke up and screamed the whole rest of the drive home. Grandpa can attest when she is mad she does not give up! Her screams can be very loud and high pitched. When Big Brother was a baby after a little while of crying he would get tired and fall asleep. NOT little sister. She is persistent! She didn’t stop crying until we finally reached our destination.

What the rocky trip down here did do is make us fully appreciate being here! Now it is sunny skies and lots of fun outdoors.

It makes you wonder...

Do we ever have to leave?

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Greetings from Arizona

3/28/2010

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Greetings from Arizona!

We have been really enjoying ourselves on vacation. It is hard to believe more than a week has already flown by. There is a lot to share from our trip, and I look forward to giving you a glimpse in upcoming posts.

The weather has been stunning. It is amazing how wonderful the sunshine feels, and how good it is for your spirit. Having breakfast and drinks outdoors has been such a treat.

Going from the hot tub to the pool, and back to the hot tub again has been wonderful quality time for our family. Big Brother and Little Sister LOVE the water, and so do Mommy and Daddy J!

Our favorite way to spend happy hour is right in front of the fire pit, where Big Brother has enjoyed a marshmallow or two.

We are so fortunate to be spending time with the proud grandparents. There have been lots of precious moments, but luckily we have not come across any Javelinas.

At least any real ones that is! J

I can’t wait to share lots more from our trip, but for now it is bed time, and we are soaking up every precious moment of vacation that we can.

See you soon, my friends!

What is your favorite happy hour drink?

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AZ Here We Come

3/19/2010

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And we’re off!

Today we start our journey to Arizona, and we are all pumped for a nice long vacation. We’ll be gone for 2 weeks. This will be the longest we have managed to get away before. I know! What were we thinking; we should have done this earlier. J

While we are away we will get to visit with lots of family! All the grandparents will get to see Big Brother and Little Sister. Oh, and of course us! J

Getting away to a warm climate is just what we are in need of. Although the weather has made a turn for the more beautiful, we have endured a lot of time indoors and rain this winter, so getting outdoors more is going to be wonderful.

I’m sure we will have lots of fun adventures along the way, and maybe a few challenging ones. This will be Little Sister’s first time flying and she is just at that perfect age of 1. Too old to sit still, and too young to care about watching an in-flight movie. Wish us luck, and the people around us a lot of patience! I feel for them already.

Here is a picture of Big Brother’s favorite doll the last time we visited.

OK, so maybe he was too scared to walk down the hall, but I think it’s neat, and how many grandparents do you know cool enough to have something like that in their hall?! Watch, Little Sister will probably just laugh and want to play with it?

For the 2 weeks I’m away, posting may be a bit sporadic at times. I like to change things up while on vacation and prioritize relaxing as much as possible. I have been hard at work preparing some posts ahead of time, and anything I don’t fill you in on while we are away, I will be sure to do when we get back.

See you soon, my friends!

Any must-dos while we are in AZ?

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Women & Packing –Shoes

3/16/2010

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Packing is on my mind right now. I am starting to think about what I SHOULD and what I SHOULD NOT bring on our trip to AZ. The truth is I don’t like packing, however the up side is it is good practice for my mental strength! J It is a time for me to strengthen my happiness muscle and either find a new outlook on it, or get good at saying positive mantras while I am doing it.

Traveling with kids, especially young ones, well I say especially because that is all I know. Traveling with teenagers is foreign to me. It is a difficult thing to do. I’m fortunate because my husband doesn’t mind packing, so he does the majority of it. I try to do some of the brainstorming ahead of time, and then discuss with him what he thinks is necessary to bring.

I also have another plus on my side. My husband’s parents are EXTREMELY helpful in picking up things we might need to help cut down on the amount we need to bring. Not only do they stock up on cloths and food for the kids, they also have provided the essentials: crib, highchair, car seats. Thank goodness for that or I don’t think we would be able to fit on the plane :-/ They deserve a BIG THANK YOU!!!

In thinking about what to bring for myself I started to ponder what shoes I should pack. Now if you know a woman, and I am sure you probably do, you’ll know packing shoes is a challenge. Not only do we want our shoes to match our cloths, we need different shoes for a variety of activities.

A common complaint I hear from my husband is “Why do you need to bring 85 pairs of shoes? I am packing 1 pair, and wearing the other. That is all you need!” Sound familiar? You are either a man and have said the exact same thing, or you have watched a woman pack.

Here is my condensed shoe packing list, and this is VERY condensed for me.

·         1 pair of sneakers - these will be my all-purpose shoes, and probably the ones I will wear on the plane. Usually I would bring my golf shoes as well. Oh how I love my golf shoes! You will be missed. But as my husband said I will live if I just wear my sneakers golfing, and like usual, he is right.

·         1 pair of dress shoes – cut down from 1 black and 1 brown (ladies you understand!), not to mention any colors.

·         1 pair of sandals – I’m hoping this one holds up! I don’t know if I can do it. Usually I would like to bring 1 black, 1 brown, and my crocs to wear by the pool because they are great to get wet. Is it bad if I am already seriously re-thinking this one? Stay tuned, my will power is feeling weak!

3 pairs, that’s it! OK, so I am going to call it a GOAL, but even if I miss by one, it will still be good for me.

It’s all about baby steps...

Did I forget to mention my husband and I have already been thinking about bargain hunting for a pair of everyday shoes while we are down there to replace the ones we have run into the ground? I LOVE Vancouver, but not for good shoe prices. The mark-up coming across the border can be wild.

For some reason it is easier to spend $ to buy a pair of dress shoes for a special event that you probably won’t wear very often, instead of shoes for everyday even though half the leather is worn off the toes. Anybody else have that problem?

Help! What are your shoe packing strategies?

A special thank you my friend Tina from Carrots-N-Cake whose documentation of packing improvement over the last 2 years has helped to motivate me!

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Coast Restaurant

2/17/2010

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Over the weekend we enjoyed a special lunch out at Coast Restaurant in celebration of our 10th anniversary of our first date. Our first date anniversary also happens to be Valentine’s Day, making it even more of a reason to celebrate.

Here is our Yay, we are sitting down and we can’t wait to have a cocktail faces. :-) It is rare for us to have a cocktail in the afternoon, and I am not going to lie, we were excited!

I decided on a Cosmo, and Hubby ordered a Mojito. The drinks came in no time at all.

Here is a picture of our 2 drinks waiting for us to take a sip.

Of course I had a sip of both and thought they were delicious!

While sipping our drinks we discussed what we wanted to order. We decided to go with several plates to share. The menu had a wonderful seafood selection.

The first dish we ordered was Mango California rolls. We both thought these were good.

The second dish we ordered was Eel and BBQ Salmon rolls. Hubby LOVES these! He raved about them.

Next I ordered the Organic Greens. I was feeling like I needed some veggies to go with my Cosmo. Unfortunately I was not a big fan of this salad. It was the flavors in the dressing that I was not found of, and Hubby agreed that it was not wonderful. I think I expected the dressing to be on the sweet side and it wasn’t. Also I forgot to ask for the dressing on the side, so the salad was too wet for my liking.

Lastly, we ordered the Tiger Prawn Flatbread.

I thought this dish sounded amazing, but I did not like the combination of flavors on this either. Hubby also felt the same way. The BBQ sauce is what I felt was out of place. The avocado, mango, parmesan cheese and large pieces of prawn were very good, but the BBQ sauce really ruined the flavor for me.

There were many dishes that looked fabulous on the menu. In particular the large selection of seafood. I would go again and make some different choices. Even though not every dish was a hit we enjoyed ourselves.

The decor was modern and a little bit funky.

A picture of the chandelier.

Here is another picture of the decor in Coast.

The bar area.

Lastly, a picture of the kitchen.

The staff at coast was very friendly. In the lounge I was talking with one of the Coast employees who said they were getting ready for the 400 dinner reservations that had for that evening.

Coast is a very happening place on the Vancouver restaurant scene. Hubby has been there before and really likes it. It was my first time, and I really enjoyed trying a new place.

Have you ever tried Eel before?

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Downtown Vancouver Olympic Adventure

2/15/2010

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On Sunday our family decided to go on an Olympic Adventure of our own visiting some of the wonderful downtown sites. There is so much beauty in the world, which leaves me with a long list of places I would like to visit and see firsthand. That is not always possible so a passion of mine is visiting places through photography. If you allow it, a photo can give you a sense of adventure, and visiting in your mind can be a lot of fun. For me travel photography can be a nice mini-break from my day, leaving me refreshed in a way.

Being fortunate to call the Olympic city home, I wanted to share the love. I hope you enjoy this trip of Olympic sites as a travel break from your day. There are links provided for more information on any areas you would like to explore further, or to continue your mind’s travel.

Welcome to Vancouver

Entering Vancouver’s Chinatown, North America’s second largest Chinatown after San Francisco.

Celebration in the street

Now to the heart of downtown

The beautiful view Vancouver has to offer includes both the ocean and mountains, which inspires a sea of glass windows on the buildings. Many buildings downtown are condos. A great city to live downtown and walk everywhere!

Two flags that hold a special place in my heart ♥

CTV filming their broadcast on Robson Street, a popular street to visit in Vancouver with lots of shopping.

Walking down Robson Street you can watch people zip lining.

The streets are jammed with people.

Some buildings are decorated to Welcome the World

Big Brother is wearing his mittens in support of the Canadian athletes.

And because it was Valentine’s Day I had to take a photo of some pretty flowers on the sidewalk.

At the bottom of Hornby Street you can catch a water taxi to take you over to Granville Island, a large marketplace with a wonderful array of food and artistic vendors.

You can see the market place across the water in the background.

It was a beautiful afternoon for a walk along the sea wall.

Here is another water taxi pick up area you can take to get around.

The view

No words, just beauty...

As luck would have it, playing roller hockey at the rink right on the ocean were a few wonderful people we know.

Little Sister checking out the hockey players.

Back on the walk, there is Daddy with Little Sister on his shoulders.

Here we are coming up on the Vancouver Olympic symbol Inukshuk.

He is wearing his mittens too!

When we reached English Bay, we went down Davies Street to the sea wall on the other side in search of...

Can you see it in the background?

Look what we passed by on our way. The Olympic rings J

Love the scenery in the background!

Entering Coal Harbour.

Here we are getting closer.

And in case it is too Hot for you

Daddy, Big Brother, and Little Sister in the stroller, ever so close...

We made it!

The Olympic Flame!!!

As close as you can get!

Hope you enjoyed this tour of some downtown Vancouver Olympic sites.

Have a wonderful evening!

Can you feel the heat from the flame? It is larger than it looks in the picture J

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Vancouver L♥ve

2/13/2010

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Here is fun Time Lapse video of Vancouver

The downtown area of Vancouver is not that big, which makes it a fantastic walking city. When I first moved to Vancouver and was not very familiar with the area, a few times I got a little lost. I would look up at the skyline and head towards one of the tallest buildings I knew was located near the condo I was living in and could find my way home.

Big Brother loved walking down our street and taking the water taxi, a small ferry, over to Granville Island. A large market place with great vendors.

For a little trip down memory lane, here is an old picture on the ferry to Granville Island when he was just a baby.

A day in Stanley Park

The huge heated salt water pool located right on the ocean in Stanley Park that you see in the background of this picture is marvellous!

An old picture of Big Brother having A LOT of fun in the mud

Lastly a few pictures from a walk in English Bay

Provided in this post are some links to a few of this areas attractions that I mentioned should you have a moment and would like more information.

Vancouver holds a very special place in my heart, and always will no matter where life takes us. It is where my children were born.

More to come...

Did you watch the Opening Ceremony last night? Did you have a favorite part?

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<<Previous

Forward>>

A Day at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

Tucson 4th Avenue Spring Street Fair

Date Night at Acacia

The Trip Down to AZ

Greetings from Arizona

AZ Here We Come

Women & Packing –Shoes

Coast Restaurant

Downtown Vancouver Olympic Adventure

Vancouver L♥ve

Wendy Irene

Spiritual Seeker & Creative passionate about energy work & intuition. Lover of all things home and garden.

If this website helped, or inspired you in some way and you feel called to give back, this is my personal favorite charity:
TheLetItbefoundation.org

Categories

​Spiritual Seeker & Creative passionate about energy work & intuition. Lover of all things home and garden.

If this website helped, or inspired you in some way and you feel called to give back, this is my personal favorite charity: TheLetItbefoundation.org

Categories

Spiritual Seeker & Creative passionate about energy work & intuition. Lover of all things home and garden.

If this website helped, or inspired you in some way and you feel called to give back, this is my personal favorite charity:
TheLetItbefoundation.org