Curling day, day 5

February 25th, 2010...Thursday

After much debate about what to do we decided to sleep in today. That means sleep to the crack of 8am! We decided to catch the Today show tomorrow morning since it is broadcasted locally between 4-7am. We were very lazy today. After being up for only two hours with the TV on, of course tuned to the Olympics, Max took a nap and Robb and I took a walk. It is great to for us to have my mom here to help out with the boy. She volunteered to get him down for a much needed nap and said within minutes of us leaving he was out! yeah nana!! We just took a walk up to the local coffee shop and then aimlessly around the block until Robb had the complusion to get home to pack up and head to our days event: Curling. Much of what we have watch thus far has been curling so we feel like we know a little about curling as a sport. Or as much as to clap when the other spectators do. Again the house was packed with Canadian as the CAN team was playing versus Sweden. They played simulatenously as the Swiss played Norway. Both Norway and Canada won which puts them both in the medal round. Curling is pretty interesting. They play what is like 10 innings. there are 4 people to a team and each player ( if that is what they are called) has two stones. One person sends the stone down the ice and two others sweep the ice trying to get it to "curl" the direction they want it. The team with the most stones near the center circle is awarded points. So basically, if I understand it right the team uses the stones for positioning to get points and to knock the other team out of point contention. Max again worked the crowd and did very well for having to sit in one spot for 3 hours. We had to walk a fair amount to and from the event center due to the no public parking so by the time we got to the car we were all hungry! We stopped in Gastown, a fun little area of downtown, for some shopping and to grab a bite to eat. When Robb and I were on our honeymoon here we ate at a local brewery called Steamworks. We went back today and the experience was just as good. Great food, great service. Home reasonably early tonight and everyone but me is in bed for the early morning tomorrow. better catch some ZZZzzzz's!

Olympic Experience day, day 4

February 24th, 2010...Wednesday

Today is our day off. No events planned and that's good. We are all a little tired and the the weather is much like yesterday.. cloudy and a good chance of rain. We woke up to pancakes and circle saugages with real maple syrup straight from Canadian maple trees!

We found a book that tells us the must see things before we leave Vancouver.. one thing on the list is to visit the Inukshuk on the west coast. So that is what we are doing today. The Inukshuk is supposed to be a friendly face to the people coming in to the port of Vancouver and just happens to have the red mittens that are all the rage right now. They are sold out of adult gloves and have been for over a week now. They are the "it" item of this Olympics. After we captured a few pics with the friendly figure we decided to drive a block or two into Stanley park. It is a beautiful forest area on the northwestern coast of Vancouver. They have an aquarium with beluga whales, my favorite ( but we didn't go), a collection of totem poles that we did see and Robb got his picture with a real live Russian. There were a few tour buses that were following us or maybe we just happened to be heading the same direction just ahead of them. But the Russians are the next host for the Olympics (Sochi, Russia) in 2014 and they are pretty prominent here. I guess because we are so close to Alaska and you can see Russia from Alaska?? Then we found a couple more statues with the infamous red mittens on and found the Olympic rings in the harbour. It was a pretty fun morning. Max then fell soundly asleep once back in the car so we journeyed home but found the Olympic villages along the way. That was pretty neat. Each apartment building had flags from a different country that is participating in the Olympics. Pretty neat to see them all together like that.

We got home and did what else, watched some more Olympics! Robb is starting to get frustrated that we are only getting the Canadian channels and would like to see Bob Costas and some NBC intrepretations. Or at least hear about someone else other than the Canadians. Geez you would think that in the Olympic host country you would hear more about the other countries.. kidding but it is a lot of curling and hockey... canadian curling and hockey. We all took nice naps and woke up to nana mary making tacos! and a few minutes later my baby boy bolted around the corner from his nap in nana's room and right to his post on my lap! We decided, I forget for what reason to go back downtown to check out something. oh, yeah another thing on the must do before you leave list.. Robson street. We got there just in time to see all the crazy Canadians wooting and hollering after there quarter final win in mens hockey. They literally kept it up for over 3 hours. We looked for souvenior shops, found GE plaza that had a sipline up above the trees in the plaza, an ice skating rink down below the plaza, fun make shift bobsleds and medal podiums. It was a neat place and it was packed with people. Robson was blocked off for at least 4-5 blocks and there were people everywhere. Another big thing has been the cowbell. Canadian were running up and down the street with Canadian flags on there back and cowbells in hand. We found the superstore again and the line was only about 10 minutes so we went back for round two of shopping. We bought a lot less this time. Came back out and people were still relishing the win. Quite impressive.. imagine if they win the Gold. Whew.

So off to bed we go. well after a little more Olympics on TV.

Hockey day, day 3

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

We started with a quick bowel of cereal and then off to Hudson Bay Company, which is the offical olympic superstore. There has been a line every time we have been past the store so we thought if we hit it right away in the morning we might have a chance at a shorter line. We were only in line for about 45 minutes and we started our wait next to a Starbucks, which means I got a coffee! Yum-o! We met a nice young couple from Vancouver Island that told us all about the neat attractions from the area. Even the intriguing Ski and Surf trip where you can ski in the a.m. and be down on the beach by the evening looking for whales, that's my kind of vacation. The store was abit of a mad house. And, a bit of a bummer. They were really only selling Olympic souveniors and Team Canada stuff. We were hoping for some team USA gear. Guess we really should have looked harder before we left. Just thought they'd have more here. What were we thinking? oh well, less to pack right? Then we looked around a bit but headed back to our home away from home for some subway sandwiches and a quick nap before our big Hockey game.

It had been an overcast day since the get go but sometime during our nap the clouds let loose and we had to venture out in the rain to navigate the hockey arena. First dilemma was parking. The Olympics had no offical parking since they didn't endorse public tranportation. Meaning since we rented we were on our own. We thought we had found a good deal on a roof top only to get scared away and finally found a small lot a few blocks away. Then we ran like mad since we had wasted a bit of time comtemplating the first spot. Turns out we were a few minutes after the puck dropped. Not bad considering all the security and walking we had to do. We saw the Canadians V. Germany. The Canandian whipped them pretty easily 7-3. IT was a fun game though because of all the scoring. Well that and the Canadian crowd, they are pretty fun to be amongst. Max seemed to really like hockey. He did very well at the game. I think his favorite part was the crowd. He loved to try and make eye contact with people. Then he would give them a big smile and he has even taken to giving high fives out. Who is this kid? He certianly didn't get Robb's or my shy gene.

We headed home between the rain drops, with quick bathroom break at a starbucks ( they are everywhere). Once home we again watched as much Olympics as we could handle, on the 4 all Olympics channels we can access. That pretty much is our routine now and puts us to sleep most nights.

Adventure day, day 2

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

We woke up at 5am local time (7am at home) and decided to be up for the day. My mom was still asleep so we decided to take that stroller out for a ride and pick up the rental car, maybe find a little breakfast along the way. So we got all ready to go and robb's phone gps wouldnt work with out the internet so minor kink in the plans. He went back in to grab directions and we were off.

It was a beautiful morning and fun to see the area. We are only two blocks from the figure skating venue, the Pacific Coliseum, which had been totally decked out in the Olympic decor. It was 34 degrees when we left and got to about 55 for a high. 3 hours and one breakfast at McDonald's later we arrived at the rental place just a little more tired and crabby then we set off. We are now the proud driver of a Kia Rondo. woohoo. or something like that. We went a little off track but got back on.. eventually. Hehe. Robb joked that I should be happy I got my work out in for the day. I guess he is right. and it was a goregous day.

On the way back to the house, we scooped up Nana and went to get our hockey tickets.. well we hoped. ( For those of you that dont know we bought hockey tickets about a year ago and about a month ago when other people weren't recieving tickets they looked into it and the website that was vending our tickets had disappear.. leaving us without tickets or our money back. =() So we we skeptical to say the least going in. We found the pick up site and after a little run around there ( what else is new?) we GOT TICKETS! Then for good measure and because we are here and so close to the Pacific Coliseum we splurged on Speed skating tickets, too. Hoping to see Apolo Ohno and get a picture for my sister. On the high of our purchase and since we were already there we decided to look around the highly decorated downtown Vancouver. We found that the Hudson bay Company has the rights to the Olympic super store and the line to get in was down the block and around the corner. So another day for hunting sweet Olympic gear but we did find the Olympic Cauldron. It was right next to the hotel we spent one night in on our honeymoon. Pretty neat to see it again. Good times. The cauldron is pretty neat and very protected. Then we decided it was time to eat. So we found the car and by default found a grocery store. Got some food and went home. I was tired already but rallied for my first Olympic event! Ice Dancing Finals. It is a medal event so that will be fun! And it is girls night. Just me and my mommy. It was amazing to be there. We walked since it was so close. The whole perimeter is blocked off with the Olympic fence draped in the olympic designs. We had to go through a metal detector and we were in. We had front row seats in the second level. Very exciting to see it in person. There were 22 couples to dance broken into 5 groups. You could tell each grouping got better. Now I know nothing about how to judge ice dancing but the difference between these group was amazing. and the place must have been packed with Canadian because once they took the ice it was a roar with woops and cheers. The Canadian were very graceful and did a lot of difficult tricks and made it look so easy( Tessa Virtue/scott Noir). No surprise they were the leaders going in and took the gold. USA, davis and white, took silver and were second place heading into the night. It was very emotional to be there and have the CAN take gold. I was in tears myself. Very proud country and very happy for there athletes. We came home at 930pm 1130 our time to a wonderful dinner on the table with wine. Yum, thank you Robb! We finished the day, doing what else rewatching the ice dancing finish and the rest of the olympic news. Fun and long day.

Travel day, day 1

February 21st, 2010

Today was our travel day. We didn't need to leave until 9am to get to the airport. Not too early so it made for a good day. Too bad none of us actually slept well the night previous. We were a little nervous to travel with Max but here goes nothing, I guess. We got to the in record time and decided to check in curbside and get some fresh air and enjoy the bright, beautiful day. We waited 45 minutes got to the counter and the kiosk couldn't find our reservations! Augh.. not a good start. So we moved inside to the ginormous line, that ended up moving pretty quickly. Luckily the computers on the inside found us and we got to the gate with enough time to grab a quick bite and use the restroom and get on the plane. Way to get there early! Seattle or Bust.

Max did very well for the first hour and a half, then the tired meltdown came on. We walked a bit but there was too much to see and he tried to rally. Finally after 30 minutes of fighting it he fell asleep. Then about 20 minutes later we started to descend. Thus far he was still a cute baby.. but about 10 minutes before landing he woke up with a 45 minute nap (not enough) and aching ears. Thats when he let loose and sobbed for 10 minutes straight. He refused drinking and eating to swallow and help change to pressure in his ears. Bummer! We deplaned and had a 3 hour layover in Seattle. We grabbed some lunch at an Alaskan Lodge, found a few shops to admire and then by some miracle found a playland for Max to get some energy out. At 4pm we got ready for our next quick trip to Vancouver with baby motrin and fruit snacks in hand! Yes, we adapt. It was a small plane, only four seats in each row and about 20 rows. It was only at 35 minute flight and Max did great! I think our cocktail worked. It was so brillant out that we could see for miles and we went over some land that made me think of Twilight. I wonder if we went over the inspiration for the books. The landing this time no problem. Yeah!! Then off to customs and to grab our baggage. Max was so funny at the customs booth. He stood there and looked at the guy. He was all business. Got our bags and headed out. The cabs were too small for all our luggage, if you have ever traveled with my mom you know why, so we grabbed a Limo! Just like our honeymoon! It was so fun!

Once we arrived at the cute house we rented we got settled in by looking around the house, found the TV remote and the instructions ( typed out for cable!) found the CAN vs USA game, ( USA wins 5-3) ordered pizza a la domino's and hung out. We were all exhausted. well except Max, he buzzed around checking out the toys. The people we rented from have little people, so the toys are abundant.. as well as a stroller, crib and highchair! Definite bonus for us! We decided to rent a car so that is on the agenda for tomorrow.