Keep Christmas With You...

Well, its over... last night we said our good byes to Ken's family as they were leaving early this morning for Seattle and their flight home. With all the extra security issues after the attempted terrorist attack (which happened to be a flight on the same airline they are flying to the same location as the said attack) they needed to leave earlier than originally thought.

The last part of our visit was wonderful like the first part, although the sick bugs spread through the rest of us. The kids are improving daily, Ariel is nearly back to her normal self, just the cough lingers. Xander is still having a rough go, coughing quite a bit, so extra cuddling is needed.

Sunday morning we skipped church due to all the sickies, and slept in for the needed rest. Ariel was much chipper that morning and was dancing around the living room with her Ariel doll.


We went for a walk down in the village to go for lunch and to stop at the kitchen shop for Jonathan. We had tried the day before but they were closed and he was eager to spend some of his money on kitchen trinkets. Later we had dinner at Dad at Rita's where we had an amazing trout and salmon dinner. Soooo good. Xander showed off how strong he is getting, what a boy!


Ariel got to wear her new outfit from Grammy, so cute!


Following dinner and a visit, we went up to see the toy train set up near their hotel. It was the last night it was open, so we made the effort even though it was super cold.


Ariel loved the train... and the silly dancing Santa toys.


The next morning we got organized and headed into Vancouver for a visit to the Harbour Centre.


I have only been up it once, so it was neat to go again, too bad it was cloudy.


Ariel is sure not afraid of heights, haha.


We had lunch at a place called Steamworks Brewery, and had a great waitress who was a mom and knew the tell tale signs of a tired and hungry child and got Ariel's meal out asap. Yay! Lunch was great, I love good fish and chips!


Beauty and the Beast! Haha


We walked down in Gastown to see the steam clock and we hit the tourist shops. Dan and I each got some Olympic mittens, woot!


Yay for cute pictures!


We walked down to Canada Place to see the annual festival of trees, only to find out it wasn't there this year but at the Four Seasons Hotel, oops. They are preparing the area for the Olympics, oh well. Did get a cute picture there regardless.


Then it was off to Stanley Park for the Bright Nights event and a ride on the train! It was pretty crowded there, and Ariel was getting really tired and cranky, but the moment she was on the train she was super excited!


Sooooooooo pretty!


The next morning I heard sad news that broke my heart. One of my online friends sadly lost her baby at almost 12 weeks along. I was devastated for her and her family. I don't understand sometimes why these things happen, but I ask for you to pray for them.

It was now our last day of fun with everyone, so we walked into the village as Jonathan was wanting to spend the rest of his Canadian money on some Canadian tacky trinkets. I had a hair appointment, my first time going since having Xander, yeah way overdue! I let my stylist go nuts with my color, and its really cool. Sorta light copper in the front and gets darker to the back. She learned this particular look after working with a gal from New York on a fashion show. Cool, I feel funky!


I rejoined everyone hanging out at the house and we went off to the Bird Sanctuary. Ken is a friend to all birds, they like him!


Ariel had a great time, she loves the ducks! We ran out of food pretty fast because of her, haha.


We stayed until they were closing, and then went to White Spot for dinner. Yummy burgers and even a mini dessert, which I will say even after asking how small they were, they were bigger than I expected! Thankfully Ken and Ariel shared with me. Mmmmm, brownie!

Then back to the house again for our last visit and some pictures. First the men...


... Grammy and her grandkids...


... and finally a mother, her son and his kids. Pretty special indeed!


That pretty much brings us back to now... as I sit and enjoy the quiet. Not sure what is planned for new years, but most likely with the kids still somewhat sick, I don't think much. Maybe I will plan a cool dinner... then its back to 'healthy living' boot-camp, haha.

Besides my continuing weight loss and health journey in 2010, I am taking up Project 365! If you aren't familiar with it, what it entails is taking a picture daily and posting it. I pretty much do that already with my blog, but I will be adding it daily regardless if I post or not. So a full year of posts! Whoa, crazy I know. I haven't decided if they will all be pictures of the kids or a mix with other stuff. We shall see how it goes. I am thinking that one picture a week will be one of a new cooking dish I will try from some of my new cook books I got for Christmas. I want to challenge myself and try new things this year. I think those are resolutions I can keep. I am sure you will all keep me on track!

So have a wonderful new years.... 2010 - BRING IT ON!