Seattle/Vancouver Part 2

Vancouver continued...

I had to post a picture of the building below where the convention was held at.  It was an amazing piece of architecture inside and out.  The entire roof was covered with grass and plants and walkways.  Inside everything was made of organic materials and all the lights were the most beautiful sculptures.  Huge windows looked out on the water.  I was fascinated by the building.

Just across the street from our hotel were these cool fountains which my kids could not help but run through.

Silly wet Lance.

This next picture cracks me up!  This little boy's pants fell down while he was running around in the fountains and then his Dad came running to help him.  I bet it was entertaining to the people eating lunch at the restaurant above.  I wish I had this guy's email address so I could send him this picture.

As we were walking around we decided to go in a 7-11 and get some slurpees.  Turns out it happened to be July 11th and it was free slurpee day.  What luck!

While Rob was in meetings we went with my mother-in-law and Dan to Stanley Park.  I wish I would have learned more about these awesome Totem poles there, but I was pretty distracted keeping my kids from jumping off big rocks.  I do know these totem poles are symbolic artifacts of the native people there.  They were carved with the most intricate detail and each told stories about their family's history and important events.  Some of them are hundreds of years old.  These things are so fascinating I could read for hours about them - couldn't you?  Or am I weird?

Stanley Park had a bunch of beaches, it was beautiful.  It was actually a really windy day.  Liam and Lance had a very messy good time filling water bottles with beach treasures.

Here is Lincoln touching the ocean for the first time!

Another view from out our hotel room just for kicks and giggles.

Definitely one of the highlights of our trip to Vancouver was going to Granville Island.  It was AWESOME.  It was like all of my favorite things all in the same place.  First we walked through the enormous public market filled with fresh local produce.  Our mouths watered as we walked around looking at all the fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers, candies, cheeses, meat, fish and bread.  It was heaven.  

Yummy...

Oh the cherries!  I could have eaten hundreds of those!

I can not express in words how stink'n awesome this children's market was at Granville Island.  Everyone knows I have what I like to call a healthy obsession with children's toys.  Well this place blew my sock's off!  This building had about 10 different children's toy stores in it.  I walked through every store and looked at every isle of toys until even my children were begging to leave.  It was nothing short of a miracle that we got out of there with only 2 grabber toy things and I did not blow our life savings.

They still play with those grabber toys on a daily bases.

Just before we were about to leave we discovered a little water park outside the toy stores.  I said to Rob jokingly, "I'll go down that water slide if you do."  He did not want to miss the opportunity to see me get soaked in freezing water with all my clothes on, so without hesitation and before I could stop him he headed right to the top of the water slide.  Don't mess with Rob.  So he went down the slide on his knees and got out practically dry - stinker.  He said the water was FREEZING!  Trying to be a gentleman he told me that I really did not have to go down the slide.  But that was not the deal and I was not about to give him something to hold over my head.  So I headed up to the top of the water slide and my little side kick - Liam - wanted to come too even though it was ice cold.  My in-laws thought Rob and I were crazy.  Anyway, Liam wanted to sit on my lap so I got pretty soaked and I do not think it is possible for water to get any colder without turning to ice.

Here I am soaking wet and completely freezing thinking how did I go from being completely dry and happy walking out of a toy store 3 minutes ago to this?

One of the last things we did in Vancouver was rent a boat and cruise along getting a closer look at the beautiful city and mountains surrounding it.  It was unforgettable.

These homes on the mountains by the water were so amazing.  They had incredibly long stairways going down to the water.

You can't beat this view of the city.

Vancouver was amazing.  I would go there again in a heart beat!  The trip was not over yet though, we still had Seattle to see and a long drive home.