weekend pics

our weekend was a pretty relaxing one. except for a couple of kai's commitments we played it by ear.  it turned out to be a decidedly outdoor weekend. it's still summer here in vancouver and apparently it's sticking around for awhile... this makes us vancouverites very happy!

kai received his very first drum lesson.  i tried to convince him to play the guitar (i secretly wanted to get rid of the electronic drum set taking up space in my bedroom!) but he would not listen to reason so after a long search we found him a drum instructor at one thousand rivers.  stefan is attending too :-)   while my boys were drumming i found a sunny spot and did a bit of reading.

when my boys joined me, we wandered through a festival happening in the area - mount pleasant is an up and coming neighbourhood home to young professionals, families, great bistros and cafes, and cool shops.  it's an area that i love to visit but haven't been for awhile so it was fun to discover new shops that popped up in the area - much and little and a bird on a wire both require a re-visit when i don't have my boys in tow... i spotted a few lovely things that may want to come home with me.



felted bowls... sadly not for sale!  i guess i must consider taking a class offered at bird on a wire...



tap dancing performance

 

 







ballet girls... we were given a pamphlet for the school of ballet i think because they thought kai was a girl :-)  he was mistaken for a girl last weekend when we were here... the only thing kai could do was laugh about it!!!



this was our destination...

  



kai was invited to a party taking place at trout lake park which he and i enjoyed afterwards.  it has a tiny beach, walking trails circling the lake, trees to climb and 'hidden' paths to explore.  it was loaded with families and dogs yet tranquil.  i never spent significant time here but we decided it was worthwhile to add to our repertoire of places to visit on a sunny day.  we loved it!

 







we woke up sunday morning and decided to take advantage of the weather and head up grouse mountain (we've only ever been during the winter season)... there we enjoyed a morning of  gorgeous views, especially from the eye of the wind turbine, a lumberjack show (not as corny as it sounds, it was quite fun and funny actually), and seeing rescued bears up close (they are massive creatures and confirms by fear of them!). 

 



















 















other (pet) scenes from the weekend...



the new 'pet' addition... sea monkeys. they are there but very, very, very small! kai is excited.

lastly, a big thank you to sam and jacob for taking kai to visit with the penguins at the aquarium... he loved it... i want to see the penguins too!  wondering what stefan and i were up too? a quickie lunch date and getting groceries... i know, not too exciting but sometimes that's how life rolls.