27 / 52 weeks

kai: kai loves a friendly water gun fight with the neighbourhood kiddos.  apparently holding the camera didn't exempt me from getting wet as well :)



a'hoy deep cove

deep cove is such a gem.  we took my in-laws to visit the cove one sunny afternoon last week.  as soon as we arrived, we make a beeline for honey doughnuts.  i've written about them before (see here) and i'll say it again, delicious!  kai practically lived on the dock in the water having made some new friends while we lounged lakeside. i did sneak away to visit a couple of shops...

 

a'hoy is an adorable nautical themed clothing and accessories boutique and it's evident the inspiration comes from the beautiful bay at its doorstep.  think turkish towels to bring to the beach, herschel totes to stuff with lakeside necessities, breezy shirts to wear over your swimsuit, birkenstocks to slip on your tanned feet, gorgeous smelling soaps to lather with once you return home.  but really, you won't want to leave deep cove.  with big lovely mountains surrounding the bay, a quaint little beach, and now awesome shops (room 6 and the newly opened sunnyside, a home goods shop) occupy this picturesque spot of bc too. 

 

we plan to return to explore the hiking, peek inside sunnyside, and paddleboard on the lake.  now they just need a decent coffee shop and bakery - honey doughnuts needs some friendly company!

 











kai and i wanted to kayak but we'd have to wait 5 hours for a kayak!  next time we'll go early.









































you've seen this one before here :)







i'd love to hear, what are your favourite lakes do you visit?

 



weekend pics, harm and marion (and the dutch win, again!)

wet weekend mornings are meant for sleeping in, drinking tea, eating a dutch breakfast (aka, eating a lot of bread!), visiting a museum, and time for kai and his opa to make together (they are building the eiffel tower). 

 

the museum of vancouver... it was my first visit.  we learned about vancouver's past as we moved from one era to another (loved the 1950s).  the hippie era was a fun one, where we could try on groovy clothes and lounge in the hippie living room.  there was also an exhibit on vancouver's neon lights history.



afternoons are for soccer matches but only when the dutch are playing.  stefan had his lucky scarf out... did you watch?  what an intense game.  i had to busy myself with household chores every so often because it was too much to watch! 

that evening, after we all had dinner at the homer street café, the three boys - stefan with his dad and kai - went to watch the vancouver whitecaps play at bc stadium.  it was harm's first game and he loved it... the cheering, the wave, the atmosphere.  and vancouver won!

a couple of aerial pics of granville island taken while walking over the granville street bridge to get some food and drop off the boys at the stadium.

and do you see that chocolate cake up there?  it was so good - perfectly chocolate-y, moist, and made by thomas. it helped us to celebrate the soccer wins and to say good-bye to my in-laws who are now on the island visiting with the lovely melanie and her family (but we will see them again in a short couple of weeks!)

 

hope you had a nice weekend too!



26 / 52 weeks

 

kai: the beach + his oma and opa... there couldn't be a better combination for my guy.  kai loves the beach (he's declared he wants to move to deep cove) and has also been thoroughly enjoying his time with his oma and opa this past week.  simple pleasures.  it's what summer's about.

weekend pics, harm and marion (and the dutch win)

vancouver was all sun and rain this weekend.  it simply could not make up it's mind.  one moment there is sunshine and the next it's hidden behind a rain cloud.  but it was certainly easy to make the best of it when in the company of lovely friends and family.

first, the mornings.  they were for lounging and fifa soccer.  sunday's game - dutch vs mexico - was a must with 3.5 out of 5 dutch people in the house.  it was hard to share in the joy of the dutch win when the screen projected teary mexicans.  my family however didn't hold back their joy as you can see in the pics...

pure luck that i captured the first dutch goal!

 there were mascots hanging around... the dutch in my house wore these guys on their ears!



the second dutch goal



the confirmed dutch 2-1 win



on saturday, our friends, ximena and petter, (visiting vancouver from sweden) joined my in-laws and my family for a wander around trout lake park.  with a farmer's market, food trucks and a pretty lake to walk around, it was perfect despite the rain.  

kai and livia hung out a lot when our friends lived in vancouver - they last saw each other when they were both four years old - and it didn't take them long to be friends once again.  there were trees to climb, playgrounds to explore, and a dreamcatcher to catch.

i must give a shout out to the creperie la boheme food truck.  i had the ali baba - red pepper spread, roasted and garlicky eggplant, goat feta, greens, vinaigrette - and it was beyond delicious.  i've seen their truck before but the line-up is always so very long that i never bothered with it and anyway why stand in line for just a crepe, right?  well, a crepe isn't just a crepe when it comes to this creperie food truck.  thank you livia and cecelia for standing in the very looong line-up!

 

 

 



  

 

  

 

 

  

 

  

 



we celebrated a one year old boy's birthday, a ridiculously cute boy who belongs to our friends marija and nasta.  his name is leo and the lion cake was just too adorable.  the rain stopped just in time to shine some sun on the party; it's nice when the local weather can cooperate.

 

after the dutch win on sunday we walked off the hard work of watching the game by going to stanley park, a huge urban park.  with gorgeous views, just the right temperature with a quickie torrential rain pour, coffees and pastries, and a soccer ball... it was a lovely afternoon.



we took the aqua bus from granville island

 



yes, the dutch scarf came along with us and got some attention too :)



 









bard on the beach, across the water, in vanier park



hope you had a lovely - sunny! - weekend.