Vancouver, again?

My parents, Sophia and I headed out to Vancouver to visit with Craig, Ji-Hyeon, Maya and Cathy, and of course to shop. We only went for a couple of days as Sophia wanted to be back home for her last dance class (they do a little performance for us). We had a fabulous time!

My Dad booked our flights and accidentally booked the 8am flight. It worked out well but made for a bit of a long day. Sophia didn't sleep well the night before but she did nap once we started driving. The only thing she wanted to do was visit the Aquarium. We managed to get some shopping in while she napped (thanks Dad for hanging out with Sophia) and then headed over to the aquarium. Of course we had to see the baby belugas, even though Sophia's favorite are the sea otters.

I loved the color of the birds...

...so bright and vibrant.

Once we finished our shopping and aquarium trip, we met up with the family. My Dad hadn't yet seen Craig and Ji-Hyeon's new apartment and was very impressed. Maya, on the other hand, wasn't too impressed with Jumperoo! Her and Sophia did have a great time together. Sophia can get Maya to smile almost as much as Ji-Hyeon can! I am thinking we will have to keep visiting with them so that they can get to know each other better.

Our last night there, we all headed to VanDusen Garden for the Festival of Lights. It is similar to Zoolights, but with some 'dancing' lights! It was a chilly night but we all had a great time. Sorry for the poor quality, but most of the pics were taken with my camera phone. Dad took some with his camera but I haven't seen them yet.

Sophia loved the little houses! At one point while she was here, some people walking by stopped and commented that she was such a cute little girls, they had to take a picture of her! I think we might have another model on our hands:)

The lights were awesome! There were so many in such a small place, that everything seemed to glow. We even ran into Santa Claus, although Sophia wasn't too fond of him...

This tree was my favorite. Normally, I can't stand the blue lights as the LED ones make my eyes go funny but I really liked this one...

Sunday morning after a yummy brunch with everyone, the ladies and my Dad decided to do a little shopping on Robson Street. Normally I am not a fan, but Craig's office is close by and he wanted to head to work so we all tagged along. I much prefer the boutique shops on West 4th Ave and Kerrisdale as Robson has all the big stores we have at home. Part way through our shopping trip, Sophia fell asleep. Dad and I were both trying to get her mitts and hat on to keep her warm. I thought that the seatbelt was done up and was just hidden behind the blanket, when in actuality they weren't done up! We had just left Craig, Ji-Hyeon, Maya and Cathy and were hurrying across the street to get to the car and to the airport so we could make our flight....who knew that there were uneven bricks on the sidewalks...I hit one, pretty hard and Sophia literally flew out of the stroller. She landed on the ground, thankfully on the blanket, on her hands and knees and somehow, she managed to stay asleep! I quickly picked her up and carrying her, we all took off to the car. She didn't wake up until I tried to strap her in the car! I felt awful and absolutely mortified! Thankfully all Sophia had to show for it were a few salt stains on the knees of her pants, since the blanket cushioned her fall. To make matters even worse, while we were at VanDusen, my Mom shot two larges bags of popcorn, which were covered in a blanket, out of the stroller. The people around her thought it was a child. I was thinking, geez, who would do that? Um, oops? Yep, I think I should win the Mother of the Year award for that one!