Vacation: Part 4

       The last part of our vacation was spent in Vancouver.  We drove into Canada pretty late in the evening and spent about 30 minutes in the car line through the border checkpoint.  It was very late by the time we got to our hotel, but we were able to sleep in some the next morning.  I hadn't prepared for our visit in Vancouver at all, so we were somewhat at a loss of what to do - made worse by the fact that our phones were in international roaming, so we couldn't get on the Internet (what did we do before technology?). 

       Someone in our neighborhood had told me about the giant suspension bridge and tree forts in Vancouver and that their kids had loved it.  Vancouver is such a beautiful city set right in the mountains.  Many people assume that living in Denver would give us the same kind of environment - but we have to drive to the mountains - in Vancouver, they are right there.  It turned out that the Friday we were in Canada was a "Public Long Weekend."  We asked our server at breakfast what holiday was going on, he said, "I don't know, it is just a long weekend."  I guess that is Canada - you get a long weekend for no reason - sounds nice.  As a result, the suspension bridge was pretty crowded with lots of families.

  The suspension bridge ended up being pretty cool - but also scary, not helped by my fear of heights.  I attempted to send Greg off with the boys ahead of me so I could get a picture, but I couldn't get a great close-up of the 3 of them (you can see Greg about 1/2 way across the bridge in the blue shirt).  I followed shortly thereafter, and held on to the side the whole way, fearing for my life - the bridge seriously swayed the whole time - there was no way I could have stopped and taken any pictures.  I went back with Greg and the boys after we visited the other side - I was amazed to see how completely fearless Luke was about the whole thing - the height and swaying didn't bother him one bit.

After the bridge, we drove to Stanley Park and went to the beach.  The boys had an absolute blast.  I had brought along a change of clothes, so I had told them they could get in the water - they both immediately ran in. 

 

Both boys tried to jump over the waves.

They both continued to wade further and further into the water.  We had great weather that day, and the water was not too cold.

The next morning we drove back down to Portland (after an hour plus wait at the border crossing) to catch our flight early the next morning.  I love my husband, but I do hope that he does not book a flight that requires us to get up at 4 am during a family vacation again.  We had a great trip, but he was nice to be home.  The boys and I have been enjoying the last few days of our summer vacation.  I go back to school on Friday and they start 1st grade (!!!) in a week in a half.  Who knows where we will go next year - Luke has offered several suggestions, one of which is Korea - I don't think that will make the short list.