It doesn't get much better

After being away in Saskatoon last weekend, and with an upcoming trip to Edmonton next weekend, I wanted to spend this weekend having fun in my city with my family. As it turned out, I was not disappointed! From quality time with my husband, to art-filled time with my kids, plus a nice little surprise to start the weekend off, I have had a whirlwind of a time, and the fun we've had will be with me throughout my next trip.

The Southsiders arriving at Terry Fox Plaza before
the match

Saturday, after about five months of waiting, the Vancouver Whitecaps began their season with an emotional game against Canadian rivals Toronto FC. With the start of the season also returns a regular date night with my husband, and over 1200 other loyal Southsiders, one of the supporters groups for the club. After reconnecting with some of our football friends at Doolin's Pub, we marched en masse along Granville and Robson Streets, clapping and chanting in support of our team. It's a tradition held every game, rain or shine, and passersby are always entertained by our enthusiasm. In the stadium, we took to our new seats for the season...front row! We got acquainted with our new neighbours, all of whom are incredibly friendly and eager to share the season's excitement with us, and began to cheer on our team proudly. It seems all our cheering, both on the march and during the game, paid off with a 1-0 victory for the home team, and I left the stadium feeling elated and excited for another season with friends new and old.

Just a taste of the support we show to our home team

Our new pitch-side seats!

Leaving BC Place these skies were
waiting to great us!

Enjoying a sunny ride to the Art Gallery

Sunday's activities were all focused on time as a family. As a special treat, mother nature decided to clear up the rainy skies and give us a glorious day of sunshine. We set off just before lunch to meet some friends in Strathcona, and enjoyed a picnic lunch in the sun. After lunch, we set off for the Vancouver Art Gallery for their Family FUSE weekend. All weekend long there were a variety of activities geared towards children and all focused on different art styles from dance, to graphic novels creation and even mixed media. As we entered the gallery, the kids got to make a "CO-MIX button" using collage techniques. Coralie said it was definitely a highlight. From there, we headed into the main gallery, where the kids learned about how to build a comic book story, followed by some pretty neat shadow art and puppetry with the use of projectors in "Projectorland". Coralie had fun using the Wolf mask, reminiscing about learning about Peter and the Wolf in Kindergarten, and Etienne seemed a bit confused by what to do with his cat mask, standing still almost the whole time. We finished up on the 4th floor in "The Making Place", where Etienne was thrilled to be able to cut out and glue various items to a life-sized Etienne superhero. After nearly three hours of creativity, it was time to get our artistic, but exhausted, children home.

Cutting out images for his button

Coralie was amazed by the button making machine.
Possible gift in the future?

The finished product

Coralie creating her own comic at the KAPOW! station

Shadow puppet time!

Having fun with projectors

Coralie's RAW Magazine cover collage
in the Art Spiegelman collection area

A little something for the parents...anyone remember Garbage Pail Kids?! In the Art Spiegelman collection

Our sunny ride home on Sunday

With the sun still shining , we took the opportunity to ride South on the Hornby separated lane to the False Creek seawall. As always when we've had long spells of rain in Vancouver, the seawall was packed with people on foot and bikes enjoying a very high dose of Vitamin-D. Along the way I got to chat with my husband and daughter while our son snoozed in the trailer, getting some much deserved rest. It was truly a great end to a fabulous weekend, especially now that our faces are all a little bit sun-kissed!

Even after all the weekend's excitement, the highlight for me actually happened on Friday afternoon. If you recall, back in August the Velo Family took a bike vacation to Portland, Oregon. Before I left, I spoke to some people at Momentum Magazine about possibly writing a piece for their magazine about the successes and challenges about bike travel with children. Well, I am so pleased to report that it's official! My article about our trip and what it was like to travel with our kids and our bikes has been featured in the 60th issue of Momentum Magazine. I feel so grateful to have been given the opportunity to share my experiences with a broader audience, and am excited at the possibility of continued contributions if or when I am asked. It makes me eager to see what the future holds, hopeful that this will be just the start of a new adventure for me and the Velo Family!

See the full piece at momentummag.com

From YVR to PDX: Our first family bike vacation...Day 4

Our last full day in Portland was quite eventful, but we decided to keep it a transit day and give ourselves and our bikes a rest. The great thing about Portland's transit is that for only $5.00 you can purchase a day pass and ride as much as you like! So after a big breakfast, we hopped on the MAX line and headed to Old Town and the Saturday Market. The market is huge, full of vendors selling everything from pottery, clothing, jewellery, food and whatever else you can think of. So we took a wander through, eventually ending up at the waterfront and another fountain for the kids to splash in. This is clearly a tradition for many Portlanders because there were tons of kids running through having a ball.

The crowded Saturday Market

Etienne splashing around again!

From there, we walked a bit through downtown, and then caught the tram back to our apartment to get ready for the main event. The kids got out of their wet clothes and we all got on our Whitecaps gear, ready to support our team in enemy territory. Chris had actually been wearing his shirt all day, which created a random conversation with a family from Vancouver who happened to be travelling through and was looking for a way to get tickets. We also had a Portland fan give us some post-game transit advise, which was so nice! So there you go, kids can make friends anywhere and a sports jersey can strike up a conversation. Who knew?

Etienne waiting for the train, all set to cheer on the 'Caps

Once back downtown ready for the game, we stopped at what is now my favourite pizza joint, Sizzle Pie. We first ate here on our last visit at their East /Burnside location, and I insisted we go again. With creative names for each of the pies, and a grunge kind of aesthetic, it's just a cool place to go. I recommend The Four Hoursemen pizza, featuring mozza, white cheddar, ricotta and goat's cheese. Delicious!

That is one giant pizza!

From dinner, it was off to Jeld-Wen field with the rest of the fans, Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps alike. While making our way to the supporters gate, we managed to time our walk with the arrival of the team bus, and we able to show the WCFC players our support before the game, including the kids getting a high five from our keeper, Joe Cannon! Once in our seats, the cheering began, and to my surprise and pleasure, the kids joined in with every chant they knew, and for the ones they didn't, they clapped their hearts out. We will make football fans out of them yet!

A few hundred of our fellow WCFC supporters

Clap, clap, clap...White Caps!

Sadly, the Whitecaps fell 2-1 to the Timbers, but the game was electric and it was so much fun to be with our fellow fans to support our team on the road. It was a new experience for everyone, and well worth the trip. We hopped on the tram back to our apartment, the kids exhausted after an long and exciting evening. Only one day left before we leave Portland and return to Canadian soil.

Free for the weekend

What a beautiful weekend! We here in Vancouver have finally got the sunshine and warm weather we were waiting all of June for, and the family an I made sure we got out and enjoyed it as much as possible. Like most families, we like to find affordable ways to get out and about with our young children. This weekend, the goal was to keep it as free as possible, and I'm very pleased to report that we didn't spend a dime, but still had a fantastic weekend doing a variety of things around Vancouver. Here's a taste of our weekend on the cheap...

Friday night there came an out of the blue request from my husband to go catch a Whitecaps FC PDL game out at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby. For those who love watching our local MLS team but maybe can't afford to take the whole family to a game at BC Place, going out to watch the Reserve or PDL team is free, and you can see some of the up and coming stars of the beautiful game. We headed out to the game with some friends on our bikes, and watched as our team won 4-0, all with the backdrop of the North Shore Mountains and the huge trees in Burnaby Central Park. All in all, it was about a 15kms journey, with Coralie trailing behind her dad on the trail-a-bike for most of the journey, then joining her brother in the trailer behind me for a snooze the rest of the ride home. For an impromptu trip, it was great to ride in the cooler evening and do something new.

Whitecaps FC PDL playing to win against a stunning backdrop

Coralie trails Chris on the night ride home from the stadium

Saturday brought a long awaited meet up with some old friends for a picnic on Kitsilano Beach. I'm sure it's news to no one that a simple picnic on the beach is a great way to get out and not have to spend tons of money on food. But I am definitely thankful that I have so many beaches here to chose from, especially when a beautiful day can be followed by watching the sunset over the mountains. We all had a great time, what with the ride along the seawall, playing and relaxing on the sandy beach, splashing in the ocean, and enjoying a picnic with friends, there was little to complain about. It was another lengthy ride to and from, total 20kms. Coralie took the chance to rest this time, with Etienne trailing Daddy on the way and both sleeping in the trailer behind me on the way home. It's funny, but I hear so often now from our single friends that they wish their parents had a trailer like ours to take them home instead of having strapped them in a car. I guess that makes our kids pretty lucky, and I'm pretty darned proud of our family "station wagon on two wheels".

So happy to be able to ride behind
daddy!

Chris was pretty happy to be able to join us on our sunny adventures,
even if it was only for the weekend 

That's right, we take her to the beach, she reads...I'm not complaining! 

For the first time, Etienne enjoyed the ocean water, waves and all! 

Very happy to spend the day together in the sunshine

Watching the beautiful sunset over the water 

He may be a rascal, but he's still Mama's boy 

And of course, we have Daddy's little girl

So, if you've gotten this far, you know we did a free soccer game on Friday night, a free day at the beach on Saturday, so what do we do on a hot Sunday afternoon? Go to a splash park, and it was back to the slide and splash park at Granville Island. This time Chris and I brought our bathing suits so Etienne could actually go down the slide...although one time in the cold water was enough for him! The splash parks in this city are fantastic, and best of all, they're free! What more do kids want on a hot summer's day than a bunch of spraying water to run through screaming...and that's exactly what our kids did for 2 hours. 

Waiting in line for the first ride down the slide
after the 7.5km ride to Granville Island 

Coralie enjoying one of a dozen slides 

Etienne's only ride...fun, but cold and not to be repeated 

Coralie, after her rest the day before, rode her own bike for the 15km return trip, and she was such a trooper yet again. This past week, she has cycled a total of 46kms on her own, and about 15kms trailing behind Daddy on a trail-a-bike. She has received kudos and applause from strangers, and her tenacity has encouraged people we do know to have their young ones try a longer ride, too. We are incredibly proud of her willingness and strength to do these rides with us. It seems such a small thing sometimes to go for a ride out with her, but we quickly realize with all the comments and smiles she receives that she is pretty awesome. Hopefully she's inspiring other youngsters out there to ride, too!

The family "station wagon"

A well deserved ice cream after a long but exciting weekend!