Bon voyage Mum and Dad...

At the end of September, Finley and I waved Mum and Dad off on their 24-day trans-Pacific cruise back to Australia. They are now home and have confirmed that they very much enjoyed their first cruise!

Bonus cuddle... we'd already waved goodbye as they disappeared into the
terminal, but they got sent back out to complete some missing paperwork!

Waiting for their departure

Mum and Dad at the top right

Bon voyage!

As they sailed away, I waved a white blanket over the railing of Canada Place, and Finley slept soundly through the repeated blasts of the ship's horn. :)

Thanks so much for coming to visit us, Mum and Dad (Grandma and Grandpa)!

Bloedel Conservatory + Queen Elizabeth Park

On Thursday, Mum and Dad's second full day here, Finley and I took them to Queen Elizabeth Park and the Bloedel Conservatory. Although I had been to the restaurant in Queen Elizabeth Park before, I'd never walked around the gardens or been into the Conservatory. The latter, a geodesic dome located within the 52-hectare park, was a great place to visit on a hot day! It was cool and lush inside, the flowers were beautiful and exotic, and there were many colourful birds. Photo opportunities galore!

(Dad's photo)

This is called a pitcher plant!

Orchid

Hoya

Coleus

Lily

Orchid

After leaving the dome, we had lunch at Seasons in the Park, which is beside the Conservatory...

(Dad's photo)

Then, we strolled around the gardens and spent a while sitting in the shade under a tree. We were at the park for about 5 hours in total and it was a very nice way to spend a day!

Queen Elizabeth Park and the Bloedel Conservatory in the distance

Looking up at Seasons in the Park from a quarry garden

(Dad's photo)

More Aussie visitors

The week after Ben's parents left, we had some more Aussie visitors! Nicole and Lawrie arrived in Vancouver in mid June, and stayed with us for 6 days while they got some things sorted out for their 6 month working holiday in Canada. This included buying a van to go travelling in for a couple of months, and building a platform for a bed in the back of it. We were very impressed at how much they managed to accomplish in 6 days, since they also did some sightseeing and met many of our friends!

Nicole and Lawrie

On Friday night, we went to the Richmond Night Market, and Nicole and Lawrie met us there after they finished the day's tasks. We also met up with Meryl T, who was visiting from Australia, and Vic B. For dinner we tried out a few of the exotic food stalls - spicy fried chicken, mini teriyaki burgers, deep fried ice cream... yum!

We were amused by a huge yellow duck towering over the market... and a pool full of large, transparent, floating, person-containing spheres (similar to zorbs)! $10 a ride  - what a great idea! 

Below are a few phone snaps from our fun evening at the market...

I love this pic!

We had some Groupons for stand-up paddle boarding that we ran out of time to use when Jim and Jenny were here, so on Saturday we used them with Nicole and Lawrie instead. I took the photos below on Nicole and Lawrie's camera as they departed from and then returned to the dock at Granville Island. Ben fell in a couple of times in the meantime, but they all had fun!

While we waited for them, Finley and I hung out in the Public Market. We ate lunch and watched part of the 16th Annual Plywood Cup, where teams of 4 have 90 minutes and a few simple materials with which to build a boat that will carry one of them across False Creek in a race.

Later, as we were all getting ready to leave Granville Island, we were unsuspectingly treated to a ride-by of participants in the World Naked Bike Ride (no photos of that...)!

(Nicole's photo)

We didn't take too many other photos during Nicole and Lawrie's visit, but we also hosted a backyard potluck for our friends to meet them, went to Julia's 1st birthday party, and Ben took them to Queen Elizabeth Park to get some good views of Vancouver.

Vancouver, taken from Queen Elizabeth Park

Mount Baker in the USA, taken from Queen Elizabeth Park

We really enjoyed getting to know Nicole and Lawrie a little, and are looking forward to their return to Vancouver after their US travels!