Now that the baby’s birth is coming soon, a common advice we get these days are along the lines of “get as much sleep/rest as you can” or “go out and do as much as you can”. Once the baby is born, we know that our lives will not be as carefree anymore.
The one thing I really wanted to do before the baby’s arrival is to go for a paddle around English Bay at least one more time. Ed and our paddling friends were busy training for their races until earlier this month but now that those races are done and the weather in Vancouver has been fantastic, I thought it would be a perfect time to do it. So bright and early last Saturday morning, Ed, Vivian, Eugene, and I took out the 4-man outrigger canoe for a light paddle from Burrard Marina to Jericho and back. We were out there for about an hour. The weather was perfect and I was in heaven. It felt so good to be out on the water again. I’m pretty sure I had a smile on my face the entire time. Afterward, we headed to our regular after-paddling breakfast place, Flying Swan, for some delicious pancakes.
The good thing about paddling first thing in the morning is you have the rest of the day to do other stuff. With the sun shining, a cool breeze going, and no interest in doing any chores or errands, we decided to head to Spanish Banks for some beach time. Good thing we had blankets in the trunk of the car. So, we picked our spot, set down the blankets and lounged for the rest of the day. We watched our friend Bryan play beach volleyball. I drifted in and out of sleep, ate ice cream and cheezies, and watched people come and go. Vivian arrived at some point and joined Bryan in the volleyball area. Later on in the afternoon, Eugene arrived. He and Ed went off to play volleyball, too. I went back to sleep.
To finish off this beautiful, lazy day, we decided to pick up some bbq from Memphis Blues and head over to Eugene’s for dinner.
I’m sure once the baby is born, it will be a while before Ed and I can enjoy a day like this again - where we just laid around, didn’t do much, and didn’t worry about anything. I’m glad we were able to squeeze in a day like that before the big day. Kind of like the calm before the storm.
