I miss my cats

It's been a year since we gave up our cats, Bob and Neo, for adoption.  Sophia is allergic to cat hair and after she developed asthma last year (and after three visits to the ER at Children's Hospital) I knew it was time to find new homes for our cats.  I was heart-broken and twelve months later, I have to say I still am heart-broken.  I couldn't even blog about it last year because I was so traumatized.  I still tear up whenever I think of them.  And there are times when I open the door to go outside and I find myself hoping that Neo or Bob would find their way back home to our house and I would find them sitting there, waiting for me to pick them up and hug them.  I really miss them.

Nikki Forbes from Action for Animals found new homes for them and she assured me that their new families are loving and will take very good care of my cats.  That is a big comfort to me.  And I hope Bob and Neo never have to find new owners again because I am sure losing us was as traumatic, if not more so, for them as it was for us losing them.  At least we understood what was going on; they were probably very confused and scared.  That is what breaks my heart the most.

I like to think they are loved and spoiled by their new owners.  They are wonderful cats and they deserve nothing less.  We miss them so much!

Bob loved to snuggle with me in bed or the sofa.

Neo loved to lounge on the kitchen counter.

11 years and counting

We celebrated big last year, being the 10 year celebration and all.  This year, our wedding anniversary celebration was pretty low key.  We went out for a nice dinner at Hawksworth.   Ed's sable fish was exquisite.  My lamb was just alright - I found the flavour too overwhelming and it was a little overcooked, I thought.  The carrot salad I had as a starter was really delicious, though.

After dinner, we went for a walk along Granville St.  We haven't been there in ages and it was fun to see the new and old establishments along the street.  For dessert, we headed to Cheesecake, etc in South Granville. It was a very lovely evening out with my hubby of 11 years.

I feel very lucky to be married to such a loving, caring and generous man.  He is an amazing father (Sophia is very lucky, too) and extremely patient and forgiving partner.  He is my biggest supporter and is always there for me, in any way I need him.  Plus, he is a really good cook!  I love you, Ed.  Thanks for being such a wonderful husband.  Happy anniversary!!!

Thumbs up for Frozen

I took Sophia to see the Disney movie, Frozen, at the theatre a few days ago.  It was her first time seeing a movie at a theatre and we made a field trip out of it.  We went to Silvercity in Richmond, bought our tickets, then went to a restaurant across the street for some lunch.  We went back to the theatre and got settled in.  The trailer for Maleficent came on and Sophia promptly left her seat and hid behind the seat in front of her.  I picked her up and got her to sit on my lap, where she stayed until the end of Frozen.

We were both mesmerized by the movie.  I liked how the story was not about getting a prince charming.  The music was really good, too, and of course the song Let It Go has been playing over and over at our house all weekend.  It was really cute how Sophia sang the song with such gusto while bathing tonight.

She has asked to see the movie again.  Good thing it is available on Optik TV.  It'll be cheaper than going to the theatre and she can play it over and over again for two days.  It'll be $6.00 well spent.

A visit to the Aquarium

Sophia and I spent the day at the Vancouver Aquarium recently. I have every other Friday off work and this is my mommy-and-Sophia day. Sometimes we run errands, sometimes we have playdates, and sometimes, we go on a field trip just the two of us. This was Sophia’s first visit to the Aquarium and she really enjoyed it. She loved the Beluga whales the best. Thankfully, the sun came out in the afternoon and we were able to sit by the whale pool for a while. Sophia played on the steps while going to say hello to the whales once in a while. We were able to catch the Beluga whale show, as well as the dolphin show. Sophia is really into Kung Fu Panda right now and she got very excited when she saw the sea turtle, calling him Oogway (a character from the show). We bought a little white whale stuff toy in the gift shop as a memento of our fantastic day together at the Aquarium. She named her little whale Aurora, after the real whale we watched at the show. Afterward, we went to see the Totem poles and walked along the sea wall for a little bit.

Here are some pics from our day in Stanley Park..

Big White

Yay! I went skiing! Big White was really nice and I had a great time. Too bad my legs held up for only 2.5 hours.  I got six runs in (2 greens and 4 blues) during that time.  It was bliss.

We went with two other families and it was such a treat to be able to hang out with my friends for a few days. Sophia had three playmates and they kept her entertained, which meant more “me” time.

Work has been so busy lately that I didn’t really think about the trip until the day before. This was how prepared I was - as we started our road trip, I asked Ed how long he thought it would take for us to get to Kamloops. Uh, Big White is in Kelowna, he said. (Kamloops and Kelowna are about 170km apart.) No, it’s in Kamloops, I insisted. He gave me the Google maps directions. Yeah, Big White is in Kelowna. Good thing I wasn’t the one driving! Then on Saturday morning, I was getting ready to head out the door to go to the ski lodge. I had everything except for my ski jacket. I thought it was in the car but it turned out to be nowhere. Well, it was actually back home, on one of the stools in the kitchen. Ugh! Good thing there was a ski shop in Big White that rented out ski jackets. I spent $30 renting one for a couple of days, instead of $300 buying a new one.

My rented jacket

Sophia had lessons (Sat and Sunday) and she was awesome. She did the pizza stop and went down the bunny hill just fine. She started doing a few turns by the end of the second lesson. She had a bit of attitude in the beginning of the Sunday lesson but then changed her mind halfway through and wanted to ski. Then at 3:30pm, when the magic carpet stopped, she cried and cried because she didn’t want to stop skiing. Crazy kid.

Go, Sophia!

With Judy, the instructor

Practicing with Daddy

Falling over was fun, apparently

The drive home was a little treacherous. Sure am glad Ed was driving because it was stressful. The mountain road was very snowy and there was an accident ahead of us, which halted traffic at a couple of areas. We were afraid we’d have to sit there for a long time while crews cleared the road. Luckily, we didn’t wait too long. And the Subaru AWD performed well in the snowy and slippery conditions. Unfortunately, our wind shield got hit by a stone and cracked during the drive home. But I’m just glad we got home safely.

Very foggy and snowy Coquihalla Hwy

Trucks waiting to be towed uphill

I love skiing and going on ski trips with friends. We used to do this annually before we all had kids but the ski trips stopped for a few years while we waited for our little ones to get a little bigger. Now, we’ll have to make sure to get back into making this an annual get-away. It’s a wonderful way to spend a long weekend.