Stanley Park

Today started out a little gloomy. The sky was grey when we woke up, we had a hard time getting started, out the door. Nico went home yesterday, so everyone misses him. Zoe keeps saying, "I want to go to MY house now", and refuses to cooperate with anything, melting down into a puddle of tears over anything like sharing snacks to going potty.
Julian asks, "Da Da?" and this time I don't think he was talking about the cat, who he now refers to as "Ehwit!!" in between shrieks of delight.
No, everyone misses daddy. But we are in a great city full of things to explore. And Gammy and Gampy Ted are taking great care of all of us, bending over backwards to meet our plentiful needs, before we even know we need them.
Grammy suggested that we explore Stanley Park which sits at a little peninsula on the edge of the city. It's full of waterfront views, forests of cedar, fir, and ferns, luscious gardens with the deepest, richest most brightly hued flowers. There is the aquarium, horse drawn carriage rides, restaurants, playgrounds, and many beaches. Today we went to the miniature train ride, followed by a visit to the totem poles.
The train ride was great; the trains were so lovingly painted and maintained, as was the forest that the train chugs through. We went over bridges, through tunnels and forests in view of wading "moose", waving mice, and miniature houses. We actually started getting chilly after a week of record highs. Once we found our way over to the totem poles, the sun started peeking out as we learned to spot whales, thunderbirds, frogs and bears among the carvings. By the time we wound our way to English Bay for lunch, it was getting warm again. By the time our bellies were full, so were our spirits.