Mike's Family Visit Van City

For about a week, Mike's parents (Barb and Raymond) have been visiting us in Vancouver.

Their first night here, we had eat-in from Kam's Place (Singaporean Cuisine) with us and Chris and watched the last Canuck's playoff game. The Canucks are out of the playoffs now and my prior opinion that they suck holds true.

Raymond had a conference here for work, so they decided to make a vacation out of it and visit us and Mike's sisters in Alberta as well.

While Raymond was at his conference, Barb took a tour of the tourist hot spots in a double decker bus.

Mike took some time off to be with his parents and I hung out with them all after work and on the weekends. Here they are on the ferry to Granville Island. We went to the Sandbar one of the first nights they were here. They really enjoyed the fresh fish.
Here is Mike and his dad at Prospect Point in Stanley Park.

We hadn't been to this area of the park since we visited in 2003.

In the background you can see a mound of bright yellow Sulfur across the water.
We went for a little walk and saw the totem poles and some other sights and stopped at the cantine for a snack.

Later in the week, Mike returned to the park with both his parents. They rented bikes and coasted around the sea wall.

We were very lucky with the weather that we had the whole time they were here. We must thank the sun Gods for their generosity!
That evening, we walked over to their hotel and then walked to an Italian restaurant in Yaletown called the Armacord from there.

Here is Mike and his Dad enjoying the bird's-eye view from many stories up.

One thing Barb really enjoyed was the limitless opportunity to watch all the action going on in the city from her hotel room and from our condo.

Later in the week, Tina arrived for a surprise visit from Calgary. Happy Mother's Day Barb!

One day, they all went to Jerico Beach in Point Grey, and another day, they took the ferry to Victoria.

The main attraction there was Tea at "The Empress Hotel". They had a great time together and I will have to try this another time myself.

Here, Mike and his sister are playing video games in our living room. It is actually a boxing game which I enjoy quite a bit.

In case you anyone doesn't know this family that well, they all have an intense competitive streak. Michael angrily had his rear handed to him by his little sister and Tina received a nasty thumb blister for her efforts.

The next day I hijacked Tina for some marathon shopping. We hit Starbucks and then headed for the Pacific Center Mall (a massive 3 story underground mall which I have just discovered) and Robson street.

I got a good supply of summer clothes. That mall has every store you can think of and then Robson has pretty much every one of those and then some. After our long day of shopping, I scheduled a manicure for us, but our feet were so sore that we decided to spring for the Pedicure as well.
After my last experience, I knew to bring a bottle of white wine. We had a great time chatting, watching Sex & the City and enjoying supreme relaxation. I absolutely love my French manicure. Good call Tina!
That evening we, got dressed up and headed for "Kettle of Fish" for a late dinner.

Their trip allowed us to eat out quite a bit. We brought them to our favorites and went to some new places that we had been meaning to try out.

The next day was Mother's Day and Tina had to catch her flight. Mike drove her to the airport at 6:30 and I went to the grocery store to get some supplies for a Mother's Day breakfast. I called Mom back in NB, but her and Dad had gone out for breakfast.

Then we both went back to bed. At around 11:00, I got up to try and call Mom again and see if she got the flowers I had sent. I had a nice chat with her and then Mike's parents came by and I cooked Mother's Day breakfast. Yum! At 4:00, Mike drove them to the train station to catch the train to Alberta where they will visit with Tina and Kim some more before finally heading home to NB.

Happy Mother's Day everyone!