Vancouver, B.C.

We blew our big vacation on Japan in February, but I still wanted some kind of a getaway for spring break, so we decided on nearby Vancouver, B.C. Vincenzo forgot to ask for the time off of work so he had to stay back. We couldn’t find another Vincenzo to take his place so we settled on an extra Leo instead.

Vancouver’s forecast was grim but it didn’t matter; all I really wanted was a train trip, and a pool; the rest was gravy.

The rain trip:

The pool:

Actually, I didn’t really care about the pool; all I wanted was to sit in the hot tub and look at the rain pelting the windows outside. Rocco and Double Leo provided entertainment and Vancouver was generous with the rain. Kevin and I watched the boys from the tub, rejoicing over the fact that we don’t have to get in the pool and play with the children anymore.

On our first full day in Vancouver, we visited the aquarium. Other Leo really got into it!

Sometime on day one, the boys started speaking in Waffle, which is where you take all the words in the English language and change them to the word “waffle.” So I could say, “Waffle waffle waffle waffle waffle?” and you’d say, “Waffle waffle waffle waffle waffle!” I’d nod in agreement, then maybe ask a follow-up waffle. The fun thing about this language is it never gets old listening to it, no matter how many thousands of times you hear the word “waffle” in a single day.

The next day the skies cleared and we went to the science museum. Isn’t it cool looking?

The silver globe thing is from Expo ‘86, which 10-year-old Me actually went to! This Me:

Just about everything at the museum was interactive.

There was a thermal energy screen that shows how warm you are, with white being the hottest and blue being the coldest. My hands are the blue ones.

I stood there for a long time waiting to see if there was another blue-handed person in the museum, but it seems I am the only one of my kind. The good news is if I ever run into a snake, all I have to do is hide behind my hands and poof, I’ll be invisible!

We spent a lot of time at the optical illusion area.

(The optical illusion is the spinny thing on the wall, not the look of childlike wonder on the teenager’s face.)

I learned how to spin a plate on a stick! Here I am getting a little show-offy.

Fun fact about Pepto Bismol: it’s derived from the bismuth crystal. We can finally stop wondering where the word “bismol” came from. The chalky pink color remains a mystery.

That afternoon we popped over to Granville Island, which had about 1,000 photo ops but my phone had run out of battery and it wasn’t until we were leaving that I remembered Kevin also has a phone.

On our final day, Rocco, Other Leo, and I biked around Stanley Park, which was the highlight of the trip for the three of us.

Regular Leo didn’t want to bike, so Kevin promised they’d walk through Stanley Park instead. They ventured far enough in to take a picture near a duck for proof, then they went for Slurpees. It was the highlight of the trip for them.

Overall, it was a fun-filled few days that felt like a “real” vacation and not just a token one. Waffle waffle waffle waffle waffle. Waffle waffle?

(Translation: That’s some pretty good gravy. Isn’t it?)

MrsMouthy Has a Bday

A couple Saturdays ago I had a birthday. It’s getting to the point where the numbers are too scary to say out loud, so I’ll just tell you it rhymes with florty-flate. (Was that you who just gasped, or was it me?!)

Kevin kept “forgetting” it was my birthday because that Saturday it was also Wrestlemania. All week he followed me around with puppy dog eyes until finally I said, “Okay fine, you can invite you friend over for Wrestlemania on Saturday, even though it’s my birthday.” To which he said, “Oh, it’s your birthday?”

I knew Kevin wouldn’t really forget, which is why on Saturday morning I wasn’t surprised when he came upstairs carrying a gigantic box. A gift! For me! With some effort, he set it in front of me on the floor, and when my eyes swam into focus I found myself staring at a gigantic bowl of meat.

It was a smoker, Kevin said. So he could smoke some meat, he said. For Wrestlemania.

Well.

At least I had a giant box all to myself.

Well again.

Okay, okay, you caught me. I’m telling a warped version of the truth because it makes a better blog post. To be honest, it was actually me who invited our friend to come over because I adore this friend of ours and he makes any day of the week feel like a party. I’m the one who asked Kevin to smoke a big piece of meat because I wanted the smell to waft through the windows all day. I’m the one who told Leo to climb in the box and act like a goon.

Just kidding—he did that one all on his own.

Really, the only gift I wanted was to see my boys outside shoveling dirt into my garden. And they delivered!

But there was more! Kevin knows how much I love Builders Bars, so he had the boys write encouraging messages on a few boxes of bars.

They call them “Self-Esteem-Builders Bars.”

But there was more! The one thing on my Japan to-do list that I didn’t get to do was eat a rainbow grilled cheese sandwich, so Kevin made me one on his own.

And so, if we’re being completely honest, it was a perfect florty flateth birthday.

Some Recent Conversations

A convo between Rocco and Vincenzo:
Rocco: Alexander Hamilton was alive in the 1600s
Vincenzo: No; he was alive the 1700s.
Rocco: Vincenzo, I’m telling you, Alexander Hamilton was alive in the 1600s!
Vincenzo: You’re right. You are telling me that. But Alexander Hamilton was still not alive in the 1600s.

Vincenzo and Rocco are pinning Leo down on the chair, trying to stick a piece of tape on his forehead.
Me: Leo, do you ever wish I had had one more kid so you didn’t have to be the youngest?
Leo: No, but I sometimes wish you didn’t have two others!

A convo with Vincenzo:
Me: Vincenzo, I just got an e-mail that you were absent from fourth period. What was that about?
Vincenzo: I was absent from fourth period? …  Oh yeah, I remember now.
Me: Where did you go?
Vincenzo: I realized right before fourth period that I had a test in math that I was going to get like a 1% on, so I skipped it and then took the test after school instead.
Me: *tries to wrap brain around what he just said*
Me: So what did you do for that hour?
Vincenzo: I went to my car to study.
Me: *eyes bug out*
Me: Okay, just so I understand it, you went to your car to study for an hour so you would get more than a 1% on your math test?
Vincenzo: Yeah.
Me: And how do you think you did on your test, after studying for a whole hour?
Vincenzo: Pretty good!
Me: Based on the kind of math you did right before fourth period today, I don’t know if I’d be that confident.
Vincenzo:*scrolls through his discord feed to show that he can’t hear me any more*