Oat and Aboot

The fam is on vacation. We are livin' it up in Birch Bay, Washington. Look out North Whatcom County! The family Jahns is on the scene!!



Let me tell ya, there isn't much to Birch Bay in February. The local candy shop which is supposed to make awesome chocolate is closed for the season. The miniature golf course is closed for the season. The miniature train ride is closed for the season. The water park is closed for the season; I don't really care about that one though. The Hovander homestead is closed for the season. The Hovander barn animals are not on site - not the right season.



We have seen lots of ducks from the balcony of the condo where we are staying. Yesterday I took Gavin down to the grassy area behind us to feed some crackers to the ducks. He was very excited to feed the ducks so he took a goldfish cracker and carried it down the hall, down the stairs and across the grass to the chanel where a duck was swimming. I tossed a cracker in the water and the duck took flight.



"Stupid duck," I muttered. "Toopid duck," Gavin mimicked.



Great.



We went into the clubhouse where Gavin played with a ping pong ball and some rackets. He carefully set his one goldfish cracker on the ping pong table and he remembered to take it when we left. Since the ducks were so skittish I took Gavin straight across the lawn as to return to our room but that made him really upset he started saying, "feed duck cracker. feed duck!" We went back towards the ducks and I helped him throw in the cracker but the ducks waited until we were long gone to eat the cracker.



Today we went to Vancouver, B.C. to see some of the Olympic venues. I am always surprised by how nervous I get at customs. I am not smuggling anything in, I have nothing to be nervous about but the questions they ask!



The Canadian guard today asked how Ryan and I know each other: we're married.

What we do for work: transportation engineer, housewife

who owns the van: me (Ryan wasn't there to sign the papers - I told him can't leave me now).

what were we going to do in Canada: visit Olympic venues.

which ones: uh... like the one where the opening and closing ceremonies are to be held.

did you go on-line to look this stuff up: yes.



Oy. Turns out he was trying to be helpful and let us know there were lots of road closures.



Holy freakin' cow, parking was expensive! $30 for all day or $9 an hour! On our way out we saw a sign that stated rates would go up effective February 3rd. Also, posted on the sign was a notice that a particular tax was going up from 7% to 21%!!! Can you imagine?! When I saw that I told Ryan that I hope Seattle never gets the Olympics.



By time we arrived we were all very hungry but we stopped into the tourist info center where they were fully staffed and all wearing their Olympic blue. A very nice gentleman gave us some ideas of where to go and told us where the stuff we wanted to see was. Unfortunately the stuff we were interested in seeing wasn't on the map and Ryan and I were distracted with Gavin trying to run off and Theo threatening to meltdown and spitting out his pacifier to retain much of what the man told us.



There was a food court in the tourist info building but we couldn't see a way to get down to it with our big double stroller. So we set out in search of food. We became a pretty grumpy group. We were all starving and had no idea where there was any food. But if it was anything like Seattle there would be a place to eat on every block.



What do you know? It was nothing like Seattle. We walked for what felt like miles - maybe 5 or 6 blocks before we found anything other than a McDonald's or Starbucks. I had a delicious chicken curry dish with rice and Gavin had some of the best ever mac 'n cheese. I wanted to swap dishes with him but that really would have been bad for my diet - besides I was saving my calories for a big splurge: a Tim Horton doughnut.



We didn't go in to any venues; we didn't even try. We were all exhausted and just walking around the city was fine with us. Our stop and Tim Horton's didn't go all that well. After placing our order their machine wouldn't read my card (it worked fine a few hours ago at dinner, though) but I did have cash. Then I realized it was U.S. currency. The clerk said that was fine and took my money. Yay. That was really nice of her. All the while Gavin decides it was high time to have a melt down. Trying to pack up doughnuts, coffee, milk, wallet contents, two kids and a double stroller is not an easy task. Once we had milk in the G's sippy cup all was well with the world. Ryan and I were in luck because Gavin had no idea that Ryan was eating a doughnut and I Timbits while he had milk as his treat. It helped that he was facing forward and we were behind him. This oblivious stage is coming to an end but it sure has been a nice ride.



Before we headed back to the van we needed a potty break. A blue street sign directed us to some public washrooms. Ryan parked the stroller behind a stone half wall that covered a stairwell going down to the mens restrooms and asked me if I was going to be ok. I looked at him like he was nuts. Why wouldn't I be ok? I wasn't afraid of the big bad city. "Yeah, I'll be fine."



Once he left I realized why he asked me if I would be ok. Not too far away there were some dudes sitting on a park bench smoking pot. Behind me was a young woman hanging out at the top of the stairs to the women's restroom - she looked like she was up to no good. When Ryan came back up I left him with the boys and dashed down the very seedy looking staircase to use the women's restroom.



I was greeted by a blast of smoke when I opened the door. I ducked into a stall and when I came out there were some people by another door up by the sinks doing something. Someone closed the door a bit and I contemplated not washing my hands but I didn't have any hand sanitzer in my diaper bag so I washed my hands in that little rats nest of a bathroom. On my way to the sinks I snuck a glance to the door with all of the loitering and pot smoking. It looked like there was a washing machine or something behind the door. Eh. I really doubt there were all there to exchange washing tips.