not in real time, get me my microwave or else, feeding the masses, Stanley Park

This is us getting off bikes to take a photo
at Stanley Park.  I am not going to lie, some fools
 rented those tandem bikes and had no idea how
 to ride them.  I was a bit nervous when a big group
 got close to us and I begged my gang to hang out
 a few times until a clumsy group passes us.  Who
wants to fall off of a bike on vacation, right Beth?
 (could not resist!)

Going to do this in bullet points, because it is now early October and this freaking vacation took place in July.  This is the drawback to NOT writing in real-time, but if I try to share shit as it happens, well - that would just make me frazzled and my family needs to eat, #2 is exhibit A:

1.      When the girls and I checked into the hotel, our room had no fridge.  I freaked out.  I chose this hotel because the reservation person assured me that I would have both a microwave and a fridge.  Not so much.  Our room was equipped with a fridge chock full of snacks.  If you touched the snacks (I mean picked one up and looked at it, but did not eat it and returned it to its specific place), you were charged.  (I know this because we WERE charged when the kids picked up stuff but did not eat it).  

     I called the front desk while staring at my enormous bag of food that Curly worried I had smuggled illegally into the country.  Much of it was frozen and therefore cooling the non-frozen stuff, but still.  I needed a fridge.  How was I going to heat up dinner without the microwave?  I tossed around my celiac disease and insisted that the fridge/micro promise was the reason I booked the room.  I was told the equipment I needed was on a first come first serve basis, and they were out.  I am not ashamed to admit that my squeaky wheel approach paid off.  I had a microwave and a fridge within the hour.  Phew!

Getting my space on the hotel desk
ready to make lunches.

2.    The boys arrived in Vancouver as the staff were cleaning our adjoining room.  The girls and I were hanging out in their untouched room waiting for our room to be clean.  Remember our cell phones did not get service out of the USA, so Coach could not text me to say they were thru customs and on their way to the hotel or any other kind of heads up.  I was in the process of making lunch.  They literally burst into the room, dropped their bags and demanded food.  That pretty much set the tone for the trip.  All I did was field questions like:  when are we eating, what else do you have to feed me, what are we eating for our next meal, can I have something else to eat?

3.    I tried not to let them snarf down everything in the first 5 minutes, because there was PLENTY of food.  Tank threw his arms up:  ‘Are we at war or something?  Why are we rationing?’  This is the same boy that told the caddy master a few summers ago that he couldn’t be reached by cell phone because he did not yet have a phone.  The reason:   because his parents were Amish.  (reality, our kids don’t get a phone till high school).

Me bringing up the rear at Stanley Park.

4.    Stanley Park:  we rented bikes and biked around Stanley Park.  Very fun!  I loved that there was water, mountains, and a great park all in the middle of or in close proximity to the city.

The mountain part though, well - that backfired for us . . .