99th Grey Cup

It has been a stay at home Winter this year although I did get to visit part of Canada I had never been to. I went to Saskatchewan for the first time to see its only two cities of any size. It reminds me of how much of my home country I haven’t seen and how I hope to change that. It actually felt strange to fly domestic.

Drew at the Aquarium

The most significant event has been the birth of our newest nephew, Ben. Other milestone birthdays included our niece Teagan turning one, our nephew Drew passing 18-months, and our niece Laura turning two.

We kept ourselves entertained. In the world of sports I was there when the BC Lions won the 99th Grey Cup at BC Place. I saw some great NHL games with the Canucks beating Chicago, Detroit, Winnipeg and Toronto. I also had half-a-dozen epic ski days in Whistler and Blackcomb. One of those days was with old friends who I used to ski with at Mount Baker back when we were teenagers.

Our niece Laura paying us a visit

We saw a number of concerts. The most impressive was an emotional rendition of Vivaldi’s the Four Seasons at the Chan Centre. It was led by visiting Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud. The orchestra performed standing-up and rocked-it-out on the stage. Parts of the performance left us breathless. When it concluded the entire audience jumped to its feet with a standing ovation. It was such a response that the symphony was compelled to play two encores of the key movements in the piece. Of all the times I’ve seen the VSO, this was a first. It was exceptional. Other shows we saw included Charlie Winston, City and Colour, Mother Mother, and the Kooks. Most of the shows were at one of my favorite live venues, the Commodore Ballroom.

Vancouver is known for being a foodie city and we take advantage of it often. I love our nights out with great company, incredible drinks and exceptional food. Some of our favorites recently have been at Pied-a-Terre, Maenam, L’Abattoire, Cioppinos, Boneta, ORU, Blue Water, and the Diamond. I also enjoyed returning to the annual beer pairing event the Feast of Five Firkins at the Whip.

We have been watching some of the best movies ever made and after years of working on it, I completed my resolution to see all of the IMDb top 250 movies. Now I just need to keep up with its changes.

We are currently preparing for our next trip and are excited to be heading back to Europe in the very near future.