Alexandre Bilodeau Wins Olympic Gold

Wow, what an incredible day today it turned out to be! We ended up at Granville Island to absorb the Olympic atmosphere, but before that experience Annalie and I trekked off to meet Friend Terry at Quan’s Kitchen for weekly our Sunday feed. And then when we came back home we installed the big girls seats in the car!

The twins are now sitting side by each, facing forward. It is such a relief to be able to recline the driver side seat away from the steering wheel! I am no longer tucked against that steering device. So once the new seats were installed we thought it best to give the girls a test run in the new seats. As usual, once we started driving, Annalie fell asleep right away. With Story it takes longer. Much longer. Once she did fall asleep though we wanted to give her a half hour of uninterrupted car-seat sleep. So I convinced Caragh to brave the crowds and venture out to Granville Island and absorb some of the Olympic atmosphere.

I have to admit that I felt more than a little trepidatious. I had heard about the crowds and the traffic and the cost of parking and even something about the protests and stuff…so there was some concern in my mind.

However, we drove across the city in near record time without any traffic disruptions or slowdowns.

East on Broadway near Commercial Feb 14 2010
Driving East on Broadway near Commercial Feb 14 2010

And believe it or, we parked at a meter within two blocks of Granville Island. And the meter had 45 minutes still on it. We stuffed in a couple more quarters, bundled the twins into the Ergo carriers and away we went. And what a great day of VIP service we experienced.

The first couple we met were from…Kits! The next were from Kerrisdale, the next from South Van. It was really quite funny to meet so many people from Vancouver. We all laughed when we talked about wanting to meet people from other places. We did just miss the Swiss hockey team as they walked by us. And we also saw a couple female Russian athletes taking photos of themselves.

Finally we met a VANOC volunteer who had travelled here from Ottawa to be part of the Games. He told us that he is out for a month to just be part of the Vancouver scene. Next we met a couple of young women from New York City. How cool is that! They were grateful to meet us at Granville Island because they were concerned that it is a tourist trap. We said that if it is, we still come down most weekends. That made them feel better as we stodd together outside the Lobster Man store scarfing down lobster dogs.

They also told us that they were at the women’s mogul competition the evening before and that the rain was coming down in buckets from above and then from the side. They said that even though they were soaked through to the core, the atmosphere was so exciting and inspiring that they were thrilled to be part of the scene.

And that is sort of how we felt at Granville Island. I do not EVER remember having to stand in line at Lee’s Donuts on  Granville Island. Today we did. And people were laughing and chatting and just having a really good time. The happiness and joy was infectitious. The massive crowds made our city seem alive and ever-so vibrant. It was a very cool feeling.

Perhaps the highlight of our trip was the VIP tour we had all around the Swiss House. The Swiss have taken over Bridges Restaurant and it is a tribute to fondue city. We just wish that we could have gone inside the building to see some of that food instead of just touring around the outside of the building.

But then the icing on the cake that was our day, we returned home in time to see Alexandre Bilodeau win Canada’s first gold medal on Canadian soil. What a day. What a beauty of a day.


Posted

in

by

Comments

4 responses to “Alexandre Bilodeau Wins Olympic Gold”

  1. Kelsey Keller Avatar
    Kelsey Keller

    facing forward already? I didn’t know they were a year old now. I thought K was older.. oops. Happy belated girls!

  2. stacey Avatar
    stacey

    The next size up, Group 1 seats, are not suitable for babies until they weigh at least 9kg, usually at about nine to 12 months of age. Be guided by your baby’s weight rather than her age. If your child is nine months old but only weighs 8.5kg, she should definitely stay in an infant carrier until she weighs enough to move to the next stage seat.
    http://www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/buyingforbaby/carseats/whenforwardfacinge/

  3. Kelsey Keller Avatar
    Kelsey Keller

    fair enough. The workshop we went to by ICBC said 20lbs AND 1 year old but I think that is on the conservative end of the spectrum. I know you love your girls and always do what’s best for em 🙂

  4. stacey Avatar
    stacey

    Their heads and feet were sticking out each end of the infant car seats. It was time for an upgrade. Sorry about Miss K’s tears…tried Hyland’s? It is the only thing Annalie gets teething relief from.