victoria part 2

after leisurely sleeping in on sunday morning, we ordered room service, I took a luxurious bubble bath, dave watched sports or something, and we eventually got ready to check out and leave for another day of sightseeing.

we wandered into a mall and found the unfortunately placement of this sign hilarious…

we walked through chinatown, poked around in souvenir shops, book stores, starbucks, and all sorts of other shops.

oh look, more crocuses!

eventually, we got hungry for a late lunch and wound up at a sports bar/pub kind of place, where a bunch of men were sitting around the bar and cheering intermittently for a cricket game (match?) that was on tv. yup, canada.

we had some drinks and a HUGE basket of nachos.

and then it was time to get back on the clipper to head home.

it was a really fun trip. totally beautiful and romantic for valentine’s day.

thanks babe! I love you…

just give me more warning next time!

Comments

dear to do list,

i hate you. actually, i loathe your existence to my very soul. and i refuse to have anything further to do with you. you can consider our relationship OVER. please do not try to contact me, as i will be unavailable. do not stalk me. do not try to make me feel guilty for abandoning you. YOU SUCK! sincerely, rachel

christmas day at barb & paul’s

(otherwise known as “ana and elsa’s” to my kids.) after breakfast, quick showers, packing up clothes, jammies, and gifts, we loaded up in the car and drove south to my cousin, barb’s house. we got there around 3. my parents and aunt marilynne were already there, as well as my other cousins, lynne & jim. there was chatting, and munching, and drinking of spiked cider going on. soon, mike and marie showed up with baby liam, and everyone applauded! LOL. gotta love having a baby around! after that, caitlyn and her fiancé, danny arrived and that was everyone. we had traditional hedvall family (my mom’s mom’s family) swedish christmas dinner of halibut and sausages, along with other yummy fixings. then we sang carols (which was both beautiful AND hilarious), paul lit the candles on the tree, and finally opened presents. we got gift cards and the game, qwirkle (which I’ve wanted for the last 2 years!), layla and micah got some toys and accessories for their rooms, shane got an awesome r...

the zoo

yesterday, the last day of spring break (well, weekday, at least) and shane had had enough of not doing anything expensive interesting. so we packed a lunch and went to the zoo. it was a little cold and rainy when we left, but by the time we got there, the rain had stopped and it turned out to be relatively warmish. layla was determined to see some fish. i guess we should have gone to the aquarium, but we did manage to find her a few fish. i think her favorite was the super huge reticulated python that actually moved while we were watching. well, the top 3 feet or so of it moved. the remaining 5 or 6 feet of it stayed coiled up where it was. we probably spent the bulk of our time in the “zoomazium” which is a fabulous indoor playground type area. there’s a huge tree that layla and shane spent time doing laps through. you climb up the inside (think mcdonalds playland climbing structure) and then slide down a big twisty slide. there wa...

white wine marinated pork chops recipe

this recipe comes from the weber’s REAL GRILLING cookbook and is my family’s recent favorite way to have pork chops. shane thinks these are the best food he’s ever eaten, and will generally eat 2! i think layla asked for seconds as well, and micah pretended they weren’t on his plate… which is typical. we’ve made them on the grill, or broiling in the oven, and both are equally good. 1/2 cup dry white wine 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh thyme (I have used dried as well, and it works fine) 1 tbsp minced garlic (think I used a clove, maybe two) 2 tsp kosher salt (this was a little much. I think the second time I made them I reduced it to 1.5 tsp.) 1 tsp freshly ground pepper pork chops (4 or 5) whisk ingredients together in a bowl. place pork chops in a large ziplock and pour in marinade. seal and turn several times. refrigerate for 2 hours, turning once or twice. allow chops to stand at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before gril...

how 'bout that to do list?

okay, after a discussion w/ mary about to do lists, i decided to go ahead and 'publish' mine. check it out, it's over there on the right, below my blog list. i had one started in a notebook that i had made in response to something i read in 'the procrastinator's handbook'. the idea is to make a list that's 101 items long. anything you can think of. well, i don't have that many, but quite a few. i put an * by something if it's something that has been worked on but not completed and an X in front of it if it's done. so go ahead and kick my butt if you don't see any *'s or X's showing up. in other news... now dave is sick. ::crossing my fingers::

rachel's continued ramblings

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