Exploration

Today was the first day in 9 days that I haven't set foot in a car - and that feels good.  For our first official day as residents of Vancouver, the kids and I bid Philip farewell and sent him to work whilst we explored!  We live in a very different place from whence we came my friends.  To begin, we live about 3 blocks from Tiffany & Co., Louis Vuitton and Michael Kors stores - slightly different than our Clemson reality.  Within a two block radius we have the following dining options: Korean, Indian, Greek, wings/burgers, falafel, Japanese and Chinese - and these are just the ones I've seen with my own eyes.  We're less than 3 blocks from 3 different grocery stores - including Whole Foods.  And...school is between our apartment and the beach! 

Our first order of business was to find the school - which, I'm proud to say we did without messing up a bit (thank you Google maps).  We wandered to the beach after meeting some of the school staff and the kids dipped their toes in the Pacific before wandering back.  Then it happened - and those of you who know me realize this was inevitable - I wanted to turn right when we were supposed to turn left.  Thank heavens my eight year old has an infinitely better sense of direction than I - he pointed to the hotel that lights up outside our windows at night and said, "Mom - we should walk TOWARD that...not away from it."  Indeed.  So we even made it back to our apartment on our first unchaperoned venture without incident & managed to hit the grocery store on the way home too.  [Editor's Note: being without a smart phone and away from wifi I was unable to consult Google maps as needed to have accomplished the return trip without Henry's help.]

So here we sit - dinner is in the oven, kids are watching a movie - nevermind the fact that they're watching it from their mattresses on the floor of the living room as we still don't have a couch and will be assembling their bed tonight - and day 1 is almost in the books.  It's gonna be a good ride - full of great walks, great food, the promise of new friends and the possibility that I may even try to drive around here...but I'm working up to that.  Kids are happy that their start date is completely reliant on the school board's getting proper paperwork to Lord Roberts Elementary and are confident it will be after Monday (which is when I told them they'd start) so they feel super special getting an extended summer.  They love the apartment as do I and I think it's safe to say that Philip loved coming home for lunch and having the three of us as company.  We'll see what tomorrow holds - registration at the school district a CIN (Canadian Identification Number - I think) for me and perhaps a couch...I hope.  If not, the floor's just fine and one day we'll get the boxes in the recycling bin.  Right now we're just happy to have found this part of our destination and have a lot of hope that this landing spot promises some fun times ahead and some adventure.

We send hugs to family and friends starting preschool tomorrow and good thoughts to those with whom we played each week in Clemson.  Know that you've set the bar high in the friendship department and we hope to encounter some good folks like you in these parts.