Cousins and Breaks

Two weeks of Spring Break seems long to some, but we extended ours by an extra two days because the Bartels came to Vancouver! We made welcome signs, we baked breakfast casserole, we made lists of what to see/do and we had fun! Here are the photos to prove it...

Arrival Night - wings night at earl's :)

Visiting with the Laughing Statues after a visit to the cupcake store

Sleepyheads snuggling before bedtime

Southerners hit the ice - outside at Grouse Mountain Resort

Silly faces - the true nature of our family...putting on the real smiles to share with others.

Family Tradition - Tigers from birth - thanks Mimi & Papa for the matching shirts!

Great public art+industry collaboration on Granville Island!

See Saw time at Granville Island

Uncle Philip snuggles

Wolverine & Warrior Princess

Some things never change - welcome to Chez Marcum

Good for me, not so good for the blog, I spent the week with Emily and her boys drinking up family time and not taking photos. There are but a mere sampling of what we did together and don't come anywhere near capturing the living and memories we packed into our seven days that seemed to fly. We tubed at Whistler Mountain and saw skiers and snowboarders jump and flip through a ring of fire. We tunneled through a mountain at the one-time largest copper mine in British Columbia. We ate unidentifiable pork at a restaurant and survived. We rushed to find bathrooms in emergency situations and explored through ancient Chinese relics. We looked for stars of favorite television shows and spotted filming locations we'd seen only on screen. We ate gelato, shopped down Robson Street and took the seabus and the skytrain and a city bus and a gondola within an hour of each other. We bumbled through open air markets and enjoyed street performers. All in all, we were family - it felt normal and we picked up where we had left off. And we celebrate that we will see each other in person again sooner than later and that we will forever be connected by blood, commitment, love and life. It's a humbling thing for family to choose to spend their time and money to come and be with us. For this independent woman I find it very humbling - almost overwhelming. May this post serve as public thanks for people everywhere who show up, who love tangibly and in person; life is better with you in it! May you have people like this in your life - all life through and may we all seek to be the people who show up and love in person.