A Walk in the Park

On Saturday, the weather here in Vancouver was stunning - crisp, cool, and a beautiful blue sky. I figured I'd better get us out of the house, as we have a bad tendency to either stick around home and do housework, or spend whole days running errands. So I packed Amanda and I up and headed over to Rocky Point Park for a couple of hours (leaving Jeff at home to work on the housework stuff!).

It was a beautiful day for a walk, and Amanda did great - we walked all the way from the main park, by the spray park, to the Starbucks at Newport Village. We'd had a really late breakfast and she didn't seem too interested in lunch, but I figured a snack was in order, so we stopped for a hot chocolate (her) and chai latte (me) at Starbucks. Jeff was nice enough to come pick her up, as I didn't think she would be able to make the entire 2-2.5 km walk back - it was a pretty long way for a 2 1/2 year old to walk in the first place!

It's so much fun walking with her these days...she's so curious and full of questions. First she regaled everyone within earshot with a stunning rendition of "EIEIO" (as she calls it), set off by viewing some ducks on the shore. At one point we saw one of those informational signs, describing a specific kind of chickadee found in the forest. We talked about how, if we were really quiet, maybe we would be able to see or hear one. Fast forward a few minutes, when we head into a darker part of the woods and Amanda says "Be very fearful, there are lions and tigers and monkeys in the forest". After I reassured her that there are no such animals in our local forests and that it's perfectly safe to go walking, she responded with "That's right Mom...only chickadees". :)

I've been working on trying to get better pictures, and maybe even some that don't feature Amanda (shocker!). I was not displeased with these shots, but they're still missing some oomph. I think that is my New Year's resolution this year - I want to really figure out how to use our fancy-dancy new camera to take better pictures.

The best of the day's photos are in a Flickr set...here are a few: