I feel really good about the start of a fresh new year, especially since 2018 was so eventful. I’m trying to dust off this blog a little–it’ll turn 11 in April, and even though I spend most of my social media life on Instagram I’m not ready to abandon it. So, the first big thing we’ve done this year is take a little last-minute mommy/daughter/pup road trip to Canada.

Adam left for Ireland for a week on Saturday, and while he was packing I kind of decided last minute that we would hit the road, too. I’d been thinking about a weekend trip with these two for a while, but then the grownups in the house got sick and I never planned anything. So, on Saturday I booked a hotel near Coal Harbour and off we went.

We had a great view from our hotel. Walking around Vancouver is bizarre, everything feels like you’ve seen it in a movie before. I felt like I recognized everything from the endless stream of CW shows I am addicted to that all film here. It’s just a beautiful, clean city with a ton of stuff I want to see and do. This trip was all about the six-year-old, though, and we only had one full day to explore. So we packed in the kid stuff.

We spent Sunday morning wandering through the Public Market on Granville Island, and the Kids Market there, too.

The chocolates I bought from ChocolaTas were pretty fantastic, that O Canada with hazelnut praline was so good I wish I’d brought more of them home.

And we got some Lee’s Donuts for H, which she blissfully devoured. I had some not-at-all-good poutine from a stall I can’t remember, so next time we head north I need to track down something better.

Hamilton had to stay in the car while we ducked in for snacks, but then we took him on a nice walk along the waterfront. We also bought him some treats from The Caboose at the Kids Market.

After dropping the pup back at the hotel and hanging out for a while we ran over to Science World for the last hour before they closed. Everything is an adventure on vacation, especially when you throw out the rules of bedtime and go out at night.

This kiddo did several happy dances around the dinosaur skeletons, this is a really cool museum.

This shadow room, that captured your shadow on this green screen, was my favorite. A Peter Pan moment just before closing.

And it was a beautiful night.

It was also the night of the lunar eclipse, so we took Hamilton out for a late walk to see if we could catch it. This is the best photo I got, I didn’t have anything but my phone. We saw the moon starting to turn red but had to head back inside before we caught the full blood moon. It was still rad, though, and H talked about it enough that I hope this is one of those random childhood memories that sticks with you. That time we walked the dog in Canada and saw a lunar eclipse.

Then it was Monday, time to head back home to Washington. But not before a stop at the Vancouver Aquarium, which is SUCH a cool aquarium. H was unimpressed with the size of the little sharks they had, but we don’t get to see dolphins at the Seattle Aquarium (we have a membership to a bunch of places in Seattle and head there a lot). Which was kind of a thrill, and I just really liked the layout. I missed the walruses, who come out for special demos only, but we had to hit the road.

It’s still wild to me that instead of taking road trips to Philly, DC, or even Boston, now we can just drive to another country. Portland is also on our list to visit, but Vancouver is closer, and we’ll definitely be headed back there with her dad in tow. I kind of want a solo weekend here, too, there were a bunch of cool fabric stores I didn’t get to visit. But, we got a new stamp in our passport (how have I been to places like The Maldives but never to Canada?). And it was just a great time with my baby girl to kind of relax and reset after a really, really hectic time.