Playing a little catch up here. What else is new?! These photos are from Lily's endless 12th birthday celebration. We started with a sleepover party at home with her girlfriends then traveled to Vancouver to continue the party. We headed straight to Grouse Mountain from the ferry to take the gondola up to The Peak of Christmas. We were (of course) shocked and ill prepared for the dumping snow that greeted us at the top but made the most our day and really had the best time despite feeling cold. The kids skated, we saw Santa (who was fabulous!!!), we checked out the gingerbread houses (fantastic) then enjoyed A Charlie Brown Christmas on the big screen in the Theatre in the Sky which obviously thrilled my Charlie Brown loving heart! We shared some pizza and a sandwich in the bistro, took tons of pics then hopped on the gondola back down to our car. We changed our shoes and headed downtown to drop Neil at Beat Street then carried on to see Wonder. Neil met us after the movie for supper then we headed to our hotel. Lily and I actually left to see Coco after we got settled in the hotel. We were exhausted but our trip wasn't long so we wanted to do everything we could fit in during our short stay. Admittedly, I nodded off a little here and there during Coco but Lily was pumped. Powell River plays one movie and week and often doesn't get some movies at all. Lily had been anxiously waiting to see both Wonder and Coco so was overjoyed to get to see them both on the same day.
The next morning we woke up and kissed the boys goodbye and headed south with a quick stop at Tim's for breakfast and tea as well as Michael's for her first set of Copic markers. She was so excited. We crossed the border after a small wait and went straight to Trader Joe's for a quick stop to grab our favourites. Then in was a Target party for an hour, a quick tour of Costco and on to Seattle to the Cheesecake Factory. After a delicious supper, we headed to the big tree downtown, did a little shopping then carried on the the beautiful Paramount Theatre to see Elf. This was Lily's biggest wish for her birthday and her sweet Daddy made it happen. The show was really good. We had super great seats and loved every minute of it. What we didn't love was the crazy traffic getting out of the city at 10:30pm. A few detours later (so much construction), we headed north on the I5 back to Vancouver and the boys. We got back to our hotel in Richmond just after 1am. I was pretty tired but so happy to get into a comfy bed. Lily had crashed halfway home and struggled to walk from the car to the hotel but like me, was happy for the comfy bed. While we were gone, Neil went to a couple meetings and Jackson had lunch with good friends (thanks Uncle Kevin and Stunt Man). He and Neil met up later and went out for some amazing looking pizza with our cousin then to the Canuck's game.) It was a fab day for all four of us. A long one but super fun! We slept late the next morning and woke up with a brand new 12 year old in the family. Lily opened presents then we packed up and headed to Costco to say hello to friends who convinced us to stay another night and keep the party going. Staying another night gave my sweet artist her first Opus experience which she LOVED!!! After some visiting, we headed downtown for supper and the Stanley Park Christmas train. Jackson didn't join us for this experience. He was happy to stay behind with our friend's son. We picked up an ice cream cake on the way home and enjoyed a late night birthday song and treat before bed. Lily raved that her 12th has been her best birthday yet. I don't know that we could top this one. We all had a really great few days celebrating her. I guess we shall see what next year brings.
