Eden Ofelia

...or as I like to call her Ofie!! (Ohh-fee) 

My sister and brother-in-law's second baby girl is just the tiniest little doll.

I love being her aunty and i'm soaking up every moment I get to hold her! 

Born Sunday June 7th, 2015!

OH CANADA (part 2)

 On our second full day in Whistler we woke up to the foggy skies and rain drops on the windows. In socal, rain is the enemy and it's a great inconvenience to most of us (haha) but in Canada the rain is magical. Maybe it's the contrast between the foggy skies and deep green trees, or maybe its the freshness you can smell in the air...probably both. It's amazing and I was staring out the window in awe!

 The rain calmed down by 11am so we headed to Nairn falls, which I kept wanting to call "Narnia falls"

 Around the first corner we saw the length of the river that came out of the falls and...OH MY WORD...INCREDIBLE. The color of the water is something i've only seen in photos and refused to believe actually existed in real life. But here I stood, staring down at the unbelievably blue/turquoise water that looked more like a chlorinated jacuzzi than a naturally blue freezing river in the middle of a Canadian forest.

 Not to mention the GREEN color of the plants there. GREENER than any GREEN i've ever SEEN!

 It's was a beautiful and breezy 1.5km hike.

After that we went back to eat lunch, rest, and then head off to fishing! I didn't bring my camera on the boat for fear of dropping it in the icy water - so I only took gopro and phone pics. 

The next day...

 Dad and I went were up early and went on a walk near our condo. Just 5 minutes away was this amazing cabin hotel that bumps into a lake. Can you imagine staying here? WOW.

 Banana slugs!

 

on our walk we stopped to get starbucks hot chocolate which is infinitely better in a cold Canadian city than it is back home.

After a nice morning walk we packed up and headed out of Whistler back to vancouver. I was bummed to leave but the good thing was, we had a few amazing stops on the way to the airport.

First off...Shannon falls.

Last stop...Capilano Suspension bridge!

This place is a favorite of mine, mostly because I distinctly remember coming here as a kid and being terrified of the bounciness that comes from the bridge being totally suspended over a massive ravine.

 The engineering of this place is truly incredible and I really started to guess my career choice...should I pursuit treehouse/bridge building? haha.

 They've really added a lot since I was here as a kid...and the place feels more like Disneyland than anything. They have treehouse bridges everywhere and you could literally spend hours climbing through the maze of wooden creations.

 They also have a few industrial steel bridges built which are much more stable than the suspended ones haha. This one is particularly cool as it is somehow held in place by one steel rod in the middle of a rock. yowzah.

Well, that concludes our Canadian adventure. I have many more photos on my goPro that i'll include in the next post.

OH CANADA (part 1)

Growing up a socal girl i've always had a love/hate relationship with cold weather (mostly hate). 70+ degrees is livable for me, anything below that - freezing. But alas, as time goes on i've been able to visit a few colder places and the idea of chilly mountain air and a pair of cozy hiking socks has actually become more and more appealing! My recent trip to Whistler, BC pretty much solidified that claim and now I find myself scheming up my next mountain adventure. 

And on top of all of this...isn't it crazy to think that God, the creator of all heaven and earth, created every lake, every mountain, every leaf on every tree, every flower, every cloud in the sky and brush of color across the sunset. That. Is. Amazing.

Welcome to Whistlers,

 Dad and I flew into Vancouver and then drove the 1.5 sea to sky road to Whistler. This had got to be one of the most scenic and beautiful drives in all north america!

 We stayed at this AMAZING condo 5 minutes outside Whistler Village. We forsure had the best view and the biggest patio deck. 

It was so great to spend time with the Cumbies and Jomo. They've all been friends with my parents for quite some time now (40yrs?), and it's really cool for me to see the hospitality and generosity they give in their friendships with one another. I can only pray my friends and I can turn out like this!

 I could sit here all day!

next up...Bradywine falls

 We took a short walk...5 minutes...to check out Brandywine falls. There are trails all around this amazing waterfall so we hiked up and around a little to capture the glory that is the forest! 

speechless

next....the famous Whistler Blackcomb!

This spot is where they had a lot of the winter games back in 2010. It's June, so the snow was dwindling down but for my souther California eyes it was still BEAutiful to look at. We took the Peak2Peak gondola 20 minutes across the mountain tops to check out more breathtaking views and fill our lungs with the freshest mountain air.

 Glass bottom floor on the gondola...crazy looking straight down to see the tops of thousands of trees. 

natures stripes.

 not a bad view for lunch eh?

 After a cold day hiking and on the mountain top...I was searching for some good Poutin to try! I've heard a lot about this Canadian delicacy (their version of chili fries) and I finally got my hands of some french fries, cheese curds, and gravy! It's not the most spectacular snack...but it makes a lot of sense because what is better after a day freezing in the snow that a nice hot plate of gravy fries! 

See what I mean?? The cold mountain life really hooks yah!