Winter Wonderland

Hello everyone!  I hope this post finds you all well.  Today is the first day in over a week where I feel almost human again!  Just in time to enjoy the white stuff falling from the sky.  This is the view from where I sit in my office.

Isn't it beautiful!  Southern BC doesn't get much snow, so when it does snow, it's special, and pretty and almost magical!  Unfortunately, I've still got a sick little one, so I don't know if we'll be able to get out to build a snowman before the snow starts melting.  I'm hoping it will stick around for a few days! (tile next Wednesday would be great!)

I've got a ton of housework calling my name and some finishing touches to put on this weeks printables, but I thought I would pop on here and share some pictures of our tree.  I thought I would start with some pictures I discovered that the kids took.  The first one we've dubbed the "Nike" tree.

Liam was having a lot of fun taking pictures of the tree with just the lights on.

Our teen went for a bird's eye view after the decorations were put up.

And here is the tree, after Travis hung the lights and the boys decorated.

I think the boys did a pretty good job.  They may not have thought to balance size and vary colours, but it makes me smile every time I look at it.  Here's a good picture of Liam's decorating.

Liam really likes to group decorations together.  He's been doing it this way since he was old enough to start hanging decorations by himself.  He loads up one area, and then moves on to another.  I love it!   Those areas always make me smile when I see them.

Our teen tries for a more balanced, almost methodical look.  Here he was hindered by Liam hogging all the red coloured decorations.  

Did you, by chance, happen to notice the lack of garland?  Yeah, I noticed that too ... right after Liam put the star on top.  Ha!  I was so eager to get the boys decorating, to just watch and bask in the enjoyment of this tradition, that I skipped a part... MY part!  You see, every year we approach the tree the same way.  Travis hangs the lights, gets them just the way he wants them.  Then I fuss with the garland.  That's my job, the one I LOVE to do.  And then we let the boys hang all the decorations.  Sometimes we'll help a little, but for the most part, the actual hanging of the decorations is for the boys.

This year though, I was so giddy with the tree, eager to see it all decorated that I forgot to do my part!  Until the very end when something didn't look right, and the I realized what it was.  It actually turned out to be a good thing, because the beaded garland I usually use just wasn't working right on this tree.  My Mom came to the rescue and brought me a spool of silver and white ribbon to use.  It worked perfectly.  The silver was just the right touch the tree needed.  

I'm really happy with how the silver looks with all the red, gold and brown.  (yes, I took these photos this morning)

Because the tree is so tall and tucked into the corner, it was a little awkward to unwind the ribbon and I went around, but I think that worked out ok.  The ribbon ended up in a spiral, which wasn't what I had been going for, but I ended up loving it.

And did I mention how much the silver makes me smile?  Especially when I see it near the larger ornaments. It provides just enough contrast.

What can I say, other than that our tree makes me smile, and I think that's the whole point right?  And now, dear friends, I'm going to run and get to some of the housework, snuggle with Liam for a while and get the printables ready for tomorrow.

Did you have any snaffus while decorating you tree?  Do you have decorating traditions that you honor year after year?


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Sick Days

Hi everyone, how are you all doing?  I hope this post finds all of you healthy and well.  Sorry for the lack of posts this week, you see I got hit with a nasty cold that's sapped all of my energy.  To say it has not been fun, is a gross understatement!  And today I've got a sick, little, boy at home with me.  I was really hoping Liam wouldn't catch this one, but he did!  He seems to be going through it faster than I did though.  It took about three days for me to go from coughing and being slightly stuffed up to full blown fever, chest congestion, joint and muscle aches and pains, and the inability to breathe through my nose.  Liam started coughing yesterday and today he's at the fever stage, so I'm holding out hope that he'll be well enough to go to school for Friday when they're having their special Christmas crafting morning, especially since he's missing out on building gingerbread houses today at school.  

For today I'm going to concentrate on snuggling my poor little guy, and trying to get us both feeling better soon.  I'm thinking lots of movies, stories and snuggles, some chicken noodle soup and ginger ale might be just what the doctor ordered today!  And since tummies seem to be the only thing not effected by this cold, maybe some jelly beans to add a dash of fun!

I do have some printables to share this week, as well as pictures of our tree, but those will have to wait until later.  For now, I'm off.  Christmas is coming up fast and I don't want any of us to be sick for it.

Does your family have any go to items for comfort on sick days?  Do you tend to drop everything when your little ones are unwell to focus on making them feel better?

Lighthouse Park

This weekend Travis really wanted to get out and do something just for fun.  No errands, no rushing around, just get out and have some nice relaxing fun with the boys.  

Our destination was Lighthouse Park in West Vancouver.  It's a beautiful park!  It was so relaxing walking through the trees.  We didn't make it to the lighthouse, because someone (me) chose the wrong path to take.  :-(  But we're planning on going back, leaving earlier and spending a good few hours wandering around.   One of the plus sides to this park, is that we didn't have to pay to park, which, so far, seems like a rare treat in the Lower Mainland!

Here's some of the pictures I took while we were there.

Liam was having fun leading the way!

The trees were so tall, it felt like a whole different world.

We got there late in the afternoon, and the sun was sinking low in the sky.  It looked so beautiful as it peeked through the trees.

Ferns, moss, mushrooms and more were there in abundance.

Our teen contemplating climbing up.

We made it out to Juniper Point.  The bark on many of the trees had been worn away from the wind.

My boys, checking out the horizon.

The sun was getting ready to set.  It was such a beautiful scene.

One of my favourite pictures of the day.  

It was a great way to spend a few hours on a Sunday afternoon.  It's nice to get away from it all for a little while, and just enjoy doing something together as a family.  If you're in the area and looking for an easy hike and some fantastic views I strongly suggest checking out Lighthouse Park.

Do you ever go on mini escapes to local parks?  Do you have a favourite family spot?

The Little Touches

Last week my Mom and Dad were here for a visit.  We had so much fun with them, I can't wait to do it again.  I'm still grinning!  For me, this visit was a HUGE milestone.  I've always struggled with being organized; not just with our stuff, but with my time as well.  My house was my battleground, where I waged war with the burning desire to divert from the planned course to follow that illusive something "shiny".  So, when Mom and Dad would let us know they were planning a visit I would literally fly into a flurry of activity, trying to organize and clean the house within in an inch of its life.  I kid you not, one time I scrubbed the walls, and if you were to ask me why I couldn't, for the life of me, tell you.  Little by little it got easier, I relaxed a little more, I got comfortable with my home, with the state of it.  I like to put in the extra effort when company comes, but I don't take it as far as I did before.  But.... there was always a flurry of activity.  Finishing up a project I started and got discouraged over, clearing out the clutter or at least taking the donate bags to the store.  Tackling the plethora of hotspots and ill used spaces, and my list could just keep growing, but I'm sure you get the point.  This time it was different.

This visit was monumental for me.  For the first time I can remember, there was no flurry of activity.  With the one exception of organizing Travis's Office/the Guest Room, nothing I had to do was anything I wouldn't normally have done.  I didn't scrub the windows till they sparkled (though they do need a cleaning) I didn't scrub down walls just because, I didn't take a tooth brush to the baseboards ... no crazy life or death struggle for a state of perfection that just can't be reached when you actually LIVE in your home.  Sure, I gave the office/guest room a deeper cleaning than normal, and yes, I did spend some extra time and pay extra attention to the guest bathrooms, but I did that because I COULD, not because I felt compelled to do it.  And you know what?  I had time left over to add some special touches to those two areas.  And I wasn't worn right out when my parents arrived.  (I also didn't turn into a crabby, snapping, crazy lady either, for which I'm sure Travis and the boys are grateful)

The first area I tackled was the Guest Room.  I took a little time to cover up some of the visual clutter in the room and add a little touch of autumn.

I added a couple makeshift bedside tables, and dressed them up with a lamp and a stack of books.

They're just a couple of barrels with glass tops.  Under the glass I added a few leaves and I tried to pick out books I thought might interest my Mom and Dad.  We're readers in our family, so this was a fun way to continue to share that.  For my Dad I chose two Clive Cussler books from different series, and a non-fiction book about our home-town hockey team.

For my Mom I chose Janet Evanovich.  I remember she had said that she hadn't read them yet, so I thought I would start with "One for the Money".  I added a book of poetry, and an old copy of "The King's General" by Daphne du Maurier.

After that I turned my attention to the bathroom.  I wanted to add a little something special but not go too over board.

In the bathroom I added a basket to the counter top.  I haven't had a chance to stock up on guest items yet, but I'm hoping over time I can build up what we do have.

I also brought in the glass jars from our room to dress up the window sill.  It was fun to make things pretty, to add those special little touches that I normally overlook because I'm so busy trying to get the house perfect.  (Why is it that simple, little things like cotton ball and swabs look so pretty when you put them in glass jars?)

Wanna know a secret?  I forgot to dust the baseboards!  Wanna know what else?  I don't think anyone noticed, and it certainly didn't ruin the time we had with Mom and Dad.

Have you ever gone overboard getting ready for company?  What fun little things do you do for guests?

The Most Wonderful Thing and a Free Printable

You know that moment when what you know in theory turns into an experience in reality?  When you finally find out if you were right in your assumptions or totally off track?  That happened to me last week.  One of the things we most looked forward to with moving to a new area, was the proximity to family.  In theory this was going to be fantastic.  Not just for us to hop over for a visit, but having family come to stay with us.  This part really excited me.  For starters, we have a room for guests to use when they come.  This is absolutely amazing to me, and I love that I can offer a little oasis to overnight company.  Secondly, I have two boys, who's bathroom has to double as the guest bathroom.  I want to emphasize the BOY part.  They have very little bathroom items, tooth brushes and paste, a cup, comb, gel and face wash.  Their vanity has lots of unused space.  I have a whole drawer, plus two shelves free and clear for company to use to hold their own bathroom stuff. Where am I going with this?

My parents came for a visit last week.  To say I was giddy with excitement was an understatement.  I had so much fun getting ready for their arrival.  It helped that I'm more in control of my home than the last time they came for a visit, so there really was little to do in way of cleaning.  Aside from an extra deep clean of the guest room and bathroom, everything on my to do list was stuff I would normally have done anyway.  Not having to organize on top of cleaning was such a huge help that I was able to spend some time putting extra touches on things.  Books on their bedside tables, a flower arrangement in their room, just little things, but they were oh so much fun.  In this case, reality was sooo much better than the theory.  I love being able to open up my home in welcome to those nearest and dearest to us.

The weekend before they arrived I sat down to make up a list of things to do, meal ideas, activity ideas, etc... As I was jotting things down I got to thinking; this isn't going to be a once a year thing, and it's not only going to be my parents coming for a visit.  Those wheels in my head started turning, and I decided that it would be kind of fun and totally practical to make up a planner for when we have overnight guests.  Here is what I came up with.

Guest Planner

Here's how I'm using it.  I plan on having one of these for each visitor/group of visitors. I can fill out all the info that won't change visit to visit and then tuck it into a page protector and use a dry erase for the the things that will change.  

Since I know that I'll pretty much do the same cleaning every time we get ready for company, I added the check-list on the top right.  And because having company usually means larger meals, or special desserts, I also have a shopping list at the bottom.  

The box for "Places to Go, Things to Do" will probably end up being a combination of permanent and ever changing.  For example:  When my Mom and Dad were visiting we found a local restaurant (more coming on that in a later post) that was AMAZING.  It definitely made the list of places to visit again.  I can jot it down in the box so that next time they come we don't forget about it.  

The "Meal Plans" box is for ideas, or items I know our guests like. Our Teen was telling Mom and Dad about this cornbread recipe he got in Foods class, and we found out that they both really like cornbread.  So I put a note in the box for next time so I don't forget to have our Teen make it for them.  I even noted the ingredients that I'll probably need to purchase for it on the shopping list.

With the holidays right around the corner, I'm thinking this little printable might come in handy.  I can't wait to use it again, because is there really anything better than sharing time with the ones you love?  Now, if only pulling together a guest room was as easy. ;-)

As always, to grab your free copy simply click the caption of the photo!  All printables are for personal use only.  

Do you like having out of town guests come stay with you?  Are there any special preparations you do to get ready for their arrival?


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What Works for You: Home Office Part 1

Over the last few years, Home and Family Management have become a passion of mine.  Whether it's organizing a space to work better for us, decorating a room (which I really haven't done much of yet) planning yummy meals or fun activities, I love it all.  It keeps me busy, fuels my creativity, and just generally makes me happy.  And so, I thought perhaps I would share some of that enjoyment with you, in the form of a mini series (maybe it will be more like a not-so-mini series, I don't know yet) I'm calling "What Works for You".

So, where should we start?  Well, I gave it some thought, and then thought about it some more; changed my mind a million and one times, and finally decided to start with the foundation of my own Home and Family Management System:

The Home Office

They are as unique as the people who use them; each one is tailored to meet the specific requirement of its user/s.  If you wander through BlogLand, search Pinterest, or peruse sites such as Style at Home or Better Homes and Gardens, you will see millions of different home offices.  From larger rooms dedicated solely to home office work, through the cloffice (closet office), right on down to a simple tote and file box, they are as vast and varied as the people who create them.  I find it absolutely amazing to see the creativity that is poured into finding solutions for creating a fabulous and functional office space.  As much as I love seeing the finished product, I think I love reading the thought process behind the set up even more.  It is so incredible that something that sounds so uniform can end up being so diverse.

In our old home, there really wasn't a place to dedicate to a home office.  It seemed like the spaces where there was room for one weren't practical, and where it was practical, there was no room.  It took a lot of trial and error, research, (which is a fancy way of saying I spent hours scouring the web looking for ideas ignoring the more pressing things, like Mt Foldmore) and we finally ended up with an ok system.  (See Here for how I organized craft and office stuff and Here (the little bookshelf in the living room, became the extra office storage area))  The process of finally getting to the point where we had a system that worked (for the most part)  taught me much about my family, the information we need access too, the tasks we need to complete, and how to make the "office" work for us, not against us, even if it means thinking outside the box, going outside the norm, or throwing away the rules of organizing.  The point is to get a system that will work FOR you,  if it's working, does any of the rest really matter?

As I mentioned above, home offices come in all shapes, sizes, and functions.  For some, a home office is where they work all day, for others it's just a corner of the kitchen to hold often used files and bill paying info.  I'm going to share with you the process I used to figure out how to get ours set up, and I'm going to include some of the things I noticed or want to change about our current set up.  It started with seeking answers to a few important questions, and going from there.

Define Your Needs

Function must come first when it comes to an office.  This is an action space, it's where you do stuff.  (very technical term I know)  So, following a logical route, the first question to ask yourself is:

What do you NEED to do in your home office?


This is just brain storming; don't think it through too much, just jot down all the things you need to do in your home office.  To give you an idea here is what I came up with.  Tweaking comes later.

• keep track of kid's activities
• meal planning
• activity planning
• blogging
• computer work
• scheduling
• bill paying
• budgeting
• crafting
• house project planning
• correspondence (online and off)
• mail control
• house maintenance planning
• filing
• paper control
• document storage
• excess supply storage

Just a simple list.  Some are tasks, some are things I thought I needed my home office to do or have.  So go ahead and take a few minutes to think about what you need to do in your office, and what you need your office to do for you.  Both are equally important.   Once the list is done, it's time to evaluate, specifically the action items.

Think about where you typically do those things?

Why is this important?  Well, once you have the where, you also need to think about the why.  Why do you use the location you do?  Do you enjoy that space?  Does it make sense to you?  It doesn't matter if it doesn't make sense to anyone else, this is about YOU!  Is it because you don't have another space to do it in?  If you enjoy the space, look into ways of fitting your home office in there, if it's practical.  I'll share some ideas on this in a future post.

How much time will you spend on these activities?


So, we've figured out the "what" and we've figured out the "where", now let's look at something that is sometimes overlooked.  How much time you invest in home "office" work, and how often you use the office space.  If you know you're going to spending alot of time in your office, then you need to take that into consideration when setting up the space.  Same goes for the opposite.  If you're not going to use it often, or for long periods, save yourself some time and money, and set up a small dedicated space for "office" stuff.  A friend of mine only uses her home office to store documents.  When she set up her office space in her new home, she found a few pretty vases to hold pens, scissors etc.. invested in a couple of pretty file storage boxes, and a great rolling laptop tray for in the family room.  The file boxes get tucked into a cabinet in her dining room, and the vases sit above it.   In and Out boxes hang in her kitchen, and the whole system works really well for her and her family.

What do you need to accomplish those tasks?

This is where we start getting into the nitty gritty.  Think about all the supplies you need to do each job.  I made two lists for this one.  I went through my first list and wrote down everything I needed for each item.  Then I took that list and weeded out the repeats.  This helped figure out, not just what I needed, but what I needed most, or most frequently.  Don't forget the little things too, like staples, tape, etc... This list will be different for everyone, and each person will have their own way of making it.


So now you have an idea of what you use your "office" for, where you most often work, and what you need to do the work.  Next week, I'll share how I use the answers to those questions to help plan a functional home "office".

Do you spend a lot of time in your home office space?  Do you have a whole room dedicated to the office, or just a corner?

I wish you all a fabulous day!

Concluding the Family Fun, and Free Printables!

Our family has been through many changes in the last few years.  One of the biggest of those changes was our oldest boy entering the teen years.  Whether I'm ready for it or not he's growing up right before my eyes, and (if I do say so myself) he's turning into a wonderful young man.  But with this growing and changing comes some family adjusting.  Yesterday I posted about day trips . . . it's actually kind of bittersweet because, as much as we love doing them, it's going to start getting more and more tricky to schedule them in.

You see, our Teen wants to work!  And Travis and I are NOT going to discourage that at all.  In fact we've told him we will help in anyway we can.  I think it's important, not just so he has a taste of working life, but so he has some independence.  Maturity wise, he's ready.  It just means that as a family, we have to adjust to the new rhythm that this will bring to our lives.  

Family dinners might not happen every night (how weird is that going to be) Weekends might not always be the best time for taking off.  Vacations will have to be carefully planned in advance.  And that's all ok.  It's part of life.  But it certainly hammers home the saying:

 "We don't remember days, we remember moments"

                  --Cesare Pavese

Moments matter.  ALOT!  One of the things our family really likes to do, is Family Movie Night.   I love the cozy feeling of everyone settling in to watch something.  That it brings us together.  And best of all, with services like Netflix, Shaw on Demand, and Sony's PlayStation Network, throwing together an impromptu movie night is a piece of cake!  To help with this I whipped up a printable for the Family Fun section of my HMB.  

It's really a simple printable, most of it's space to keep tracks of the movies we would like to see, also a quick list of the things we usually have for movie night, and space to write down ideas for special treat and snack requests.  And here it is:

Movie Night Planner

Another way to continue capturing those moments, is to share an interest.  In our house, that's a love of books!  Literature of all shapes and sizes.  My teen seems to share my love of sci-fi/fantasy, and Liam seems to enjoy all the books his big brother used to love.  New home town, means new library to check out, because we've exhausted the one here.  (Small libraries are wonderful, don't get me wrong, but the more the books the better for this girl!)  So, I whipped up another printable.  There were three purposes to this one: a reminder to bring the old books back, a place to keep track of any programs the library runs that we attend, or would like to, and of course, our reading wish list.  The wish list is the important one.  It will enable me to take out the right books for our Teen (if he doesn't have a chance to get there himself) and I won't be forgetting what book/author it was that I was meaning to check out.  

Library Time

This one is the last printable for the Family Fun section.  I'll be back on Monday with a recap, and a plan of attack for the rest of the HMB.  I do so hope you enjoy the printables!

As always, just click the caption to get a copy of your own.  I understand the preview function isn't working right now, for reasons I cannot fathom, but if you click download, the files will download. 

So, does anyone else have a Family Fun section in their HMB?  Thinking about putting one in?  

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!!!  

Planning Those Day Trips and a Free Printable for you!!!

Well, another set of days off have come and gone.  Travis got home Monday night, and left again Wednesday morning.  This is only the second time he's been home, and already we're getting weary of it.  One day is not enough to cram everything into.  I'm eager to move and be settled, ah, but first our house must sell.  We hit a couple snafus with the listing, but they're fixed now, for the most part.  We just need to get people in and get someone to make an offer.  I'm ready to go.  All I need is a bunch more boxes and I can have the house packed and ready to go in a week if I need to.  (Can you tell I'm eager to go?)  While we continue to play the waiting game, I'm working at getting myself more organized.  This is serving a few purposes; first, I LOVE to organize!  It's not just a necessity, it's a passion, it's stress relief, it's FUN!  Secondly, it's keeping me busy, giving me a focus for the restlessness I'm feeling.  It also means I get to have fun playing around on the computer creating printables, which is something I absolutely LOVE to do.  And lastly, it means that I don't have to worry about this after we move, which means I can focus more on catching up on family time!

As I mentioned last week, (here) I'm revamping my Home Management System.  As with most organizational systems it takes a little time, and some tweaking to get the one that is just right for you.  As family or home needs change, you need to reevaluate your systems and change them accordingly.  I've opted to start this process with the addition of a new section to my HMB called the Family Fun section.  Last week I shared the first part of that section with the Activities Directory.  I also mentioned that our family loves to take day trips.  Get out of town, discover something new, revisit a place we found and loved, the reasons go on and on and on.   With our new home town's location being so close to so many wonderful things, I can't wait to get out there and start discovering. 

Day trips are wonderful, they allow you to have a mini vacation, even if it's just for the day.  You can forget your worries, your stress, leave it all behind and get away for a few hours.  Though  day trips for us usually means leaving after breakfast and getting home before bed time, they still take a little planning.  After winging it for a long time, making up lists on random pieces of paper, I've finally put together a Day Trip Planner.  

I've created a check list for the items that we like to have on hand, to do lists, budget (always important to know what you're going to be spending, otherwise you could spend a lot in a day) and a menu planner,(because you can save a ton of money if you pack a picnic and your own snacks)  and the best part of all, is I was able to get them all onto one page, so now I have one place to keep track of it all, instead of a bunch of lists on multiple pieces of paper.

Day Trip Planner

With the menu planner, what I will often do is plan out everything I'm making or bringing along first, then at the end of each section I make a note of what we'll purchase while out.  It might be something like an ice cream, or slushy, or perhaps we've decided to picnic for lunch but go out for dinner... I make a note of it on the menu planner, then I can work it into the budget.  

And, as I said last week.  While revamping my HMB I'm sharing ALL the printables with you, so as usual, just click the caption to get your copy.  Recently I've received a few emails from people who were unable to download some of the printables, I've been looking into the problem, and as yet, have come up with no solutions.  However, if you have any troubles, please just send me an email and I'll be happy to send you the file/files you would like.  And I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

Is anyone else working on their Home Management Binders/Systems?  Are there any printables that you think you might need or want?  Drop me a line and let me know, maybe I can put some together during the next few weeks and pop them up on here for you!  

I hope you all are having a wonderful day!  I'll be back tomorrow with more Family Fun stuff!!

Playing Hooky and a Free Printable

Wow!  It's finally sinking in that the big push to get the first round of packing, the major cleaning, and all that other fun stuff is over!  I can breathe a little easier, spend a little more time focusing on non-move related items. Don't get me wrong, my stress level is still waaaaay up there, I think it will be until we sell and move.  I'm continually reminding myself of all the reasons why we're putting ourselves through this.  But, with the stuff inside my control being done, I am turning my attention to revamping some of the systems I have in place right now.  If anything good came from that frantic rush to do everything, aside from making our home ready for sale, it was that I found many things that just weren't working.  And, being the dork that I am, I took notes!  I kid you not, I would actually stop what I was doing to note a problem area or an idea.  A little on the compulsive side, but I didn't want to forget anything, and if I hadn't I probably would have.

Armed with this new knowledge and insight I have decided that it's time to refresh my Home Management Binder.  I need to work up some new cleaning systems, and other home management type things.  I'm going to share the whole process with you, including ALL the printables!  Since the house is finished and I don't want to mess with things too much, I figured this was a safe project to tackle, buuuuuuut, I didn't really want to think about it today.  In fact, I'm kind of sick of thinking of house stuff, and I need to take a much needed step back before I drive myself crazy trying to keep everything perfect every moment of the day.  So, I'm playing hooky from house thinking today, and working on something equally, if not more, important.  It may seem a little backwards, but I'm starting my project with the fun stuff.


As you know, we're moving, not just to a new town, but to a whole new area, the Lower Mainland of BC to be exact, in a vague kind of way.  There is soooooo much to do there.  So many wonderful new things waiting for our family to discover.  And while we'll be living a little ways away from the West Coast, we're still close enough to enjoy all it has to offer, like two, yes TWO Ikeas, (with a third on the way?)  But I better not get started on the shopping side of things (there's a used bookstore in our town!  eeeeeeek, and according to Travis when you go shopping the stores actually have things on their shelves, and you don't have to climb over and squeeze around all the stock in boxes, I don't know what that will be like!  lol)   And that's it for the shopping stuff.


My REAL focus, the one that really gets me giddy with excitement is all the things we can do as a family.  Parks to check out, beaches in the summer, a trip or few to the ocean .... the list really could go on and on.  Most of what I've been looking up is stuff I can find on line (most charge admission, I'm still hunting up the free stuff) The big ones topping my list are:


Stanley Park

Vancouver Aquarium


Science World


Greater Vancouver Zoo

Capilano Suspension Bridge

Vancouver Whale Watch  (this one I'm torn on, I would loooooove to go out and see the whales, but I'm also of the mind that wild animals should just be left alone)

Vancouver Maritime Museum

Museum of Vancouver

Vancouver Police Museum

H.R. Mac Millan Space Center

And oh so many, many more.  These are just some of the things I found while looking online.  I know that we're going to find a ton more things to do.  We'll find our favorite parks and free activities, and the more time we're there, the more we'll add to our list.  I can't wait to start exploring, and I want to be able to keep track of the places we've been and the places we want to go.  So, I'm adding a whole new section to my HMB, the Family Fun section.  And since I was playing online tourist today, what better way to start off the section than with a list of places to go!  Here it is:

Family Fun Activities

The form pretty much explains itself.  I have a spot to put in the location, the address, admission fees for Adult, Youth and Child, whether or not it would be a day trip, if it's an indoor or outdoor activity, and would we go again!  Always important, especially if it's something you have to pay for.  If the kids don't enjoy themselves, why go again?

Did you notice that part about the day trip?  Stay tuned for a few printables that will help make day trips a breeze!  Up next week, I'm also going to share our linen/bathroom storage solutions, and I haven't forgotten about the mudroom before, during and after reveal.  I'm just playing hooky from that stuff today!

As always, just click the caption to get our own copy :-)  And please remember that all the printables offered here at the Scattered Squirrel are for personal use only.  If you would like to use them for something other than personal use, please shoot me an email (email addy is on the right side bar) and we can work something out!

I hope that you all are having a fantastic day, and wish you a wonderful weekend!!!

If anyone knows of any other family friendly places to check out in the lower mainland, I would totally love it if you would leave a comment and let me know.  I cannot wait to get down there!!!!