Springtime in the Northwest

Usually springtime in the Pacific Northwest is a protracted state of rain and gloom that lasts from January till July. Imagine March/April of New England for seven months and that pretty much sums it up (minus the snow, of course). Lately, though, we've been lucky enough to enjoy some sunshine and  warm temperatures (50s! Even 60s!) and it's been heavenly.

Last weekend, our family took a road-trip across the boarder into Vancouver, BC (After passing through customs, Sam exclaimed, "Yay! We did it!" I can only imagine that he was relieved to have smuggled his snacks across!)  A map for regional reference:

We felt like we were stepping into the future as we crossed the bridge into the city and noticed how clean and uniform all the glass buildings appeared. I imagined that it must be similar in Hong Kong or Singapore...

We had a nice stroll along the sea-wall around Stanley Park, rode the mini-train with Sam, and enjoyed a complementary movie during our nap-time at the Westin Bayshore. We had an awesome view of the city and the mountains and could see sea planes landing and taking off from the bay.

The following day, we took a ferry (i.e. 12 passenger motor boat) across False Creek to Granville Island and explored the open markets there (Granville "island" is near the center of the picture below, Stanley Park is the tree-covered area just north of downtown.)

This past weekend, we reveled in some record high temps here in Seattle (68 degrees!). On Easter morning, we hid plastic eggs in the garden for Sam to discover. He had a fun time exploring and then discovering the stickers and mini-chocolates hidden inside the eggs: