Day 1 - Viva Vancouver! Dim Sum and BBQ

Thursday morning, we packed up and left the kids for a 5-day trip to Vancouver, British Columbia for my cousin Tom's marriage to Marianne Yip.  We've been anticipating this trip for months and it was every bit as wonderful as we had hoped. 

On the airplane!  Bulkhead seats, a short flight, and no kids makes for a fabulous flight.

While walking from the SkyTrain to the hotel we encountered this Mountie.

We ran into this friendly group in the lobby of our hotel the Fairmont Pacific Rim.  We left almost immediately for some authentic Dim Sum.  Great company and great food.
L-R: Richard, Kjell, Olivia, Tom, Linda, Darcy, Tom, Dino, Ray

After Dim Sum I went to J.P. and Gina's room to find my niece Kaya!  They had flown all night from Maui.  Kaya hung out in our hotel room for a while and then we went down to the lobby to leave for the BBQ.  Here she is with her great Aunt Darcy.

There's Uncle Bill and Aunt Sandy who flew in from California!  It was a mini Love Family Reunion.

We took a taxi to West Vancouver to Marianne's parents house.  It was designed by the same architect who designed the hotel.

The views were spectacular, as was the house.

Hors d'oeuvres

Dinner was catered by the Cactus Club.  This is a small fraction of the entrees.  Kjell especially loved the butternut squash raviolis.  Dessert was wonderful too and included a variety of Napoleons. 

So good to see my brother and Gina!  Kaya (7 mo) helped me get my baby fix since we left Port (5 mo) at home.

Kaya and daddy.

"Well hello there Uncle Kjell.  You are my only Uncle."

Aunt Darcy and J.P.

Tom, J.P., Olivia, Kjell, and Uncle Tom.  J.P., Tom, and I spent a lot of time together as children, especially on holidays.

After the BBQ Kjell went to the gym and I went to the pool at the hotel.  My parents shared a room with us the first night since they arrived at 2:30 in the morning.