Sheila & Alex's Wedding, Vancouver... Part One

Tuesday 12 October, Tegan, Fraser, Pat, Rick and I flew from Calgary to Vancouver to meet up with the rest of the family in order to attend Sheila & Alex's wedding which was taking place on the Saturday. Sheila is Chris's cousin. The Canadian side of Chris's family had not met Tegan and Fraser so it was a fabulous opportunity for us all to spend some time together and Sheila had kindly asked Tegan to be flower girl and Fraser ring bearer.

After a great flight which only took 1hr 15mins we arrived to sunshine which we didn't expect in Vancouver as people told us it only rained there - they were proved very wrong as we had lovely weather all week and perfect for Sheila's wedding on Saturday evening - almost summer like.

Our first point of call after collecting our hire car (which I would like to point out I drove for 5 days with one arm - probably illegal - all around Vancouver with Rick navigating) we dropped our bags of at the hotel (which looked like it was situated in the middle of China town) and then went round to Sheila and Alex's new house in Delta. It was great to meet up with everyone and Tegan and Fraser soon made friends with all the aunts, uncles, cousins & husbands off - they did a get a little confused.

After breakfast on Wednesday morning we all met up and decided to go to Stanley Park. So with a little navigating round 'down town' Vancouver we arrived at the park on a glorious sunny day. The park covers 1,000 acres of forested peninsula and is a Canadian national historic site. There is so much to do in the park from trails, cycling, horse carriage rides, train rides, gardens, totem poles, aquarium, farmyard and much more. The park sits on a peninsula and therefore the scenery is fantastic looking across the Burrard Inlet toward the city centre with all the amazing buildings and condos. It was decided that we would go to the aquarium, whilst the rest of the family went for a walk around the park.

On entering the aquarium we first visited the Tropic Zone which incorporated the Amazon rain forest. Straight away Tegan and Fraser had their noses pushed against the glass tanks looking at the amazing creatures along with Pat, Rick and myself. We then progressed into the Treasures of the BC Coast which again was so interesting to see the vast variety of sea animals in the local area. After spending time looking and learning inside we stepped outside to see the sea otters, sea lions, beluga whales and dolphins, also managing to catch the dolphin show.

Wednesday evening we attended the wedding rehearsal so that Tegan and Fraser could see what they were expected to do. The wedding was taking place at Seasons in the Park situated in Queen Elizabeth park in Vancouver - an amazing setting with fantastic views from the restaurant. We also got to meet other members of Alex's family. At this point I was still not convinced that Fraser would go ahead with being the ring bearer, although he is 'very' outgoing he does get shy in situations where everyone is looking at him. However there was hope - Alex's brother Matthew, who has 3 children, became Fraser's friend and things were looking up. Fingers crossed for Saturday. Very kindly after the rehearsal Alex's mum invited us all round for supper and was a very gracious host providing us with some lovely food and a great evening to get to know their family. Fraser made friends with Matthew's son Thomas and likewise Tegan with Olivia who was 13 years old but played with Tegan.