February Adventure - Winter Escapade

Our family isn't into skiing or snowboarding - such a shame since Vancouver is blessed with beautiful ski resorts. You see, both me and hubby are scared of heights so we're obviously intimidated by the sport. But upon the suggestion of my hubby's co-worker, we ventured into Mount Seymour Park to try family tobogganing. To make the most of the weekend, we also decided to stay in downtown Vancouver for the last night of Dine Out Vancouver 2012.

The road going up to Mount Seymour Park

We went on a Saturday and came in about 11AM - the whole place was packed already! After a couple of drive-around, we finally found a parking spot (parking was free).  With the parking lot full, we thought the tobogganing area would be packed, too, but to our surprise, it wasn't (yey!). 

I had to go with the little one for his first run.

But he soon realized going solo was much more fun.

The older brother became the toboggan expert in mere seconds!!!

Our family atop the hill.

Tobogganing was really fun and I see us doing this as a yearly winter family activity. After grabbing pizzas and hotdogs, we decided to call it a day and retire to our hotel. 

Our hotel for the night

Our hotel is dubbed as Vancouver's "most-artfull" hotel. There are paintings, sculptures and works of art everywhere. Their meeting rooms also double as galleries!

After resting, we went downstairs to O' Doul's Restaurant for our 6PM dinner reservation. The place was just starting to get busy as diners for Dine Out Vancouver 2012 began arriving.

I ordered off of their Dine Out Vancouver menu and hubby and kids opted to get theirs from the regular menu. 

Crab Chowder

Beet and Goat Cheese Salad (Dine Out Vancouver)

Flank Steak (Dine Out Vancouver)

Seafood Sampler

Chocolate Gateau (Dine Out Vancouver)

Brownies A La Mode

The food was seriously delicious! No wonder that being in the business for 30 years, this restaurant is still very much bustling at the heart of Robson St. 

Tired from a busy day and with full tummies - we hit the bed as soon as we went back to our room and slept soundly for the night.

The next day, raring to try the famous eggs benedict at O' Doul's (they have about 6 varieties), we excitedly trudged down to the restaurant for breakfast.

Freshly-baked bread and herb butter

My Classic Eggs Benedict

Hubby's Haida Eggs Benedict (Salmon)

Both the boys went for the Junior Breakfast

The girls both had the Belgian Waffle and Fruits

We checked out after breakfast and found this little surprise from the Valet Service when we got into our van:

A little surprise from the Valet Service: homemade chocolate chip cookies :)

T'was a really great weekend! What I love about it, is that all of us had fun. Me and my hubby have always thought how blessed we are that our kids have simple joys. With their ages not too far apart from one another, it is quite easy to have all of them get on board with a family activity - and I think we could get away with this for many years to come :)