6th wedding anniversary

The morning of our anniversary, we left our boys with their aunt Kendal and headed north in the white Mercedes SL (the hydraulics for the convertible top were out of order for the entire gorgeous weekend, but not for lack of trying to make it work anyway) for Vancouver, Canada. We first stopped at one of our favorite eateries we've discovered: Tweets in Edison. Every time we go, we're amazed by how good the food is. Seriously. Everyone in the tiny town seems to contribute to the day's menu by dropping off fresh produce and eggs, and in return, the owners hand them plates of the most deliciously prepared food. If you go, know they only take cash or check. So worth it.

We crossed the border and went into the city, and after a failed attempt at finding our hotel, we successfully found a gelato spot we discovered during our first year of dating 9 years ago. The story is that Jon and I took a day trip to Vancouver that spring in 2005, shopped for a while, and then had the romantic experience of finding a quaint little gelato shop, complete with an older roman woman and two Italian gentlemen, thrilled to have the young in love in for a treat. We sat down and enjoyed our gelato and as we listened to the other shop patrons speak in Italian, cherry blossoms blew through the open doorway, littering the floor with pink petals. This memory has remained one of our favorites throughout the years. We found the shop flawlessly, without a map, on a whim--one of the best gifts Jon could have given me, since we got to relive a little piece of our early time falling in love. Though the place is now owned by a Vietnamese woman and sells subs along with gelato, it was the same, and finding it this time of year again could not have been more ideal. After gelato, we walked across the street to Kitsilano Beach park to enjoy the gorgeous sunshine and reenact a couple photos we took all those years ago.

We stayed at the Pan Pacific with the most gorgeous panoramic views from the 16th floor, and we truly enjoyed just relaxing together, driving through Stanley Park, eating the most delicious meal of our lives at Vij's (wine-marinated lamb popsicles over spinach and potatoes and saag paneer so good that I will go back and gladly wait without reservations again and again--the restaurant is rated the best Indian food in North America by the New York Times and the rating is well-deserved, and as a plus, the service was so beautifully orchestrated in a professional but relaxed environment), and of course, sleeping in without children waking us. We left the hotel and got the gelato at Bella Gelateria, the best we've ever had, and slowly made our way home to our boys.

then:

now:

So in love.