Some Of What We've Been Up To

Hi everyone :D  Spring Break has been a flurry of activity, so as I anticipated, I have not had a lot of stamping time :-(    However, we have been able to catch up with friends we don't get to see very often, have hit the pool (finally got rid of the chlorine smell in my hair!), hung out and had a jammie day and have ventured into Vancouver to catch some of the pavilions that are being carried over to the Paralympics with no where near the crowds!!

On Monday, the kids and I went in to Vancouver to go see the Mint - where the Olympic and Paralympic medals are on display and you can hold them and look at them.  When we got there they said the line up was about two hours long, but as it turned out, we stood in line for about three hours.  Thankfully there were pigeons my kids could feed and chase and there was a Starbucks too --score.  Venti, decaf, non-fat latte to go :D   In addition, the Mint had a great video that showed how they make money.  In addition, there was a trading table where you could exchange regular quarters and Loonies (Canada's one dollar coin) for some special edition Olympic ones.  In addition, the people in line were very friendly and we had a great time chatting with them.  Even met a coach of the Paralympic slalom skiers and had a great chat with him.

Here are a few pictures of our fun day downtown.  You can click on them to enlarge them if you want a closer look.

This picture on the left is a picture of the back of the Olympic Bronze Medal.  These medals are round and undulated.  It has the Inukshuk Winter Game symbol and the Olympic rings on the lower right hand corner.

The picture on the right is  is of the  Paralympic Gold medal.  It is square and has undulations on it.




The Paralympic symbol along with the three swooshes they use instead of the rings are on these medals.  the swooshes stand for Body, Mind and Spirit.
They also have Vancouver 2010 written in brail on the back.  Each medal is totally unique. The undulating on the medals represents the mountains and seas in the Vancouver-Whistler area.



Before entering the mint you get one cotton glove to wear as you aren't supposed to touch the medal with your hands.  The glove is yours to keep as a souvenir.  We ended up with two left gloves and one right one so at least we have a pair LOL!  Since you were not allowed to do a take a picture with the medals doing a thumbs up, peace sign or biting it, the kids decided to do it with their glove

They  also had a case with all the medals in it as well as a large picture of them.  Here are my two kids in front of the Paralympic medal case.




 
Here are the three of us in front of the Olympic Medals.

Here are the kids in front of the Logo for the Royal Canadian Mint.









On our travels we also tripped across this cardboard image of Roberto Luongo, the Vancouver Canucks goalie who played in goal for most of Canada's games in the Olympics.  My kids took the picture so unfortunately his stick got cut off  LOL!




We also walked through the Bay to see if they had any Olympic goodies left at reduced prices and they did - plus there wasn't a three hour line up to get in either - score!  My son found a giant size Sumi, one of the Olympic mascots, so we all took turns posing with him.


Tomorrow, we are heading back in to Vancouver to do the Zip Line.  It has been set up between two skyscrapers over Robson Square in Vancouver and is about a 30 second ride.  During the Olympics the line up was anywhere between six to ten hours long and now it is down to around two, and if you get there early, even shorter than an hour.  Just hope my little guy doesn't jam out when he gets up there because you are up about eight stories when you start!

Hope you've enjoyed the pictures.  Will try to get some stamping in later this week.  Thanks for visiting :D