Friday, July 29, 2011

Adventures with Teenagers

We had a wonderful visit with Erica and Chris - 5 days of adventures with teenagers.
What I learned....
#1 - teenage boys are always hungry
#2 - teenagers like to sleep in late
#3 - teenage girls will get up early to go shopping!

#4 - teenagers like to watch movies

The kids arrived at 7pm on the 22nd and we took them to dinner (teenage boys are always hungry!).  Afterwards we went down to the grocery store to stock up on "kid friendly snacks".  After we got them unpacked and sorted, we decided to relax and watch Sherlock Holmes (teenagers like to watch movies). It was 1am before we all crashed!


On Saturday we went down to the Khatsalano Festival - West 4th Ave was closed from Burrard Street to MacDonald with loads of music stages set up at the major intersections and lots of shops with outdoor street sales.(teenage girls like to shop).  After a few hours of wandering around we walked down to Kits Beach and had lunch.  Some more wandering and then we decided to head back home to "rest" before our evening out in China Town.  We took the kids to Hon's Noodle house for dinner and then hit the China Town night market.  There was a youth talent show on that night, it was really good!  Even after having a "pre dinner" snack of Nutella Wheels and a full dinner at Hon's, Chris had to go back to the stall and buy more Nutella Wheels - 6 wheels for $5 - (teenage boys are always hungry).  After a full day and evening of walking around you'd think the kids would have been tired... nope, back home and we watched "The Quest for Camelot" and ate "kid friendly snacks" (teenage boys are always hungry/teenagers like to watch movies!) It was another late night to bed.

Sunday - not surprising the kids didn't wake up very early (teenagers like to sleep in late) Norbert made us Crepes for brunch and then we headed out to Steveston for the afternoon. We had a lot of fun wandering around the fishing boats and strolling along the dyke and Garry Point park.  We stopped for frozen yogurt and shortly afterwards.... yes not more than 45 minutes later it was time for lunch (teenage boys are always hungry!).  Can you guess how we spent the evening? yes we watched a movie! "Limitless" - ate pizza and "kid friendly snacks" during the movie (teenage boys are always hungry!/teenagers like to watch movies!)

Monday - (teenage girls will get up early to go shopping!)  Erica and I had a girls day out, we were out the door by 9am - first we had a pedicure and then we hit the shops at Metrotown for the entire day!  The boys had a nice day too - Norbert took Chris out to UBC for a tour, he's graduating next June and is applying to universities - we'd like him to come here - but he's also looking at universities back east.  The boys apparently had a late Sushi lunch (2pm) and then were home playing on the computers.
When Erica and I got home, we all headed up to Nat Bailey Stadium for a C's baseball game and the fireworks afterwards.  More food at the game (teenage boys like to eat!)

Tuesday - Another late rising for the kids, and after a hearty breakfast of Scrambled Eggs and Bacon we decided to go downtown for a wander (shopping for girls/JapaDogs for boys/Chapters for all of us) and then we took the kids to see "Transformers - The Dark Side" in 3D at the theatre (teenagers like to watch movies/teenage boys like to eat!).  You'd think they wouldn't be hungry after JapaDogs, movie snacks etc. - oh no..... I made a late pasta dinner with garlic bread (teenage boys like to eat!) and then ..... you guessed it! we watched "Gulliver's Travels" (teenagers like to watch movies!/teenage boys like to eat!) yes they had "kid friendly snacks" during the movie too.

Wednesday - The kids were up at 10am - that's early for them! and got their gear organized.  We wandered down to Granville Island after breakfast and enjoyed all the great things to see and do down there.  Chris had lunch (teenage boys like to eat) the rest of us had a drink and small snack.  We headed back to our place and got the kids ready to head out to the airport for their flight home.

What I want to know.... where do teenage boys put all this food? and why aren't teenage boys the size of blimps?! LOL

A side note - the "good auntie" that I am makes promises to parents - I solemnly swear not to permanently tattoo or pierce any body parts on your daughter.  The key word is "permanently" - so I decided to have some fun with Erica -  Auntie Izzy got Erica a "Henna Tattoo" of  a turtle and then purchased a magnetic nose stud!  Apparently mom was freaked for a minute at the airport over the nose stud.....dad wasn't fooled! but we had fun doing it!

Here are few photos of our visit with the kids!  And for all you parents out there....kudos to you!  We had fun for 5 days..... but you do this 24/7, 365 days a year for 20+ years!!!


Erica and Chris - We love you! thanks for visiting us ;) we'll see you in October! ((hugs))

4 comments:

Jo said...

Erica looks so cute with a nose stud!!! sounds like a good time was had by all!

Sue in Canada said...

Sounds like a fun time!!! Yes, having had 2 teenage boys in the house (bouth 6'2"+ I can attest to the amount of food they can consume. It's crazy...hence the reference to Hollow Legs when talking about boys.
I have my niece coming next week..a little older but I am sure some shopping will be in order LOL.

ScrappeeDiane said...

Great photos, love the tattoo and nose stud. LOL Looks like it was a great visit.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Isabel & Norbert. The Kids had a great time and loved their trip. Great pictures! Bodo.