Discover Vancouver: The Burnaby Edition

Do you remember my Jar of Fun?

The Crafting Widower and I had a pseudo Jar of Fun day on Saturday...we visited the National Nikkei Heritage Centre in Burnaby, BC for their annual open house and Japanese Farmer's Market.  

OK, technically it wasn't a Jar of Fun day - because I read about it on CBC Online and Burnaby wasn't selected at random from the jar.  Also, we only spent an hour there instead of a day...I'm stretching here.  

Anyway, there was lots of interesting stuff...some of it pretty crafty.

There was a gentleman sculpting a bonsai tree.  

An artistic display at the Japanese Canadian National Museum.  The exhibit was called Kizuna.  

The artist above (Natalie Purschwitz) wrapped stones with cloth.  

And a trip wouldn't be complete without a tasty treat.  Yummy gyozas!  

I also spotted a cute little centre (formerly a school house).

Maybe they have a crafty program for my crafty parents!  

Jar of Fun

After dinner last night, I told the Crafting Widower that I had a good surprise for him.  He was immediately cautious and commented that if I had to preface a statement saying that it would be a good surprise then it probably wouldn’t be a good surprise for him.  I assured him it would be.  He was hesitant. Then I did the big reveal...  the unveiling of the “Jar of Fun” or our “Discover Vancouver” Jar. 

Let me explain…

A while back, I was lamenting the fact that I’ve been living on the west coast for nearly 2 years now but there are still many neighbourhoods in Metro Vancouver that I have never visited.  So, I suggested to the Crafting Widower that we should try to ‘be tourists in Metro Vancouver’ this summer.  Hence the inspiration for the creation of our very own “Discover Vancouver” Jar. 

I typed out a list of 28 names of different neighbourhoods and printed it off, then cut and folded the names and put them in a Jar.  My quick and easy craft.  Yes, I think that this counts as a craft.  FYI - in some cases, neighbourhoods have been split into more manageable chunks (e.g. Vancouver – Chinatown, Vancouver – Commercial Drive, Vancouver – UBC Area, etc.).

The Rules of our “Discover Vancouver” Jar:

1. One person draws the name “the Puller” and the other person plans the itinerary “the Planner”.
2. The Planner has the right of one redraw.  So, if the Planner isn’t pleased with the first neighbourhood the Puller draws, the Planner can ask the Puller for a re-draw.  There is only 1 refusal allowed per turn.
3. The Planner has to do the research and must include at least: 1 interesting attraction unique to the neighbourhood and identify two restaurant/cafe options.
4. Roles are reversed on the next draw. 

I volunteered to be the Planner on our first try.  So, after establishing the rules, the Crafting Widower made his first pull.  He opened it, laughed, and asked where I got my list of neighbourhoods from.  What did he draw?  Abbotsford.  (FYI – the Crafting Widower commutes to/from Abbotsford every day…a 140km round trip…and in his opinion, not the most interesting destination).  I decided to invoke rule #2 and asked for redraw.  Drum roll please………and the exciting destination for our inaugural “Discover Vancouver”, tourists in Metro Vancouver is ………

Yeah!  I actually cheered when he announced the destination.  It just seemed much more appealing than Abbotsford.  Let the planning begin!

FYI – The Crafting Widower agreed that it was good surprise.  Much better than what he was thinking…hmm…I should have asked what he was thinking.