A little while ago Jimmy was walking down the street in our neighborhood to go with the kids on an adventure aka getting groceries and watching all the construction activity.
He recognized the flag lady and waved her over. Turns out it was my Aunt Cathy (one of my Mom’s sisters) who happened to be in our neighborhood working. She was pretty happy to see Claire & Rhys again and they were excited to say hello to her! In their ‘cool’ shades of course….
Growing up Easter was a big deal in my house. Partially because I grew up as a Catholic but also, my Mom really did up Easter dinner and the egg hunts. We would travel to Vancouver Island from Kelowna and spend the long weekend with my Aunt and her family for many years. It was fun.
In fact, my Mom enjoys Easter so much that she sends the kids care packages every year with books, cards, and some sort of healthy sweet. Auntie Wendy sent an Easter care package this year too which was so sweet. The kids love all the books and the new Easter basket – Thanks you guys!
I was so excited to do an Easter egg hunt with the kids this year. Our twins group hosted an egg hunt at a members house. We decided to go as there would be lots of kids for Claire & Rhys to run around with and it was happening in a nice big yard with a trampoline which we do not have. We told Claire & Rhys about the Easter bunny and how eggs were left behind that they needed to collect. The day of the egg hunt they both woke up early from their mid-day nap saying ‘easter! easter!’. We quickly got organized and headed to the party which was at a beautiful location in North Vancouver. They have such a spectacular view.
Claire and Rhys at first weren’t sure what to do but they quickly got the hang of it and Claire would stop, yell and point at a hidden egg. It was so cute. We all had a great time. Jimmy had his fill of chocolate as Claire doesn’t like sweets (she’ll put them in her mouth and then spit them out), I am allergic to soy which is in almost everything chocolate and Rhys is so much like his dad a healthy sweet tooth. We had to contain him from eating too much chocolate. We don’t do sweets that much with the kids so when Rhys has a chance to have some he goes for it.
Our friend Faye invited us over the following weekend for a second egg hunt- how lucky are Claire & Rhys. Jimmy was on the island so it was just me and the kids who went and because I was chasing the kids around their yard I did not take any photos but I can tell you they are now seasoned Easter egg hunters and next year will be as much or even more fun that this year.
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snack time:
Rhys telling Claire she can only have one! chocolate:
trampoline fun:
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Sleepy little bunny:
A little reminder from Rhys to stop and smell the roses…..erm daffodils 😉
We woke up early on our final day in Victoria and had a nice lazy morning in the hotel. We were planning to catch the 1pm ferry back to Vancouver but first we had something very exciting to do with the kids….
Meet Papa Bob at the model engineers track and go for a train ride! The kids were so excited to see Papa Bob as evidenced below:
After the very fun train ride we toured around the Saanich Historical Artifacts site which is adjacent to the model engineers site. Claire & Rhys are BIG into trucks and things so this was a very fun adventure.
A little video of our train ride that Jimmy edited 🙂
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Our second day on our Island trip was excellent. The weather was quite nice and it didn’t rain – lucky us.
Auntie Wendy, Cousin Senna and Uncle Chris met us at the hotel where we shared a nice breakfast. Then it was off to the petting zoo in Beacon Hill park to meet some friends. But first we had to stop by Fan Tan alley and get a nice coffee from Bean Around the World in China Town.
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We met up with Jimmy’s old friend Art and his family. Having two year-olds who love to run around and be wild definitely makes it tricky to have a decent conversation. We did have a great visit though and the kids love going to the petting zoo. Rhys enjoyed stomping in a puddle (and sitting in one too – good thing we always keep back-up clothes in our van) and brushing the goats. Claire wasn’t interested in the baby goats at all instead she wanted to see the bunnies – her favorite.
moments before Rhys sat in the mud puddle:
It was so nice outside so we all decided to go wander over to the playground for some more fun!
Uncle Chris with Claire & Senna:
Such a cute picture! :
After we said good-bye o our family & friends we went back to the hotel for lunch and nap-time. Once the kids woke up we spent the afternoon walking around downtown Victoria, the Inner Harbour and through The Empress Hotel. It was so nice to walk through the city where Jimmy & I first met and we had fun reminiscing.
A few weeks ago we embarked on a Spring road trip to Vancouver Island to visit friends, family and to use a hotel Groupon that we bought months earlier.
We caught the ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo which is a route that we don’t travel on too often. It was a nice change! We caught an early morning ferry so once boarded we headed to the cafeteria to get some food for the kids. I have to say that I do not like eating out with the kids because it is pure chaos. We managed….or I should say Jimmy managed to get some food into the kids and off we went to play and wander about the ferry:
Once we were safely docked in Nanaimo we started our drive up island to get to Parksville where we were going to meet up with some good friends who we haven’t seen for a very long time. It was also our chance to meet their darling little baby girl for the first time!
Shannon and I went to University together and we were room-mates for a year along with 3 other girls in a big house. Those were some mighty fun times 🙂 Now we are all grown up with families of our own. We had such a great visit and did not want to leave at all. The thing about good friends is even if you don’t see each other very often you pick right back up where you left off.
Next trip to the island we plan to have another visit and this time give lots of notice so we can see Corry and her family who also live in Parksville. Looking forward to it!
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Shannon, Jeff and Eloise:
squeezing Claire’s wonderfully chubby cheeks 🙂
We departed Parksville just in time for Claire & Rhys’ nap. Our big plan was for them to nap in the van while we drove a few hours to Victoria with a quick stop in Langford to visit Auntie Debbie. It was a good drive and a nice visit with Debbie. The kids could have slept longer but that’s what happens when you travel. So hard to keep to a schedule!
Our final destination for the day was Swan’s Hotel. There is a great pub located below the hotel rooms which we frequented when we lived in Victoria. It was a nice boutique hotel, large rooms, and a great location… it just wasn’t very kid friendly.
We set-up shop in our room, Jimmy headed downstairs to have a meeting about his upcoming skate contest he will be hosting in June and the kids and I settled in and had some fun. Then…. it was bedtime for us all. Phew! Long day.
