The Simple Life: Ferry to Victoria

Mom had been wanting to take Dom & Emilia on the ferry for quite some time, and we finally were able to make some time to do it this week!

Scott & Ash joined us, and they were planning to leave Phoebe with Ash's mom for the day. Mel soooo generously offered to take Eva as well. I was really excited to A. not have to worry about naps, and B. be able to spend some special time with just Dom & Emilia without the distraction of the toddler :).

We got the kids up at 6:30 for the day (actually, Dom & Emilia got dressed and came down on their own much too excited to stay in bed) and quickly fed everyone and left to drop Eva off by 7:10. I wasn't sure how Eva would do as she's never been watched by someone she wasn't very familiar with. She's also been teething and a tad extra grumpy and fussy at home for the last while, so I was a bit nervous about that. Over all I was just excited to have this day! Drop off went better than expected. Eva was SO excited to see Phoebe walk in. She was a bit quiet just standing there wondering what was going on, and as soon as she saw Phoebe her face LIT up and she waved and squealed and clasped her hands with the hugest smile and yelled, "Bebe!!!!" After that she didn't even seem to notice that I left haha. Mel reported that the girls did great overall, and she had some help. Both babies napped, ate, played, etc. SO so grateful.

After drop off, we got to the ferry just before 8:30 for our reservation for the 9:00 ride. We parked, got some Starbucks, cheers-ed to Marta's birthday, and explained what to expect to the kids. Once we were on the ferry, it took the kids a little bit to get comfortable. They (especially Dom) were nervous about being out on the deck as it was windy, high, and they'd never really been on a boat before other than at the cabin. By the end they were running around up on the deck living the life.

The weather the whole day was so magnificent. Not too hot, but still sunny and clear. We got to the island and everyone was getting HUUUUNGRY! We drove to Victoria and went to Milestones for lunch. We were hoping to go to the Flying Otter right on the water, but apparently that and the pizza place we wanted to go to were closed Mondays and Tuesdays. What a rip! Milestones will do. The service was a bit slow, so we spent more of our limited time there than we would have liked, but the food was a necessity haha.

After Milestones, we only had an hour before we had to head back to the ferry. We piled back into the car and drove down to the beach across the street from Beacon Hill Park. I'm glad Mom knew about this beach because it was so quiet, peaceful and beautiful. All driftwood, west coast rocks, tide pools, and hardly any people. Dom got right to work building a shelter of some sort with the drift wood and confidently climbing around on the rocks. Emilia loved it too. We definitely could have spent hours here, but unfortunately just had about 30 minutes by the time we got there.

That being said, the main event of the day was the ferry rides, so we made the most of that! The ride on the way home was equally beautiful, and Emilia spent a lot of time laying out in the sun with me. Won't catch me complaining about that!

Our initial plan was to go to the Malahat Skywalk, but due to the timing of the ferries we wouldn't have time for that. Will be doing that another day! Adam was a (the?) lead engineer on that project so we got to follow it a bit from conception of the idea to completion of the project.

Dom & Emilia will likely remember this ferry ride and beach day forever, and I'm so glad we could make it happen! Trying to squeeze in a few more fun, special things before Dom starts school too!

Day trip with Mom. The day before I was mentally packing snacks for the kids, food for us, thinking about napkins, wipes, etc. Mom then texted and said, "I have made croissants for us, packed some individually sliced cheeses with parchment paper in between them, brought some crackers and snackies, a cooler with sparkling water and beer, and paper towels for everyone." Oh the mental load that relieved from me! Whew!! Great minds think alike ;)

Discussing the safety of the boat and the depth of the water haha. He likes to know everything. Mom showed him and Emilia a sped up video of a whole ferry ride so they would know what to expect. Brilliant.

I imagined being a tourist taking this ferry for the first time. I would be pretty blown away by the beauty of our province. Honestly I was blown away. I haven't been on a ferry in close to 11 years, so it was fresh for me and gosh. The islands, the mountains, the blue water... amazing. I was really hoping we'd get to see a whale or dolphin or something which we did not, but we did see a couple seals haha.

Dave was also appreciating all the extra hands and the two children so he could take some photos and video! I haven't seen any of them yet, but I'm sure they're great haha.

Like the good ole days! Had Uncle Toot & Aunty Ashleigh all to themselves.
Dom did everything in his power to not participate in group photos this trip haha. You can see him here spying between their shoulders.

They just celebrated their 3rd anniversary last week!

I've pretty much given up reminding her to take her fingers out of her mouth. Somehow she's the only child who did not get Hand Foot Mouth Disease, so maybe the finger sucking isn't the worst thing in the world haha. Extra immune system boosting?