Thankful Thursday - Malahat Skywalk/Beach/Sports Day/Tooth Pulling/Cooking

Had a very bucket-filling weekend last weekend, and looking forward to another one this weekend. It's busy, and it makes my heart feel full! Tomorrow is my half-birthday dinner with my parents (a tradition they started a couple years back). Then a BBQ with friends on Sunday. Also... there are NINE MORE DAYS OF SCHOOL LEFT! I am excited and anxious. Mostly looking forward to a slower pace of summer for a bit before Emilia and Dom are both in school full time in September. Wild. 

So this week I am thankful for...

1. The most beautiful day on the island! Adam was on the Island for a work retreat and asked if anyone wanted to meet him there and go to the Malahat Skywalk with him, which he engineered/designed. It's been on my "must do" list since before it opened, and doing it with Adam makes it that much more special, so we leapt at the opportunity! Mom & Dad watched our kids and Phoebe so that Scott & Ash could join us too. The ferry was beautiful, the weather was PERFECT, the food and drinks were good, the company was even better, the views were incredible, and the whole day was just bucket-filling fun.

Starbucks must just spell everything as phonetically as possible... Renay. Haha!

Well-placed advertising right as we walked onto the ferry! See you soon, Malahat Skywalk!

Bard & Banker Public House in Victoria.

Rose flight. Now I want more rose...

An artist used pieces of beach driftwood to create some amazing sculptures along the walkway.

Scott & Ash watched a documentary about fungi and were telling us in the morning about the underground network and how trees used fungi to communicate and spread/pass nutrients and our day decided to fact-check them! They were absolutely correct haha! So crazy.

Oh hello, Baker!

The whole walkway is 100% accessible which makes it that much better.

Part way up. Such a beautiful province. I was in awe of these views and the gorgeous day

There's the slide! Adam said it starts 2/3 up because if they started it from the very top it would be too fast. This was an absolute must on my must-do list!

Wish I had gotten a better picture of it, but there's this big net area at the top that looks all the way down to the bottom. 

On the ferry Scott was talking about the Giant Pacific Octopus, and how he'd heard their armspan can be up to 7 feet. We were all freaked out until I read this... Apparently the world record is TEN METRES ACROSS!!! I already disliked octopi. This has reactivated that fear.

Slide time :)

Bye Abodmen!

Dave took some video this day and I can't wait to see the video he puts together when he gets around to it. 

The lineup at White Spot took up 90% of our trip home, so I snuck away for a 5 minute break in the sun just before we docked. 

2. Sports Day! Dom's school did Sports Day last Friday! I had a board meeting, so Dave took the girls for a bit in the morning, and then I got to watch for an hour and a half in the afternoon after my meeting. I'm so glad I could make it and it was super fun watching D compete with his class and buddy-class. His group of K/Gr 4 kids was the highest scoring for that age group!

Gaga ball

So glad to see him participating!! <3

Survivor ropes race in the forest

I got here at the start of the hula-hoop challenge

He was SO tired by the end of the day haha. Just glued to me and wanting to hold my hand <3

3. Beach Day. Emilia's class had beach day on Thursday and it was a great day! Gramma and Grandpa were in town for appointments and happened to be able to make it to the beach too! They also came to Dom's last hockey which was super helpful for me as I had all the kids haha. It feels really good to be coming out of the foggy of babies/young toddlers. I am feeling optimistic about this summer :)

4. The honour of playing at a beautiful memorial service. Annemarie Van Ryk passed away a while ago from cancer, and our team was asked to play at her service. It was the epitome of a celebration of life, and while of course it was sad, it honoured Annemarie so beautifully. I was very honoured to be playing bass. 

Wednesday evening practice in White Rock followed by snacks & wine

5. Garage Sale-ing. There was a neighbourhood garage sale a couple weekends ago and we let the kids use some of their own money to buy something. They felt SO special and those toys are the new favorites. 

Bowser's castle

Emilia picked out "Hedwig" :)

6. Dad doing fun things with the kids. Dave was planning to go to the Porsche Dealership for a "cars and coffee" meet or something. He got there, and abruptly came back home to get Dom and Emilia to do something fun with them! He also brought them to his Friday night basketball last week. Love that they can do these things with him!

Another perk is that I got an hour of time with just Eva and I where I wasn't rushing around with a thousand things to do, meals to cook, and children to tend to. Was really great to play some Lego with her and give her some undivided attention!

7. Friends for Eva. Eves is so lucky with all these cousins and Wren as built in besties. It's been so fun watching their relationships and social skills grow! 

So many little blonde, blue-eyed children haha

Two peas in a pod

8. This brave guy. Dom had to have a tooth pulled at the dentist this week. He did SO well. He was a little nervous, but very reasonably so. He had an extra tooth growing behind his top front teeth. Apparently this just happens with some kids sometimes, but it was affecting his adult teeth from wearing the roots of his baby teeth up there so it had to come out. The dentist office is amazing of course, and Dom was SUCH a trooper. He was a little scared on the way home when he was still bleeding, but by an hour or two later it was business as usual for him. 

9. Emilia's interest in cooking. She's been helping me cook many meals lately and I'm learning to trust her more with the big chef knives. We've been working on proper technique but goodness it still makes me nervous haha. One slip and there goes her finger! 

And some more random photos from the last week and a bit..

Phoebe got to meet "Baby Mate". Her face says it all

We got a new (to us) couch in the office so Dave had to move everything around. The kids found this card from when Dom turned 5 under the couch and he was reading it out loud. Emilia sat with him and put her arm around him <3. I have to get a picture still of the new couch!

Three kids squished into a little tent playing "nap" haha

Emilia requested a haircut!
Before...

After! Not perfect, but it looks and feels fresh!

Emilia tucked the dog in haha

Dave made burgers one day. YUmmmmmm

I got the dill sandwich at Dublin Crossing last week. 10/10

We go down and visit Calla (just one of the 11 horses currently in the fields in our neighbourhood) multiple times per week. She almost always comes up to the fence for the girls. This time she walked up and gave a show of eating the trees right in front of them while Eva yelled, "HI HORSEYY!!! HI CALLA!!!" Calla then stuck her head over and snuffed Eva's hair haha. Eva was unsure at first, but then very excited that she got a horsey kiss.

I wish we could get Emilia into horseback riding. She is obsessed with these horses and has a newfound confidence in herself when it comes to that sort of thing. She'll also walk Sherlock around the neighborhood and lead him how she was taught to lead a horse haha.