Victoria June 27-30

Our visit to Victoria was a hot respite from the cooler weather of Tofino.   Victoria is on the southern tip of Vancouver Island surrounded by the Georgia Strait.  It is a pretty small, but sophisticated city populated by many retirees, including Mark's aunt Edel who we visited.  It is very easy to get around and seems like you can get anywhere within Victoria within 15 minutes.  The weather in Victoria during our stay was unseasonably warm for Victoria (29-30 C); we are told that usually it is much windier and cooler.  We checked-in late at the Hotel Grand Pacific late at night (9 pm), as we got a late start from Tofino and stopped along the way in Nanaimo for dinner.

Royal BC Museum

After sleeping in at the hotel on Friday night, Saturday, we visited the Royal BC Museum, which was only a five minute walk from our hotel.  The Royal BC Museum had a great natural history section displaying many indigenous animals and birds to BC.  Anyone who has ever visited BC understands the amount of untouched nature there is in the province.  We saw replica sea lions, brown bears, bald eagles to name a few.  One thing that struck me as funny was the information I read about bald eagles showing that they are prevalent in North America, but only in Canada's west (i.e. not the US), so why is the US national bird the bald eagle?  Who knows? Maybe the Royal BC Museum is wrong on their prevalence, or maybe the map was just showing where they are popular in Canada?  The boys liked seeing the animals and loved playing in the sea creature area.  Christian was excited to see what a dried sand dollar looked like as compared to the live sand dollar found in Tofino.

A special exhibit was going on at the Royal BC Museum while we were there called "Free Spirit", honoring major cultural figures who had some connection to BC (i.e. Steve Nash, Diana Krall).  Christian and Liam loved running around this exhibit.  Christian especially liked seeing the blown up photo poster of an old fashioned drive-in in BC (see picture).

James Bay Tea Room

After a couple of hours at the Royal BC Museum, the kids, Mark and I were famished.  We walked a few blocks to a quaint tea room called the James Bay Tea House (see picture).  Liam fell asleep in the stroller on the walk to the museum probably because it was really hot and he had just been actively exploring the museum with Christian.  In fact, he stayed sleeping in my arms until the food arrived.  It was nice to have Liam sleeping in my arms since he hasn't done that since he was nursing way back when.  We feasted on currant scones, crumpets, cream, tuna and egg salad sandwiches, and a lemon and berry tart.  Along with our cold beverages, the James Bay Tea House hit the spot.  Yum.  We went back to the hotel to nap the kids, but they didn't sleep much, so I knew we were in for it this evening for dinner with Aunt Edel. 

Visit with Aunt Edel

On Saturday, we visited with Mark's Aunt Edel who is 86 and looks and thinks like someone much younger.  We picked her up at her apartment where the kids had a good time exploring.  I told Christian that I was going to sit in the back of the minivan with him so that Auntie Edel could sit in the front since she was older.  To my horror, Christian told Auntie Edel she could sit in the front seat because "you are older".  Kids have no filters, which makes them endearing and all the more reason to watch what you say around them.

It was a beautiful day in Victoria, hardly a cloud in the sky.  We ate at a restaurant called the Marina Restaurant in Oak Bay, a nice enclave in Victoria along the coast of the Strait.  Oak Bay reminded me a bit of Pasadena- - lots of trees, nice houses, looks very family oriented.  The restaurant had a continental menu emphasizing sea food, and a nice twist of a full sushi bar- - YUM.  They made this Victoria Roll which had real crab, smoked salmon, avocado, lettuce which was delicious.  After the kids ate their fish and chips, they were ready to roll which meant my dinner was over.  When Christian was Liam's age (18 months) he could sit for a long time after his meal.  In contrast, when Mr. Liam is finished, he wants to explore.  So, we went out looking at "pop-ies" (i.e. puppies) and birds.  We could see a family of ducks swimming together from our window seat, almost as if they have some natural order and pattern to follow (like birds).  I think our kids were the most antsy I've ever seen them at dinner which was probably not to amusing to Mark's aunt.  Mark's aunt is pretty remarkable.  She still drives, is part of  a hiking club, paints, eats healthy and has an iMac that she actually uses.  Definitely a model to strive for at 86.

Visit with Charlie & Family

We had dinner with Charlie, Anjou, their son Sebastian (age 7) and their new 9 month old baby Kai.  Charlie is a friend of Mark's from college whom I met while Mark and I were still dating (2002).  They have a nice house in Oak Bay, the town where Charlie spent some time growing up as his father taught at the University of Victoria.  Charlie and Anjou used to live in the Bay Area (CA) until they got fed up with Bush and moved.  Anjou and Charlie set up a slip and slide for the kids and had a nice BBQ for us.  Christian loved playing with Sebastian and his friends.  I was smiling at him because he was trying to keep up with the older kids, both physically and verbally while at times some of the boys just looked at him and thought that was funny.  Once we got to Charlie's Christian and Liam were pretty much occupying themselves.  Christian with the boys and Liam with some of Kai's toys.  When Kai went up to sleep that evening, Liam was asking for "bee-bee".   Even though the two youngest ones didn't "play" together, they were definitely checking each other out and happy to see one another.  Anjou had a really beautiful flower bed which gave me some inspiration to try gardening.  As we were enjoying the evening, I couldn't help but think about how time really does fly.  Couldn't believe it had been 6 years since I saw Charlie with Mark at some random Santa Monica bar where Charlie was showing me baby pics of Sebastian, who is now reading comics and is really growing up!

Return to Calgary

We flew back to Calgary from Victoria on Monday, June 30th.  The kids were really well behaved on the plane, though did not sleep on the short 1 hour flight.  One funny thing about Liam though was that he is pretty regulated with his pooping, but I almost ran out of diapers for him on the plane (a mother's worst nightmare!).  I think that his love for blueberries was going to catch up with me sooner or later.  We arrived in Calgary with a bit of scary turbulence, I think caused from the storm clouds that were forming as the rain began to come down once we got back home.  All in all a great vacation which was not too tiring considering Mark and I did it solo, without Amy or other helpers.