We are having such a lovely time on Vancouver Island, it still feels like a home away from home despite me being absent from it for a few years. It warms my heart that my children will be able to experience many of the things that made the Island so great – from family to making memories going out and about. 

We are all about experiences. It is more important for us to do things and make memories right now than have concrete items. For instance, we went to Island View beach yesterday and Amelia found a driftwood fort she wanted to explore, while Cedric sat on the beach picking out rocks that he happily showed off to us.

So….remember how I said I would probably pack everything but the kitchen sink….and that I was going to make a list to avoid that? Well I packed everything and a box full of food; so pretty much the kitchen sink. My Uncle joked that “you know we have stores down here” …. touché! However, I justify my overpacking by the fact I have already touched everything I brought at least once. Though we’ve had a few issues from loosing a toy, and boots that didn’t fit.

My husband left the sacred Bun-Bun the Bunny on the Ferry; therefore, one of our first activities was going to the toy store to pick out a new furry friend. She picked out a cute little unicorn, and also named it Bun-Bun. It is going to have a identity crisis….am I a bunny or a unicorn? At least she loves it, and any potential crisis was averted.

Now how did the boots factor in?

Yesterday we were able to visit the memorial bench of my Aunt’s and visit my Great-Aunt in the cemetery across from the bench. They are both remembered directly across the path from the ocean, and the view is beautiful – unfortunately yesterday was cold and wet. I didn’t anticipate how cold the kids would get, and didn’t dress them in enough layers….or put Cedric in the best footwear. It made for a relatively short visit

I discovered Cedric’s feet didn’t fit his new boots – always check the fit of things before packing them assuming they will be fine (and who knew I should have packed gloves in May). There was no way I could get his foot from the ankle part around the bend to the foot part. So this morning my first stop was finding a kids store and buying a different style of rubber boots. The size was the same, but it had a wider foot hole to get his foot actually into the boot. Yesterday he was in his little running shoes, and that was not pleasant for him. Little leather-ish shoes get wet fairly quickly.

This afternoon we (us and their Aunty) took the kids to Buchart Gardens after nap time – well it should have been after naptime, but my daughter somehow didn’t sleep during her nap attempt, and my son woke up earlier than usual. The perk of missed/short naps was we had more time to take in the gardens. I’m glad we waited for the afternoon because it became quite pleasant out. We lasted much longer than I anticipated , and made it through the entire garden (about 2 hours) – Oh! and Amelia actually enjoyed the carousal – they have a very very nice carousal at Buchart’s and it was 50/50 if she would be terrified or love it.

The kids were quite tired after all the fresh air, so I took a bunch of detours on the way home to let them have a short little truck nap. It was nice to show my husband and his sister where my grandparents used to live, and point out some sights.

Despite the truck nap Amelia only made it until 6pm before she was asking to go to bed. Cedric caught a second wind and made it almost to 7pm. The perk of staying up meant he could sample all the dinner foods. He ate his own noodles, then garlic toast, ribs, broccoli and cauliflower. I don’t know how he didn’t explode from eating so much.

Tomorrow we are off to Langford for the evening to have dinner with more family. The morning will be spent exploring a playground near my Uncle’s place…..and having solid naps!