Parksville

About 20 minutes north of Nanaimo is a small town called Parksville where Tyler's cousin Janet and her husband Ben live.  We took a trip out there today to check out the scenery.  We went to a beautiful park and enjoyed playing on the playground and on the water park.  It was easily the biggest playground i've ever seen. 

 There were tons of slides and swings and things to climb on.  

It was fun for young and old alike. 

 

At the same park was also a display from the sandcastle competition from earlier in the month.  The sandcastles were amazing in their detail and design.  Some entries were from individuals, and the largest sculptures were created by teams.  Each entry was given 23 hours to complete their sculpture (within a 3-day time frame) and a specified amount of sand and space. 

 They were required to use all the sand in their sculpture and when the pieces were complete they sprayed each sculpture with a mixture of glue and water to seal them.  As tourists we were able to take a token and vote for our favorite sculpture.  

Lucy and Tyler both voted for the "monsters under the bed" sculpture, but I voted for the "Take Off Eh" sculpture.   

It was a hard choice as all the sculptures were outstanding.  We had a picnic lunch of panago pizza and then headed out to the "Goats on the Roof" which is a market and restaurant.  The roof of which is covered in grass and kept trimmed by goats.  

The market was busy and had a lot of different souvenir type shops.  We bought the kids a toy drum, a train whistle, and papa bought them each a Pez dispenser (Lightening McQueen for Max and Gloria the Hippo for Lucy).  We stopped for a quick icecream and then were on our way back to the car. 

We were surprised when we got to the van and saw a bunny had taken a bit of shade under our vehicle.  Jason got a few lettuce leaves and strawberries to feed the bunny and we stood back and tried to coax the rabbit out.  Max, being his usual fearless self ran straight for the bunny to interact.  Fortunately, the rabbit was just as fearless so he didn't feel intimidated by the close visitors.  

We headed back to Ben and Janet's for a delicious salmon dinner.  The salmon was caught by Ben and his dad on their last fishing trip.  We had fun playing a game called "Battle of the Sexes." and were home late.  The kids headed right to bed and all the older kids played pool for a while.  The day was a mix between grey and sunny so it worked out well to be in and outside.