Beach Days

We spent a hot hot day at the beach and had fun building sand castles and cooling off in the water.  The beach was actually on a lake and we found the sand much smoother than the ocean.  

The next day we went to the beach at the ocean and found the water cooler and the sand rougher, but how can you come all this way and not swim in the ocean?!

So far we have seen a jellyfish, crabs (of varying sizes) and hundreds of starfish.  They litter the shoreline when the tide goes out.  They're mostly purple, but every so often you see a red, or grey, or orange one.  We've collected a number to dry out to take as souvenirs.

Ferry Ride

On Wednesday we took the Ferry ride over from Vancouver to the island.  It was amazing to be on the boat and listen to the big horn as we departed.  The kids went up front for a while (it was REALLY windy) and then spent most of their time in the kids room.  

They watched Diego and the Backyardigans and then Lucy played cards with her aunties.  Now that we're at our condo in Nanaimo, we get to see the Ferry come and go all day. 

 Our view is amazing and we get to see the tide come in and out everyday.  We've collected a lot of seashells. 

Vancouver Aquarium

Here we are on Day two of our journey to the island.  We stopped at the Vancouver Aquarium to check out the new baby beluga.  

The kids had a blast and we met up with Janie's cousin Keona and her son Jack who is a few months younger than Lucy. 

 They had a great time seeing all the animals together.

Swimming with Jacob

After we got family photos done on Monday we came home and got in the pool.  Jacob chilled in his tub for a bit and then joined the kids in the pool for a few minutes.

Konichiha Janeen!

Janeen is back from her two week exchange in Japan.  The kids were excited to pick her up at the airport.

Eye Doctor

Max had an appointment at the Children's Hospital to get his eyes checked.  The doctor was worried that he had a bit of a lazy eye, but so far everything checks out.  He was SO good and had fun spotting elephants, and puppies and turtles.  The nurse said he was excellent.  After we were done we went and took a look at the fish in the tank and he was excited saying, "memo! memo!"

Waiting in Walmart

We all took a ride in Papa's big red truck into Home Depot and they dropped Max and I off at Walmart to pick up a few things.  We raced around trying to get everything we needed before they got back from Home Depot and ended up waiting around in the entrance to Walmart for about 45 minutes for them.  To entertain Max we started trying on cowboy hats.  He loved wearing it and waving at people walking by, but he insisted that I keep a cowboy hat on the entire time as well.  We decided to take pictures of ourselves since we looked so cute.