Victoria

Updates on Clifton -
He is really enjoying playing games.  All day long he request that we play a game, board, card, dice, anything.

Updates on McKay -
Her new thing is if I say no to her she will yell "PLEASE!"  like that will change my mind.

Updates on Stanley -
He is starting to babble and I love it!  Baby talk is so dang cute.
He is also struggling again this week with breathing and a cough.  We are back on every inhaler but so glad that it is keeping him well enough that we don't need to go to the doctors.

Monday for FHE Alex put together a great lessons about our Father's that have passed and what examples they were.  The kids loved hearing the stories.What a great Father Alex is!

For the activity we went bike riding as a family.

Tuesday was the first play group of the summer.

I love that I am surrounded by many wonderful moms and friends that we can get together with.

My mom came to town that afternoon to visit.  Alex and I took the opportunity to go on a date while she was here.

What a super fun date it was.  We could talk, paint, and eat all in one date.

 Mine - I sort of love it!

Alex's - Boom.  Boom.  Clap.

Wednesday we went to Battle Point Park in Bainbridge with Kathryn.

It was a cute park with a lake and ducks. We love ducks!

Thursday we went to Horse Shoe Lake.

Another picnic and fun times.  It wasn't a super warm day but that didn't keep my kids or my mom out of the lake.  A fun afternoon!
That night we went to cheer Alex on at his soccer game!

I love watching him play!

Friday we left for Victoria while Alex stayed home to help run Youth Conference.  Stanley started showing signs of coughing the night before but we decided to still go as planned.

On our way to the ferry we stopped at the Olympic Game Farm.  Always fun!  My favorite part was that the Zebra's were out this time.  ZEBRA!!!

The whole drive to the ferry was glum and even rainy, but as soon as we got to the ferry it was sunshine!  A beautiful day for a ferry ride.  The ride there was so jam packed that it was making me nervous with trying to keep my kids out of peoples way.  So it wasn't my favorite ferry ride, but we got there happily.

Once we got there Stanley was having a hard time breathing and really freaking me out.  Gladly I brought his inhalers and once he got that he was better.  However it was still making me nervous and worrying wether we should pack up and go home.  We decided to stay.  And he did great all day.  So we walked over to Beacon Hill Park which had tons to do, ponds, bridges, ducks, park, water fountains, and free petting zoo.

The petting zoo was a hit, if you couldn't tell from the pictures. McKay wanted to take a goat home so so so bad.  It was so cute how much she was loving on them and how much they were loving her back.

That night we walked the water front, got ice cream, and watched the sun set. Beautiful!

We then went swimming at the hotel.

It was outside so a little chilly but oh so fun.  Even Stanley was enjoying it.
The next morning we walked around looking at the beautiful buildings and fountains.

Next we decided to take one of the cute water taxis and go over to Fishermans Wharf.

Clifton says this was his favorite part of the trip.
Once at the Wharf they had a place you could buy fish and feed the seals if they were there.

How insanely cool was this!!!  This was by far mine and McKay's favorite part.  McKay showed no fear and really wanted to take one of them home with us too.  Clifton though it was cool, but preferred to just watch.

One of the fish was stolen right of McKay's hands by a seagull.  Sneaky seagull!

After lunch we headed over to a Bug Museum.

They let them hold most of the bugs.  Again McKay showed no fear. I'm not sure where this is most of the time, but it was fun that she was fearless this trip.  They even let the adults hold the tarantula (of course I did not join in on that - gross) but McKay begged to.  Luckily they wouldn't let her.  This was a fun place but not worth the money especially because we have a free and bigger one here.

Stanley helping us find our way.

That afternoon we got back on the ferry and headed home.  Another beautiful ferry ride and this time a lot less people so my kids had more space to roam around.  And we saw a whale on the way home!
Overall the trip was super fun.  However I would probably not do it again with my small kids.  It wasn't super kid friendly.  It doesn't help that I was worried about Stanley the whole trip too, worried we might have to rush home or go to the hospital in Canada.  Also I didn't read into a lot, making the trip harder on me.  Like the hotel we stayed at was literally across the street from the ferry but it was above a bar.  So we had to walk through that every time and it was always busy.  And the hotel didn't serve free breakfast.  There was no stores walking distance or fast food so we had to eat out every meal.  Which is expensive and hard to do with kiddos who are picky.  And I'm trying to eat health making that even harder to do.  But you live and learn.  It was a great trip and I am glad we did it.

Sunday was Father's day and we are so lucky to have Alex in our lives!

We sure love him and all he does for our family!