Our family has declared 2017 as "The Year of Adventure and Travel." Taking that motto to heart, we headed to Victoria, British Columbia on January 1 to get the boys their first stamps in their passports. We thought it would be fun to test drive traveling in a different county (I know, Canada is not that different) before our big Mexico trip to pick out housing.
It didn't take long for us to feel REAL adventurous as we headed out in a full on snow storm. We just kept on driving slowly north, hoping it would stop. I'm not going to lie, Ben and I looked at each other several times wondering if we should turn back.
The kids just thought that it was grand, though!
Thankfully, it didn't snow the whole way. However, it was pretty stormy in Port Angelos, where we boarded the ferry. That made for a pretty rough boat ride. Sam and I worked real hard to hold in our lunch and Joshy stayed really close to Ben. Seth thought that it was cool.
As we got closer to Victoria, the water settled down a bit and we were able to walk around.
We were given a great test of flexibility when we arrived in Canada, as they decided perhaps our car might be harboring weapons. Yep, that's right. Three kids, car loaded to the brim with blankets and pillows and they had us go inside while they searched our vehicle. It was kind of weird! The kids did get their first stamp though!
We rented the coolest loft condo via airbnb to stay at for our two nights. There was a massive windstorm in Victoria on the first night and I had a hard time sleeping as the wind whipped straight against our abode and rattled at the windows, vents, etc. The kids slept great, though! (This is a major victory as we were reminded of our trip to Seattle when Josh woke up at 11:30 and stayed up literally the rest of the entire night!)
The next morning we headed to the Royal British Museum and caught our first bout of good luck: it was donation week and we didn't have to pay full price. That tickled us! It was a really neat museum.
They had some really cool nature scenes with life-like animals in them. The boys really liked those.
There was also a really neat language center where we could hear a lot of the indigenous tribes' native languages. That was really fun. Also, there was some really great totem poles, arrow heads, and other Native American artifacts. Seth and Sam ate all that up.
A three year old can only take so much of a museum, however, and Josh and I began to take the rapid tour of the rest of the museum, finally landing in the lobby eating snacks.
After some midday naps and Starbucks for mama, we bundled up with every layer we could find (it was about 20 degrees out) and headed to the Butchart Gardens. Ben and I visited the gardens exactly 11 years earlier as a newly married couple and it was delightful to return with our children.
We toured around a bit while it was still light outside, and Ben and the boys rode the carousel.
Seth on top, Sam on bottom
Joshy was riding "Humphrey" the camel (from the Christmas book of course)
The decorations were beautiful
Seth, Sam
Then it was time to ice skate! We even let Joshy put on skates this year. That was...difficult...but we're glad we tried! At the very least it was a great workout for Ben and I!
All the boys
After Josh was all done trying, Ben and I switched and I got to skate with the twins. It was so fun. This is our third year ice skating around Christmas time and Seth and Sam have improved so much!
Sam
Seth
They didn't even hug the rails the whole time!
It was such a beautiful rink!
More good pictures of Seth, Sam
The boys loved watching the train set
After skating, we ate a few snacks and headed back out to the gardens to tour the lights. They are truly are amazing! It is a "Twelve Days of Christmas," theme and the big boys had a blast running around finding each day of Christmas displayed.
Seth and Sam were wonderfully eager to get pictures taken
This was one of my favorite scenes
We stopped and listened to a brass band playing Christmas carols; what a beautiful scene!
We ended up leaving the gardens around 7 and still needed to grab dinner. We found this amazing Thai food restaurant. It's one of my favorite memories of the trip. As we were sitting around eating Pad Thai and Curry, Ben was beaming and told us all that his dreams for his family had come true: that we could be the type of family to go on adventures, be flexible and eat Thai food at 8:30 pm in Canada! It was a really sweet moment.
We left the next morning for phase 2 of our vacation, but I wouldn't let us leave the condo without a few more pictures. They boys grudgingly complied.
This is taken from the loft where Ben and I slept. The beams, the brick, the white trimmed windows...it made for such a beautiful place!
