Kamloops - the city of stuff

So Saturday morning was a good one, everyone had a bit of a sleep in and then we ventured out to find breakfast in town that wasn't the $15 bacon and eggs the Harrison Hot Springs Resort had on the menu. It was a beautiful morning and the annual Arts Festival was just starting it's second day.

We found a restaurant called Rockamolles which is a rock and roll bar and restaurant at night and a pancake joint by day. Our server was super nice but seemed like she usually does the night shift (just a little 80's hair and a pair of black tight jeans).

On our walk to the van we passed a small street vendor that was selling honey and fresh fruit. The dude insisted we sample all the honey he had and the kids liked the cinnamon honey and Mom and Dad loved the espresso honey. Soooo, we ended up with a couple jars of local honey (espresso, cinnamon, raspberry, and vanilla).

Then we were off of fulfill all our dreams and desires in Kamloops. Now nothing against Kamloops, because all I know about it is that they have a WHL team, but it doesn't really scream out;

Vacation Destination!

Kamloops, we have everything of Calgary but were are smaller!

Kamloops, come check out our stuff and things!

Kamloops, a city that never sleeps, well we sleep but we stay up really late!

It really had absolutely no attraction for us. But in the end it was a nice little city stuck in a valley with great scenery. What we did find in Kamloops was a restaurant called the Chopped Leaf. They had great fresh salads and wraps all using some pretty great ingredients. It is nice to see a place where you can get a salad with more than just lettuce and cucumbers.

We were super excited to find this place and looked it up online that night to check out the menu further when we realized that This local fresh food joint is a chain store.

Whoppie, meh!

Awesome that we can find it in other cities to get our veggie fix on other trips but too bad that it is a bit corporate. Oh well, as long as it makes great fresh healthy food this franchise can't be that bad.

We then rocked the pool well into the night, which was nice because it was salt water so it was not chalk full of pickling chemicals for once. No water slide but the pool had a small lazy river that pushed you along and a nice hot tub.

And the night was going along as it usually does with booked in bed and kids drifting off to sleep when Mom was laying in be switch our middle child, the oldest boy, and they had quite the bizarre conversation as he was on the verge of drifting off to sleep.

Fella: the GPS called me an idiot.
Mom: what!?
Fella: the GPS called me an idiot today, I don't like the GPS.
Mom: but buddy I heard you call the GPS an idiot this afternoon, why did you do that?
Fella: because it called me an idiot first.

All this was in a serious sleepy tone and was not one of his many attempts to be silly, because he drifted off to sleep a few moments later.

Well holy crap if Mom and Dad did not laugh ourselves to tears when he was out and we relived the exchanged!! We both heard him this afternoon call the GPS an idiot, but I guess it was just in defense of a smart mouthing GPS.

What a great end to a day...

Still no pictures as Dad's phone is still out of commission after being submerged in the ocean. So you will have to wait until we arrive home later this week and upload the photos to each post and. The photo galleries.

Best Western in Kamloops

Room 5/5 (the room was bigger than a standard room, $10 more a night, and that was awesome. It was fairly new looking and clean and very quiet.)

Pool 4/5 (there was no water slide but the pool and hot tub were nice. Salt water in both which was nice, and the pool had a little lazy river going on.)

Location 4/5 (we are not sure if it was close to any attractions, but it was close to Superstore! And there was quite the assortment of stores in a few strip malls nearby.)

Hotel 4/5 (we would recommend people give it a shot, especially with a bigger room. We broke a glass in the carpet and a fella came right up after we called and vaccumed it up and brought a new glass.)

drive, wait, drive, wait, drive...

All packed up for the ferry off the island.

Sorry about no pictures today, check out the Photos page for a bunch more pictures from our vacation. We will add more pics when we can.

Yesterday was Friday and we left Vancouver Island pretty early, after we realized we hadn't eaten a nanaimo bar in Nanaimo we quickly stopped at a bakery and grabbed a traditional and a peanut butter nanaimo bar, so we could meet the kids Aunt for an afternoon of Playland in Vancouver.

It was another great ferry ride, this time back to the mainland, but after about an hour the kids wanted to go back and play in the van until we docked.

We then booked it to the PNE Playland for our amusement park date!

It was awesome! The Auntie knew all the great kids rides as well as the big rides too. Our oldest even went with her on the giant swing ride that raises a good 150 feet in the air. Which we found out was super nice and cool spinning around up in the air because it was hot out!

We bounced around between rides and games for a good 2+ hours, winning a giant inflated superman baseball bat, a little stuffed cow, a big stuffed cat, and a bubble gun (which saved the day when the little guy was getting tired and fidgety). And to cap off the afternoon was a round of snow cones for the kids!

It was good to do something different than what we had done this vacation, and to let them run around a bit and play some games. And we all loved seeing our West Coast family because we hadn't seen her in awhile.

Thanks for the afternoon!!!!

Afterwards we had to put the pedal to the metal so we could reach Harrison Hot Springs and stay at the Harrison Hot Springs Resort in our Harrison Hot Springs Resort hotel room. Unfortunately the fastest speed we were able to reach for the first hour was 50 km/h.

Soooooo, we didn't actually get into our hotel room until 7:30! And at this point the kids had not eaten, besides a bagel and six timbits, so we still had to eat. the hot springs were just outside our room so we had to swim in those first and then we had supper.

The hot springs were very nice. They were all slightly different temperatures so we hoped from pool to pool and ended up in the spray pad. Then back at our room we ordered room service, because no one in town would deliver to the resort, we had some chicken strips and veggies and apples, Mom had a portabella burger, and Dad had a salmon burger. The salmon burger was the best!

And with the kids in bed and asleep at 10:30 we were excited to relax....but the adults only pool was just outside our window, one floor down and it was super loud.

Sigh.

Oh well at least the kids will sleep in. Right?

Harrison Hot Springs Resort

Room 2/5 (it was loud having the pool just outside the room and the room was fairly old.)

Location 4/5 (even though it was quite an adventure to find the resort in town it was right at the lake and there were lots of cool stores a block away.)

Pool 5/5 (the pools are aging a bit but are pretty cool! There are 5 pools, 2 indoors 3 out, that are designed to look like they are natural pools in a forest. Oh and they had a small spray park for the kids.)

Hotel 3/5 (the hotel is super nice and very fancy and aged...but it is not for us. Even with cool pools and being nestled in the mountains it was too fancy for us. Access to food was limited unless you ate at their restaurants and the price was high. We could have had a killer room with two queen beds, free continental breakfast, and water slides for about half the price. But it was worth giving a shot, but not again with kids.)

I love Cheeeese! we went to a cheese farm today.

Little guy in a giant wooden shoe outside the Dutch Grocer

The evil waves will be defeated by Weenie the Brave

Trying to catch lunch at Dinghy Dong Dock Pub

Chowing on the chowder!

Kids loved the bunnies at the Cheeseworks.

Making a doomed sand castle as the tide is coming in

So we are going to combine yesterday and today into one epic, monstrous post! And as well we are going to have a contest, details at the end of the post.

Yesterday we booked it out of Sooke bright and early and headed back to Nanaimo. Along the way we stopped at a little art gallery just off the highway.

During our trip our oldest has been taking an interest in totem poles, as we have come across a lot of amazing ones on the Island. And in Sooke she found a piece of drift wood and said she was going to make a totem pole, she used her markers and made a cute little totem pole of her own.

So Mom and her went into the little art gallery and came out with a nice little replica totem pole for her to keep in her room.

By the time we got to Nanaimo it was lunch time, so we hopped on the ferry and went to Protection Island in the Nanaimo harbour for lunch at Dinghy Dock Pub. It is the only restaurant on the island and it is at the end of the dock that the ferry uses, so the kids loved that they ate lunch at a floating restaurant, and they serve pretty good meals too. Mom had a tuna sandwich and Dad had to try their clam chowder and then ate a honey ginger glazed salmon salad with a wasabi dressing!!  

A really neat thing for the kids is that they have a place outside where we sat where the kids could fish. They had little fishing poles and line with corn on the end. Little fish kept coming by and nibbling but no one took the bait and was caught. But it did not stop the kids from trying and trying and trying and trying.

We did not get back to our home base in Nanaimo until late afternoon so Mom ran out for some groceries while the kids played and relaxed for the rest of the day.

And of course Mom and Dad rocked the tea on the deck in the evening relaxing and enjoying the scenery.

Today, we had a much busier day because we had no travelling to accomplish. We started out by heading to Qualicum and checked out their beach. Because the tide was just about all the way back in the kids played in the sand and were constantly being pushed back closer to land every few minutes as the ocean kept washing their shoes away from the dry spot they had placed them.

We think the little guy was still choked about getting thrashed in Tofino because he had a wooden sword and was very angry at each wave as it crawled up the beach at him, and it ended in tears when the ocean first took the kids shoes from an earlier dry spot and slowly washed them about.

After we were evicted from the beach by the water the kids voted and we decided to go to Parksville and play at their playground and spray park.

On our way there we came across a sign that read,

"Moonberry Winery and Little Qualicum Cheeseworks"

So we of course veered off the highway and searched for this amazing combination of a place. What we found was perfect! It was a dairy farm that produced cheese and also made wine, AND they also had a cool self guided tour for kids that was a scavenger hunt taking us all around the farm to get different stamps for each clue. The kids played with a few rabbits they had, they saw some baby dairy cows, which caused the youngest to shout "Be-be Kow! Be-be kow!", over and over again for a good 10 minutes, even after we left the cows.

We were able to see the barn where they milk the cows and check out the horses they have on hand for trail rides, all in all a great stop.

Oh, and we ate cheese! The kids were sooo excited to be at cheese farm because they could then tell a friend of theirs, who LOVES cheese, that they were at a cheese farm.

So we left the Cheeseworks with a bottle of wine and some cheese and finally found ourselves at the playground and spray park in Parksville.

2 hours later we packed up and drove off with a van full or rosy cheeked kids, and stopped again at that nice little restaurant Avo's Eatery in Parksville. Mom had the Santa Fe wrap with broccoli sprouts and carmelized onions and Dad had an avocado, tomato, and Asian salad on noodles. We both agreed that Mom's was the best!

On our way back to Nanaimo we were again sidetracked!

A sign that read,

"70 flavours of Licorice" caught our eyes. Sooo we pulled off the highway again and found a neat little Dutch grocery that indeed had at least 70 different flavours of licorice. The kids dug through the bulk bins and selected quite the assortment of licorice tp give Grandpa once we get home. And the nice lady who owned the store gave the kids a bag of chocolate soccer balls and Dad a dried farmers sausage.

The kids loved the chocolate but the large farmers sausage made Dad's stomach feel - bletch!

Once finally home we ate a buffet of random foods we had on hand, had a quick evening dip in the hot tub and then bath and off to bed with the lot of them.

Tomorrow we leave the Island, which will be a sad moment. We had a hell of a good time here and I think we would all galdly spend another couple weeks checking out what it has to offer.  

But it works out well for us because tomorrow we are going to meet up with someone in the family who the kids adore and have a super fun time in Vancouver at an amusement park.

Thanks for a good time Vancouver Island, stay classy!

Now for the CONTEST!!!!

We have so far taken a lot of pictures on vacation, and more than a few of them are completely ridiculous! So we thought it would be fun to have a caption contest.

Take a look at the picture below and in the comments section below write your best caption for the picture. I don't think there will be a prize but we can all enjoy the stupid and silly captions that everyone comes up with.

What's your best caption for this picture?

Eating what we 'catch'

   A wee breaking of our fast on the front porch in Sooke.

  Morning walk on Wiffin Spit in Sooke. Wiffin Spit from our pilotless drone that came with our new Nikon D3200. We are that dark spot beside that light area. 

Our first pothole we splashed in, nice and shallow here.

A little dip in the second pothole we visited. Being submerged in the icy water was quite the shock to the human body!

Our youngest did not want to part with his egg that he picked.

After dropping and cracking his precious egg he was more than happy to eat it!

Our middle child prepared with the lid in case the crab escaped the transfer.

Our first morning in the cabin in Sooke was pretty decent, except for the early birds wanting their worms. But it seems that when in a cabin or camping early mornings are a guaranteed occurrence.

We started off with pancakes, waffles and toast and some strong (new coffee makers are always fun to learn) and finished off on the front porch planning our day.

We first headed off to the natural peninsula in the Sooke Inlet called Wiffin Spit, cue the wild crazy laughter from our oldest boy. It is a full kilometer long and almost stretches across the whole opening of the inlet. We were advised that is was a good spot to see sea otters, sea lions, and seals.

After a good hike out on Wiffin Spit, and disturbing many early morning walkers peaceful stroll, we headed back with nothing to be seen.

Until we spied two sea otters diving and swimming near the shore! The kids were excited and watched them for a good 53 seconds and were then off to the Boardwalk down the coast a bit.

The board walk was a cool little walk down a bunch of stairs and then along the coast for a couple hundred yards. It was a great view of the inlet and is supposed to be a great place to watch whales that happen by the area, no sea animals for us though.  We dis meet a nice boxer named Lola though.  She was rescued by the "Without Borders Boxer Rescue" and taken in by this super nice family when she was only a pup.

Once we made it back to the van we were off to the destination that everyone was excited to see...the Meadery!!!

I think it is called a meadery?

There is a little farm outside of Sooke that is a honey farm and a meadery (they make their own mead!) called the Tugwell Creek Farm and Meadery. After our trek down the coastline we found out that meaderies are closed on Tuesdays. Crap.

So we went back to the cabin to drown our sorrows in lunch, and a nap for the wee one.

After the rest we were off to what the locals called the Potholes, well I gues the government calls them the potholes too because it is called the Sooke Potholes Regional Park. But this is a place along the Sooke river where over many years the water has worn away the rock to form these little pools along the bank that are great for swimming.

So we vanned it up to the park and hiked down to two of the different pools. They we great!

The water was cold, clean, and clear. It was a popular place for people to hop in a tube and float around, swim the little pools (the first one was about 100 feet wide and in the middle we couldn't see the bottom), or to bask on the pebbly beaches.

It was a great afternoon in the sun. And we are amazed at how many different places to swim we have found that have been absolutely different than each other.

It was supper time by the time we left the potholes (which by the way look absolutly nothing like a pothole.) and so we were going ot stop for some fresh prawns at one place and some lettuce at another.

At the first stop we bought some prawns but Dad, in his wisdom, also bought a live 2 lbs Dungeness Crab to boil and eat.

At the second stop we bought some mixed fresh greens and jam and in talking to the owners Ellen and Dick ended up spending an hour and a half touring their farm. It turns out Ellen is from Saskatchewan and has been turning her little plot into her little prairie oasis.

She has a great garden (which she plants wheat and oats!), a few sheep, some goats (which they milk and make cheese out of), a few geese and ducks, a dwindling flock of chickens (a pesky racoon has been taking the hens), and a great little orchard of fruit and nut trees!

This was an absolute fantastic evening! The kids got to pick eggs from the coop, eat mulberries and thimble berries, feed the goats, see all the trees (they spun around the mulberry bush, and picked artichokes from their garden.

Ellen and Dick, or Grandpa Dick and Grandma Ellen as they introduced themselves to the kids, were amazing, and sweet to the kids. Ellen showed everything to the kids and did not just talk to the adults and even picked up our youngest and excitedly walked him to the almond tree they had.

If you are even in Sooke keep your eyes open for a little sign that mentions fresh veggies and baking, Ellen and Dick are busy people (their veggie and baking stand in the yard is a self serve and pay deal with a slotted tin to put your money in) so hopefully you get the opportunity to meet them!

We wantd the kids to eat the eggs they had gathered so we planned on making some scrambled eggs with supper, except our little guy had different ideas. He did not want to part with his egg. He carried it back to the cabin and would not hand it over. But he ended up cracking it pretty good when he was playing with it and toy car he had. Then he was ready for the circle of life to take place, once he realized that the egg that he had gathered from the hen house was nothing but...an egg.

Supper was a buffet of sandwiches, salad, scrambled eggs, veggies, crab legs (receipe below), prawns, hot dogs, and yogurt tubes. We ended the evening with a marshmallow roast over a little fire and plopped the kids to bed before 9:00 pm.

We did end up finding some of the local mead at a pub in town, so Dad enjoyed a glass of honey mead and Mom a cup of tea.

Tomorrow we are back to Nanaimo for two nights then homeward bound.

Dad's Not Famous Crab recipe

ingredients

1 -2 lbs dungeness crab - as live as possible

1 big pot

lots of water

1 stove

First you put lots of water in the big pot. Then you put them both on the stove and boil.

Once the lots of water is boiling, place the as live as possible crab in the water, bottom down, and slam lid on pot as fast as possible so you don't have to see the angry crab boil.

After 20 minutes remove cooked crab and consume!

Feeding Wild Seals and Other Shenanigans

This was the best part!

Sharing at the Soda Shoppe in Victoria

Traditional banana split from the soda shoppe in Victoria Someday we will see the end of the highway!Just in the woods near SookeWild harbour seals in VictoriaThe Forest House in Sooke

We left Nanaimo early and headed out to Victoria and then Sooke.  After a very disappointing visit to the "Undersea Gardens" (seriously, just because you can see fish in a tank does not mean you are an undersea garden and should charge a family $40 to see it), we walked around downtown Victoria. 

It was pretty hot and sunny so we found a super neat restaurant called "The Soda Shoppe".  Dad had a pineapple fizzy and then we ordered a traditional banana split.  The kids had only ever seen a soda shoppe in cartoons so they loved sitting on the stools and looking out the windows while enjoying some ice cream.

Then we found "Mile 0" of the trans-Canada highway.  Mom loved having pictures taken there...someday we will have our pictures taken at the end of the trans-Canada highway. We also showed them the Terry Fox statue at Mile 0, our oldest had learnt about him in school so she thought it was neat to see where he had been.

The best find of the day was HARBOUR SEALS... real wild ones! 

We heard from a local fellow that there were a few seals that hung out in the Oak Bay Marina.  We walked around the dock and found them right away.  For $1.99 the marina shop will sell you a bag of frozen, dead, cut in half fish to feed to the seals. 

The kids loved the fact that the fish were frozen, dead AND cut in half. We didn't get it but to each their own.

OMG!  So much fun!  Our middle child didn't want to touch the fish, so he just dumped his entire bag into the water and the seals went nuts. They swam around the dock and nabbed the fish every time we threw some.

One seal even floated there and waited to have the fish thrown in his mouth, if you waited to long he would splash you with his flipper. The kids loved watching and feeding seals!

The dumb lady who dropped her sun glasses in the harbour while watching the seals was almost as entertaining. She freaked out when they fell and then stomped around trying to figure out how to get them out...they were 30 feet down. he he he!

Everyone then rested, except for Dad who had to drive, as we went to our cabin in Sooke.  The cabin was nestled in the forest.  Even though it was hot and sunny our cabin 60 feet off thehighway was cool and refreshing.  A nice dog named Tobi met us there and even showed us around the inside of our cabin.

We had supper at a local favourite spot called, "Stickelback".  We sat overlooking the water and watched a game of kayak ball.  Our youngest got so excited when they scored a basket though that he would cheer and clap (which normally would be alright, but it was a more upscale restaurant and the cheering and clapping didn't really fit in). 

We had a great seafood supper...well mom (pesto mushroom crusted halibut) and dad (salmon and sun dried tomato salsa) did...the kids had spaghetti (noodle) and meatballs (balls of meat) and chicken fingers, all of which were served in cardboard pirate ships, and came with ice cream.

Back at the cabin we lit the fireplace and cuddled up in blankets...one of the best things about winter...but it is summer, so it is a real treat. The temperature must have dropped to high single digits because Mom and Dad saw their breath just before bed time.

The Forest Cabin

Room 5/5 (The cabin interior was fabulous! It had two big super comfy beds, one in a loft, a full bathroom, kitchen, living room, front porch, and back patio. For the cost of a regular hotel room we had a great cabin with a fire pit and BBQ. Even though it was a cabin it was super super clean! The fridge was clean and did not smell bad at all. The cabin even receives our patented 'No Spider' award.) 

Pool 0/5 (...There wasn't one. It had a shower and tub but no other H2O options.)

Location 3/5 (It was close to Victoria, maybe 20 minutes away, and only 3 minutes from Sooke. It was just off the highway and still very secluded.)

Cabin 5/5 (We planned on staying there from the beginning but once we were there we realized how amazing it was to have a little break from the regular hotels. Being fully stocked we cooked full meals and had the little extra room and outdoor space to spread out a bit. We would recommend it to anyone.)

Scare the Kids

Whitewood Beach

Sundaes on the Deck

Let's go back to Sunday now shall we...

It was super nice out in Nanaimo, so we decided to head to the beach.  There is a lake just within Nanaimo called 'Westwood Lake'.  It was so pretty with huge trees, you would never know you were in a city.  There were lifeguards on duty and a nice area roped off for swimming. the beach was nice as well with lots of sand, and the total beach was probably 100 yards along the shore.  The water was quite cold, yikes, but we had fun. Our oldest even swam out ot the anchored raft with Dad, even though she "...couldn't see the bottom of the lake!", she said. 

Our youngest was super exhausted afterwards so Dad took the older 2 to "Brave" the new Disney movie. Sounded like a great thing to do...except for the massive scary bear in the movie that freaked them out!

It wouldn't have freaked them out as badly if they hadn't seen bears in the wild a couple days earlier. The evil bear followed them to Sooke a few days later where we learnt "...there are more bears here than anywhere else in BC."

Terrifying bear movie while in bear country....Good one Dad!

We cooked a super BBQ supper of chicken, hot dogs, asparagus, corn on the cob, and then made sundaes with homemade chocolate sauce, gummy bears and reeses pieces for dessert. 

We tucked the kids in early to bed so that we would be ready for Victoria and Sooke in the morning!

......

Then with everyone asleep Mom and Dad enjoyed some wine we had found on our way through Kelowna. If we both loved wine, instead of just liking it, we would have had more than the one bottle, because it was a great evening to sit on the deck and watch the ferry do it's thing in the Nanaimo harbour.

We are where the interwebs are not

So we left Nanaimo this morning to head south to Victoria for the day and then end up in Sooke.

Now the thing about our place in Sooke is that it is called The Forest House, and it is in the forest so our Internet access is non existent. There is a wireless signal but it is weak an date connection is not happening...and that is great!

Soon expect no further updates from us until we settle back into Nanaimo on Wednesday evening. We will post about our happenings on the Pacific side of the Island when we get back onto the superhighway.

Until then here is the abridged version of yesterday and today:

Yesterday

Went to the beach on a mountain lake in Nanaimo in the morning
Had a lazy afternoon at our home base
Dad and the two oldest went to see the movie Brave
BBQ on the deck of chicken and hot dogs, and made sundaes
Mom and Dad drank a bottle of wine on the deck

Today

Left Nanaimo heading south to Sooke
Went to aquarium in Victoria
Ate lunch at a soda shoppe and ordered and banana split, Dad ordered a pineapple fizzie (soda)
Drove to mile zero of the Trans Canada highway and saw statue of Terry Fox
Fed 'wild' harbor seals at the marina in Oak Bay. Only $1.99 for a bag of frozen fish heads!
Drove to Sooke, checked into cabin, ate supper on a patio by the ocean, bought some groceries, and came back and went to bed.

Whew!

We will add buckets of pictures and details of the Pacific coast soon!

A racoon ass kicking and lots of crabs

Our day started off early (as usual) so we went to hang out on the deck. 

every kids dream, a canon ride!

playing at the park on the harbour in Nanaimo

just starting our trek to the ocean's edge

In the shallow tide pools the water was nice and warm.

having a blast in the water

The family enjoying supper at a local joint just after leaving the beach

We got quite the treat while eating pancakes.  2 baby deer and 3 adult deer were playing in the yard, they were only a few metres away from us, but on the other side of the fence (this fence offers little to no protection we learned as this evening we saw one jump the fence quite easily).  Then Mr. Raccoon came back and put on a little show for the kids climbing trees.

We decided to start the day and hit downtown Nanaimo today and check out the harbour.  Seeing all of the boats was very cool.  It is so different for the kids.  They wanted to explore everything.  We grabbed lattes and walked the docks and enjoyed the dragon boat races that were taking place in the harbour.  There was a massive playground that was neat and the kids played their hearts out all morning. 

By 11:00 am they were exhausted.

We planned it out so that we went to Parksville when the tide was out.  The tidal pools were unbelievable!

They freaked the kids out though. First they took off full tilt into the first one and were shocked to see tiny little crabs running around, clams and sand dollars (none of which they have ever seen up close before).  Then they all wanted to be carried, yeah right! 

It took awhile for them to realize there was nothing to be afraid of, then they were ready to explore.  They collected a whole bucket of neat shells and helped save some sand dollars by putting them back into the water. We walked close to 300 yards through the tide pools and sand until they were able to swim in the ocean. We ended up hanging out on an island of sand right at the oceans edge and created worm habitats as we dug in the sand. We realized it was time to walk back to land once water began to creep up and was going to flood our bag and blanket in a few minutes time.

The kids were amazed to see the tide come back in!

Not only was the beach amazing at Parksville, but they had an unbelievable playground and spray park. The kids didn't want to leave. We spent so much time playing there that the kids were starving and ready for supper. Even though we had planned on BBQing, we instead stopped at a very neat restaurant that we stumbled upon by accident. Avos was the name, and avocados was its' game.

We had fresh chips and salsa sitting out on the patio. Our oldest son ate his weight in prawns. The kid meals were awesome and came with fruit and veggies and dip and juice.  The kids had grilled cheese and chicken quesadillas.  Mom and Dad shared a Baha salad with avocados, beans and sprouts and fish tacos with mexican rice and refried beans.  They were amazing!!!

The other amazing thing today is that it is Mom and Dad's 11th anniversary! It was a great way to spend a day like today, we relaxed, we played, and we had a great time together.

And it was as if the racoons in the backyard this evening knew that today was a special day, because they put on a 3 minute show as 2 racoons proceeded to kick the ever loving s*** out of a third racoon who had wandered by.

Gotta love what vacations throw at you.

Our 'hotel' in Nanaimo

So we have been rating our hotels along the way on our West Coast trip (except in Vancouver....shhh don't ask.). And so we thought it would be appropriate to rate our lodgings here in Nanaimo.

Deck and view from deck.

View of habour from deck

Our girl watching deer from the deck first thing this morning.

a little naked pancakes in the morning on the deck anyone?

Chez Nanaimo

Room(s) 5/5 (it is a spacious place with 4 bedrooms and an amazing kitchen and living room on the top floor. Surrounding the living room is a gorgeous deck with beautiful views of the harbour and city of Nanaimo. Oh, and on the deck is a hot tub.)

Pool 4.5/5 (even though it has no pool it does have a hot tub on the deck from which we ate frozen yogurt last night. And there are a fist full of beaches near by.)

Location 5/5 (we are on a hill to the south end of the city with beautiful views of the ocean and city. We are close to the highway for access to daily activities and we are close to a mall with grocery and other shopping.)

'Hotel' 5/5 (if this was a hotel we would recommend it to everyone. But since it is a private residence you are all S.O.L. Except if you are the lucky owners of this great place! Thank you for letting our family use your home while we were away from our home. The kids love being able to relax and play.)

We were lucky to beable to sue this great place for our vacation, but htere are also great little hotels down by the harbour that are silly close to shops, restaurants, and beaches.

only 1 kid threw up

A standard Ogopogo picture is needed.

Ferry ride to the IslandOur oldest enjoying Little Qualicum Falls. 

Our first foray onto the beach

Kids having fun, extreme insanity building....

All living s*** opens up and our oldest fella regresses 50,000 years!

Now we didn`t forget  to post about our day yesterday, we just wish we could forget about it.

We headed out of Kelowna early and hit the road for Vancouver.  It was a long drive for the kids, which made it a long drive for us! 

We checked into our hotel in North Vancouver.  It was a bit of a dive (so we al together left it off the hotel ratings for this summer), but supposively close to all of the attractions and close to the Ferry.  We dropped off our stuff and took off for the 5 minute drive to the Aquarium. 

But after 40 minutes of waiting to drive  the 3 blocks onto the bridge that would take us close to the Aquarium we decided it was best to go back to the hotel. I guess everyone in Vancouver also wanted to take the bridge to Stanley Park. The 1 km drive back took another 35 minutes.  We learned our lesson, driving in Vancouver is not the same as driving at home. The kids loved the pool though and didn`t want to get out, even for supper.

So we learned another lesson, book the ferry earlier than a day in advance.  When we went to book the Ferry over to Nanaimo our only options left were 6:20 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. 

6:20 a.m. it was! 

We packed up the night before and set the alarm for 4:15 a.m.  The kids loved the Ferry though.  Mom and Dad wanted to stay out on the outer deck, but the kids were more comfy in the big chairs on the inside of the boat.  We had brought breakfast with us, which was smart.

And they served delicious hot coffee.....so hot and delicious.

We got off of the Ferry at 8 a.m. and saw that Tofino was only 200 + km away so we made the silly decision to head to Tofino.  It took 4 hours to drive!!! 

We are still glad we went though.

The road to Tofino can be summed up by the warning signs of: Caution:  Narrow Winding Road.  Twisting and turning through the most beautiful forest ever! The trees were huge and we even saw 2 black bears.  We made a couple of stops on the trip, one to Little Qualicum Falls which was a super great little hike (lots of stairs, but easy terrain) and the goats on the roof in Coombs.  What a cool gimmick the goats are. 

The store is super neat and has lots of stuff and really reasonable rates.  The kids found wooden pop guns...you can imagine how long they lasted in the van before we had to threaten to take them away.  The bakery was also super neat and they had lots of food and garden stuff.  Dad ended up buying salmon jerky, home made granola bars, and a spinach brioche, so damn yummy!!!

Very fun stop! Worth it for sure for a few groceries or a lunch stop.

After we finally reached Tofino, but not before someone couldn`t hold his pre-lunch down going around all the little twists and turns in the road, the drive seemed worth it. 

Even with the sweet stick of barf mostly aired out of the van we stopped at the Tacofino stand for lunch, someone told us it was their choice for best fish tacos.

Ding Ding!!!

We ordered 1 fish taco, 1 bean taco, 3 cheese gringas (quesadillas), 1 mango-coconut smoothie, 1 mint-lime freshie, and 1 lemon-ginger freshie. It was amazing! The fish taco was hands down the best thing we have had in the fresh locally made food category. The little Tacofino truck pumped out a lot of tacos but they were lined up down the parking lot. We waited 30 minutes for our order, and they were moving to get everything out!

After lunch our little prairie children went nuts in the ocean.  Our youngest spent the entire time running out to the waters edge and then running away as the waves came.  He did this for a long time until he tripped and a wave caught up to him.  He had sand everywhere.  After that he yelled `bad water`and threw sand at the waves.  The other 2 ran and screamed and giggled.  They loved everything about it, the waves, the sand, the shells.  The were filthy and loving it!

It was great to see them experience something new and so different to what they have even done. There is something magical about waves and surf.

The drive back was long...but we did it!  We made it back to Nanaimo and went to a friends place to stay.  The graciously let us stay in their new house before they even move in.  It is on the side of a mountain overlooking the harbour!  It is insanely cool.  Tonight from the hot tub on their deck we saw a baby deer and a racoon.

Today was long but amazing!!!!

first full day in a city, Kelowna beware!

The Kelowna Farmers Market

The indoor pool in Kelowna, those windows fold up and the whole wall is open to the green space.

View from balcony in Kelowna. Pool indoors and hot tubs outdoors.

The oldest enjoying a picnic in Kelowna at a Regional park.

Our strawberry haul from the u-pick farm.

The little one saying "hello!' to the baby kangaroo in Kelowna.

A beautiful picture of our girl and an albino kangaroo baby!

We started off today by not packing the van to head out of town, but instead we packed a picnic lunch and planned a day in Kelowna.

We could write a whole post about the farmers market here in town, but we will limit it to just a few comments. It was fantabulous! Below is a list of what we bought;

- carrots, 3 bunches
- peas, 1 bag to be shelled and eaten in hotel
- cucumbers, 2 for snacking later
- kale crisps, 1 small bag of dehydrated kale crisps
- cheese bun, 1 bun that the young one selected
- lemon aid, 1 cup fresh squeezed that was selected by the middle kid
- cookie, 1 coco cookie that was selected by the oldest
- spinach buns, 3 spinach stuffed buns
- sweet and sour gluten, 1 order of soya gluten that was crispy, chewy and awesome
- cookies, a whole pack of coco cookies that everyone loved
- pumpkin seed brittle, 1 small bag of pumpkin seed brittle, so damn good
- chocolate mint ice 'cream', 1 cup of coconut milk ice cream that is 100% local and organic
- quinoa granola, secret recipe of quinoa granola that was crunchy and good
- cheese cake, 3 bite sized pieces of organic frozen cheese cake

Whew!

And we would have bought much more. There was so much fantastic booths and food trucks. And the kids enjoyed the kids magician that put on a show for all the kids at the farmers market. Check it out if you are in Kelowna on Wednesdays or Saturdays.

Then we found a awesome winery in Kelowna called House of Rose. www.houseofrose.ca. The owner was super nice, she walked us through the wines she had and Mom was able to sample a few. And we walked out of there with 3 bottles of wine and a map she gave us showing a u pick strawberry patch.

The strawberry patch was awesome. It was very hard keeping the boys from eating more than they picked, but they managed to collect 7 pounds of strawberries in 10 minutes...the juiciest, sweetest strawberries ever. The boys could barely eat their picnic lunch after eating as many strawberries as they could in the van on the way to the park. The left overs served as a wonderful topping on angel food cake back at the hotel.

Who knew that we would find kangaroos in Kelowna (that was not on the BINGO card)? We checked out a fun place called Kangaroo Creek Farm. The owners lovingly care for wallabies, kangaroos, goats and other animals. The kids got to feed a kangaroo and hold a baby kangaroo that was in a makeshift pouch. It is nice to see the kids interacting with animals. Our youngest had to crouch down at every animals and say "hello baby".

When it is 18 degrees and you are walking past an amazing spray park...decisions, decisions...but how can you say no when you also feel like jumping in there too? Needless to say, after a supper of cereal and fruit in the room we checked out ogopogo and went to the spray park (fully clothed, we had extra clothes in the can though).

Our middle was convinced that if he captured a picture of the real Ogopogo that he would, of course, be famous. He carried his camera around all day and told more than a dozen strangers how he was going to find Ogopogo. When we got to the lake though, he gave the camera back. He had decided that after he took the picture, a big limo would probably come and take him to a new hotel and then he would miss his family.

Great city and surrounding area Kelowna is! We could easliy stay for another 2 days. Next stop, the couv!

Fairy tale village, amazing ice cream, vineyards and ....Scandia?

The little guy enjoying chocolate milk from D Dutchman Dairy.

Walking from the chickens he said "cock-a-cock-a-doo-doo!" for 15 minutes straight.

Our little one feeding the young ones some hay.

Running from fairy tale to fairy tale in the Enchanted Forest near Revelstoke.

They went in and quickly came out saying "It is full of kids!!"

The kids using everything not nailed down to make a beaver dam between the beds in Revelstoke. Great Hotel!

"Those pigs have to be somewhere..."

Captain Hook vs. Captain Shaggy Beard

Today started with another early morning and a decent continental breakfast at the Best Western Wayside Inn. The pools were closed until 9:00 so we decided to hit the road because we knew of a few places we wanted to stop and check out.

And glad we did because today was jammed packed!

First, we stopped at the Enchanted Forest just outside of Revelstoke. It was early and rainy so we were alone there, but that place must get busy because it was cool! It was a walk through the forest with all the fairy tales and nursery rhymes recreated in little scenes spread through the forest. You could walk into all the 3 little pigs houses, the old woman's shoe, and even see jack cutting down the bean stalk (a tree) with a huge giant at the top of the tree looking terrified. We ended up spending close to an hour and a half there.

Second, we stopped in Sicamous Dutchman Dairy farm. We saw a sign that said friendly friendly farm animals...so we pulled off the highway and into an awesome place! We walked around the farm and looked at all the dairy cows, baby dairy cows (who were very friendly!), the chickens, llamas, donkeys, etc.

The kids loved the animals! The baby cows were great, we fed them hay, let them lick our hands clean, and they loved getting their heads scratched. And the surprise fun was our youngest went bananas for the chickens and roosters!

And we all loved the fresh ice cream, chocolate milk and whipping cream. Yes whipping cream, Dad accidentally bought whipping cream thinking it was milk and proceeded to chug it before realizing what he did. His guts were in knots for the rest of the afternoon.

But the ice cream.....holy hell! Best...ice cream...ever....period...no really...that...good...seriously.

Third, we were getting kinda hungry for lunch so we say signs for The Log Barn, waffles and sausage - sounds good.

The food was a bust because we pulled in behind two tour buses so it was way to busy to get anything. But it was not a complete write off because we found the smartest animals ever. Goats! These goats are on a bridge over the entrance to The Log Barn. What they have is a pulley system where the tourists (us) pay $.25 to buy a handful or corn and place it in a cup on a rope, that is attached to the pulley. These smart goats hear all this and use their little hooves to spin the pulley and raise the cup of corn up a good 50 feet to where they are camped on the bridge.

Smartestest animals ever!

Fourth, vineyards. Mom and Dad have just begun to enjoy wine (thanks to having kickass friends to share it with!) so we decided to pop by a few on the way to pick up a few bottles. This exchange sums up Dads experience at the vineyards:

- this vineyard was conducting a wine tasting -

Vineyard employee: "how are you doing over there?"
Dad: (carrying two bottles) "not to bad, just gonna buy a couple of these bottles."
Snobby vineyard patron: "So I guess you don't come to many wine tastings then do you?"
Dad: "no I guess I don't, good call!"

But we ended up with a few bottles.

Fifth, Scandia. We should just stop talking now about this place because it really doesn't deserve anything besides a glorious controlled blaze.
It advertises itself as a fun place for kids to have some fun and supper. But it was a terrible place that is a combination of a dirty Ruckers and and terrifying Chuck E. Cheese. Most of the games were broken and half of the working ones had no tickets. The mini golf was sad and thank goodness we can't tell you about the food because we left to go eat somewhere else. Just don't go there.

Sixth, hotel. We are at the Best Western Kelowna Hotel and Suites. Pretty cool place, it is super green and prides itself on being energy efficient. it has loads of skylights instead of lights in the hallways, they push recycling to the max, even in the rooms, and there is a full array of solar panels on the roof. The bad part is the hotel is 3 buildings,so we had to walk outside to go to the pool (and will have to go to the third building for the free continental breakfast tomorrow) and it was cool and windy tonight.

Here is how it looks:

Best Western Kelowna Inn and Suites

Room 2/5 (nice room and pretty good little balcony, but no microwave and the fridge is even to small for a dorm room.)

Pool 3/5 (the indoor pool is decent, no waterslides though. And the pool area is all concrete so it echoes a lot wand is very loud. The outside hot tubs are nice but small.)

Location 4/5 (good location. Near lots of shopping and restaurants, but not close to downtown. Can't walk anywhere.)

Hotel 4/5 (overall decent place, but we would likely look someplace else next time unless we had Best Western gift cards.)

Canmore, Giant Cedar, a drive and then Revelstoke!

So our morning in Canmore began very early, our middle kid was awake at 5:00! We tried to convince him to go go back to bed because it was waaaay to early for a hotel. Around 5:30 Dad got up with him and they went outside to not wake up everyone else. When we returned a few minutes later the young one was up!

So the three walk to Tim Hortons for a muffin and a coffee.

We had many other highlights for the day.

We left Canmore and headed towards Revelstoke. It was a slightly rainy day so the drive was a wet, lush and green one. We stopped at a few small streams and gathered some rocks and threw some rocks.

And we came across Giant Cedar.....the coolest damn place ever!! It was just off highway #1 but it was the farthest thing from pavement and RVs. It was a fantastic rain forest walk along a boardwalk. It was a lot of stairs that took you up the mountain a few hundred yards to an amazing cedar forest. The kids were good and enjoyed the walk and the old fallen trees, but it would be easy to lose their intest if you don't keep them engaged in the walk.

Giant Cedar was Dads highlight so far!

We also did a a forest walk to a 'rock garden', which was about 20 minutes long. It was on a a rougher path than Giant Cedar but the kids liked being able to walk and climb through the forest more. The rock garden was actually a deposit of old massive boulders that were covered in moms and lichen. Super fun as well, a lot more interactive and active.

Then it was in the Revelstoke after braving the last day of the long weekend traffic. It was raining and grey so we did not get to walk and see much of Revelstoke. But we did enjoy the Best Western Wayside Inn!!!

It was very new and had some very cool features that sets it off from others. It had a 6:00 am continental breakfast (great for early risers).

It also had an outside heated pool, outside warmer pool and an outside hot tub. Which was amazing because it was Gary and raining outside. But the best part of the hotel were the facilities. The pool change rooms were stellar, the breakfast area was clean, spacious, and the room was very nice and modern.

One thing lacking in town may have been the restaurants, though we ended up finding Emos pizza.....yes Emos. And to our dismay it was not staffed with long banged, pale, pantera shirt wearing teens. The food and service was very good though.

Busy day with a tough drive but a great end to the day sitting in the hot tub in the rain.

The hotel rates like this:

Best Western Wayside Inn

Room 5/5 (it was a good size and had amazing beds!)

Pool 4/5 (the pools were great, very clean and maintained. Only tick against it was no waterslide, but it is nice to sometimes not have a waterslide.)

Location 3/5 (it was just inside town so it was easy to find, but it was not really close to anything that we could walk to.)

Hotel 5/5 (a great place, the plaque said it was the #6 Best Western in Canada, and we agree!)

Canada's Birthday

Mom getting her feet wet in a cold mountian stream

The kids enjoying the refreshing splash in the mountian strem.

Our oldest boy looking out of the gondola in Banff.

The kids waiting for a Parisian Waffle in Canmore

A little cotton candy at the Canada Day celebration in Canmore.

A little Boston Pizza art to share with the world.

The view from our hotel balcony.

The view on our hotel balcony as we read books before bed.

Today started with a bang. Everyone was awake by 5:30....I guess that is the down fall of being asleep by 7:00 the night before. Instead of waiting 3.5 hours till the pool opened the family decided to get going to check out the mountains and get a start to our day.

We were exploring kananaskis village by 7:00 am. And on our way back to Highway 1 we came across a waterfall at the side of the road. It was awesome to see the kids put their feet in the water and try to come up with ideas as to why the water was so damn cold.

We also stopped the at a Texas gate and let the kids loose at figuring its' purpose. It took them a few minutes and some wild ideas like " a place where animals can hide under and get away from the cars." or "this is so I can balance on these.", and our middle child began to tightrope walk across the gate.

Then it was on to Banff and the sulphur mountain gondola. When we pulled in it was getting a bit busy, but we had almost no wait at the bottom and the top to get on the gondola. Both of us, Mom and Dad, were a bit worried as we started off but all the kids did great! Our middle one was crazy excited and was yelling and twitchy eyes. We were not the most prepared for the fact that the weather was going to be colder up top, we forgot our youngest one's hoodie. And he just kept saying "burrrr, cold. Burrrr, cold."

Then it was off to Canmore for some Canada Day celebrations. We walked around town, ate ice cream, ate cotton candy, ate Parisian waffles...and even ate birthday cake. The town was alright too. Then believe or not we even ate lunch.

Then we checked into the Best Western in Canmore and proceeded to go straight to the pool.

Meh.

The pool was alright, would be even better if the kids were a few years older. The was no shallow end and the waterslide launched the kids out at Mach 2. But the best part of the hotel was the balcony. We read books on it, we ate snacks on it, and at 10:30 we even were able to watch the fireworks. It was a great end to the day.

Except we then watched some bad rom com on cable way to late and we are currently regretting we stayed up for it.

Overall the hotel rates:

Best Western in Canmore

Room 3/5 (clean and roomy, but a bit old and dated)

Pool 4/5 (it is still. A good pool, slide and hot tub. But not quite suited to younger kids)

Location 5/5 (on the main drag in town and nice and close to restaurants and grocery stores)

Hotel 3/5 (we would stay here again but would likely look somewhere else next time for a place with a cool pool)

Tomorrow we are off to Big Cedar and Revelstoke.

Let Summer Begin!

Mom and the wee one at the Alberta border.

The kids in the van at 5:30 just about to set off for summer vacation!!!!

The kids at hte Alberta border showing off their tomahawks.

The little guy is in love with his new stroller because it matches.

Today we began our summer vacation to the West coast!

It was an early morning with a departure from home at 5:00 am. You can see the three of them droopy eyed but ready!

It seems as the vacation was doomed from the start with an early start, but it couldn't have worked out better. Besides a pee break and a gas fill we didn't really stop until the Alberta border at 9:00 am.

And it was a great stop. The weather was amazing and the sky was clear and blue. The temp was 19 degrees when we pulled in to stop! We enjoyed the park they had there and ran off lots of energy that was beginning to build in everyone. Mom even had a tire swing ride and Dad gave the slide a workout. And you can see Mom and wee one ran around the play structure having a good time.

Once the tourist centre opened at 9:30 we went in to use the facilities. But while Mom was going number 1 we talk to the young fella at the information desk. After a few minutes of looking at a map of Alberta with him and pointing at places we will likely never see, he gave the kids a mini tomahawk each. And they were not a shitty plastic toy but instead an actual stone tied to a stick with strips of leather! Pretty damn awesome.....until we realized the carnage that could occur by presenting captive children with a weapon to injury another. The picture shows them at the tourist centre with their tomahawks and a Dino.

So it was a rare combo Tourism Alberta fail/win.

And as if that wasn't enough we met these two amazing women at the tourist centre who are cycling across Canada to raise money for autism. Check out their blog as they head out East. http://www.2filles2roues.blogspot.ca/ Show them some love if you see two women cycling by in a tandem bike.

It is in French but it is still worth a look by non French reading folk like me.

And we rolled into Calgary at around 1:30 so we made some pretty good time along the way. So far we only noticed one thing we forgot, our youngest's stroller. So off to Sears we went to snap one up. And you can see how happy the little guy is with a new matching stroller.

More pictures will follow tomorrow of the hotel and water park here at the Hotel. The kids love the pools and slides!

Tomorrow off to drive our way into the mountains, we are looking forward to seeing the kids faces tomorrow.

Less than a week until summer vacation!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Summer vacation here we come. Though it is not all roses and yummy sandwiches, Mom is a teacher so she gets the summer 'off' as well and Dad is resigned to wearing shorts at work as much as possible. 

And so to celebrate summer fun-cation we would like to share our collection of "Things you have to have when you...."

So we will release these amazing can't live without lists of things in the coming days so you can get ready for Carmageddo or when you hear "I'm bored!" at 9:46 in the morning. 

And so todays list is:

6 Things you must have when you are on a roadtrip.

1. Books

Lots and lots of books! Thropugh trial and error we have come to realize that we need to have the van about 1/3 full of books. It is one of those times that you feel like a terrrible person when you hear yourself say "That is enough books, put those back in the house!"

We have begun to gather our collection of van books in groups so we can switch them in and out and give hte kids some variety in their reading. Dumping 100 books all at once in the back of the van doesn't seem to work, weird.

2. Wipes, napkins, paper towel, garbage bags, tarps, etc.

The more options you have to deal with spills, messes, and things that come out of kids (boogers, spit, barf, poop, pee, and blood) the better.

We take our fair share of wipes for the small spills and sneezes, paper towls for those spills that happen right after the drink was just opened, dumped, and it takes you 10 minutes to pull over, and garbag bags to contain everything with an air tight seal. 

Napkins and klennex are a last resort if you have nothing left. They will do absolutly nothing besides give you the illusion that something is being done about the ice cream cone that fell on the floor.

3. Games

We are a big fan of games. There are alot of different things that can become a game with the right planning.

For the kids we will play hide nd seek, we will put something small in the van and they have to find it by the end of the trip to win a prize (ususally the prize is stopping for gas!!!), Mom does up awesome bigo cards for hte kids that are customized for each trip (this summer it will have animals and things for our drive through the mountains), and even silly games like eye spy are fantastic if hte parents join in and give the game some excitment. 

Last year we also bought the kids Nintendo DSs expecting them to wear them out with use. They do like them (they love hte voice recorded and hte simple drawing function that every DS has) but they don't idolize them like we did our old Game Boys.

For the parents we also do small silly things to help us pass the time and enjoy the long drives as much as the kids. Dad always buys $20 in scratch and win lottery tickets before we leave and Mom has to scratch tehm and reinvest all the winnings in more lottery tickets when we stop for gas. It is fun to see how long we can ride the wave of lottery winnings until we lose it all. Our record is $50 on one ticket nad Mom refusted to reinvest it all when we stopped, but I think we ended up winning enough to stop and rebuy 5 times. .....buckets of excitement, I know.

And this year we will be testing out our own Mommy and Daddy bingo card for our summer vacation. We will see how it goes but I fear we may get a blackout bingo sooner than anyone wants.

Parent Road Trip BINGO Card

4. Presents

We usually buy the kids some colouring books or small toys for when we go on vacations in the van. And we are big fans of hitting up a few garage sales and buying little toys and dolls, and cars and wrapping them individually for the kids to open one every day or so. 

Reason #1 Opening presents is the best thing ever!!!

Reason #2 Small toys help pass the time in a van

Reason #3 When someone throws up on a little garage sale toy you down even think twice about throwing it in hte garbage bag with everything else!

5. Coffee

No reason, We just love our coffee. We don't go bananas and cry if we don't get our coffee. we just like it...ALOT.

But you should make sure you take along your favorite drink (non alcholic) or snack for you to enjoy on the drive, especailly while the side kicks and ceasefires are flying in the back seat.

6. Bottles of water

We make sure the kids have their reusable water bottles that they fill up each morning we leave hte hotel, but still....keep a few bottles of water on hand. Not just regular bottled water, find ones with a wide opening.

They are great when you run out of water nad a red faced exhausted kid is crying dust becasue they drank all their water 3 hours ago and are soooooo thirsty it hurts!

a road trip multi tool must have!

But we also use the bottels to split any beverages that you buy through take out. THe drink sizes are stupid big and who wants a kid to drink that much iced tea or juice? So pour some into an empty bottle and problem solved, everyone gets some but just not too much.

Also the bottles come on handy....for....

Peeing in the van. I said it! You will find yourself in a situation where your little boy has to pee so bad they have a death grip on their weiners, oh and you are in hte city and can't pee on the side of the road. 

Our little guy has learned hte deft art of peeing in a bottle a number of times. But we stress that this is only in the event of an emergency. Or as he states it a "Pee-mergency!" or "Catastro-pee!"

***

7. Bonus entry on the list!

We have added one more thing onto the list, it  is something we don't have (we just use a small rubbermaid tub instead - see top picture) but would loooove to have. But this beauty is something to behold....

Kids Back Seat Organizer from Organize It 

I know I would have loved to have one of these when I was a kid. It would have been an awesome base for Ninja Turtles and GI Joes! 

Check out the link above to order one online, only about $40.

 ***

Well these are some of the things that we can't so with out on our long road trips. 

If you have any must have items on your vacations please let us know! And stay tuned for the next list, 

5 things you have to have when you go to the park.

Update on 2012-06-26 19:13 by Steve Torgerson

UPDATE:

We almost forgot one of the most important tools to have with you on your long road trips. We have taken ours on the past two trips and have it ready to go this time again, it is the wonderful Grabber-nabber!

Or the robot claw hand pincher thingy.

Great tool for picking up fallen toys...but also a very deadly weapon when tempers flare!We have the two older kids in the back row of seats in the van on trips and passing items back and forth between us and them is difficult. 

Well it was until we discovered the Grabber-nabber!!!

This mavel has saved us numerous times from having to pull the van over to pass snacks back or retrieve a fallen toy. If you have one take it along, if you don't have one, buy one! 

Paint, paint, paint...

This weekend, even though we started on Thursday, we primed and painted the basement. 

That is it! No wacky fun fueled adventures as a family, just a weekend. And really it was good.

Between painting and laundry, and lawn and....other stuff, the kids went to visit Great G & G. When they returned I asked how it went and the response from our oldest was,

"Grandma helped me fix my crocheting! And then I did another row! And then we had a snack."

And the middle guys' response was,

"I got $10 for graduating...that it."

And he skipped away happy as could be and dropped the $10 in our giant vacation piggy bank in the living room. By the way that pig is heavy as hell! it must be made with concrete and plaster. But it will be fun to smash it to bits once it is full.

And on Saturday, just when we were worrying that the kids were geting bored our oldest walks into the kitchen with her friend and says, "We want ot make cookies and deliver them to our friends."

Well that started a process of cookie making, cookie cooking, cookie cooling and cookie bagging, followed by running down the street with arms flaying wildly and smooshing those fresh cookies to crispy cookie dough and melted chocolate.

The friends loved the cookies and the girls spend 2 hours creating their plan, reading a recipe and making cookies, waiting (for what seemed like forever!!!!) for the cookies to cool, and walking a couple blocks to go and make some friends happy.

A pretty good idea that is for sure!

Well Sunday night we finished the painting, till we have to touch it up after carpet installation. The laundry was done and we were looking forward to a tea and a couch.....

Then we heard a thump and our big girl came downstairs complaining about a sore tummy. Sigh! That is the way it goes I guess. 

Our Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

(Nestle Toll House Cookies ~ with some changes)

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (this batch was from the mixed whole wheat and white flour bin...no one noticed)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup cooking splenda
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar splenda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs (egg substitute) 
• 1 1/4 cups chocolate chips

Directions

Turn on oven to 375° F.

Mix flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one glug at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Add chocolate chips to batter and be prepared to give same amount of chips to kids helping as reward. Cook them. 

Cook for 9 to 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Don't let cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes, instead just consume scalding hot melty soft cookies; place any left overs in a bag to be shaken vigerously for 2 minutes. 

All done

Where are all the carrots?

On Sunday we ventured out ot the farm again to check up on how the little seeds have been doing these past 2 weeks since we planted them.

To the kids dismay there were no towering rows of corn, or rows thick with carrots.

give it 6 weeks and it will look delicious!But the kids were happy enough once Grandpa got the riding mower and the Gator out of the quonset. If the battery hadn't have run out, and Grandpa changed it, and then the other battery didn't run out the kids would have been on it all morning. 

Bringing some snacks to the hungry gardeners.

Grandpa showing the boys how to switch out the Gators' battery.

"Dad there is a bird on the fence and..."

This past Sunday it was raining and windy all day. The weather was what I imagine it being like on a stereotypical day living in Labrador; cold driving grey rain, having to put on my bright yellow slicker to go and check the lighthouse light, as my  bushy beet red thick beard keeps my face warm, while my sheep dog Séamus follows me faithfully and my clutch of red haired kids play their fiddles in the livingroom practicing their new single Is binn béal ina thost a new gaelic wonder band The Brambing Ones!

......sorry, a little off topic there.

So it was rainy and windy and cold all day. Around late afternoon we were all bustling about getting ready for supper at our place with Mama and Bop-a. When our oldest girl says "Hey look there is a bird sitting on the fence!" I was a little busy getting ready for supper so I didn't really pay much attention,I did peek out the window and sure enough there was a little bird sitting as flat as it could on the top of our fence, about 4 feet from our living room window.

Wet bird on the fence

After that I dd not pay much attention to the bird. But later that Mom said that our oldest was glued to the window watching the bird get blown about by the wind. She would pipe in every 10 minutes or so "she is just sitting there" and "why is she not flying away?".

About 10 minutes before supper she pulled herself from the window and stopped in the kitchen to say that she thought the bird was tired wet and hungry, and that she decided she has to feed it, and there is bird seed in garage, and that we could put a plate on the fence and then some seed on the plate and then...

"Not now sweetie, it is almost supper. Why don't you go wash your hands." is what I interrupted her elaborate plan with. 

"But Dad she is hungry and if she doesn't get some sup....."

Excuse me, those hands won't wash themselves." I said.

Now before she had a chance to "but Dad" me again, Mom gave me a look and whispered "She is worried about the bird."

Then Mom and her proceeded to discuss a plan about how to best feed the bird. What to feed it? How will we get the food on the fence? What do we put the bird food on? 

Mom had seen how entranced our oldest was with the bird and how concerned she was with it's condition. She realized that even though it was pre-supper time taking these 5 minutes to spread some peanut butter on a slice of bread, sprinkling some bird seed on it and then putting the food near the bird was what our daughter needed. 

She was empathizing with the bird and may have been imagining what it was like to be stuck outside cold and wet. Either way it was fantastic to see her follow through with the plan the two of them had developed and be outside as Mom put the food down.

Who wants a PB and seed sandwich?

The bird took flight and left once they went outside and didn't seem to return. But our daughter checked back at the window throughout the night, and was beaming when she caught some sparrows sneaking a snack of seed and peanut butter.

And on a completely separate note, our youngest spent the full Sunday afternoon playing in the giant cardboard castle that Mom picked up from Sears Bargain Centre.

And your the dirty rascals!Happy rainy Sunday it was!

May Long Weekend, why are you so long?

Now don't get me wrong I love a good old long weekend. But this one was different for us, we were busy!

1. We rebuilt a deck in our backyard (with some necessary assistance from a neighbour),

***pictures coming***

2. Helped build the neighbours deck (he helped us what was I supposed to do!),

***pictures coming, maybe. His deck is nicer than mine***

3. Went out to grandpa's farm and planted a massive garden (the kids planted their pumpkins),

Mom enjoying an old fashioned garden planting!We have been working to ensure or kids know where food comes from. We are by no means as ethical a maybe we should be when it comes to what we consume, but we try to show our kids the importance of food, the environment, and taking care of our planet.

We have been helping with the large garden at the farm for a few years, and last year we stepped up our gardening game.

We built a garden box and grew some carrots, chives, cucumbers, and onions. And we also spent more time at the farm. We planted,weeded (occasionally), watered, and then harvested.

Digging for potatoes in 2011This year we are going to try and get the kids even more involved and engaged (we will see how that goes!). 

Posing by his pumpkin plant

4. Spent a morning in Moose Jaw (see post below),  

5. Had a great walk at Wascana park and fed geese and ducks at Water Fowl Park,

and then

6. Ended the long weekend with a wiener roast in the backyard. 

the blank looking at fire stare......fire......

It was a great way to end the weekend. Grandma and Grandpa came over and sat around the fire with us. An we all got to relax out doors and reflect on the past 4 days. The kids were happy to be eating macaroni and hotdogs outside!

It did get a bit hairy once the hose came out and the kids plastic slide was covered in grass and water and the little guy was sitting on top of the slide screaming "Cock-a-doodle Do!!!!!" over and over again, but overall it was a good evening.

Wait!

I forgot the s'mores. We ate s'mores. Lots of s'mores. It looked like our middle one got into a fight with a s'more and the s'more won! Followed by mores s'mores!

Not your ordinary s'mores. These beauties though began like all other s'mores. 3-5 marshmallows burnt to hell then the one perfectly toasted brown one. But the s'more upgrade comes when you smash your roasted mallow between two chocolate coated biscuit cookies.

It is amazing!

No fumbling with chocolate bars and scalding marshmallow between graham crackers. This is the whole package just waiting for your expertly cooked marshmallow. mmmm!

And while we are talking about food making this weekend great. I would like to pass on a drink recipe that we heard about from our awesomest friends ever (I have likened it to our family dating our friend'sfamily, we are together so much. It is the best!).

I will make up a name for the drink right now and call it....Summer Orange Juice or Daddy's Orange Drink For Hot Days, or even a Summer Screwdriver. 

If you look close you can see an empty glass that once had the yummy cocktail

RECIPE

1 ounce Pinnacle Whipped Vodka - it tastes like Cool Whip!!!

1/2 orange - all the juice squeezed into glass with ice - make sure to get some pulpy bits, they make the drink work.

top your glass with Ginger Ale - we used diet Ginger Ale. 

ENJOY - next weekend we want to try this blended....

So that was our looong weekend. Deck built, clean laundry piled in our bedroom waiting to be put away, kids exhausted, and we are both tired, slightly sunburnt (just Dad), and happy. Except Ang - she started getting sick yesterday. 

Update on 2012-05-24 03:31 by Steve Torgerson

Pictures of the 'new' deck

So I finally got around to taking a picture of the deck this morning. It is nice to have a deck with out 1/2 gaps between boards that includes spoons, toys, garbage, a shoe, etc.

Last Thursday night once we had taken the railing off, with help from our friendly neighbourhood neighbour-man, our middle son who is not really afraid of things, he seems more to be challenged to try dangerous things, runs full tilt to the edge of the deck and launches himself off the side to the lawn below. 

The drop is only 3 feet, and he made it unscathed, but this is the kids who broken a bone near his elbow and had to get it pinned after falling 1 short foot 2 summers ago.

poor guy waking up after having 3 pins put in his elbow.

So I am ordering the railing today!