Vacation, Day 13

I can't believe this was our last fun day of vacation. I'm so glad I blogged about each day because I would never remember what we did without it. Well, I could look at pictures, but it's nice to have the stories as they happened. It took almost an hour every night to get the blog done, but I'm so happy I did.

Aunt Paula made pancakes for breakfast. Amy and Emily made palm trees out of fruit. They were cute and yummy.


Then we went to the beach. We headed to a different beach at low tide, so we had lots of sand. It was super nice. The coolest thing was the starfish all over the rocks. I've never seen anything like it.




Thank goodness cousin Amy was with us because I would have never touched these things. I'm so glad my kids are more adventurous than me.




They ran on the beach.


They tried skim boarding. Ben fell. Emily just stood there. Noah fell.






He got all butt hurt and had to go recover with some help from Aunt Paula.


He was back in action a few minutes later.




Only to get swallowed up by the sand monster.


Emily and Ben had a race. Ben won.


Noah wanted to win, so he got a really big head start.


David, Aunt Paula and Amy took a dip in the ocean.


Ben was playing on a sandbar with the mountains in the background. That's Vancouver Island.


Noah trying on my glasses.


Amy and I took the rafts out. I told her I'd get all the way wet before I left. After we got out there, I had to flip off my raft.


David wearing a starfish.


Emily wanted to hold it again. By the way, Emily has a boo boo on her chin. She was on a log a few days ago and another log was crossed sitting on top. She thought it would be stable enough and stepped onto it. The log fell and she fell and hit her chin on another log.


Amy, Noah and Emily walking on the rocks.


A pretty view on the way home.


Since it was our last night, the kids took a jacuzzi bath in the tub.


And we had to get gelato ice cream....again. Noah had Blue Smurf flavor.


Wow, what a great vacation we have had. We still have a day of adventure to get home tomorrow starting with a ferry at 8:30. Our flight leaves at 2:30, so we'll kill a little time at a playground or something. We are so thankful to my Dad and Suzy and Uncle Terry and Aunt Paula for such a great vacation. My only not so great day was the one night I spent in a hotel. So happy that we could spend so much time with our family having fun.

Vacation, Day 12

Today started early. We were waiting in our car for the ferry by 7:50! We had a nice quiet beautiful ferry ride. Once in Vancouver, we headed to Stanley Park. We saw the Hollow Tree. It's estimated this tree has been around for a thousand years.


Then, we did a little souvenir shopping. The streets were pretty.


We were hoping to find something Squatchy (as in Bigfoot) since B.C. is known for sightings and he was one of the mascots at the 2010 Olympics. We didn't have any luck, but we did find this cool hat for Ben.


Here's a view of the city. I love the Chevron in the middle of the water.


We stopped to see the totem poles.




Ben figured out how to climb walls.


We went to the water park and the kids had a great time playing.










Well, Noah had a great time until he collided with another boy and got hurt.


He was set on pouting and crying. We finally distracted him with squirting Emily.


Emily kept him happy after that. She can be so sweet and motherly sometimes.




They have a huge dryer for kids to go in to dry off after. It wasn't all that effective. We have stronger breezes back home, but it was still fun.


This was the view from the park of Lions Gate Bridge.


Emily and Ben were climbing trees on the way back to the car.


We ate lunch and my kids polished off a whole pizza by themselves. I think they worked up an appetite. Then, we headed to Lynn Canyon. There is a suspension bridge, waterfalls and creeks. The bridge was freaky!


The trail to the water was really pretty and wound its way through the woods.


I loved all the roots from the trees.


I love this kid in the tree.


These branches looked like natural rope swings. Emily gave it a try, but it didn't work so well.


We passed a gynormous rock just begging to be climbed.




Aunt Paula looking cute out by the water.


My kiddos.


They were a little unsure at first, but David took them around and they were pros in no time.








Even Noah was having fun.


Me on a rock.


Here's the bridge on the way back.


This was the view of below the bridge.


We drove up a mountain to a scenic outlook. We are now on the opposite side of Lions Gate Bridge. Emily was so tired, she stayed in the car.








Our wonderful hosts.


We got back on the ferry and made it home by 6:30. It was a full day, and we all had a great time.

Tomorrow is our last full day here. We are planning to spend it at the beach!