It's nights like these ....

Chris ran a night game called Zootopia til after 11 .... 

The boys stayed up with their Zalinko buddies until after 11 .... Jumping on the trampoline, watching Rhett and Link funny videos .... 

And before all this, we carved out some time together .... Kristen is a special friend .... Love that she's up this week. I haven't seen her much but this was fun to just chat. 

Monday night senior teen

His 'go-to' picture face....

His 'please smile nice' face. 

He loves archery so he helped at that station in the game. He was pretty proud to help the teens shoot if they didn't know how. 

Chris runs this game well. It's a long game.... I felt like it was almost 2 hours, but I could be wrong. 

Isaac loves running the 'special talents'. He wasn't happy here when max came and sat in his chair....

.....nothing some bunny ears can't help!

Doesn't phase max, he just pushes Isaac away .... These two kids are funny. Isaac tortures max and Max laughs about it. 

They're good buddies .... Always up to some idea or another. 

He found me in the office later. Showed me a new magic trick and drew me a picture of one of the Rice Krispie guys. 

Chris prepped for another game during chapel and ran it til almost 11. He came home at almost midnight. So much energy....not sure where he gets it. 

Boys go fishing with Grandma!!

Ok granted, this was 3 years ago but I don't remember seeing it!!

Grandma took the boys fishing on her friends boat ... I just love Elliots face!! 

Good morning Victoria.

As I'm waiting for my sweet pregnant friend to wake up, I came downstairs to the Macchiato Cafe. 

Oh latte and croissant .... The breakfast of holidays!!  Read the paper, finished a blog, watched people rush to work. I wish, sometimes, that I was rich enough to live down here.  It's so beautiful.  But then again, I love where I live. I wonder how much longer we will be allowed to live where we live?  Live and enjoy each day right?  Well .... So far, so good today!!

Day with Kim!!!

I have loved this girl since I was 12 years old. We laid eyes on each other at camp in Ontario and our first memory was sailing together and nearly flipping in a sailboat in a storm that came up so fast!!!

..... We lived. And then we started grade 8 at a new school together. A private girls school. Sigh ... We've been through a lot together.  So I came to Victoria this week to help her pack up the rest of her life that she left behind in a storage locker.

Here we are this morning! All fresh and energized!!  (Stay tuned lol, the freshness fades....)

  Packed up boxes of books and took them to Russell Books .... They took a pile of books and gave her a store credit. But there were still three boxes of books they didn't take.... So we headed to the library!

Turns out they take book donations!  My sweet friend is very pregnant, so I was the muscles today. My most favourite comment of hers was "I am so glad you work out." So I had to take a picture of my pipes at the library!! Lol. 

We had the best Baja fish tacos at the taco place next to Russell's books!! We decided we'd like to go back to Mexico. 

Hanging at the U-Haul!  See? Tired face!

So we packed up the rest of her locker and took as many boxes as we had that didn't have valuables and took them to the post office (we will purolater the valuables with her grandmas China tommorow) .... It filled the back of my car and here we are - successful after shot!!!

I had to take a pic of this doll that her grandma made!! The whole story of little red riding hood in one doll!!!

When we got back to the apartment, she had a shower and I hit the rooftop BBQ that was happening (we saw the sign in the elevator on the way up).... Met a nice couple in the elevator .... I didn't mean to eat, I just wanted to check out what a building rooftop BBQ looked like. I didn't mean to drink the free wine and have a smokie.  Victoria is so beautiful and it was fun meeting new people and just shooting the breeze and hearing other people's stories.  After I left the BBQ, Kim and I sat around in the apartment for awhile (she ate her leftover Thai food from the other night and laughed that I ate .... She was buying dinner, so I saved her a pile of cash). But around 8 we went for a walk and for dessert.  Victoria is so beautiful. I love the china town entry. 

This cake .... How could I not??

I gave it a valiant effort .... It was so beautiful, but after eating pretty good for awhile, my stomach could only handle a few bites.  Sigh .... I texted Rachel and told her it was coming home ... And she texts back "oh my lanta", but it wanted to auto correct to "oh my pants", which we both thought was pretty hilarious because it's still fitting. 

We had such a nice night. Her 24 week old baby belly craves cream and dairy, so she fully enjoyed a banana cream pie ... We talked about babies and dreams and hopes.  It's been such a nice get away. 

Deanna and Juliette .....

Perks of living at camp ....

Morning coffees with sweet friends for honest and unfiltered conversations.  

And they bring beautiful babies along too sometimes.  

Karen Ann turns 21...

Waiting for the birthday girl to finish guarding for the quick dip after the evening game. 

She arrived !!

Stop #1- magic show:

Stone chucking .....

Bedroom shenanigans .....

How Mia likes to chill 

When I stay out too late at Aisha's house ....I come home to this. 

Day 2!!

 

So, the air mattress wasn't the most popular thing on the trip .... hard to notice it, but BOTH kids are off the mattress ... Isaac is on the floor closest to the front door of the tent, and Elliot is right beside my mattress on the hard ground ....

This kid ..... just so much fun ....

We met Charlene and her girls at the Comox Air museum around 11 .... here is Isaac and Elliot working the phone system .. they both wanted to know if great grandma worked one of these ...and I wasn't sure .... Maybe Jenny would know.

Airforce Isaac ....

And Elliot, wanting to do what Isaac is doing, put the helmet on too, but it got stuck on his head.  I wasn't fast enough with the camera, but the volunteer had to do some pretty quick work to get the helmet off Elliots head ... it was pretty hilarious.

My grand dad made a propeller like this into a sweet wall clock that now is displayed proudly in our livingroom!!





Isn't this crew adorable??

Here is Elliot being shown how to work an actual Flight Simulator .... it is a little 'dumbed down' for civilian use, but it was pretty realistic and he had this actual pilot showing him all the moves ....

They all took a turn ....


It was SO hot, like 30 degrees, so we headed to Puntledge Park for a swim. There was a warning posted about high bacteria counts .... we just told the kids not to get any water in their mouths!

I wasn't sure if it was the heat, or what, but I was feeling so nauseous with a headache while we were at the river ... Charlene found me some advil and they kicked in about an hour later, but it was rough going for awhile there!!




Little bit of thrifting on the way back to our campsite!   Their first introduction to Value Village ....

I wasn't hungry, but both boys just wanted whitespot, so the local gas station had one inside .. lol, so we had a classy dinner there...outside in their parking lot...in 30 degree heat.





The boys did well helping me set up the tent ... they are so easy to take anywhere ...

Well, almost anywhere -- here is Isaac digging the lock out of the firepit .. he hid the lock that would have locked the power box at our site ...

New $6 sweatshirt ....

Elliot meeting all the local wildlife .... lots of bunnies around!!

We were all pretty tuckered out by 8pm, so we borrowed ET from the office and they watched a movie in the tent while I sat outside.



My alone time didn't last too long as the boys came looking for me ... first Isaac ...

And then Elliot!!

Such a beautiful night!!!

Waking up the next morning ....

Sweet brothers ....

They tore the campsite down like pros....

Same weekend ... 6 years apart!!  Funny how we chose this weekend 6 year ago to go camping on Gabriola with Kim!!

We were back in Duncan by noon and went swimming at the local river with Chris.  Nice to be back together ... we miss him when we aren't all together ....