As we got to Reno, I called Papa to see if he wanted to meet us for dinner. We dropped off our stuff, and then went for some Olive Garden. The kids were fascinated by the fireplace we were sitting next to. The older couple sitting near us stood up to leave, and stopped to tell us what adorable children we had. I kind of laughed while Papa explained they were his grandchildren. Then she looked confused. I’m sure she was trying to figure out how I was his grand child. I just left it alone. After dinner, we went to check out the fish at Scheel’s near by. Ella loved that they were swimming all around her.

Jameson saw the Ferris wheel and exclaimed that he wanted to ride it. So, Papa indulged him. Jameson ran up and waited by the “x” on the floor like he was told. He had no fear. At least, I don’t think he had fear. He got right on and would yell, “Hi, Mom!” Every time they went by. Ella was not happy that she could only watch with me. She was trying to climb the gate to get in.

We were able to stay with Kevin’s sister. Ella loved her dogs. From the time we got there, the dogs never got old. Saturday morning, Ella woke everyone up, because of her chasing the dogs and yelling, “Dogs! Mom, Dogs!” I was trying to keep her quiet till I heard Steph and Josh laughing from their room. Later, for dinner, Ella was trying to sneak up and get some martinelli’s when no one was watching. She got caught, though.

It was the first time our entire family was together in Reno since the first Christmas after we moved. It was nice to actually have help with the kids while out of town. But, it was only for a night. Kevin left Sunday morning to return home. We dropped him off at the airport, and then met up with a few different friends for the rest of the day. Monday morning we got up and got packed. Then, headed out for our drive back over the mountain. We didn’t spend much time in Reno, so if we didn’t get to see you, I apologize. Hopefully, next time we will get to visit more.

Monday, we had lots to do. We had Kevin’s birthday dinner to get ready, and I needed to get a few things done before my Tuesday night Young Women activity with the girls. Our activity was planning the camp fundraiser, which meant I had a few craft I wanted to finish to display for the girls. I saw an idea Sunday on Pinterest…yes I finally caved and signed up. But then, I needed the supplies for that project. So, Monday morning we got up and got going. We were out the door before 10 am, which is an accomplishment around here. We headed to Michael’s first for supplies. I needed medium transfer gel, and it was no where to be found. I had 2 ladies helping me look, and we finally found it facing the wrong way under the wrong sales label. Meanwhile, my kids were rearranging the opposite side of the isle. Anyway, it was finally found, and we pressed forward. Next stop was Home Depot where we got our wood and had it cut, along with a sander. I thought about wrapping it for Kevin, but really… I wanted it. Next stop, post office. Rose (the kids favorite post office worker who always gives them candy) was off on break so we were able to make it in and out pretty quick.

We continued on our was to the bread outlet store. The kids love going, because I let them pick out a box of donuts. They’re only $1, and I let them eat them as soon as we’re in the car. As you can see, Ella loves the powdered donuts.

Then we headed to Staples to get pictures printed. For the project, I needed pictures printed with a laser copier instead of inkjet. I got a few pictures in case I messed up, and they were pictures mostly of the kids, and my sister’s family. The girl handed me the pictures and told me, “These are the cutest pictures ever.” Why thank you. I think our kids are pretty cute, and it is now justified. We left Staples and as we walked out, a man came up behind us asking if I could get him some food. The fact that he asked for food an not money… sure, no problem. We walked into Safeway next door (which was our next stop anyway) and bought him a sandwich along with one for myself. Then we started our shopping excursion to get stuff for Kevin’s birthday dinner.

Are you tired yet? I was. We got home, put Ella down for her nap, made the birthday cake, and then started vacuuming while I waited for the cake to cool. I was determined to get rid of any trace of dog hair around the house, so everything was vacuumed, dusted, and febreezed. In the process, I realized I was supposed to go visiting teaching at 3:30. So we hurried and finished, then woke up Ella, and headed out. Made it back home, realized we didn’t want to have dinner by ourselves, so invited some friends to join us last minute. As I was cooking dinner, Kevin text me to let me know he was going to be late. Really!? On your birthday? I was far enough into dinner that I needed to keep going. So, we ate Kevin’s birthday dinner without him.

Kevin managed to get home in time for cake and a present. The kids helped him blow out his candles.

Kevin was able to get a nap in after dinner festivities. His friends had planned to come over with cake later on. They did their run for the night, and then had their own little celebration. While they were gone, I started my project. I know, you really want to know what it is. 🙂

So Happy Birthday to my man who is finished up his twenties. It was a long busy day, but we got everything accomplished. I’m glad we were able to take a family vacation the weekend before to help celebrate his birthday, because Monday wasn’t the best day for him. Maybe next year, we’ll do better.

We got up Sunday morning to head back home. Only problem, it was daylight savings. We didn’t know if that applied in Canada or not. Luckily, management left a note saying to turn the clocks. The ferry was leaving at 10:30 am, but we needed to be there about an hour early, but due to daylight savings we needed to leave by 8:30 am. Ouch. We got checked out and waited in line for the ferry. U.S. customs checked our paperwork, along with scanning it. As we were talking to him, I asked since he was U.S. customs, if he lived in Canada or the U.S. He looked at me like I was the dumbest girl. But really? Was he born in the states and then move for his job or how does that work? Anyway, we made it on the boat, and headed up top to get breakfast. Kevin was out not long after we sat down due to Dramamine, so the kids and I checked out the boat.

These were the “pirate ships” in the harbor before we left.

The Empress Hotel… This place was huge, and apparently it’s sinking. They filled in the harbor and then built on top of it in like 1908. Not sure why, maybe to get water front property?

We landed in Port Angeles, and got some lunch. Then, I took a quick picture on my movie outing with Bella and the gang. Actually, we didn’t see a movie, because nothing was appropriate, but it was fun anyway. There was supposed to be a Twilight store nearby, but I didn’t see it. So we took off and headed for our next ferry stop.

We took a ferry north of Seattle this time. We got there right before the ferry was leaving, so we had to wait for the next one. In the process, I could see some girls walking between all the cars. As they approached our car, I realized it was girl scouts selling cookies. Smart little girls. We had 20 minutes to kill, so of course we bought some. I think we ate almost the whole box before even getting on the boat. We made the quick trip across the water and then had the last leg of our journey to finish. We made it home all sane and still liking each other. It was nice to get out of the house, and we had lots of fun.

(Part 3)

We were told that the tide pools at Botanical Beach in Port Renfrew were worth the drive. I was told it was about a 2 hour drive away, but totally worth it. We had planned to go to some tide pools in Sooke, which was only about 30-45 minutes away. I did some research and found that people said it was just a short hike to the beach if we went to Botanical Beach. If we chose to go to the beach in Sooke, we would have had to park and hike about 40 minutes to the beach. That didn’t sound so fun with the kids. We figured we would take the drive and short hike. I checked the tide, and low tide would be about 10:15 am.

We ended up getting out the door a little late, but by 8:30 am. So, not too bad. The problem was, that after the first hour, Ella was car sick. We stopped at a church and let the kids out for fresh air. The highway ran along the coast, which meant it was pretty windy. When we thought we were in the clear, we got back in the car and started off. We made it 5 minutes down the road, and Ella threw up. Luckily, I packed extra clothes, so we cleaned up and headed on. She finally fell asleep, but for the rest of the trip, we had to stop every few miles to let Jameson out. He did really good, and told us every time he started feeling sick. Needless to say, it took us longer than 2 hours with all the stops we had to make. The short hike down to the beach, actually took us at least 15 minutes. So, by the time we got there, it was almost noon. That meant the tide was halfway back in. *Side note, Jameson got out of the car and threw up. We were so proud of him for making it out of the car first, and not getting anything on himself. Is that sad? We are proud of our child who was car sick for making it all the way and out of the car, before throwing up?*

I’m guessing the more interesting tide pools were already covered by water, but we did get to check out a few. Ella and I sat on the beach for a snack while Kevin and Jameson set out on their explorations.

But, when Ella saw that the boys were out discovering new tide pools, she was not about to stay on the blanket with me. We made our way over the rocks to the boys to check it out.

We decided we would go check out the other tide pools before high tide. We hiked back up the stairs (partially man made partially natural) and down the path. We found an opening where we could get down to more tide pools, but it was a little dangerous to climb around the rocks. We headed back to the trail to find another way, but the trail kept going. After about 2o minutes, we decided we were on the trail that looped back to the cars, and turned back to go to the beach we were originally at. Along the way, Jameson found a great new spot.

Ella was destroyed by this point. So we got down to the beach, laid our blanket down, and Kevin smoothed out a bed for Ella. We laid her down, and she was out within about a minute.

I felt about how Ella looks, so we took a break while the boys went exploring again.

I sat and watched the waves crash over the rocks.

The boys watched the waves for a while, then decided to chase the waves. Jameson loved trying to touch the wave and then run from it.

It was pretty fun, but then the rain came. So, we packed up and headed back to the car. Bad news, it was uphill the entire way. We made it back, and headed out. We stopped at a general store for some Dramamine. Turns out, Canadians don’t know what that is. They gave us whatever they use for motion sickness. Only problem, it came in gel cap form, so dissolving it in the kids juice was not going to be easy. I finally bit the gel cap so we could put a few drops in their juice to help them on the way home. A few minutes later, I realized my lips and tongue were numb. I don’t know what is in that gel cap, but I was numb for an hour. The kids, luckily, fell asleep for the roughest part, only after Ella threw up again.

Kevin did spot this street sign on the way.

We made it back, gave Ella a bath, and went out for some dinner. We ended up at the Old Spaghetti Factory. While we waited for a table, the old ladies next to us adored Ella. That night, Ella went straight to bed, and Jameson did after a little coaxing.

(Part 2)

***I had to look up the correct plural of octopuses. Apparently, octopi is accepted but nor actually correct. And, there is a big debate over it. Who knew?***

Friday was rainy most the day, but that didn’t stop us. We’re used to it by now. As we were getting ready, a seagull landed on the balcony. The kids grabbed some cereal and started to feed it, causing it to squawk for its friends. Luckily, no more showed up.

We got ready to go see Hatley Castle. This is the castle of the mutants in X-Men. So we told Jameson we were going to see where Wolverine lived. He was excited. We got there, got lost on the campus, and then found out that since school is in session, they don’t offer tours. What? Their website didn’t say anything about that. The website offers tours. So we went in the lobby and looked around.

Check out the radiators…

The picture with Jameson is looking out the front door to the building across. The one with Kevin is the front of the castle.

We walked around the back for some more inspection. I’m sure the vines are awesome in the summer, but they look a little creepy right now. Keep in mind it was raining on us the entire time.

The opposite view…

The back of the castle.

It looked pretty awesome. Wish we could have seen the inside more, but oh well. We headed back to down town, and stopped by the parliament buildings. We didn’t do any tours… don’t think the kids would really enjoy that, but the kids loved running around the grounds.

How cute is she…really? I even think a few other people took pictures while she stood on the steps yelling, “Cheese!”

Here is my belly shot at 25 weeks and 4 days.

A better view…

Even Kevin enjoyed playing on the front lawn.

After running around the parliament building, we went to the Undersea Gardens. You basically go aboard a boat, and then go down 15 meters under water to see the fish.

We thought there was a touch pool, but then another guy came walking up and read the sign which said something about not touching the animals. Oops. But seriously, one side of the sign implied that you can touch the animals, but the other side said don’t. Totally confusing.

At the end, there was a little theater area for a show. There were 2 scuba divers that held up different animals in the tank. The favorites were the crabs and the octopus. Octopi really, there were 2 of them.

Later that night, Jameson and I checked out the view from the top floor. Pictures didn’t turn out so well, but it was pretty.

Once we checked everything out, we went to the front to get a movie. Natalie, the desk clerk, loved Jameson. He picked out a movie, and then proceeded to talk to her for like 45 minutes. She loved it. She even had him sign the slip to check out a movie. It was pretty funny. Of course, he didn’t sign on the line, but he did get all the letters of his name on the paper. So we headed back up to watch our movie and go to bed.