(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.

(Part 1)

For Kevin’s birthday coming up, I had booked a stay for the weekend in Seaside, Oregon. At least, that’s what I thought I did. The day before we were going to leave, I pulled out the reservation information, only to find it was for a different resort in Redmond, Oregon. Crap! Not sure what happened there. So, we started discussing what we wanted to do. All other resorts on the coast between Oregon and Washington were booked. Kevin mentioned staying home, and exploring areas around us. That’s sounds great, except, I needed out. I don’t want to see the floor I need to vacuum, the bathrooms I need to clean, the fridge that needs to be filled and cleaned… you get it. I may have had a break down, and we decided to go to Victoria, Canada instead. They had openings there for the weekend, and we have all documentation needed to travel to Canada, so we quickly changed our reservations. Thursday morning, we got going and headed out to catch the ferry to Bainbridge.

It was freezing out and we left the coats in the car, so we didn’t last long outside. Once across the water, we headed out to the next ferry. It was a little less than 2 hours to Port Angeles, where we took the ferry to Victoria. We grabbed some lunch first, and then got in line. Traveling takes much longer when you have to wait on ferries.

Weird thing. They didn’t even check for paperwork until after we got off the ferry in Victoria. Once you’re in the country, what would they do if you didn’t have correct papers? Not quite sure, and glad we don’t have an answer to that. It was about a 90 minute ferry ride, which means that Kevin had to take Dramamine. He was out pretty much the entire ride, along with Ella. We finally got there around 3:30 pm.

The condo we were staying in was a quick drive from the port. If I had a better camera, we could probably see it in the picture above. We headed straight over and checked-in with no problems (always a bonus). Once we got settled, we looked for something to do, and ended up at the Bug Museum.

Things started out small, but then we got to some of the largest insects in the world. Just gross. Jameson loved looking at them. He touched a few, but wasn’t about to hold any. Kevin loved every minute of it, and held all of them. Ella got close but I’m not sure she touched any. I held one. That was enough.

They had the largest ant display in the world? maybe, or at least the country. It was incredible. The queen was not to be seen, but the workers were sure busy. Did you know when an ant dies, another ant has to take it to the graveyard, but then is not allowed to return? Because the ants know that it could now be contaminated with whatever killed the other ant. Great way to take one for the team.

I can not do cockroaches, especially ones that hiss!

So this is the heaviest insect in the world, or something like that. I actually did hold this one, but that picture is on Kevin’s phone.

Like I said, I think Kevin loved it the most.

I know I have you all squirming right now. I guess the larger the scorpion the less poisonous they are. They have bigger pincers to get their food, so they don’t have to be as poisonous as the smaller ones. Either way, I was not getting close.

After the bug museum, we walked around down town a little. This Presbyterian church was around the corner.

Kevin didn’t know how fond of architecture I was. I loved looking at the building here. I could have walked around lots more except, the kids were tired, and I was getting sore. We did find a toy store… sorry Jameson looks terrible.

After the toy store, we stopped for some fudge. I thought it was funny that they placed figurines on the gelato. We didn’t try any, but it looked like frozen jelly.

After a long day, bedtime could not come fast enough. The best part? The kids had their own room.

As we were waiting for our plane to be vacated, I saw this lovely sight and started laughing. I know there’s always a few from every flight who need wheelchair assistants, but this plane had about 6-8. At the point I took a picture, there was only 4 or 5, but more were added. Then, they lined them all up and the people had to wait. It looked really funny as the workers came and tried to grab two at a time and wheel them off. I thought it was pretty funny. I think next time I’m going to try and get a ride, too.

Jameson was so tired, he crashed on take off. I don’t even think the plane had evened out yet. He slept until the wheels touched ground, which was awesome.

My next objective was this girl.

Luckily, the plane was only half full, so we had lots of room. About half way through the flight, she fell asleep too. It was awesome. I actually got a little nap on the plane, something that hasn’t happened since I first traveled with kids. Ella even slept as we got off the plane. I had to wake Jameson up. She woke up when I put her in the stroller. The girl a few rows back asked how I did it. So, I didn’t lie. I may have given my children something for motion sickness which may cause drowsiness. It also helped that it was a 3 pm flight and my kids were under a lack of sleep. The girl said she tried to give her child some Tylenol, which didn’t work. I was just thankful the kids actually fell asleep and made other people jealous rather than hating my kids for a flight.

We made it home, and the kids were so excited to see Dad.

Monday morning, Jameson went in the backyard and found new pets. These poor frogs were just not fast enough or smart enough to hop away. Grandma poked holes in the lid for them. I was not so fond of this. I think I cleaned up 3 broken jars while there. Children, glass jars, and tile do not mix.

Jameson was so excited for his frogs, though. I tried to talk him into giving them away, but that was not happening.

Since we hadn’t really done anything together during our visit, Mom and I went out that night for pedicures. We did feel bad leaving all the kids with my step-sister, though, so Ella came with us. We had about a 30 minute wait before getting in, so we walked over to TJ Max. Ella found the doll section, and was not going to leave with out one. My mom asked what I brought for her to do while we get pedicures and my response was, “Cookies.” I thought it was a good plan, but Mom caved and bought her the doll. She did carry it through the whole store, so I guess she earned it.

After pedicures, we took Ella home, made sure all kids got to bed, and then put to use those tickets I was given when Ella wouldn’t sit through The Smurfs. We went and saw Footloose, which I highly recommend. It was fun, and cute, and stuck to the original. It actually added some parts in that helped where the original just told the story. Anyway, we did get one night of girl time, and the next day we were ready to head home. Thanks for having us!

After church on Sunday, Oct. 16th, we headed to Carson City to visit with the rest of the family.  Unfortunately, I did not get out my camera. We did get to visit with Bepe’ and Paka (Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma McCulley), along with Aunt Sharon, Aunt Rhonda, Uncle Ben, Jeanae, Uncle Bill, his wife and daughter. It was a party. I didn’t see Jameson till we went to leave. Ella was attached on the other hand, but did ham it up enough for everyone to see how cute she really is. After a few hours of enjoying our visit, we headed back to Sacramento for the remainder of our trip.

When we go to visit Grammy, Jameson’s favorite thing to do is play with the farm. He sets everything up, and even has the horses ride on roads.

Jameson even lucked out and got to play with Uncle Jeremy. He showed him the “ropes” and how to swing like a man.

After some play time, Grammy took the kids for some ice cream. Ella slept the whole time since she hadn’t had a nap, and Jameson dug into ice cream that Mom had no control over. But it’s ok, Jameson loved Grammy that much more for the extra ice cream and candy on top.

After a long day, and lots of fun, we headed back for some sleep.

Friday morning, Oct. 14th, we headed out with our friends to the Animal Ark. I think they said it’s about a mile walk around the trail to see the exotic and not so exotic animals. We got there in time to see the black bear being fed. I don’t remember what her name was, but she was rescued from some people who were keeping her as a pet. The neighbors called in saying there was a bear next door, and she ended up at the Animal Ark. She started out in the back, but slowly worked her way forward to get the fruit on the tree in front of the window. The kids loved it!

We left the bear, because a field trip group had arrived, and we wanted to stay ahead of them. The kids found the turtles, and Ella loved them. I think because they could almost reach out and touch them, if there hadn’t been a sign.

They also had a white tiger, and a few other exotic animals. The kids loved it, but by the end, Sariah and I were tired. We took the kids to Old McDonald’s and then home for some naps. Once some much needed naps were taken, we went to the small pumpkin patch close by. A major hit this year, that he has never cared to do is ride the ponies. The guy running it did not care at all, and let the kids ride longer than the usual few laps around.

Ella wouldn’t ride the ponies, but everyone was up for the train rides. They told us to wait, and so we did, but no driver ever came. After about 20 minutes, and the train was full, I went and asked someone who drives the train. The guy was like, “Oh, I forgot. I got busy with the animals.” I wasn’t sure if we really wanted him driving us, but what can you do?

Ella tried to make a run with my money. The kids had fun, and then we headed off to meet Aunts and Uncle. We met up with Aunt Brittney, Aunt Steph, and Uncle Josh at Red Robin for some dinner. Surprisingly, the kids did really well considering we were eating at 7:30 pm. After dinner, we went over to Steph and Josh’s for some play time. It was a late night, but we couldn’t miss spending time with them. Hopefully, next time we will get to spend more time with them.

We arrived in Reno Oct. 13, and went straight to the new Discovery Children’s Museum to meet Papa. The museum only opened about 3 weeks prior, so no all the exhibits are finished, but it was still lots of fun.  When you fist walk in, there was a big plastic wall with circles in it that magnified  what was on the other side. This resulted in my favorite picture of Jameson in a long time.

They had a room with Nevada history, a room to show how things are built along with geothermal activities, and then a tree house room. The tree house room also had a mining cart with sponge rocks, and conveyor belt overhead to load the rocks. The kids loved it.

Jameson thought it was even better to climb into the cart and have the “rocks” fall on top of him.

Next up, the kids figured out how to fly a plane and take out others down below.

Downstairs, the kids loved the river. Jameson loved that he could climb in the tub and “float” the river. They also had a large “cloud” to climb. Jameson was quick to climb in, but got a little scared half way up and had to be coaxed down. I was not about to climb in that thing after him.

Ella tried to sneak a few drinks of water from the river.

After, we headed over for some ice cream. This is where Pap taught Jameson that ice cream could grow legs and walk away. Every time Jameson turned around, his ice cream disappeared and the only explanation was that it “walked away.” So now, he keeps telling us that things can grow legs and walk away and hide in sneaky spots.

After ice cream, we went to the pumpkin patch we visited just before moving away from Reno. The kids loved the animals, and needed to drive the tractor.

The two would only sit still long enough for me to take a picture, but this is all I could get from them.

The kids loved all the activities of the day, and spending time with their Papa. Thanks for the fun.