Canada 2012

We’re back! The suitcases are unpacked, the laundry is washed, dried, and folded, and the fridge is full once again. All in all it was a great trip and will take me several posts to write about. I’ll begin at the beginning:

On Friday July 6, we got up very early, loaded up the one way rental car (easier than driving our own car to the airport, especially because we weren’t flying back) and drove to LAX. There we checked in and waited for our plane:

 

Fiona crawled around the floor like a tiger, roared at me, and generally had a good time waiting to embark.

Once on the plane, Fiona had to sit in her own seat. At first she did not want to, but once the plane started moving, she was fine. During the flight she enjoyed trips to the bathroom, playing cards, and helping Bitty Baby stay in her seat:

 

My mom taught her that camels go “pee-you!” so she does it every time she sees the camel card.

 

Fiona sat on my lap during landing and her ears hurt her a lot. She even told us “ears! ears!” A nice lady gave us a Starburst candy chew and we gave it to Fi. Worked like a charm. We never give her candy ever, and she rarely eats anything sweet other than fruit, but desperate times call for desperate measures. The window shade was fun:

Once on the ground, we picked up our luggage, Fiona got a Canadian entrance stamp on her hand instead of her passport, and we rented the second of our vacation cars, a Ford Fusion. We drove to the ferry terminal in Tsawwassen. Fiona fell asleep in the car with her hand in a snack bag:

The ferry ride was uneventful. Fiona played in the play area a little bit and ran around on the observation deck:

I would like to note that the sun was actually shining and that it was not cold.

We arrived in Swartz Bay and drove to our hotel in Victoria, The Laurel Point Inn. The hotel was nice. We had a small balcony, but being on the first floor, the view was very limited. The room was a junior suite, so there was a door separating the “living” area from the “bedroom” area. We ordered room service dinner and ate it all. We didn’t really spend a lot of time in the room.

The view from our patio:

Here is John, sitting on the patio, in a chair that we dragged from inside because our room is in the wing that doesn’t get the patio furniture, learning that we cannot watch free movies on the Kindle in Canada:

 

The next day we rose early, walked around, found breakfast at another hotel where we were complimented on Fiona’s restaurant behavior, and walked to a supermarket to get Fiona supplies (juice, milk, fruit, crackers). We walked through a farmer’s market and later found a nice little park and Fiona had fun on the slide and swings:

 

We went on a wild goose chase and located a place that took citizenship photos of Fiona so we can make her official. We also stopped in a tea store for a jasmine green tea for me. It’s my preferred morning drink. Fiona enjoyed her hand:

 

Later, we visited with Grandpa Don:

We went to Beacon Hill Park, to the little farm zoo. Even though I only have one little “piglet” I totally know how this mother pig feels:

 

We ate dinner at Moxie’s, a place that always seems to welcome kids. Fiona decided she liked spaghetti, so we are adding that to the list of foods we know to give her more of.

The following day, breakfast was at the hotel, followed by a walk to the Parliament building. It was very quiet in the morning, and we were able to take photos with no one else around. We met a lady who is a preschool teacher, who told us that Fiona has really good motor skills for her age.

Of course, Fiona found a wall to walk on:

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had lunch with Grandpa Don, Aunt Cathy, Uncle Bruce, and Uncle Ron at the hotel, and I spent a good deal of it running around with Fiona. Here is a photo of Grandpa Don and Uncle Bruce, with me in the background, probably following Fi from one of our many visits to the little patio to have air tea and air cake.

After Fiona’s nap, we met Iain for a harbor tour. Fiona hung over the side of the boat saying “Neen neen neen neen” almost the whole time. She was really excited.I am not sure what “need neen” is. I am guessing it was the sound she heard from the motor.

 

 

After a visit to Fisherman’s Wharf, we headed out to Mike and Jennifer’s, where we ate a delicious dinner and their sweet little boy Doug gave me lots of hugs, told me I was pretty and beautiful, and gave Fiona some car toys (a little Stegosaurus and some cars). I only have one photo from our visit, but lots of mosquito bites:

On Monday, we began the day with a visit with Miriam and Reg. Unfortunately I did not take any photos, but I did eat many delicious little buttery biscuits, and Fiona had a good time feeding cherries to Tazz. Knowing what Fiona’s diaper looked like later, I fear for what Tazz may have produced himself. Gulp.

After our visit, we drove to Nanaimo to visit Cathy and Ron and so John could go through a bunch of his things and take them away. Fiona loved the stairs in their home, the flashlight, and writing letters with Aunt Cathy:

Big letters are “Daddy” letters, medium sized letters are “Mommy” letters, and small letters are “Baby” letters. This game occupied Fiona in many a restaurant for the rest of the trip. Thanks Aunt Cathy!

We spent the night in Nanaimo and then took the Duke Point ferry back to Tsawwassen so we could exchange our rental for another rental. The ferry was one of the newer bigger ferries, and it was practically EMPTY. It was almost eerie, but also pleasant. I took some photos, because I have never seen such an empty ferry.

 

 

 

Fiona pretending to be a lion, crawling on the bench and growling/roaring:

We made a brief stop on the play area, but most of the kids there were standing on the play equipment but not moving, choosing instead to watch the movie that was on.

We drove to the airport to exchange our Ford Fusion for a car to drive over the border, a Chevy Malibu as it turned out. Fiona fell asleep on the way and missed the Peace Arch and the weird art display they had on the US side:

After the border, we drove to Bellingham, Washington to exchange cars yet again, and picked up a Mitsubishi Endeavor. We spent the rest of the trip in the Endeavor.

Thus ends the Canadian portion of our summer trip. I will write about the rest of the trip in the next post. We really enjoyed seeing our Canadian family and wish that we got to see everyone more often. We plan to come back soon, hopefully before the end of the year.

It’s late and I am off to bed! More on our travels later!