OK, so Vancouver is in the rearview mirror and laid out in front of us is the Tsawwassen ferry terminal in all its glory. We got on a morning sailing in order to take advantage of Auntie Jan's time off of work with a bit of a day visit on the Thursday. The weather was pretty nice for the sailing, but the wind was up a bit. Highlights from the trip include:
When we got to the Island, we set up camp at our third HQ and got our bearings. This included meeting the dogs (Scout and Lucy), exploring the yard and checking out all of the cool toys people had lent Auntie Jan and Uncle Brian. Once again, Leo was ambivalent regarding the dogs (unless they seriously got in his way) while Max was skittish. By the end of the visit, though, Max was talking about being sad without Mr. Scout so he is definitely working on his fear of dogs (developed when he was a wee one and was nipped by a few small dogs).
While we were on the Island, we had a few adventures, including:
While we were on the Island, the World Cup of Soccer got underway. Max hadn't seen much soccer before, so I thought I would educate him regarding the sport during one of the early mornings when Leo and Holly were still sleeping. There were two things that Max really latched on to, both of which surprised me and still come up almost daily...six weeks later! First, Max was gaga for the refs. Holly believes that Max was amazed by the fact that adults could reprimand adults...better yet, that it could be done using colourful pieces of paper...better yet that the red piece of paper essentially kicks a person right out of the game. The first mind-blowing moment for him came in Portugal's first game when two players simultaneously earned yellow cards. He talked about the ref getting two people in trouble for days. Yellow cards and red cards have even made their way into our discipline tactics, and they are quite effective. I joke all the time about how in phys ed., when everybody else is either running to get into the game or willfully moping on the bench, Max will be the one kid crying because the teacher won't let him adjudicate. At home, we have to try to get him to play goalie or player, as opposed to reffing. So funny.
Anyway, the second thing that caught Max's attention was in a game between Serbia and Ghana, maybe? Anyway, the ball had gone out of bounds and so the cameras presented a couple of shots of rambunctious fans. One of them was topless, wearing a lot of body paint and enjoying a beverage. Max asked "Who that guy?" and I answered that it was a soccer fan. I expanded, saying that's what soccer fans looked like; they did not wear shirts and drank beer. Max immediately shot back "I want to be a fan. I want to drink beard." So he convinces me to strip down, he takes off his shirt and then there we are, two fans on the couch. No wait, then Holly comes into the room brandishing two bottles of Keith's, doles them out and THEN, we are fans. To this day, every time Max sees either a topless person or our friend Jamie, he asks "Is that person a fan?" Awesome.
Finally, on our last day out west, Max and Leo had some adventures alone with Holly and Auntie Jan.
Holly adds: We had a totally awesome day. We went to the Beacon Hill Children's Farm, an amazing kid-centred petting zoo in Beacon Hill Park. Max was on a bit of an emotional roller-coaster that day so it was hard for anything to keep his interest for more than a few minutes but Leo loved it. The centrepiece of the zoo is the goat enclosure where dozens of very friendly mama goats and kids jump about and patiently get petted and groomed by everyone. Leo and Auntie Jan got lots of goat love! Max did enjoy grooming the goats - the boy loves him some tools! After the farm, we went to a great little diner on the edge of the park for lunch and some great soft-serve ice cream.
Where was I on that last day? Well, thanks to a car-booking snafu, we were forced to drive the car back to Kelowna as we weren't allowed to do a one-way drop without incurring something like a $2,000 surcharge. Not kidding. So Holly had the brainwave to do the drive the day before the trip ended and then have me fly back in the evening to pack. That had me leaving on the 7 a.m. sailing out of Swartz Bay and arriving in Kelowna at 3 p.m. for a 6 p.m. flight back to Victoria. The weather cooperated beautifully, the Mitsubishi Lancer was a gas mileage all-star and my iPod was cranked all the way to 11.
Here are some other, random pictures from the third leg:
Epilogue
Just before I left for Kelowna, we figured out that Leo had probably come down with an ear infection - Holly confirmed this during a clinic visit on the Monday. Tuesday morning, before hitting the plane home, Max, Auntie Jan and I hit the Shaw Ocean Discovery Center in Sidney, where we saw an octopus, pile of jellyfish, anemones and starfish and were able to poke around in a tide pool. Then, as if we weren't pumping enough Tylenol into Leo, after Max fell asleep in the Vancouver airport, he woke up with a raging fever. The next day, we found out that he had come down with another case of strep throat. So that made for two delirious, radiating, tired chickens all the way home. However, once we landed (late) at the airport, the kids saw their Nana and came to pretty quickly. Sadly, this meant they got to bed at 2 a.m. Yuck. The one good thing for Holly once we got home was that Max immediately got over his "I want Dad for everything and I don't want to deal with you for any reason" kick.
All in all, it was an amazing first family trip as a foursome. BIG thank-yous to everyone who fed, housed and visited with us. We had a blast!
1 comment:
somehow I read that as "munchhausen cafe"
Sounds like a great trip!
I can't be a fan, you know, I must wear a shirt. Nana too.
xoxo
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