Vacation Recap

     We just returned home from our first family vacation (hence the lack of posting here!) so I thought I would recap our little trip and share some of the highlights.

     We spent 5 days in beautiful Victoria, BC and had a great time. Sometimes it's just nice to get away and have a change of scenery. I always like visiting new places and had never been to Victoria, but had heard good things about it. We had enough Airmiles to pay for both our flights so we didn't have to worry about driving and since we were saving so much on flights and gas we were able to splurge a bit on our hotel. We found one right downtown in a perfect location - within walking distance of a lot of the things we wanted to do so that also saved us gas money. The hotel was amazing - it had a little kitchenette so we bought groceries and cooked most of our meals instead of eating out (a 7 month old in a restaurant 3 times a day didn't seem like a great idea to me). Our room was more like a suite - it had a separate bedroom and a nice spacious living area/dining room and kitchen and a cute little balcony. My favorite part was the super comfy king-sized bed! The hotel also had some great features - swimming pool and hot tub, gym (for Cam), and a movie theater (which we never actually used). We would definitely recommend the Parkside to anyone going to Victoria.

     
     It was Tessa's first time flying, so we were a little nervous about that, but she was a total pro! I fed her during take-off and she fell asleep almost immediately after and slept almost the entire flight both ways. It was actually kind of nice - she's not the most cuddly baby and never sleeps in my arms anymore, so it was a nice treat for mama! :) I was thankful we just had short flights for her first time and I guess I should have known better than to worry - just like everything else that comes her way, she handled flying really well.

     As for the sightseeing and activities we did in Victoria, I'll just recap with photos rather than describe everything in words - that would take forever!!

     We arrived early on Saturday and couldn't check into our hotel right away, so we wandered through Beacon Hill Park and saw the world's tallest totem pole.

     On Sunday, we had our whale watching tour. This was the best part of the trip for me. We were able to see a large pod of orcas, a pair of humbacks and tons of seals and sea lions. Pretty exciting stuff for a couple of prairie kids!

     On Monday we went to Butchart Gardens. Absolutely beautiful, especially the Sunken Garden (below). To get to it, you walk along a narrow path completely covered over by trees, come around a corner and it opens up looking out over this spectacular view:

My new favorite family photo

We thought this Bill Cosby sweater was awesome!

     And of course, you can't go to Butchart Gardens and not take ridiculous amounts of flower photos (at least I can't, it would seem). Here are a few of my favorites:

     After Butchart Gardens, we stopped at the Butterfly Gardens for a quick look around.

     On Tuesday morning, we visited the Craigdarroch Castle (which sounds a lot cooler than it actually was), and in the afternoon we met up with some friends from home who were also in Victoria at the same time and went to the Bug Zoo together. Tessa was fascinated by a rather large tarantula (behind glass, of course) and her parents both held Nora, the smaller one.

      Wednesday was our last full day, so we tried to pack in as much as we could. The highlight of the day was our drive north of Victoria to Goldstream Provincial Park, where we found this beautiful little waterfall. For lunch, we stopped at Spinnaker's for the best fish & chips I've ever had then made our way back downtown to see Chinatown and do a bit of shopping.

The gorgeous Empress hotel from across the Harbour

Tessa being a goof - love this girl to bits!!

          We lucked out with our rental car and got to drive a Charger around all week - Cam was pretty excited so we had to take a photo of him next to it! :)

     We landed in Calgary on Thursday afternoon, and it was a bit of a shock going from the lush greenery and the cool, fresh, sea air of Vancouver Island to hot, dry, dusty, windy southern Alberta. I love the prairies and they've always been home, and I hate to say it, but for the first time I can remember, coming home was a bit of a let down (I'm sure I'll recover though!).

    We made it home Thursday night, and spent the last day of our holiday deep cleaning our house, including carpets - fun! It needed to be done though, and felt great after.

     And on Sunday, we set up Tessa's little pool in the backyard and enjoyed what might be one of the last hot weekends of the summer.

     We're back to regular life today and it's nice to be back into our normal routine, but we were thankful for the break and the time to get away together. Some of my favorite childhood memories center around family vacations, and I know Tessa is still too young to remember this one, but I look forward to many more family trips in the future where we can give her some of those wonderful memories to cherish for life.