Victoria

We left for Victoria on Thursday morning right after our one-on-one visit with Jake's teacher Miss Antak. Jake was so excited to ride the ferry. He'd been on it before when he was smaller, but doesn't remember it. Jake and Daddy walked around the outside deck and enjoyed the view! It was beautiful weather...perfect for the ride over.

Once we arrived we drove around Sidney a little and checked out the neighborhoods there. One of our favorite things about the Island are the Garry Oak trees. They are just so cool, but unfortunately they don't grow on the mainland. We then checked into the hotel, got changed and went downtown. We had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. It was so busy and the food took a long time, which doesn't help when you have an active five-year-old boy and a tired baby. We still had fun, but didn't enjoy it as much as we hoped to. After that we walked around the harbour and looked at all the neat old buildings and took some pictures. Bentley didn't want to walk anymore because he ate too much at dinner!

We got back to our room around 8:30 and got the kids to bed. Jake was so excited to have us sleeping in the same room as him. He finally fell asleep around 10:00. It took Amy a while to fall asleep being in a strange place, but she did eventually!

The next day Bentley took us out to Fort Rodd Hill. It was really neat there and there were amazing views of the ocean from there. I took tons of pictures there. There were so many neat buildings and beautiful scenery to take pictures of. Unfortunately I packed my wire for my camera and I can't upload any pictures! The laptop's wireless connection isn't working so I can't even put my memory card in there and upload the pictures. I'll try next week once we move and get everything set up again.

Anyway, after Fort Rodd Hill we went for lunch and drove around some neighborhoods, including the Fairfield area where Bentley lived for a while. We drove past the St. Charles Street house where Bentley pointed out the spot his brother fell out of the car (I think it must have been Justin). Bentley always tells me about that every time we go past the house...too funny.

After that we went to Beacon Hill Park. Jake went into the goat petting area. The admission was by donation and I put $8 in the bin. Little did I know there wasn't much to do in there! Jake pet some goats and we saw a peacock, miniature horses, a pig, a rabbit and guinea pig. It took about 10 minutes in all. It was neat to see, and the money goes to help keep the place going and for other things, so I guess it was ok. We then found a playground for Jake (he only asked about it every ten minutes!) There had just been a concert in the park and there were tons of kids there. We didn't know about the concert, but it sounded like it was pretty fun. Too bad we missed it.

After that we got some dinner. Bentley found a little fish n' chips place near the ocean. You could hardly see it when you're driving by. It was so delicious! Bentley tried cod and rock fish and I had my usual, halibut. The large order of fries that we shared was definitely a large order! It was huge! Probably the best fries we've ever had....so good. We parked down by the water and ate there in the car. We drove around a little more after that and then went back to the room to get the kids to bed.

The next morning we laid around a bit and then packed up and headed for home! It was a nice short trip, but worthwhile. We didn't get away at all this summer, so it was good for us to have a break! Especially me! Now I have to pack extra this week to make up for lost time!