Lessons from my boy

At precisely 10:20 am, dressed in our very Sunday best, we pulled into the parking lot of the local meeting house of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.   At precisely 10:21 am we realized that we were precisely 51 minutes late for church at the said building.  Yes, it was the same building we went to church at last week.  Yes, we were on time last week. Yes, I feel foolish.

But, could we walk in 51 minutes late?  Seemed a little silly to us at the time.  So we promptly pulled out of the parking lot and drove away, escaping the embarrassment of our predicament. 

Perhaps on our own Jared and I could have ended our attempts at piety there.  But we had two little boys in the back of the car who wondered when we were going to go to church.

"Well, we don't want to walk in late, so we aren't going today."  "It's the thought that counts, right?" No, that just wasn't going to cut it.

So, we drove home to regroup, recharge (with some delish raw tacos I made up, since I didn't bring any recipe books to Victoria) and find another meeting house where we wouldn't have to make such a grand tardy entrance.

At precisely 1:02 pm, still dressed in our Sunday best, be it a little worse for the wear, we pulled into the parking lot of another church building, and only 2 mintues late we hurried in while the opening hymn was still being joyously sung.

After such an ordeal (getting the boys in shirts and ties, keeping them clean while they ate tacos and getting to church AGAIN is an ordeal, let me promise you) we had this silly notion that we would only go to Sacrament meeting (the main meeting where we partake of the Sacrament) and skip out on the other meetings (Sunday School/Primary and Priesthood/Relief Society). Silly us.  After Sacrament we were making our quick, subtle escape when Eli conspicuously said, "Hey, ask that guy where my class is!"

"Well Son, we thought we'd just go home."  "Actually, we aren't going to go to all of church today."  Nope, that wouldn't cut it either. 

So, I asked that guy, and he told me exactly where to find Eli's Sunbeams primary class, and he ran straight there. 

At precisely whatever that time happened to be I learned a good lesson from my three-year-old.  Church isn't about how tired you are, how hard it was to get there, how far you are from anyone who would know if you went or not.  Church is about going and worshiping and learning about the gospel, no matter where in the world you are.  And guess what Eli learned.  "Joseph Smith talked to Heavenly Father, and Heavenly Father talked to him, and that's how we know he's a prophet."  I guess it was worth it.

Thanks, Eli.  I love you!

Throw that skalleywag in the brig!

I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that I have been to the eastern most point of Canada, and the western most point, and on both those points they have abandoned naval bases.  While I agree that Canada's threat is minimal, I've seen the run down remains of Canada's coastal defenses, and we don't stand a chance against an army of mosquitoes!  I didn't lose sleep over it though, so I guess I'm not that worried.

We went to see the remains of Fort Rod this week, Canada's Pacific defense.  Eli thought it was great and as he says, "I love weapons."

So does Jared.

Pretty sure they just forgot these behind.

Whenever I see places like this, I often wonder what it must have been like in it's hey day.  I can't even imagine what some of the spaces would have been for. Like this, for instance:

We even sneaked through the fences (like I said, mosquitoes) and went shell hunting on the beach.

 

Then, in the same park there was a old lighthouse we got to explore.  While I think remains of war are interesting, I LOVE lighthouses!  This one was pretty cool.

 

I think I would have made a great lighthouse keeper.  Eli would make a great captain, once he grows a few inches so he can see over the helm (is it called a helm?):

All in all, another exciting day here on Vancouver Island.  What will we see tomorrow?

I’d Like to Be Under the Sea

Wow. Maybe it’s because I am seeing all these things through the eyes of my 3 year old, but every day we spend here I find I am more and more in awe over how incredible our world is. 

Eli literally asks every day if we can go to the beach.  He would rather dig for crabs than almost anything else. So many days we've found ourselves on the beach, and on this particular day, dig for crabs we did!  We actually went on a great little educational tour, where we went fishing for all sorts of sea life in the tide pools and shallow waters.  It was cold out, but so much fun!

Check out Jared’s outfit?!  Ya, we did not come prepared.  Eli is so incredibly cute.  We’ve done a bunch of the group tours, and Eli is perfectly happy to just shove past all the bigger people and get right in on the action. As long as he knows we’re near, he is totally part of everything that’s going on. I love that kid!

Eli’s pants are actually not that colour. He fell in the mud on the hike to the beach. We’re over it.

And this one says it all:

Wordless Nothing

You know how many bloggers have "Wordless" days where they just post pictures, with no words? Well, I’ve never been very good at being wordless, ever. So, here’s my broken attempt at updating you on some of our doings via the pictures we’ve been taking. Life is fun, even if we aren’t adventuring big time all the time.

 We are so glad that we co-sleep!

 Duck eggs!

 

 

Ahoy Matey - Baby Wearing Tube

I love to wear my babies (and toddlers, for that matter.) I've got a little bit of an addiction when it comes to baby carriers.  I have woven wraps and stretchy wraps.  I have ring slings and pouch slings. I have a structured soft carrier, and I even have a framed backpack carrier. In our move to Victoria we didn't bring any toys, any bibs or spoons, we didn't worry about cribs or high chairs. We didn't even bring a stroller.  But, we did bring my ERGObaby Carrier, and it's already been indispensable.  Silas has been in it on all our walks and adventures.

After four years of baby wearing I have finally solved a constant problem.  Inevitably as we hike/walk/explore, the weather changes.  Sometimes it's just walking in and out of buildings at the zoo.  Taking the baby in and out of the carrier just to take off a coat, and then put it back on, is more than tedious, it's downright annoying!  Never mind the fact that wearing a bulky coat in the carrier can be more than a bit bothersome.  So, on my long drive to Victoria I knit to solve the problem (if only more problems of the world couldn't be solved by knitting) and I came up with this:

Wonderful, eh?  It's a simple knit tube, with a hole in the middle for the baby's back.  Naturally I needed to make it manly for my little boy, so the skully was knit in.  I've got to make another now and actually make it fit him, but I'm totally loving my invention.  It's such an easy way to keep his exposed back and arms warm without the bulk of a coat.  And, it's easy to take on and off while he's still in the carrier, so you don't have to worry about the temperature changes. I think I might make a few more with girly prints and better yarn.  Oh, the cleverness of me! Stay posted for the perfected version and a pattern!

Silly Prairie Girl

Every time I go to Waterton National Park I can't help but chuckle at the throngs of people that follow around the deer that walk freely through the town site with cameras and coos of adoration.  Deer?! Now, I understand that to some, deer within touching distance may be quite a novelty, but to me they are really not that exciting.

Yesterday we walked along Fisherman's Wharf, and two seals popped their heads up from the water. I just about peed my pants with excitement!  Honestly, seals?!  I'm sure the folks there that see those seals every single day thought that the seals were just begging me for food, and I've no doubt that they thought that I was just as silly as I've ever thought the tourists in the Rockies.  But still, while I'm not proficient at seal... yet... I'm convinced that those two happy little seals actually came to harbor just to see me, to wave their little flappers and make my day absolutely magical. They don't do that for just anyone, you know.

Besides the seals, on the Wharf there were floating houses! That's right, real homes, built on floats, moored permanently in the harbor.  Some of them were for sale for $400000!  I have to admit, the idea of living like that is pretty romantic, until I realized that I was peering through the windows and talking about their decorating right in front of their front door.   I don't think I'd want to live like that.  I'm kind of a, if I can see my neighbors house they live too close, kind of person.  Still, maybe if I had lived here for school, without kids, I would have loved to live in a floating house.

We also went out to Beacon Hill Park yesterday (I've noticed that there are a lot of Beacon Hills around - Montreal, Newfoundland, Victoria...)  On our way we made a fortunate wrong turn right onto our own, private, secret beach.  We saw all sorts of sea life, explored tide pools and caught baby crabs.  It was amazing, and if we can find it again, we will definitely go back.

And then, as we carried on to the park we stopped at a "scenic turnout" I think everyone should stop at every scenic turnout they ever see, because they are always stunningly beautiful.  I found the community I want to live in. After we walked down the hill, spent time on another beach, climbed back up and admired the view I made Jared drive around it for another half hour while I dreamed of living there for the rest of my life.

Finally we got to Beacon Hill Park, where Eli found a dead duck, which he kicked into a pond, where we climbed the biggest tree I have ever seen, and where we found the greatest little petting zoo ever!  The goats were even more in love with Eli than he was with them.

I didn't take a picture of the dead duck, don't worry.

So I guess I'm not a true islander yet.  I've got to get over seeing seals swimming next to me, needing to stop at every beautiful home and take a picture, and learn how to dress warm enough to spend time on the windy beaches.  Have I mentioned that I love it here?

On Being an Islander

Six years ago we spend 10 days on Newfoundland with my family, and fell in love with the island. We have often dreamed of going back. Well, it seems that we have found another island to love.  Victoria, it turns out, is incredible!  We've been here just two days, and I'm ready to send for all my things and settle down.  Seriously. I think I was meant to be an islander.

The first thing we did when we got to Victoria was find a place to live. It was pretty easy, seeing as we are only going to be here for 2 months, and we didn't need much.  We found a furnished basement suite off Kijiji, went straight there, signed the lease and moved in!  The entire apartment is not much bigger than the room we live in in my parents basement, but we don't plan on spending much time in it anyway, and it is clean and cute.

Then we went to the only place that Eli really wanted to see: the beach.  It's just a few blocks from our house, and it is lovely! It wasn't that warm out (albeit, warmer than Calgary) so we didn't jump in, but we enjoyed it nonetheless.

The majority of Silas's aunties would be disgusted by this beach, due to all the sea weed. Silas and Eli didn't seem to mind. In fact, Silas was quite excited by being able to throw the sea weed back to sea.  Eli wanted to know if he could eat it.

There was a park right off the beach, so we spent a few moments there in hope of wearing off some of the sand before we climbed back in the car (a losing battle, I suppose.)

Then we did our grocery shopping, setting ourselves up for life on the island for the next 2 months.  YEAH!

Yesterday, although Eli asked to go back to the beach every half hour, the weather was less than accommodating , so we spent the day exploring indoor adventures.  We went to the Pacific Underwater Gardens, a boat with aquariums around it that you can view from the inside.  We saw octopi, sea stars galore, and a scuba diver.  Eli and Silas's favorite part was the tiny pool they could reach their hands into to hold the sea stars themselves.

The Trip Across the Ocean

Alright, I'll admit it, I don't actually know what we travelled across, but the sea was salty, there were islands everywhere, and we traveled, so I will call it the ocean. It was probably a strait or something...

Anyway, after our night in Abbotsford, we reloaded the car (not an easy feat) and carried onto our destination.  We did take a minute to stop and see the LDS Temple in Vancouver.  We enjoyed the good weather, the beautiful flowers and sang I Love to See the Temple several times.  I have always loved visiting temples, but I love it even more now that I can bring my children there and know that I will be with them forever!

Then we carried on down the Trans Canada until we reached the sea and could drive no longer.  Eli thought it was pretty cool that we would be able to drive our car onto a boat, but that's the way to get across an ocean!  We got to the ferry just as one was leaving, so we had to wait for 2 hours before ours would leave. It was cold, right there on the ocean, and the boys coats were packed, so we wrapped them up in our own and explored the very commercialized shore.

Don't tell, but we even had a little gelato while we waited.

Nothing like running on the road. Chicken, anyone?

Eli was in love with all the ships.

On the ferry we stopped for buffet lunch (kids eat free!!!) and went to the highest deck to see the ocean.  Honestly, it was amazing to sail (there were no sails, but I'll call it sailing anyway) right past all the little islands, and see the snow capped mountains in the distance.  We kept our eyes peeled for whales, but all we saw were a few sea stars stuck to the wharf.  Nevertheless, it was amazing.

And thus we made it to our new home, Victoria, British Columbia.  The adventure continues, and we are so excited!