Newcastle Island

Welcome to Newcastle Island! You can actually see this island from the downtown Nanaimo Harbour. We had heard that it was a fun little trip across the channel, and a nice relaxing island to hang out on. So we figured out what time the ferry left and booked our trip. We had NO IDEA that a ferry could be this small. We pictured a large boat that could carry at least 20 people or so. WRONG! This boat could carry 12 people if they didn't have strollers...so small. I was laughing. This little dingy could turn on a dime!

Bristol thought that the ride was pretty exciting! She had to stand on the bench and look out into the water the whole time!

Right as we were getting onto the island there was this large to tum poll. I guess the island used to be inhabited by Indians.

We didn't do much relaxing while on the island (except for our ice cream treat after our long walk). We decided to take a trail around the island that was about 4 miles long. It was LONG, but really fun! The scenery was beautiful. There were times when I seriously thought that T-Rex was going to jump out of the woods though...

Looking at the Nanaimo Harbour from Newcastle Island. Plus our little "ferry" making it's way toward us!

Bristol in the Mirror

In the entrance to our apartment complex there are mirrors side by side in corners. Bristol discovered them today and was having a great time looking at all of her different selves. She was so hilarious!

P.S. If you skip the first few seconds of the video it seems to upload more quickly.

Downtown Nanaimo Harbour

Downtown Nanaimo is about ten minutes away from our apartment, and right in the middle of it is this Harbour with a really nice park, walkway, and little shops along the water. It is really fun to just get out and walk around there. We walked out onto one of the piers and got talking to a local lady who was there crab fishing. She let us get some close looks at the crabs. They are a little too...pinchy...for me. She also informed us of "Lucy," the harbour seal. She comes pretty close to people, and will also eat right out of your hand if you have the right food. We had a good time there!

You can see Lucy's small head in the water!

Another shot of Lucy

Pipers Lagoon With Ty (trip 2)

I loved Pipers Lagoon so much the first time I went that I had to take Ty back there. This trip was way fun! We saw more marine life, tons of snakes, and this cool Sun Fish. It's like a star fish, but with more legs I guess? Anyway, it was really fun. We took a picnic lunch and spent quite a while there! Of course as we were leaving we noticed that Bris dropped her one and only blankie...we retraced all of our steps and finally found it. Close call though!

Picnic by the Beach

Just across the street from the office where Ty meets every morning is a small park right on the beach. This beach is just down the way from "Departure Bay" where the huge ferry that transports people and cars to different islands docks. Departure Bay is also where cruise ships come into port! We decided to have a little picnic before Ty had to go to work. A little windy (as you can see in Bris's hair), but we had a fun time!

Cigarette Butts Are Litter

So, Bristol LOVES to play outside. Loves it! And because she can walk/run, it is hard to keep up with her sometimes. The last few times we went out she has found a new fascination! Cigarette Butts. Nasty nasty! Seriously though. She runs over to them and picks them up like they are candy. Fortunately she has never gotten one into her mouth, but just the thought of picking up someone else's cigarette butt is disgusting. I have always been taught not to litter, so I just never really think about it. But this has really frustrated me! I guarantee at least half of smokers out there wouldn't just throw a wrapper on the ground, or an old paper cup (at least I hope they wouldn't), so why do smokers think it's okay to just throw their cigarette on the ground, or out their car window? First it is polluting the Earth, second it looks dirty when you are in a beautiful park and see cigarettes all over the ground, and third...MY BABY IS PICKING THEM UP...AND WHO KNOWS WHAT OTHER KIDS OUT THERE! I think that I'll just go throw up now, that is how sick this is. I'll keep training my daughter not to pick them up, but should I have to? NO! You ADULTS out there should know better!

Thank you for letting me vent...pass the word. Cigarette Butts are TRASH not LITTER!

Nanaimo Bars

Don't these look mouthwatering? I want to make these! Nanaimo is known for "Nanaimo Bars." I see them everywhere, but haven't purchased one. Seriously though, they are at the subway, grocery store, wendy's, literally everywhere. So I was thinking that they must be good. I finally decided to see if I could find a recipe on line, and I did here. Hopefully I will be able to make them soon, and I will let you know how they taste!

Pipers Lagoon

Maybe a week ago we headed to Pipers Lagoon. It is closer in distance on a map to where we live, than driving. But driving there still only took about seven minutes. You drive through this small neighborhood and then all of a suden you are there at the park! There is a narrow walk way with water on both sides (in high tide) that you follow for quite a long while. This pennisula like point creates 2 large lagoons, and a couple smaller ones. All of us spent maybe 3 hours there! We had so much fun! The sun was out, and the tide was low which allowed us to walk out on the rocks and find these little pools of water with TONS of sea life in them. Bristol loved sitting by the pools of water and putting her hand in it. There were tons of crabs, so I didn't let her try to grab anything, but I think that she would have!

I don't know why she never smiles at the camera. We will have to work on that, but I promise that she was having a great time!

Thanks Shannon for the pictures!

Qualicum Beach and Little Qualicum Falls

Qualicum Beach is about 25 minutes north of Nanaimo where we live. While there we found some cute (but dead) little crabs. We thought that they were pretty cool! I don't know how many miles this beach stretches for, but it goes on for quite a while!

Bristol LOVES the beach. She picks up rocks, bugs, shells, and tries to play in the water.

Little Qualicum Falls

About 15 minutes inland from Qualicum Beach is Little Qualicum Falls. It is really beautiful, and the falls are quite large! Bristol was entranced by them, and didn't quite understand that getting too close could be...scary. But she got as close as we would let her!

Some of the "Office Wives...and kids" Stephanie, Thomas, Alexandra, Bailey

Tofino: BC Canada

Two hours away from our apartment in Nanaimo on the west side of the island is Tofino. We failed to check the weather before driving there, and it rained the WHOLE time, but it was beautiful! While in Tofino we stopped at a couple of beaches to look at the view and let Bristol run around, and we ate at this quaint little Cafe overlooking the ocean. It was really a lot of fun! While stopping at a little gift shop Bristol screamed until we bought her a little stuffed Bald Eagle. She had to have it. Glimpses of the future? I hope not!

 One interesting note about Tofino is that we notice tsunami warning signs. They would say something like "Tsunami evacuation route" and then have an arrow pointing inland. Interesting! We found out that the San Andreous Fault line runs all the way up into Canada, so there is a possibility of large natural disasters.

Life as I knew it

It is incredible how quickly life as we know it can change. What started out as a frustrating day finally started getting better. I was reading a friend's short blog post "What could God do if I were less focused on me?" and realized that I could make my day better. So I did, and it was getting there. I was anticipating some girlfriends coming over to make some yummy treats, when I find out (in not the best of ways...via facebook) that a friend had passed away. My first reaction was read more, make sure this is really happening, next thought...call Mom. She'll know. When Mom picked up the phone it was like she knew exactly what I was calling about...and it was true. We both agreed that FACEBOOK is NOT the way to find out, word of mouth is so much better. Then it hit. I was so MAD. This young woman has a YOUNG family. It didn't seem fair. I cried, hard. Bristol laid her head on my side and patted my back. The Spirit is so REAL. There is no doubt. My friends started coming over, and thanks to them whether they knew it or not, it felt nice to have people there to help with Bris, and to distract my thoughts. As real as death is, I know it is not the end. As much as it can seem unfair, I know that my Heavenly Father has a plan for EACH of us. My prayers are with the family.

The funeral is on Monday. Maybe then I'll post more details. As for now, if you knew her I hope you find out by word of mouth and not because of someone's blog or facebook. And if I knew that you knew her and you may not know, I'll call you!

Nanaimo, British Columbia

Ammonite Falls! This was our first outing in CANADA! The other wives "in the office" and Bristol and I drove about twenty minutes from our apartments and found ourselves at the Ammonite Falls hike. It was really nice outside, and the scenery was beautiful. At the very beginning we ran into a "local" who said that the hike wasn't that long, and it was really easy to find the falls. WRONG! We took...a few wrong turns. But we finally made it. I think that we hiked for about 4 or 5 hours, which was a long time to carry Bristol in the pack, but it was really fun!

Things I like about Canada:

It is really beautiful here!

Bristol and I have tons to do while Ty works.

Deer and raccoons run through our backyard.

I can't ever get too lost...I'm on an island.

I'm in good company!

Ok I know, the list isn't that long. I'll be honest, I miss home! However, Ty and I will always remember our summer adventures, and this is just the beginning of another summer!

Transition Time: Boise

Before moving to Canada, TyRell worked in Boise for a few weeks. Here are a few pics from the three weeks we spent there! We had so much fun! Bristol was really starting to cruise around, and loved to play with Huck, and splash in the little "pond" in the back yard! Grandad the Great also showed Bristol one of his famous music boxes!

Bristol's 1st Birthday: Oakley

I was just scrolling through my blog and realized that I never posted the second of Bristol's two part Birthday. This was the party in Oakley with Ty's parents. After opening presents we sang "Happy Birthday" and let Bristol dig into a cupcake. I believe that she must take after me...not wanting to get food all over her face. She wasn't into it too much (at least not as much as the other baby there)! She had fun though and did tell me that she admits to loving to stuff her face with a cupcake. Funny note: Bristol is SCARED of tu-tu's. So funny!

Cruise: Day 7

I know...You are all ready for cruise posting to be over...this was the last day! Promise. I wasn't so excited to leave at the time...except to see my baby, but the last day was nice and relaxing. I pretty much laid on a lounge chair all day and watched movies on the movie screen, followed by some great dinner (including 2 orderes of dessert) and then watching all of the other ships at sea. So great! I loved this cruise, highly recommend going on one!

Cruise: Day 6

Day six was Grand Turk day! So much fun! My mom and I started off the morning with a brisk walk around the outside of the boat, followed by some great breakfast!
In Grand Turk we did a bit of shopping, smoothie tasting, and then some great snorkeling. I'll be honest, I was a bit concerned because snorkeling was going to be followed by some sting rays, and I just don't like things touching me! However, it turns out that I only had to touch one if I wanted to, which they tried to get me to do...but NO WAY!
Snorkeling was a bit nerve racking. There was a barracuda that "made friends" with the travelers, and when I saw it hanging out by the boat I panicked. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't panic in the water...but I totally did. AHHHH!

Cruise: Day 5

Hello St. Thomas! This was seriously one of my most favorite days on the cruise. We had the best time EVER!
The ship got to port at 1:00 PM and we scurried off to our snorkeling excursion. The whole excursion consisted of 27 people, and my family made up 21 of them. What a blast! We rode on this awesome catamaran for a while to "Turtle Cove" off of Buck Island and did some great snorkeling. We then boarded the boat again and went to "Honeymoon Beach" for a great BBQ and swimming. The scenery was breathtaking. I'll never forget it!