Packing and Puking

This has been one of my most interesting moves.  Spencer has been throwing up all day, but this is a double edged sword.  He has slept most of the day and that has led to a relatively peaceful day.  On the other hand, it is only increasing my laundry and the time I need to spend holding him.  We have relegated him to the couch that is being destroyed.  If he pukes here, we don't really care.  Wipe it up and move on.  Still, packing and puking - not a great combination!

Murphy's Moving Law

5 days til the move.

House semi-packed.

Dad taking 2 days off work to get everything done.

Child up all night burning up with fever.

Wants to be held and have attention all day.

(Sound familiar, Lisa?)

This is going to be a very looooong day.  We HAVE to get things done today.

Time to roll up our sleeves and get at it.

What's in a Name?

We visitied the care facility Dan works at last week and one of the residents commented how much she liked Malcolm's name.  "It's very strong, masculine," she said.  That got me thinking.

What's in a name?

What's the meaning of your name?  Do you know?  Does it fit you?

My name: Jennifer

Origin: Welsh, Celtic

Meaning: pure white, white wave, fair, smooth

Variants: Gennifer, Jenny, Guinevere

Does it fit me?  I'd like to think I'm fair and pretty "smooth", but you be the judge.  I am pretty white (hee hee).  But interesting to note my fascination with the Arthurian legend and all things Celtic.  Hmmm....  would this Jenny by any other name be who she is?

Who are you?  Tell me if your name "fits".

The Big Vacation - Day Six

Well, all good things come to an end.  We had to get up and take down our camp and say good bye to the island.  Of course, we visited the beach and the park one last time. 

My final opinions:  we were glad we went to Pacific Rim/Tofino.  We really wanted to see that.  But I'm not sure I would rush over there again.  That side of the island is beautiful, but very rugged.  It could have been the fact it rained most of the time we were there, but not a lot to keep little ones interested.  You see one forest/beach, you've seen them all in their opinion.  The campground was very clean and organized, but kind of stressful with kids because it was completely no-trace.  You could not leave ANYTHING out when leaving your campsite.  This led to us spending a lot of time getting after them for dropping food or any sort of mess.  Not to mention that we had wolf, cougar and bear warnings posted all over so that kind of freaked Madi out.

Parksville, on the other, gets two thumbs up.  The provincial campground at Rathtrevor Beach was so relaxed and family friendly.  Our site was right beside the park, so the kids could play there whenever we were trying to cook or clean up, and it had showers.  That was awesome, even if they were push button and only stayed on for 10 seconds at a time.  Plus, the east side of the island just had a little more options for things to do.

Our site and the park right behind us.  Perfect location!

All in all, we had a blast.  It was a great way for us to end our two years on the coast, and we got to spend 6 fun days all together just relaxing before moving and splitting our family in two for 6 months.  Dan really just wanted to enjoy the kids before he says good bye for the summer, and I think we accomplished that.  We made the promise that we would try not to say no if at all possible while on this trip, and we managed right up til the skull and crossbones necklace in the ferry gift shop.  That's where we had to draw the line.  We had so much fun, and hopefully made some good memories for the kiddos to take away from their experience out here.

Leaving Nanaimo behind....

Now it's "Back to life, back to reality..."







The Big Vacation - Day Five

Day Five - Here Comes the Sun!  We woke up after a night of rain to blue sky and warm weather.  Finally!  True to reports, the low tide at Parksville is about 1km out, so we spent all morning wandering through the tide pools and digging in sand.  We found shells we had never seen on the mainland - sand dollars, big conch style shells, and huge white and purple oyster shells.  So much fun!

In the afternoon, we decided it was time to leave nature for a while and give the kids a real vacation treat.  There was a mini-golf course at the top of the road, so we spent the afternoon putting around.  5 hole in ones made for a good time (everyone but the two little boys, and Dan twice). 

The Outhouse Hole - the source of many giggles



After golfing we went for the long-awaited vacation ice cream cone, then located the Lion's Venture Playground above the public beach that we read about online.  Lots of fun, complete with spray park.

It was back to camp for supper, where we listened to the Stanley Cup Final on the radio.  No real emotion there, but Dan was happy it supported his prediction all along.  Then we went down to the beach to catch the sunset.

Spencer kept asking me to take his picture on various driftwood pieces, so the evening turned into a photo shoot.  The rest of this post is just the resulting pics.

The Big Vacation - Day Four

Day Four started out with a lovely light drizzle, of course, so we packed up camp quickly.  That was when we discovered our battery had died.  In the rain, we had kept the back hatch open a little too long trying to organize under some sort of shelter, and between that and using the air pump to deflate mattresses and the kids hiding watching sponge bob, we were sunk.  Dad wanted to go back and see the beach again, but the kids were intensely opposed, so dad stormed away to find someone to help. 

Fast forward through major talking-to by mom.  Dad came back with help, battery was boosted and kids miraculously agreed to venture down to the beach one last time before leaving the West Coast.  Then - tender mercy.  The sun broke through and we had the best time.  We explored Comber's Beach where a huge amount of driftwood logs washes up, waves crash up right to the tree line, and we saw sea lions sunning on a rock.  No one was sad we went back...

The sea lions sun out on these rocks in the surf.  There was a women there with binoculars and she let us all take a better peek.

Dan gazing longingly at the sea.  He truly loves it.  We had to tear him away to get back across the island!

This afternoon it was back across through Port Alberni (where Dollerama provided new toys to keep the excitement going) and over to Parksville where we set up camp in the Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park.  We went to check out the beach and were privileged to watch a storm blow in.  The sea was calm, we were having a great time shell hunting, and then in a matter of minutes dark clouds and wind blew in.  We raced the rain back to our tent and were safely seated in the van before it really began to pour.  So much for roasting hot dogs.  Good thing they had a McDonalds, with a t.v. so we could catch up on all the latest news.

So far, the weather had been pretty uncooperative.  We wondered what day 5 would have in store?

The Big Vacation - Day Three

It began raining on our way to the Pacific Rim National Park, and it kept drizzling almost the entire time we were there.  I don't think we were ever really dry or free from mud/sand.  We put the most laundry in the bag in this two day stretch!  But our campground was located directly above Long Beach, the longest sandy beach on the west side of the island, and we were able to experience the actual ocean for the first time since living on the West Coast.  At home we are sheltered by the Island as well as being on an inlet, but here was the sea in all it raw power.  The kids (and the parents) were amazed.  The waves crashed in all day and night, no matter what the tide.  We made the best of the weather and wandered the sandy beach anyways.

This morning we decided to drive to Tofino due to the constant misty drizzle and we managed to find a park that kept the kids happy for a while.  It had a tram line that stayed in use the whole time we were there.  Not much in Tofino, but this was good.

The view from Long Beach

Exploring little tide pools.  We saw sea anemones in the wild for the first time.  Usually we only see them at the aquarium.

No beach visit is complete without building a tower and watching the tide take it away!

Spencer dug with his shovel for most of the afternoon

Clay's crab shell collection.  24 - his 'all-time record'.

An assortment of other shells found along the beach.  The pamphlets tell you to take a picture, not the shell.  We tried, but couldn't resist bringing home a couple of favorites.