Category: Family

Christmas 2017- part 1 (pre-Christmas)

My parents arrived in Victoria November 28th to stay with us for several months while my Dad underwent cancer treatment at the BC Cancer Agency. My Dad did not start treatment until January so we had a few months to settle in, get healthy and spend some time together. Christmas was fun having Nana & Papa in town for. We did SO many activities!

To start the season off the kids wrote letters to Santa and we decorated and trimmed out Christmas tree. My Mom loves Christmas and had fun helping us decorate our home.

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Claire & Rhys turn 8!

The passing of time really does seem to speed up when you have children. Their growth and development is amazing and so fast. To all those people that told us to enjoy every moment as they grow so quickly…you were right!

Claire and Rhys turned 8 on December 17th! This year they wanted to have separate birthday parties. They have always had shared birthdays so this year we were game to try it out — future blog post 🙂

To start we had a little family birthday morning…complete with new pajama onesies, some toys and elf on the shelf greeting the kids. It is our tradition to have a nice breakfast and gifts on the table when the kids wake up. It is hard having your birthday among Christmas activities and decorations. We try to make it extra special for Claire & Rhys.

 

Before 6am wake-up…kids excited and we are tired!

Summer in Sooke

Towards the end of our summer vacation we organized a trip to Sooke. Every summer we spend a weekend with Wendy, Chris & Senna out at their home in Sooke. There is so much to do and see. Jimmy wasn’t with us this year as he had a skate board event in Port Alberni. While he had his fun we had some as well.

So the kids & I packed up and went on a mini adventure! We had such a fun time in Sooke…making delicious homemade ice cream, playing with Senna’s old toys, visiting the Sheringham lighthouse, camping out on the back porch, hitting a fun playground, walking Whiffen Spit. I cannot forget our epic movie marathon once Claire & Rhys went to sleep… the cheesiest but oh so good vampire movies–> The Twilight Saga. Getting called out by my niece for using my phone was pretty funny too!

We did SO much in just two days. I am so grateful to have such a great sister-in-law, brother-in-law and niece so close by. We always have a good time.

Ice cream- Yum!:

Sheringham Lighthouse:

 

 

Playmobil/ Lego & playground fun:

 

Camping out:

 

Whiffen Spit:

Learn to Fish at Elk Lake

I enjoyed fishing when I was a kid (I even won a trophy for a fishing derby in Sooke that my Dad’s work put on) so when I saw that there was a free learn-to-fish night for kids I signed us up!

The Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC runs free two hour sessions throughout BC. They stock lakes throughout the province with fish for fishing purposes so teaching children & adults the rules and how to properly handle fish makes sense.

On a sunny evening at Elk Lake we gathered with several other families to learn to fish. We learned about different types of fish, how to hold a fish, types of bait, fishing rules and then we had over an hour to use fishing rods to test out our new skills. The rods were pretty large so Rhys struggled a bit. There were so many kids in a row at the lakes edge that fishing lines were getting tangled etc. The bait was worms which was a gross factor for the kids. Rhys went for a walk with Jimmy to the nearby dock to take a break. Claire had her sights set on catching a fish. Those who were positioned nearby the reeds kept catching fish so Claire walked over and somehow found a spot there as well 🙂 The instructor called out last fish of the night and Claire caught a fish on her very last try! She caught a Bass fry.

Not sure if we will fish again anytime soon but we had fun on the lake that evening!

 

Can you spot the little fish?

 

Canada Day 2017!

Canada turned 150 years old this year. We had to celebrate with a nice BBQ with our extended family. We try to do this annually as we ♥ our family traditions 😉

The weather was gorgeous and our yard was looking pretty good as Jimmy & I put so much work into the overgrown and neglected back yard. It was so nice to sit with friends and family and catch up with some good fun.

 

Debbie always brings the party with her:

 

Victoria Day long weekend…mini-golf!

This was one of the best May long weekends ever. The sun finally shone a whole four days and the temperature was hot. Yay!

We did a lot of gardening, we re-organized the kids room so it was more ‘big-kid’. Claire is very much like me…she loves organizing! We had a sweet moment when she sat on her bed and said ‘this feels SO good!’. It was a success. Jimmy bought a slip-and-slide and we all had some fun in the yard. We even set-up the kids giant pool for them to splash around in. We also had a nice picnic and play with some friends. Jimmy got in a few skate morning sessions with his friends which he always enjoys!

One of the high-lights was going mini-golfing. We went to Mattick’s Farm mini-golf which was perfect as it is in the woods so nicely shaded. Rhys would hit the balls like he was playing hockey so that was pretty funny and Claire would sweep the balls into the hole. Jimmy won in the end..no surprise there as he is pretty good at golfing compared to the rest of us ;). it was a great way to spend sometime outside on a hot sunny day.

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Claire’s new reading spot in her updated room:

Twinsies:

Mini-golf:

Jimmy skate fun:

Easter!

Easter was a bit more special this year with my Mom visiting for two weeks.

The weather was improving slowly to warmer days so she came at a perfect time when there was still snow in Alberta where she came from. My Mom and Dad love to garden so having her with us sure helped our wild garden. She weeded and prepped many plant pots and garden beds. I took several days off to spend with my Mom to organize for Easter and to just get out and wonder around Victoria. Claire & Rhys loved having a visitor as well. Nana is always up for reading, playing board games and having light sabre battles outside in pajamas!

We even headed out to Sooke where Wendy, Chris and Senna hosted a lovely lunch that brought all the Millers together. We got to play with some not-so-baby chicks, we ran outside in the sun watching Claire & Rhys have an epic easter-egg hunt. The Easter bunny went a little overboard this year! Our family got a hilarious board game from Wendy, Chris and Senna that was at the end of a very cool scavenger hunt that Senna organized.

We loved having Nana visit us and we had a wonderful Easter.

Beacon Hill:

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Saxe Point:

Easter morning:

Easter scavenger hunt for Nana:

Easter hunt at Aunt Wendy & Uncle Chris’:

Hilarious poopy head game: