There is a great little aquarium in Sidney that we like to visit now and again. They have some great educational programs for kids. When Claire & Rhys were younger we would enroll them into science camps here that they loved!
We visited during Spring Break this year and had some fun.
We really enjoy making valentines day cards in our house!
As an extra valentines day bonus some Moms in the kids class organized cupcake decorating as a fun activity at school.
Christmas break was so fun and busy this year. We went for our annual boxing day breakwater walk- it was so cold! We made it to Butchart Gardens for the annual Christmas light display. We went to a hockey game for our friends sons birthday party which was great but too loud for Nana & Papa 😉 Nana, Claire & I joined Auntie Debbie for a Nutcracker performance which was a good time.
Breakwater:
Butchart Gardens:
Royals Hockey Game:
Nutcracker:
We had a very early start on Christmas morning! Rhys wakes up early every day and this morning was before 5am! ugh. It was so dark out but with some coffee and the kids excitement we all woke up and had fun un-wrapping gifts and playing with the kids.
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It snowed overnight so once the day got started and we had more daylight we ventured outside for some playtime! and of course snowman building & sledding.
Another one of our annual traditions is having Auntie Debbie over for a Christmas day brunch. We eat, exchange gifts, chat, drink warm drinks and watch a movie- fun times!
  
This year Auntie Wendy & Uncle Chris were unable to host Christmas dinner so we decided to do something a little bit different. We all love Greek food so we headed to one of our favorite Greek restaurants with Nana, Papa, Auntie Debbie and had a feast. It was fun!
We have an annual tradition of opening one gift on Christmas eve. Normally pajamas….this year did not disappoint. Onsies are a bit hit with Claire & Rhys’s age group so they were gifted some Christmas ones. Lucky us that we had a white Christmas eve!
 
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:
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 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:
