We made the most of my parents stay with us by going on adventures such as walking around Swan Lake.
My Mom loves birds and this place has loads of them! You can even purchase bird seed from the nature centre & safely walk around feeding the ducks and birds. It was a fun way to spend the afternoon.
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Jimmy turned 41 on November 19th! To celebrate the best Dad and husband we could ever ask for we had a few fun events planned out.
We started off celebrating Jimmy with a small morning soiree at home including gifts (fuzzy slippers, new book, star wars pajama pants!) with the kids followed by breakfast at Whitespot 🙂 Jimmy & I also had a date night to celebrate. We headed out to Hermann’s Jazz Club and met up with friends from Portland! We ended the festivities with Jimmy’s favorite ice cream cake- yum. Happy Birthday Jimmy!
Halloween is one of our favorite events of the school year!
This year Claire went as Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter and Rhys went as a Garden Gnome. Jimmy & I dressed up as 80’s rockers. To celebrate we carved pumpkins, made special treats for the school dance party, went to a work party, the kids school hosted a Halloween party that we had fun at and of course trick-or-treating is always a good time 🙂
Carving pumpkins:
Claire & Rhys Pumpkins for literature (make a pumpkin based on a book):
Work Halloween party:
Halloween Party Treats:
School Halloween Party:
 
  
Trick or Treating:
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?
Every year in early June the municipality of Oak Bay hosts a fun parade, community party and fireworks- The Oak Bay Tea Party. They bring in a mini amusement park which is always fun except it will bankrupt you!
We normally avoid this event because Claire & Rhys don’t do too well with rides. Actually, let’s clarify that… Rhys does not do well with rides. He is always eager to get on but then he gets scared and sick feeling when it starts to run. We thought we would test the waters this year and give it a whirl. It went okay until the end when Rhys sat in a bumper car with Claire. She is a crazy race car driver in those things and Rhys was super bummed. Made for some funny photos though! Post-amusement park cuddles with Dad made it all better ♥.
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Happy times before the rise started:
Once the ride started- poor Rhys! He has to ride it out until it was over:
Cuddles with Dad ♥:
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:
My co-worker was selling tickets to a Victoria Royals local hockey game as a fundraiser for her sons hockey team. We mentioned many times to the kids that we should go see a live game even though none of us are huge hockey fans. Live games are always a good time so we bought some tickets and had a fun family night out!
We didn’t realize we were sitting in the family area where no beer is allowed. While sipping on a cold brew security came over and Jimmy & I got into trouble 😉 We had a good laugh afterwards.
