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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On January 28th I turned 40! WOW! It seems like yesterday I was in high school or living it up at University at the age of 17.
I don’t normally do a lot on my birthday. My close friends all live in different cities and we are kept pretty busy with family life. Claire & Rhys really enjoy celebrating with us so I decided to have a stay-cation in a swanky local hotel. Jimmy made all the arrangements while I just enjoyed everything 🙂
Two of my girlfriends had flowers sent to me which was an amazing way to start my birthday celebrations- thanks Faye & Anna! Jimmy and the kids bought me some gorgeous new artwork that I had been coveting for quite sometime by a local artist- Michelle Heslop. We stayed at the Ocean Pointe Hotel with a room that had an amazing view of the inner harbour. We ate, we swam and we had loads of fun. Jimmy even brought along some of my favorite ice cream- tiger! The next day we met my parents at Spinnakers for brunch which was wonderful and to end…we had delicious allergy friendly cake from my favorite bakery- Patisserie Danielle.
If this is 40 then I am totally okay 🙂
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!
 
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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September was a tough month. My Mom was diagnosed with dementia and my Dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer… just days apart.
For my Dad’s cancer treatment he would have to travel quite far from where they live in Alberta. This would involve a lot of driving in the winter months, hotel stays, my Mom being left alone in the hospital, restaurant food etc. Jimmy & I decided it would be best if my Dad had treatment in Victoria so we could support them with healthy cooking, a cozy place to stay and the BC cancer clinic is just 5 minutes away from us. Luckily my Dad’s doctors in Alberta agreed that being treated in BC was the best option.
My parents moved into our home late November. We thought it would just be 3 months but it turned into 6 months as my Dad’s treatment was delayed. Not going to lie…it was tough. It isn’t easy sharing a small home with your parents/ in-laws. However, my Dad did great through his treatment and my Mom did great as well. They had a personal trainer, went on daily walks, ate healthy food and my Mom was seeing a wonderful Naturopath who specializes in cognitive health. The fact I haven’t lived with my parents since I was 17 and that these are Claire & Rhys only living grandparents made the time they spent with us memorable and special regardless of the difficulties. A BIG thanks to Jimmy for being as patient as he could be with his set-in-their ways in-laws taking over our space 🙂
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This is a photo of my parents (Tricia & Vern) in Mexico on a trip we shared in 2016 ♥
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:
Christmas was very fun this year! We stayed in Victoria and had my Mom spent the holidays with us. My Dad joined us after Christmas.
We visited the museum, did a fun art project at 4Cats, had a great early Christmas morning, had our annual brunch with Debbie on Christmas day, walk on the break water, and Butchart Gardens annual Christmas light visit. I love our holiday traditions and spending time with family.
Pre-Christmas Museum visit:
4Cats art class:
Christmas day:
Break-water walk with Nana & Papa:
Butchart Gardens:
In February we traveled to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to catch some sunshine. We met my parents down there and had a blast. The kids had so much fun and it is always so nice to spend time with my parents. The main purpose for this trip was to have Claire & Rhys spend some quality time with their Nana & Papa who they don’t get to see very often. Mission accomplished 🙂
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