We packed up Oliver and way too much of his stuff for a whirlwind long weekend in Canada. We left in the afternoon on Wednesday, giving ourselves extra time in case of I-5 traffic or border waits because we HAD to make the 8:15 ferry to Nanaimo (the next one wasn't until 10:45). Well, there wasn't any traffic or a border wait, so we got to the ferry at 6:30 and had to wait for nearly 2 hours! That's always the way it works - either you plan ahead and you end up not needing the extra time or you don't and you miss the boat! Anyway, Oliver was happy to spend some time at the ferry terminal - there is an awesome playground and lots of shops to run around in. He was so fired up about riding on a ferry boat ("toot toot!") that he refused to go to sleep until 10pm! He kept dozing off and then waking up and yelling "ferry boat!"
The next day we went out on my dad's boat to Hornby island to see some sea lions and sandstone formations. Oliver was very serious at first, but he loosened up after a while and even took a long nap on board while we ate fish and chips. My uncle bob also came up to visit with us and brought his camper - Oliver loved it and was soon calling him "uncle bob truck" and my dad was "grandpa truck". He had a great time exploring the yard. They have wild peacocks that Oliver got to feed and an old cat that he chased and lots of blackberries to pick. And pick he did - he must of eaten 500 blackberries in the two days we were there! Kan kan picked the best ones for him and he picked whatever he could get his little fingers on - which meant a lot of unripe ones...They also have a trampoline that Oliver could not get enough of. My sister Aleah jumped on it first to show him, but he was not so sure about it. The next morning he woke up saying "Ah-ee-ah jump please?" and there was no getting him off that thing! He also loved seeing all the big trucks and diggers at Grandpa's shop. He sure is a boy, which makes my dad very happy after having three girls. Oliver had such a great time. He sure loved all the attention : )
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| "digger" |
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| Too many blackberries.... |
We drove down to Victoria on Friday night to visit with my mom and Mike's sister and Oliver's cousin Savannah. Oliver was so excited to see "grandma poo" that he could hardly sleep after we got there. He quickly picked up on the fact that it drives my mom crazy that he calls her grandma poo so everytime she would correct him and say grandma sue, he would say "poo" with a sly smile and laugh hysterically. We spent the morning going to visit my cousin Kyla at a farmer's market where she sells earings and then to all 3 playgrounds within walking distance of my mom's house. He learned how to climb up and go down the slide all by himself! We had lunch at Fisherman's warf and saw all the house boats. Then after his nap, we met up with Katie and Savannah at Beacon Hill park for some petting zoo action. Savannah is really into the petting zoo, but Oliver is usually a bit apprehensive around animals. He did a great job of getting in there with the baby goats! Then we fed the ducks and went to an awesome playground. While we were there, this troupe of clowns/jugglers/street musicians started performing. They were pretty amateurish but Oliver and Savannah were enthralled. There was one point where the guy asked the audience if he should juggle knives on the other guy's shoulders or on a unicycle, and Oliver yelled out "shoulders!"
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| I love my grandma |
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We headed home on Sunday afternoon on the ferry back home and Oliver pointed out every type of boat he'd learned about on our trip: cruise ship, tanker, tug boat, kayak, big boat, ferry boat, house boat, sail boat. This kid knows his boats!
We had a wonderful trip seeing so much of Oliver's family and enjoying beautiful Vancouver Island. Oliver went back to school this morning and told his teachers about "uncle bob truck" and "cruise ship". So sweet : )
