On Friday morning we set off for Victoria, Canada. Getting to Victoria required 2 ferry rides with a 2 hr drive between the two ferries. We made it to the port with about a minute to spare for the first boat ride. Literally we pulled onto the ferry and they closed up the gate behind us and we set off for Bainbridge Island, WA. It was a pretty short ride, but long enough for Austin to discover that he really does like coffee. Not only can I not sit and enjoy a cup of coffee because I have a small child sitting on my lap, that child is now trying to drink my coffee...
After getting off the first ferry, we drove for 2 hrs to Port Angeles to catch the next boat. We got there just in time again, only this time the boat wasn't leaving, we just had to save a place on it for our car, thankfully we made it! We had a couple hours to kill before the boat left, so we grabbed some pizza and let the kids run around and play. They found a small concert stage and danced around to my Ipod. It was pretty cute.
After the few hours of playing, we got onto boat #2 of the day and set off for Victoria. I was having a mid-trip crisis and Paul was sweet and took the kids for a lollipop and tour of the boat while I got a much needed quiet time. Thanks babe! The view of the mountains as we crossed the water was amazing.
We finally arrived in Victoria, made it through customs, got our stuff in the hotel and hit the town! We took a water taxi over to the fisherman's wharf to feed the wild seals, but the seals must have been getting their dinner from somewhere else, because they weren't there. Halie was a little sad about that, but nothing a little ice cream and a park wouldn't fix.
On the way back to the hotel, Halie had to get her picture taken on the giant avocado with chop sticks.
Saturday morning our first real Canadian adventure was to begin. Whale watching! We got on the whale watching boat and set off to sea. Halie got a little nervous about sinking despite the encouragement from her parents that the boat was not going to sink. She decided to put on a life jacket and wear it for the trip just in case. Whatever floats her boat......hehehehe. Well, what do you figure would happen to the boat??? It breaks and we have to troll back into the dock and take a taxi back to town. No whales this morning I guess. We reschedule for later in the day.
We take a trip to the children's farm that is down the road. The kids loved it. There were lots of animals to look at and a petting zoo with the goats. Austin threw a pretty good 2 year old fit when it was time to go. One of the little goats became pretty attached to Paul, he kept trying to eat his backpack!
Our navigator. I failed out of that job a long time ago.
And back to the whale watching! While we were walking around the town, a really weird fog fell over the city. We watched it fall down out of the sky and it stuck around most of the afternoon. We later learned that foggy days make for good whale watching!
We found a pretty good sized group of whales. Here are just a few of the pics we got.
The guides were flipping out because they were so excited when this one came up to the boat, I guess this doesn't happen often. Halie was really excited about it. She doesn't call them killer whales, or shamoo, she uses the correct term and calls them orcas. Well isn't she all grown up!
Some sea otters
A grey whale
After the whales we headed over to the Buchard Gardens. This is an absolutely beautiful garden, the most beautiful either of us has ever seen. The pictures don't really do it justice. It looks like something out of a fairy tale, like little fairies and gnomes should be hiding somewhere in the trees and flowers. 
Paul under one of the large redwood trees.
Again, ice cream....
Daddy and Austin wrestling while we waited for the firework show.
The fireworks! This was a late night, the fireworks didn't even start until 9:45 (eastern time, 11:45 Texas time)
It was a very creative fireworks display. They had a lot of fireworks on moving tracks along the ground.
But also a lot in the sky...
We got home late, got the kids in bed and called it a day!
soooo gorgeous!! your kids are just going to be so thankful to have parents like you that have fun, go on fun trips, show them all over the country (and more!) and make sure they are having tons of fun and enough ice cream to go around!! love yall!! so loving reading your trip!!
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