Victoria, BC

This past weekend Todd and I took our 1st adult only trip since we had children. We left early Friday morning on the Victoria Clipper with our friends Brian and Danielle. We stayed at a beautiful hotel right on the harbor named the Inn at Laurel Point. Here are some pictures of our room:
This was the most comfortable bed ever, and was a reminder to Todd and I that we need a new mattress!

The bathroom


Todd and I on Brian and Danielle's deck

The view from their deck (for some reason I didn't get a pic. of our view which was of the inner harbour-had to spell it that way- and the city)

After checking into our hotel and settling in we went out to lunch and walked around the city. We also visited the Royal London Wax Museum on Friday afternoon. Here's Todd next to Superman (for Jaden since that is his favorite superhero):

That evening after going back to our hotel and getting ready for a late dinner we walked around the city and found a great restaurant/bar (where I ended up having quite a few tasty martini's:). Victoria is the most beautiful city at night, the Legislative buildings are decorated in white lights which outline the shape of the buildings.

Here's Todd and I on our way to dinner overlooking the harbour with the Empress Hotel behind us to the left

Saturday morning was great because we were able to sleep in (without little ones waking us up!), by the time we even made it to a restaurant we had to order lunch because they had stopped serving breakfast! Afterwards we went to the Royal BC Museum. It had quite an extensive collection of First Peoples, Natural History and Modern History Galleries.
A couple pictures that Todd took at the museum


We didn't even get to see everything in the museum, but after a few hours we were ready to see some sunlight! The rest of the day was spent shopping, exploring the city, eating some sushi and a spectacular late dinner at our hotel.
Todd and I in front of the Legislative buildings

Todd on the steps of the building (I loved all of the detail of these buildings and the copper roofs)

The inner harbour with the sidewalk vendors and the Legislative buildings in the background


At the sushi restaurant with our friends

Some pic's of our delicious dinner that night:
This was an appetizer of prawns with some crunchy stuff on the outside (don't I have a great way of explaining it!), plus Todd and I tried oysters for the first time!

Here's a pic of my dinner of noodles, prawns and clams, YUM!

On Sunday we tried not to sleep in as late and we went to a breakfast buffet at our hotel (I seriously probably gained 5 lbs. over the weekend from eating the most delicious food and desserts!). Afterwards we rented mopeds (even though Brian was a bit embarressed to be riding a moped, LOL!) and toured the island.


We drove all the way up to an awesome lookout on Mount Douglas where we had a panoramic 360-degree view of greater Victoria.




What a great relaxing, and romantic weekend. . .

. . . but we were also excited to get home and see our boys (who had a great weekend being taken care of by Nana and Grandpa Albert:).

Pool, zoo and a birthday!

On Monday, July 21 I took the boys to the pool again and we had a great time splashing and playing around in the water. The boys especially love the shallow warm water pool (me too!) that feels like bathwater. Jaden had a blast using his snorkel and diving for rings, Bryson enjoyed playing on the steps with his boat and going down the baby slide for the 1st time (over and over and over again!). We stayed for several hours and enjoyed lunch in-between swimming, it was a beautiful day!

B sporting goggles for the 1st time

J snorkeling and diving for rings


Brycie even stuck his head underwater

My little lovey boy:)

Me and my boys!

And later on that afternoon, Bryson showing off his favorite job, watering Mama's flowers


On Tuesday the 22nd we went to the Woodland Park Zoo. I try to take the boys about once a month since my dad gets Jaden a season pass to the zoo and aquarium every year for his birthday. Nana, Erin, Laurel and Evan joined us as well. The kids loved the drum area, and here is a video of B doing his little dance (note naughty J towards the end who was standing on the drum while I was distracted video-ing B!)


At the African savannah, there were 3 giraffes very close to the viewing area that kept rubbing their necks together, it was really neat to see:


We saw a lot of animals and many of them were quite active (my theory is it is better to go on a cloudy day b/c then the animals aren't just laying around basking in the sun!). Bryson definitely got into seeing all the animals--more than in the past (he really liked the elephants) and he got to practice all of his animal sounds too!




On Thursday evening we went downtown to PF Changs to celebrate Grandma Jane's birthday. We had delicious food and great company (besides Todd, the boys and myself, Grandpa Wayne and Grandma Annette were there as well). Happy Birthday Grandma Jane!



That evening Todd and I packed and got ready for our weekend to Victoria which I will tell all about tomorrow!

1st annual Emery family and friends crabbing trip!

We left for Deception Pass state park about 10:30 on Friday morning (we had planned on leaving about an hour earlier but I just had to go to the 1st day of the Nordstrom Anniversary sale downtown;) and arrived at the campground a little after noon. We quickly set up our tents and camping supplies and got the boat and the crabpots ready. Next to the boat launch on the beach, Erin and I and the kids set up and waited while the guys (Todd, John and Barrett) set the crabpots. The kids (Jaden, Bryson, Laurel and Evan) enjoyed searching for baby crab under rocks and collecting them in their buckets.


At first we weren't sure if we were going to get very many crab, let alone limit (which is 5 per person and we had 11 people altogether) because the first batch only gave us 6 crab! We got lucky though (or was it skill?) and ended up limiting by getting 55 crab by the end of the day!!! Here they are right before they went into the hot tub!

And here is a group picture of us on Friday evening (don't we all look happy that we are about to grub down on some crab!) The people in the picture from left: Bryson, Todd, Barrett (Todd's cousin), Erin (who took this awesome picture), Evan and John, Me and Jaden, Laura, Keith and Laurel in front of them, and Reggie the dog.

Bryson and Evan enjoying suckers in the evening.

That night we "grubbed down" (as Todd likes to say) on crab dipped in garlic butter around the campfire. YUM!!!

The next morning Todd took Bryson on a walk (since he was the earliest riser and we didn't want to wake up anyone else). We especially did not want to wake Evan who was hangin' out with us until midnight (he didn't want to miss any action so why go to sleep?). Todd took some great pictures of our Mighty B down by the beach.


That afternoon we enjoyed more of the same, setting crabpots, taking boat rides and checking out the beautiful scenery around deception pass, playing and relaxing on the beach.
Todd and the boys on the boat


Hangin' out at the beach

Bryson and Jaden (with a crab shell)

Laurel and Reggie

Jaden and a little seastar

The boat coming in from the last catch of the day!

Keith cooking up some crab!

We didn't end up limiting on Saturday, we caught 34 crabs. So altogether we caught 89 crabs over 2 days, not too bad!

On Sunday morning we made breakfast and ate around the campfire (as it was quite chilly in the mornings there). Then the most romantic thing occurred. . . Keith makes this announcement that he has something to say to his wife (it was their 5 year anniversary). He gets down on 1 knee and makes the most romantic speech that I am still kicking myself that I didn't record. He basically says that he feels bad that he didn't get down on 1 knee to propose to Laura in the first place and that she has made him the happiest man for the past 5 years--actually 7 since they have been together. Then he presents her with a gorgeous eternity ring (I think that is what they are called. . .I wouldn't know since I don't have one. . . hint, hint Todd!) Here is the happy couple:

Do you see that rock on her right hand sparkling in the sunlight? And just for fun, a picture of them dancing at their wedding:

Happy 5th Anniversary Keith and Laura!!!

The rest of the day was spent packing up and hanging out at the beach for awhile before heading back home.
Todd and J


Laurel and J attempting to teeter-totter

Lastly, the Emery's