Our BC trip

Some of you knew we were going to drive up to Victoria BC for my friend's wedding. We had a good trip overall. Tiffany and Brendon had a beautiful wedding and we were happy to be there for their day. .

Oh but lets back up.... it's a total of 985 mi or 1,587 km – about 17 hours 36 mins, that is if you drive straight and no stopping. Those who have kids, know it's going to be longer with lots of stops on the way. Well we were late leaving and it didn't help that Noah got up for reasons we don't know at 5:30am that morning (he's normally gets up at 7:30-8am) and of course didn't nap. So I was hoping he would fall asleep but he didn't and two hours into our drive he power puked everywhere which explained the 30-40 mins of screaming for mommy leading up to that. That made us feel like great parents let me tell you. So we had to stop a lot earlier than we wanted to because even though we cleaned everything up we knew things had to be washed that night, or everything was going to stink.

Next day of driving was very long but the boys did well. We stopped at Anacortes, WA to get the ferry to Sidney BC the next morning which left at 7:30am but they ask you to be there 45 min early. Noah up early on the ferry it left at 7:30m

view from the ferry

...We all enjoyed the ferry ride very much. It was a 3 hour crossing with two stops at islands. It was really scenic. Then we got settled into the hotel and walked around a little but didn't do too much else as we were exhausted. Next day was Saturday/wedding day and first day not in the car.

Victoria along the water at night, view from the hotel we stayed at.

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The wedding was beautiful and Noah loved the dance and it took a while to get Noah off the dance floor, Jonas even joined in on the last song we stayed for. Tiffany and her dad

Her dad giving her to Brendon

I sat there hoping she would turn around and she did.

My little man cleans up nice. They all do actually.

Back in the hotel room trying to get the boys to nap before the reception started. No luck with this one.He's still going.


On Sunday we decided to go for a walk and than we headed to Craigdarroch castle which looked amazing but took longer than we thought to get there and we had the stroller so we couldn't go in...I was a little bummed(go to the website and you'll see some pictures and understand why) Here is one from outside. As well we didn't get to go to Butchart garden or the BBQ Tiffany invited us too because by the time we got back to the hotel it was time to drive to the ferry which we just caught(we had a reserved a spot).
Craigdarroch castle

The ferry ride, different route that we took on the way to Victoria, heading to Vancouver instead of Anacortes, WA was also a beautiful ferry ride.
View from the ferry to Vancouver

We spent that evening and the full next day in Vancouver and, being tourists, went on a city tour bus which Noah loved. I wish we had more time there b/c we didn't get to do everything we wanted at all.


We did get to go to the Granville Island market (still didn't get to see everything there) Kids market place, where there was everything from toy stores, to kite and clothing stores.

And we got to go to Chinatown to the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Garden.

We saw a bit of the rest of the Vancouver Chinatown too which is suppose to be the largest in Canada and the second largest in North America.

Next day it was off to Whistler. I now wish we took the train up there so that we could have relaxed more and walked around on the train. It was amazing up there and I wish I could be up there in the winter, there was still a few skiers and snowboarders up there as the tops of some ski slopes were still open.
Jonas sporting his new winter Olympic 2010 clothes which he thought he needed so he exploded his diaper right up to his neck(kid got skills).

Than it was time to drive home which would now be 1,058 mi or 1,705 km about 18hours. Again that is if you drive straight and no stops so it took us a lot longer than that. It was a long drive home with the last 40min of two screaming kids, Jonas screaming b/c Noah was screaming 'bed bed sleep sleep'.

The boys ready for the drive back home from Whistler.

Our trip

we are back from our trip to Florida and we had a pretty good time. It went by fast but than I am also glad to be back home too. Noah's pretty fussy today and it was expected, he travels well but it seem to also take a toll on him. I am hoping by the weekend that he gets back into his routine.

Here are a few pictures taken at south beach in Miami and at our friends pool. Noah loved the water so much that he actually would start to cry when we would take him out of it. He's going to be a little fish, that is for sure.

Fish that we saw when snorkeling

Our Maui trip

Okay so now that we are back I know some of you have asked to hear about our trip to Maui. We have loads of pictures and memories of this trip. It was completely amazing for a relaxation trip. We laid on the beach almost every morning except maybe the 3 days where we had to leave early for activity days we booked. Maui is totally different from O'ahu/Waikiki where we went last yr. But they are both great in different ways. I love Hawaii it reminds me a lot of the Maritimes. It's more laid back and not so rushed, which is what I like. So for the first few days we just relaxed and walked around and took one drive up to the west coast of the island where we stop in a little town called Lahaina, which was right on the water and was probably the most touristy part of the island but it's not that touristy (pretty quiet) compared to Waikiki. We continued up to the far west part where all of a sudden the road goes to one very tight lane that follows the coast. We found out after that rental cars weren't suppose to be on that section. Oops. But we found a little stand which is supposed to be the islands most famous banana bread which they ran out before we got there but we tried a sample (it was really good but I can say it wasn't healthy) and bought some taro chips and some nuts.Our first trip that we paid for was the Haleakala Volcano sunrise tour. We got picked up at 3:30am at our hotel and got to the top around 6am and sunrise was at 6:50am. I must say we were told to bring light cover up and when I got up there well I wish we had our winter coats. The wind was brutal and made it colder. I was so cold up there but once the sun came up the temp did warm up some.

Our next trip that we went on was called the road to Hana. It was a nice tour just because neither one of us had to drive the 617 curves and 56 one lane bridges, which meant that both of us got to enjoy the scenery of the trip. This was another earlier morning pick up but not too bad just 7am this time. We drove through a town called Pa'ia were Willy Nelson lives part of the yr and just outside of this town at Ho'okipa Beach, which is supposed to be a world famous windsurfing beach where the most experienced surfers go for part of the day and the windsurfers take over the rest. The windsurfers weren't out due to the little wind that day when we got there but there were a few surfers out. On the road to Hana we saw beautiful trees, flowers, wild roosters, black and red sand beaches, waterfalls etc. However due to an earthquake Maui had at the end of last yr a bridge was out and we couldn't continue to Maui's winery or the O'heo Gulch Pools nicknamed"Seven Sacred Pools". So we went to the winery ourselves another day.Our last activity day was our snorkeling trip and I haven't gotten the pictures developed from our underwater cameras but as soon as I do I will post them. I must say that the snorkeling trip was the best activity Tom and I did besides just being together and relaxing. At first we were a little nervous just because we haven't snorkelled before and out of both of us, I am definitely the swimmer in the family but I must say after adjusting to it Tom took to the water like a fish and had a big smile on his face. We didn't get to see any green sea turtles at the second snorkeling sight which was a little disappointing but over all it was amazing and if we ever get back there I will want to do it again and again. While we were on the boat sailing from site to site and back home we got to see dolphins and whales which was amazing.

Maui Pictures

Just click on the picture and it will take you to a web album of our Maui Pictures.

From pictures from...

On the beach tomorrow at noon in Maui

Well folks just wanted to remind you that Tom and I will be out of reach for the next 10days. We leave for Maui tomorrow at 8am and get to Maui at noon time. I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!

Well not much is new here at all, just our normal every day lives here. I am just finishing up the cleaning in the house before we go, we take Bella tonight to one of Tom's co-workers place for them to look after her while we are gone. I am going to miss her, she's been such a cuddle bug lately, especially in the evenings. This morning tom felt the baby kick for the first time and not just once kick either which I was happy for. He was pretty happy in his sleepy state of mind. This Sunday we were suppose to post up another belly picture for 22wk but it will have to be posted when we get back.

My next doctors appointment is my March 2nd, which we are looking forward to. Well everyone normally ask how I am doing. Well I try not to complain because everything is 100 % better than the first 17 weeks which I am very thankful for. But I am not one to enjoy being pregnant which bums me out. I have aways looked forward to the joy of being pregnant but I guess I didn't get blessed with the joy end of the stick. I still can't really enjoy a lot of foods and it's not just one or two because of heart burn (which I have never had in my life before), I get strong sharp pains in my low back and sacral area (it"s not sciatica it's more in the SI joint which makes it hard to walking sometimes), and than I probably have the common aches and pain that most pregnant women have. The only joy I do really have is felling the baby move at the moment and knowing we are going to have a baby roughly in 4months and 3 days (I will be 5 months on Sunday) !!!! Tom is a little bummed that I don't have any craving at all. He was really looking forward of telling people at work all the things I crave during pregnancy. However I am lucky if I ever feel hungry or desire any food at all (yes people I do eat I just don't care what or when I eat anymore). I can't wait till the day where I want to eat food because I am hungry or crave something because I love food. Well I think that sums up everything here with us. When we get back from our trip I'll try to post some pictures up.

Maui it is

Well last night we decided that it would be Maui and not Rome for our trip. Tom booked the trip and it's all paid for, well not really paid for it's on the Cards. I don't think Tom and I like having a low balance on our cards b/c every time we get them half way paid off (it's not a little amount either) we put more on it. One day we will have that card on a low balance but hey you need to live too. No since saving everything till you retire, you never know what the future will hold for you. So we are going to live in the present and I will try not to worry till later. Somehow things manage to work themselves out in the end, how I don't know but they do. We are hoping that next summer or fall to get to Rome. Hopefully we can convince a babysitter(s) to come out here and live for a week or two and look after the little one, while we take off (You know who you are);). Or we will take the little one with us. Got to love free flights for children under the age of 2. But who really knows what will happen in a years time but it's still fun to dream. So February 8th we fly to Maui and relax and enjoy 29C temps. I can't wait for those type of temps it's been so cold here and LA got snow a few days ago. I was so mad when I saw that. We are farther north then they are and we only got frost and frozen puddles on the ground :(. I hate the cold but if there is snow than it makes me feel better, than just having cold weather. Well here is to Maui and sun shine let it come fast but last long.