Today is THE day.....

So, today is it. This is what we've been waiting months for, talking about, researching about, dreaming about. Today is the day we will be getting on the Ferry & finally seeing what the Island may be holding for us. Is our future there? Will it all work out this time?
I spent the night awake & unable to sleep. I don't know why it dawned on me then that the hard work was about to begin. Chris & I don't want to move the boys again & again & again..... We need to find a seriously cool town to set some roots down in. Funny how finding an apartment, job or school isn't freakin' me out, but finding the perfect town is. I guess we'll see.... but first, the ferry!
We woke up to rain, which was fitting considering the rumour is that is what we will be living with now! A dreary day outside, but we were all happy inside!

We packed up the car, the cat (Twinkle has been doing amazing!), & headed out! We were in a total rush this morning so we didn't have the chance to have a proper good~bye & thank you to Auntie Barb. :(

After paying for our ferry spot we waited around for around an hour. We walked around the market & then came back to the car. At one point I got a little cold so I asked Chris to start the car.......
 But it wouldn't.....
Scary.......
Our poor car ("captain") did so well this entire time, & now that we were about to drive onto the ferry & take the last~first step, it wouldn't start......
I think it was because the radio was on or maybe she wasn't use to the rain yet, but who really knows. Thank gawd the nice guy beside us flipped his truck around to give us a boost! And just in time too, as our captain started up again with a nice roar, people were passing us to get on the ferry!
Phew!
What a sight for us! first ferry since Costa Rica! Boy were we excited!!!

The 2 hourish ferry ride went by pretty fast actually. We were all hungry & excited & didn't know what to expect. I think Chris was a little nervous still, wondering if the car was going to start. (I wasn't worried tho! :)
Oscar was super excited to see a lighthouse,

It was a gorgeous ride. I wish I had photos, but I was just in awe of everything around me, & still in a bit of shock that we had actually made it all the way.

Look at the km we have done so far! what a wild ride!!!
And back to Twinkle! What an amazing cat! (part cat, part squirrel & part dog), here she is getting her first proper breathe of the salty island air (think she can smell the fish)?

of course we had to brave the cold & wind to get down to the actual water!

it was so amazing! I know we just got here, but it feels right!
We're off to the hotel now for some dinner & proper relaxing before we head off to do some important work ~ Finding the perfect town to settle down in so you all can come & visit!

Till later!
T

the last few days.

So we left Slocan & the Hill family. It was so sad because we were having so much fun! But west is where we're headed & so off we must go. I needed to get a photo of all 4 of the boys. Can you believe this???
(Oscar, Grayson, Callym & Dryden)

We decided to make our long 1 day drive to Vancouver into a shorter 2 day drive. This would give the kids an easier time & would give me a chance to see Baby Taylor (& of course Kathy & Rob). I would post photos ~ but Kathy asked me not to (If you wanna see the baby, email me OK!)

The drive to Penticton was gorgeous! The orchards & rolling hills....

 We thought maybe if it doesn't work out on the Island, we'd consider coming back here.
Pentiction was a short visit. We went out for dinner with Kathy & Rob (here is Chris' fortune),

 we visited as much as we could, got some sleep & headed out on the road again. Taylor is the cutest little girl I've seen, & such a good baby! Kathy & Rob both seem so happy to have her! It was so SO nice to see them!
The drive from Penticton to Vancouver was big! We had to get over 3 passes ~Luckily there was still no real snow. Chris drove the entire way again (amazing!!) I took photo's & took it all in....

 The town of Hope caught our attention. It was very cute, small, friendly & tucked away from the highway. We took a break to watch a bit of the Bomber game, have lunch & play at the park!

After Hope it seemed to go down hill (literally ~ haha!). The roads got faster, the mountains disappeared & the towns got much much bigger. Nothing that we were looking for :(

Bye Bye Mountains :(

We headed into Surrey to visit with Auntie Barb tonight. So nice to see her! It was so much fun to hang out and catch up! I wish we were spending more time together, but I guess it's just nice to be able to see people for the time we have right? Tomorrow is the Aquarium & dinner at my fav. Uncle's. Should be fun!

Till then,
T

callym again

Today we are at the Vancouver aquarium.  These are some of the animals we saw.  First we saw parrots,

piranhas,

catfish,

a huge fish- an Arapaina, the biggest freshwater fish in the world

- bats and snakes.  Then we saw the jellyfish room with big and small ones. 

 these ones were super tiny

 these ones were really big

We saw sharks and manta rays,

electric eels, garden eels,

an octopus,

crabs and little lobsters, and pipe fish.  We also saw turtles, starfish,

beluga whales

lion fish, angel fish, sea horses, sea cucumbers,

harbour seals, sea otters, frogs, and tadpoles. 

And now for something real cool.  We saw a dolphin show!!!!  The boy was named Spinnaker, and he was the biggest.  There were also two girls, one was named Hannah, and I forget the other one. 

The dolphins jumped out of the water very high and other times landed on their back making a big splash.  They would do a whole bunch of different tricks, like rollover, shake their head and swim very fast.  Hannah even did three big jumps in a row! 

Here's funny part.  When one of the trainers threw some fish in, there was a seagull nearby who dived in for the food.  There was a big fight underwater.  The seagull was trying to get the fish and so were the dolphins.  I saw a big bubble underwater but the seagull did not die, just ran out of breath.  He came out with a red leg cause the dolphin bit him going for the food.  The dolphin did get the food. 

The show wasn't very long but it as very cool.  After the show we went and saw frogs like red-eyed tree frogs, blue jeans frogs, toads, poisonous frogs, and many others. 

Then we went to the gift shop and Oscar bought a stuffed Tiger shark and I bought a stuffed Spinner Dolphin.  That was the end of the aquarium.  We drove to Mom's uncle's house for supper.  I got to play with Lego and I built a car and attached to the top a piece of flat lego and then under that I built a camper.  After that we went to Aunty Barb's house and went to bed. 


Callym Lukie