2 surprises in 1 post!!!!

When we took the Ferry to Salt Spring (or SaltSpring) Island the first time last month, we were overjoyed with what we saw. We were only there for a few days, but we nearly took it all in within the first day!

The Island is only about 185 sq km, & in the slow season there is a population of about 10'000 people (in the Summer it balloons to about 20-25000).  There are 3 main 'cities' on the Island; Ganges (the biggest) is South~Central, Fulford is on the Southern tip, & Vesuvius is at the North~Western end. There are 3 ferry ports as well, Fulford, Vesuvius & Long Harbour. 

Back to my story.....

When we were taking our tour around the Island, we picked up a 'passport' of sorts, it was a Christmas Contest they were having in which we were suppose to get a stamp from a number of retailers all around the Island & there were a prizes you could win. Well, needless to say we forgot all about it until the last day (after we toured everything already)! So what's a family to do? Well, we took another tour around the Island!!!! There were a bunch of different prizes~ but I honestly can't remember what any of them were... I think there was a helicopter ride, maybe dinner out somewhere..... So, we re~toured the Island & got the entire passport stamped & dropped it off before we took a ferry back to Chemainus. I'm pretty sure we all forgot about it until............

they called us on Dec 27th to tell us that we won.

WE WON!!!!!!

Lucky Lukies Strike Again!!!

So excited, we've been waiting & waiting for the prize to come in the mail (because while they were telling me everything on the phone, I was not listening..... I was jumping up & down at Chapters like a goof!)
We received the Prize in the mail this week & here is what we won!

2 Adult admissions to the Movie Theatre on the Island
2 night stay at the Skipping Stone Beach B&B
&
Lunch for 2 at the Raven Street Market (apparently the BEST Wood Fired Pizza Place around ~ & only a 5 minute walk from our new rental...... oh ya, didn't I tell you.......)

WE'RE MOVING TO SALT SPRING ISLAND FEB 1ST!!!!
And we are SO SO SOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!

Here's more on our move......

Last week we took another trip to SSI (SaltSpring Island). We wanted to go & either take it off the list, or consider it with Sooke or Shawnigan Lake. We had gone to Qualicum Beach the week before & decided 100% that we didn't want to move there. We wanted the feeling of

"WOW, This place is amazing. I am willing to do ANYTHING to live here"

So we get off the Ferry & headed straight to one of the schools to see what it was all about. As soon as we entered we were made to feel completely at home. The Principle didn't think twice to take our family on an impromptu tour. I don't know if we interrupted him in anything, he just saw us & took us in! The school only has 101 kids from Kindergarten to grade 5. Oscar's class has 12 kids, but Callyms is maxed out at 24 (including him) It was such a wonderful experience that the boys begged us not to go see any of the other schools! They said they HAD to go to this school & they didn't care about anything else (and that was before they found out they could bring nuts & peanut butter sandwiches to school ~ which blew their minds & made them so much more excited)!!!!! Bus transportation & the lunch stay is included too which is nice. Chris & I had some trouble with not seeing any other schools, we really thought we should check them all out, but then we remembered what happened with our car (we went out one day to test drive a bunch, & ended up buying the first one we test~drove without seeing any others. I guess when you know, you know). So we left the school to look at Ganges again. There were a few rentals that we wanted to check out as part of our research, take a look again at the stores they did have (& didn't have) & just get an over all feel. At this point we hadn't decided (at least out loud, but the look on any of our faces would have told you straight up, we were in love). When we made a stop at the park for the boys to play, I ran into a rental agency to see what they had available. We had already driven by a few of the rentals & weren't really impressed. I was so disappointed that the rental agency (& the papers) had nothing in our price range. As I was leaving the lady suddenly jumped up & told me she had the perfect place. She hadn't thought about it because they were re-flooring it & it would be ready until Feb1. (perfect for us) She also said it was on the northern end of the Island not near the 'big' city, it turns out it's a block away from the school the boys HAVE to go to! (again, perfect). How does this always happen to us?
Anyways, needless to say, we have a place, we found a school, there may even be a job on the Island for me (cross your fingers).
We've found it. This is where we are willing to do whatever to try to make it happen!!!!

(btw, our place is a 3 bedroom, so come on by for a visit)!!!

Crazy~Lukies!