Catching up still...

Okay, here are the rest of the pictures of when my parents came to visit and our last weekend in Canada. It seems so long ago now...







While Dave was busy working, my parents and I headed to Pike Place with the kids. It was great as always. And this time we sampled some of the food around downtown as well. Scott and Dylan got pizza, and my mom was off getting her, Madeline and I some Halibut and Chips. The whole time my parents were here traveling around to Canada and such, my mom was on the hunt for the best Fish (preferably Halibut) and chips around. We had tried some the weekend before at the farmer's market on Granville Island in Vancouver that was pretty good. Better then the one we got here around Pike's place actually. It was still pretty good here though.

The little ally way we ate in at Seattle.

While walking around the downtown area, we happened upon a courtyard where Ben and Jerry's were there giving out free ice cream!!! The kids were so excited (as were the adults...). And the line wasn't that bad either.

This is a picture they were taking of people on the plaza. They also gave everyone a free flash drive in the shape of an ice cream cone. It is really cute.

And, of course, what visit would be complete without making cookies with grandpa? This is one of the kids favorite things to do with grandpa.:)

Dylan enjoying the hard work.

For the 4th of July long weekend, we headed over to Vancouver Island to go to Victoria. To get there we had to ride on a boat, with our car. The kids thought this was so cool to drive our car onto the boat. It was pretty windy on deck, but as you can see, Dylan and the kids loved it.

Victoria is the capital of British Columbia, so here is their Parliament building. At night they light it all up with tiny white lights. It was pretty incredible.

While making our way to the fisherman's wharf in Victoria, we passed many street performers, and this one was Madeline's favorite, big surprise I know.

At the fisherman's wharf, they had all these boats docked up against the pier, some selling food and such, and many were house boats people lived on. They had a place that sold Halibut and Chips that my mom tried, and that won the taste test. They had probably the best fish and chips I think she has ever had. Too bad we have to cross the border to Canada and ride a hour and a half boat ride to get it.

Above is a picture of an ice cream place we tried. It was quite an eventful experience. This was a boat tied to the pier. Madeline kept hoisting herself onto their railing to see the ice cream favors. Suddenly she noticed her flip flop had fallen off her foot, so she jumped down to get it. Can you guess where this is going...

Her shoe fell off in between the boat and the dock, right down into the Pacific ocean! We couldn't believe it. Of course, these were my favorite shoes of hers. So Dylan was booted out of the stroller, and Madeline rode in it until we could get back to the hotel and change shoes.

Also at the fisherman's wharf they had a little area where you could feed some seals in the ocean. A boat near by sold little fish you could feed them, so the kids wanted to get some. Dylan luckily just wanted to watch. It was pretty neat for the kids to feed them.

The kids loved watching these boat planes take off and land.

That evening we went to Butchart Gardens, which are some famous gardens you can walk around in. We went there the day before the 4th because every Saturday night in the summer they have a fireworks show at night. And since Canada doesn't celebrate America's Independence Day (ha, ha), that was our fireworks for the 4th.

The picture above was taken because Madeline's middle name is Rose, so she needs to pose by most roses she sees.:)

This was our favorite garden there, the Sunken Garden. It was really beautiful.

Here's a fountain in the Sunken Garden.

Our poser.:)

The kids loved crossing these stones while visiting the Japanese Gardens.

On the 4th we came down from our room and the hotel had set up a table with an American Flag and red, white, and blue balloons wishing all their American guests a happy 4th. It was really cute. We then went over to visit a big castle they have there called Craigdarroch Castle. It was there I thought it would be nice to take a picture of the kids in their cute 4th of July outfits. As you can see, Dylan was not going to cooperate....

Here's a better picture, although minus little Dylan.

We also went to a Maritime Museum in Victoria, and they had his Pirate Ship play area for the kids. They LOVED being Pirates! Even Daddy.:)

They also had a little courtroom in the Museum, and Scott particularly liked playing a judge. He kept ordering Madeline to go hit the adults on the bums, and, of course, she was more then willing to carry out the sentence.:) Silly kids.

The next day we headed back to the ferry for a ride back to Canada. Vancouver Island was one of my favorite areas that we traveled to in Canada. Would definitely go again and recommend it to anyone. Thanks mom and dad for coming and visiting us! We had so much fun and we can't wait to see you in Ithaca this fall for more adventures!:)