Oh Canada

We drove 18 hours up to Vancouver Island with our cousins Eric, Nakita & Reese. Eric drove straight through the night until we arrived at the ferry - a true Canadian. We saw a bald eagle fly right in front of our car. Come to find out that's really common up there. The scenery reminded me a lot of New Zealand. Everything is so green and the ocean views are breathtaking. We stayed at Aunt Jill and Uncle Jackson's house. It was such a fun and unique trip!

Here we are on a British Columbia ferry on our way to Vancouver Island.




Reese was the best road tripper of us all! She laughed and played the entire time. She even woke up at 3 or 4am just smiling and keeping herself happy. You can't help but bond after spending 18 hours together in the car:)

Here is Jackson (cousin Jacob's son) ready to go diving in the freezing cold water. He is an avid underwater sea man. He caught a white back kelp crab and told us all about it while it kept pinching him.

Micah is also part marine biologist as you see him eating squid eggs that we found on the beach.


Two of my favorite things are ice skating and anything involving paddling in water. We went sea kayaking along the beautiful coast of Vancouver Island.


My favorite part of the trip was visiting Mr. Chase. Mr. Chase was born in 1910 and is turning 100 years old in September. After we went seakayaking from Mr. Chase's private beach, we went into his house to meet him. He was wearing one piece jump suit with his work boots on. His house is like a museum full of treasures that Mr. Chase has accumulated throughout his life including:

• A collection of locks and keys that are probably as old as Mr. Chase himself
  
• Mr. Chase's father' s sword that he fought with in the Civil War! There are only two living "sons of the civil war." Isn't that amazing to think that he can say his dad fought in the Civil War? His father entered the war at age 13. What an amazing treasure!
  
• A beautiful and intricate handmade tiara made out of women's hair!

Here is Reese sitting under a tree at Mr. Chase's house while caterpillars kept falling on her head.

Before we boarded the Victoria Clipper to make our way to Seattle, we walked around downtown Victoria. Much of the architecture is the old English style including the Empress Hotel and the Parliament Building.

We stayed at Seth and Amy's house on Sunday night then met Alickya and James for lunch at Microsoft. Amy took Sam and Ellie out of school so we could all hang out together. After lunch we went to Sky High - trampoline land! Jayne was fearless and loved jumping into the pit. Sam was doing flips and Ellie was jumping all over the place. My 33 year old husband even did a gainer into the pit - he's still got it:)

One the plane ride home Micah and I wrote down our goals for our marriage and life together. We have so many things to look forward to in our lives!