quality island time

what a wonderful way to spend a couple of days...

Since we moved out of our old neighbourhood, one of the folks I have missed the most is Susan. She moved with her family to Victoria not long after we moved...and I haven't seen her since! Time for that to change - and so Sasha and I had some mother daughter adventure time for a visit to Sue's new digs and quality time with a good friend :)

After a smooth bus and ferry adventure to the island, we were picked up by Susan who, after giving us big welcome to the island hugs, says to me "So I thought I'd take you through all the old Saanich roads and we can stop at a local winery to pick up a bottle for this evening"...can you tell why I love her?? hehe. Five minutes in the car and Sasha sacked out from all our running around and around and up and down on the ferry and she barely noticed our stop at the vineyard.



We were not the only houseguests for the weekend as Sue's son had a couple of his friends over (who had been there all week). The boys made us a great taco dinner and Sasha fell in love with all of them. Mostly Kje, but she's still talking about the older boys too. lol.

Gotta say my fave thing to do while we were there was hangin in the hammock, and Sasha just loved pushing me in it like a swing so here you have one of those win win activities...we have got to get one of these for our home!!

Aside from hanging around we also had music and games, a trampoline to bounce on, a hot tub to soak in and plenty of space for just chillin'...what more could you ask for from a vacation destination ;)



Here are 2 pics that Sasha took:


My other fave thing to do is hiking - check! Bluffs near her home provide some pretty stellar views of the straight! Though I didn't actually get any pics of that view this time. Sasha climbed all the way up no problems, but tuckered out on the way down so I helped her out of course.

And we also fit in some quality beach exploration time while all the boys slept on sunday morning. You may have noticed many of the pics so far have susan@rybar.ca on them, and that is because I am lucky enough to have a gifted photographer share her pics with me...and she got so many great ones at the beach I had a hard time choosing which to share with you all! I told Sasha "Mommy likes to take lots of pictures, but Susan is a photographer and her pictures are like art". I got a few nice ones, but hers are fabulous :)






I ended up cutting my foot open on a barnacle covered rock (not the one I'm pictured on) though I only thought I had bruised it initially so kept walking and walking. I didn't realize it was an actual wound of many gashes of varied sizes until we got all the way back to our shoes...having carried Sasha just about the whole way back. Apperently salt water is good for wounds (that, and I was super lucky to have Penny's car for the next few days after our return which allowed me to take proper care and not walk on it too much) and I only limped for a few days over all, and within a week the wound is almost fully healed! gotta love skin :)

As she promised, we got to see quite a few deer (these three are frequent visitors to her backyard) and the best pic is the fuzzy antlered deer we just happen to find grazing near a fallen sign. hahahaha - i love it!

Splendid scenery with never having to go farther than the deck for a nice view, and check out this beauty shot of the moon that I asked Susan to capture for me after failing to get it with my camera...and that extra glass of wine probably didn't help my ability, hehe.


Before catching our ferry home Sasha had her first thrills in a skatepark! Watching the boys do some tricks on their boards and bikes was pretty exciting. And Sasha braved her first rides on a board too! I loved watching all of them at play and also loved having a few turns own the little hill with Sasha - wheeeeee! Brilliant end to our amazing island time with Susan and all of her boys :)












I was quite pampered by my friend this visit...she better put me to work next time or I might grow accustomed to the spoiling, hehe. Not that I wasn't convinced of her solidness as a true friend already, but here's the clincher moment of gratitude for me: to give me 15 minutes to myself Susan, who experiences motion sickness and rarely gets into the hammock, used the hammock swing game to distract Sasha for me to get away for my moment of peace. Potentially making herself sick for my benefit...that is the best!

To top it all off I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at how easy, and affordable, the bus/ferry combo is and will now consider this for more frequent short trips to the island in the future. Look out Sue...you've got us hooked now ;)

Next time I will pack the travel back pack instead of the suitcase (what was I thinking??) and then the 20 minute walk to the bus terminal won't seem like a lifetime. Only cranky moment of the whole adventure was limping home with suitcase, car seat, child and no money for a cab...and no ATM's between the terminal and our home in operation!!! Even this moment of tension was not long as Mark came and met us half way and relieved much of the burden...and Sasha and I both slept like champs when we finally arrived at home.

To end, one of my all time fave memories from the visit was watching Sasha and Sue playing Go Fish, and here's a little clip of my invitation to join them - who could resist?