My family headed west in search of Spring last week (this Winter is breaking records across the board: record snowfall, days below zero degrees, no sign of Spring and it's mid-April- it's been insane) and we feasted on our eyes on the green forests and blue waters of Vancouver, Salt Spring Island, the Comox Valley and Nanaimo. My husband had ten days off for Spring Break so we divided up our trip into 2.5 days of driving and 2 days in each location. Although the first day was rather intense (a 14 hour drive through all kinds of weather) the kids were troopers it went quite smoothly overall! Then once we were on the coast all the travelling between locations consisted of short drives and ferry rides - which was good because after 14 hours strapped into his rear-facing carseat Sully developed quite an aversion to it and definitely did not want to spend any more time there (understandably, that's a long time to stare at nothing while the rest of the fam got to enjoy beautiful views). The weather was often overcast but we got some sun as well as a little rain and it was all considerably better than the -25 degrees and blizzarding back home!
Emery was in her glory on this trip! The girl LOVES to hike. We packed our baby backpack for Sully and I always wore it because I figured Emery's little legs would need rest and my husband would have to carry her, but she surprised us every day with her stamina! I can think of one time she rode on his shoulders for a couple minutes to have a snack and other than that she hiked what we hiked. We explored a different trail every day and Emery forced us to notice new details all along the way.
Although Sully wasn't a fan of the car seat this trip, he's a definite fan of the baby backpack so as long as we were outdoors he was happy! And usually sleeping. I referred to myself as Sully's mobile nap unit and it was nice to always have him close.
Every adventure was different- the west coast is so diverse! We explored waterfalls, sandy beaches, rocky beaches and endless boardwalks and saw so many creatures. We got an amazing view of a bald eagle on Newcastle Island, saw many starfish and crabs at Ruckle Park and my favourite of all was watching three orcas breeching at Pipers Lagoon. There were also three sea lions swimming along the shore at Pipers and we got to see them for quite a while and hear them barking back and forth at each other. What we didn't see in the wild, we got to see at the Vancouver Aquarium.
Of course not every single moment of our trip was as carefree as these photos appear - like you know you’re a gong show in a cafe when the lady behind you pays for your family’s lunch - I just typically don’t pull out my camera and photograph the moments where my family is a hot mess (literally, my husband was wearing his latte by the time we left the cafe- thanks Sully!). You win some, you lose some haha, thanks for letting me share some of the wins!
The last time we went to the coast Emery was eight months old so it felt special to have another eight month old baby along for the ride this time! I guess we feel like eight months old is the perfect age for long roadtrips? Are we crazy? Haha.
xo.
Thanks Leigh! I remember one of my favourite parts about New Zealand was how close everything felt - not the case in Canada haha some big road trips are required here! And yes you are so right about 3 years old being an easier age for travel, I would imagine your 18 month old wasn't so keen on sitting still! I remember you asking about swimming tips - I'm going to make a post on that, that is a great idea!
Posted by: Ashley | 04/23/2018 at 02:30 PM
You guys are so brave doing a fourteen hour road trip!!! We just got back from Queenstown and that consisted of a two hour car ride to the airport and a two hour flight as well as the two hours waiting time in the airport and that was stressful enough! Three is definitely easier for travelling than 18 months though, for my boys anyway. I can reason with the three year old a bit more. As always, love your blog.
A comment for another one of your posts above, but how do you take two children to the pools? What tips to you have. I find that so so stressful!!
Posted by: Leigh | 04/19/2018 at 07:24 PM