Summer of 2014: The Voyage Home

Well, I had to come up with some sort of a title for this post. 🙂

Where do I begin? Since the website was down when we were in Victoria, I am now faced with the task of summing up an entire week of activities at once. Augh! I’m sure to forget something important. Oh well.

First, I’ll start with the overall impression of the visit: it was great. We didn’t get to do everything and visit everyone, but it was a good mix of activity and relaxation so we didn’t end up coming home exhausted. Having Ian’s birthday fall during the week was both good and bad, because we did get to have birthday celebrations with the family but we also had to organize well in advance and keep the present size and quantity down for the return plane flight. 🙂

Speaking of which, it was the kids’ first flight, and that will be a memory for them for a long time:

When we were planning a trip home to Victoria last winter, Tammy was adamant that she wanted to fly. I guess the two-day trip here was still on her mind. Yes, there was up-front cost of buying tickets and the expense of renting a car, but it would save four days of driving. At the time, Tammy was planning on working at GEOS during the summer, so lost earnings also had to be factored in. So we bought tickets and reserved a car and gave it a shot.

The flight to Victoria was just after seven in the morning on the Wednesday, so it was an early morning off to Calgary International. We had a reservation with Park 2 Go, and they lived up to their promise, getting us to the airport only about 10 minutes after parking. It was weird, trying to hustle a family of four through security instead of only myself. The kids were good. Unfortunately, it was mostly cloudy from the time we climbed over the Rockies, but it was a clear morning in Calgary and our takeoff to the south meant the kids could look out the window and see downtown. The flight was mostly smooth until the descent and crossing through the cloud layer. Miranda liked the landing best, with the bump and then braking.

The rental car was a bit confusing: we’d rented with Enterprise, but there was no Enterprise rent a car kiosk in the Victoria Airport. I called the 1-800 number, and they directed me to the National desk because Enterprise apparently bought National recently. The lady at the National desk thought I was crazy. So I asked at the information desk, and apparently Enterprise has a shuttle that shows up outside the Arrivals area. She was right, and soon we found ourselves behind the wheel of a late model Nissan Versa sedan. It wasn’t a bad little car, with a CVT and plenty of pep. Bit of a rattle from the rear end, but that didn’t matter. We didn’t drive too much: enough to burn a 1/2 tank of gas, mostly on our trip to Pender.

We spent the rest of the day getting settled at Mom and Dad’s and visiting with them. The weather was wet, so the kids started building some of Dad’s Lego sets. By the end of the week, there was a police station and assorted vehicles and a whole menagerie of castle and related things.

Thursday’s activities were visiting Tammy’s grandmother in the early afternoon and the Wagners at suppertime. Great-grandma has some health problems, but overall doing very well. Compared to the litany of ailments afflicting Tammy’s aunt and uncles, she’s as healthy as anything. She posed with Tammy and Miranda for a “generations” picture:

The dinner at the Wagners was good. We brought the refreshments and they ordered pizza. I got a tour of Jackson’s kilt-making shop and talked with him about his plans to strike out on his own. I have confidence that he will be successful. Jackson, Michelle, Tammy and I sat out on their back deck and had plenty of laughs while the kids visited with Shanelle and Jasmine. Of course, the only pictures Tammy took were of their cats, Taco and Rex…

It was great that the timing of the trip coincided with Stephanie having the kids. We got to visit with them a bit on Thursday before heading to the Wagners’, most of Friday and then Saturday as well.

Friday was a relatively quiet visiting day. Dad was “experiencing” the aftereffects of his shot, so other than taking him to Walmart for his eye exam, and going shopping at Costco, the rest of the day was having fun and letting the kids all play together in the back yard. Brianna was missing for part of the time because she was finishing up her Pedalheads camp. She now is riding without training wheels!

Saturday was “Ian’s birthday”. We had a barbecue lunch at Mom and Dad’s. Badminton was the game of choice during the non-meal parts.

Since watching the Lego Movie, Ian and Miranda have both been quite interested in building Lego sets. So his “big” present was a joint gift from Stephanie, Mom and Dad and us:

It’s about half finished now. It’s taking a while for Ian to put it together.

It was a birthday barbecue lunch because in the evening, we had tickets to go to Western Speedway and see the monster trucks with Stephanie, Zachary and Brianna:

We managed to stay to the end of the races. Ian is getting much better at being patient. Near the end of the evening, Stephanie wanted to go on the monster truck ride. There was a special monster truck that had 12 passenger seats and drove around the motocross track and back. It was $10 a person, and the lineups to ride were long all evening until it got late. Stephanie took Zachary and Brianna with her, and she was practically bubbling when she got back. So Tammy and I went on it with Miranda and Ian. Here we are, ready to go.

It was good. Very loud and bumpy!

Sunday was a bit of a recovery from Western Speedway, and then off to visit the Spicers in the afternoon. They have a new house on Bear Mountain and we hadn’t seen it yet. Both Savannah and Eric are still at Canada’s Best Karate. They swam in the pool out back. We got to meet their pet bird, Merlin, too.

The kids were pretty tuckered out after those couple of days. But more was to come!

Monday was the trip to Pender Island. That was a whole trip on its own! It was an early morning to catch the 8:35 ferry, but not too early.

We made it without any issues. I finally have the layout of Pender Island somewhat memorized. It’s only taken 14 years. We got the grand tour of the Plantation, and it was Ian’s “real birthday”, so there were cards and presents with Baba and Grandpa:

Lunch was at Port Browning, Colin and Carol’s treat. The weather was hot and sunny, so all the redheads clustered under the umbrellas.

Ian and Miranda shared a piece of apple pie a la mode for Ian’s birthday cake.

It didn’t last very long, so it must have been good. After lunch we went to the Driftwood Mall and poked our noses in the toy store and the book store. It was my good fortune that Peggy Bagshaw was showing her work at the art gallery in the bookstore. I enjoyed looking at her works without anyone hanging over my shoulder. Tammy and I went and looked at her exhibition at the Red Tree Gallery when we visited Pender a few years ago.

After that, it was off for a hike at Oak Bluffs Park. We climbed up to the lookout points where we could see Mt. Baker, the San Juan Islands, Vancouver Island and Saltspring Island.

Don’t step any further back, Tammy!

Then we headed back to the Plantation. We relaxed and visited, and gave them technical support for their iPad and Mac. The nice thing about doing that for them is they pay you in libations, in this case a lovely margarita. We didn’t get to stay for dinner, because the last direct ferry to Swartz Bay was at 7:05. If we missed that, we wouldn’t be back in Victoria before midnight.

Tuesday was departure day. We didn’t have to get up early, since our flight was after 12. So it was a relaxing morning and then we were on our way. There were no problems taking the rental car back and we had plenty of time at the airport. So we ate lunch at the White Spot there before heading through security and on to the plane.

It was hot back in Calgary when we landed. The car (dusty, but in one piece) was showing 37 degrees ambient temperature when we piled in. That’s likely an exaggeration, but not by much. Tammy went and picked up the cats from the kennel and I went to get some groceries. It was nice to be back in our home again, but we also missed Victoria. For the record, no we didn’t go see our old house. Maybe some other visit.

It was a great visit. Too bad they can’t happen more often. Thanks to Mom and Dad and Colin and Carol for their hospitality.