Vancouver Island

I wanted to share some pictures from our trip to Victoria, British Columbia and Vancouver Island.  I think I took about 600 pictures (probably half of that at Butchart Gardens alone), so this is just a sampling.  We had such a great time and were lucky to have my mom and Scott meet us there for the fun-filled week.  The weather was gorgeous for the first half of our trip, but then the clouds and rain set in which was much needed as they evidently hadn't had any rain in like two months.  So, here are some highlights from our trip...

 

 

 

Brogan got to graffiti the wall at our favorite breakfast place...Cup of Joe's

The real reason we made the trip...Casey ran his first marathon!!!  Looks pretty good for only having about 1k left!  He finished in 3:46!!!  Way to go Casey!!!

Brogan made friends with a street artist on the harbour who taught him some robot moves

View of the gorge from our gorge cruise

Neala in front of a big fallen tree on our hike to China Beach

China Beach overlooking the Juan de Fuca Strait...USA on the other side

Exploring the rocky China Beach

MeMa and Brogan hanging out in a tree cave

Sunken Garden at Butchart Garden...so beautiful!!!

Casey and I overlooking the Sunken Garden

Brogan and Neala on the fake carousel horse.  Neala liked this version much better than the real, moving version!

Brogan was fascinated by all the totem poles!!!  The thunderbirds were his favorite.  This one was at Butchart Gardens, but we also saw a ton at the Royal BC Museum...including one house post totem pole that we need at our house that roughly translated to "House In Which People Must Shout to be Heard".  I loved learning about the First Nation culture in the area.

This was my favorite part of Butchart Gardens...this long wall of huge colorful flowers (which I can't remember the names).  Almost every flower had a couple bees hard at work pollenating...so Brogan wouldn't get anywhere near.

Family photo in front of one of the fountains at Butchart Gardens

We had some of the best (and most expensive) fish and chips at a little stand at Fisherman's Wharf and Brogan got to feed the harbour seals.  I was a Nervous Nancy with my kids standing that close to the water with no railing!

 Brogan standing in the tree roots of a huge uprooted tree at Cathedral Grove just outside of Parksville

Little Qualicum Falls just outside of the Parksville/Qualicum area.  We also visited Englishman River Falls.

Ducks at Beacon Hill Park surrounding Brogan...I think they are used to being fed!  What a beautiful park!!!

We made the cold, windy walk down to Ogden Point

Neala enjoying the cockroach house at the Victoria Bug Zoo (you can see one of the cockroaches walking down the path on the far left...HUGE!!!)

Brogan in front of the ant farm at the Victoria Bug Zoo...it also wrapped around to the other side of the room.

Casey, Brogan, and Neala petting starfish and sea anemones at the petting tank at the aquarium in Sidney.

Sidney Harbour...and a very cute town!