Part 1 of the trip:

Last weekend we headed to the island for a week and a bit celebrating our anniversary.  There's something about the island that makes me want to come back every year.  I like the vibe here.  We walked aimlessly most days, with 3 kids in tow, and most always find some interesting things !  a small alley, a hidden garden, a used book store, a tasty bakery, a heritage house with hundred of roses in bloom, etc !  There're so many nooks and crannies here to explore.  The only complaint I have about Victoria is the expensive hotel prices (around $400-450 per night).  Parkville price is a little softer.  Local travel should be cheaper but I supposed it's summer here = lots of tourist = inflated prices.  You can easily fly down south to Cali for the price of Vancouver Island !  As for food and admission costs around the island, prices are quite fair.

If you are visiting the island for the first time, here are some places I recommend you pay a visit.  Below was our itinerary once we got off the ferry terminal and enroute to Victoria.  We took an early ferry to give us more time on the island.  Hotel check in isn't until 3pm so we got time to explore.

- HATLEY CASTLE :  old castle that's a Classified Federal Heritage Building.  X-Men, the movie was filmed here.  It's magnificent !  The castle ground is free for you to check out.  There is admission cost for the tour of the inside of the castle and the gardens.

This is from a recent trip there, my mommy and I !

- FORT RODD HILL & FISGARD LIGHTHOUSE:  National Historic Site and the first light house in the west coast.  You can go inside the lighthouse and explore all the rooms in there.  The admission cost is around $4 for adult.  Kids are free (17 and under).

Butchart Gardens and Victoria Butterfly Garden are also on the way.  Butterfly Garden was a hit with our kids.

Fisgard Lighthouse

Once in Victoria, I highly recommend you explore the city by foot !  The whole downtown area is walkable.  Below are some places that's worth a visit:

- FISHERMAN'S WHARF:  food, nice scenery, playground, and floating houses !  For food, we like Barb's Fish and Chips (I like the clam chowder here) and The Fish Store.  Kids like to finish lunch or dinner with Jackson's Ice Cream.  The Mexican restaurant there is always busy so we didn't have a chance to try it out (kids are impatience :-)  If you come early in the morning, you will get some sighting of seals !  There's one seal there that likes to wave :-)  So cute !

- BEACON HILL PARK & CHILDREN'S FARM:  beautiful flower gardens, walking trail, open fields, playground and petting zoo for kids.  At around 4:30-5pm in the afternoon, there's a goat stampede at the petting zoo, where all the goats run back to their home.  Super cute to watch with the kids.  There are also a lot of peacocks roaming freely around in this park.  Quite a sight to see.

- BASTION SQUARE:  bursting scene in the summer with outdoor markets.  Lots of restaurants around.  I find the food just OK here.  A nice open area to sit and have ice cream on a hot day.

- MARKET SQUARE:  mixture of shops and restaurants, lots of sitting space for eating (take out) and resting your feet.

- FAN TAN ALLEY:  oldest china town in Canada.  This alley used to be a gambling district.  Very narrow alley, 3 feet wide, with mixture of shops and galleries.  It's a short alley, cutting through only one block of street.  I love the feel here as it reminds me of our place back home in Vietnam.

- DRAGON ALLEY:  across from Fan Tan on Fisgard Street.  Similar to Fan Tan but with a more update feel.  Lots of hidden little gardens to feast our eyes upon.  There are some shops and creative space tucked in here.

- TROUNCE ALLEY:  mixture of shops and home to a Spanish tapas bar.

- WADDINGTON ALLEY:  last "wooden street" in Victoria.  This alley was built in 1858 by a local businessman.  It has a small entrance so you can easily miss it if don't pay attention.  It's tucked in between shops on Johnson Streets.  Old heritage buildings, road paved with wooden bricks and a lovely Italian restaurant lives here.

Downtown Victoria and its' neighbor, James Bay, are beautiful !  James Bay is the oldest residential neighborhood on the west coast.  There are many heritage houses here so if you love to look at them like me, you're in for a treat.  EMILY CARR HOUSE (famous Canadian painter) is in this area, 207 Government Street.  If your are in the vicinity of Fisherman's Wharf, pay a visit to Nourish Kitchen and Cafe for some local farm fresh dishes.  It's housed in a heritage house so the feel is very homely.  Food here is on the healthy side, like seeds bread, thick maple bacon, so if you're looking for the typical breakfast food fare, you won't find it here :-)

Emily Carr House

James Bay

St. Ann Academy

Starbucks at the Bay Centre

Venus Sophia Afternoon Tea Room (located in Chinatown)

Cute flower shop on Johnston street

If you have a car and love the beach like my hubby and kids, check out Willows Beach.  It's about less than 10 min. drive from downtown.  I am pretty sure you can take the bus to here too.  Another place that we like to visit is Gonzales Bay.  It's a small inlet dotted with cute heritage houses on both side.

As for where to stay, we like the Grand Pacific Hotel and Parkside Hotel and Spa.  We like them both for the location, the cleanliness, the spacious room (separate bedroom), and the huge pools.  There are many many hotels here for all level of budgets so read reviews and book accordingly.  Also, I find booking through BC Ferries Vacation save us on the ferry cost.

Victoria has a lot of amazing restaurants and coffee shops.  If you don’t have small kids in tow like us :)  there are many great eats downtown.  We have 3 kids, 3 active kids, and 2 are picky eaters !  Finding a restaurant that is suitable for us take some efforts in advance.  I always appreciate reviews when people talk about how kids friendly is the place.  Anyways, here are some safe place that we like:

BREAKFAST:  

- John's Kitchen

- Blue Fox Cafe

- Willie's Cafe

- Nourish Kitchen (only I like this place, the kids not so much, as they think the food are too healthy :)  

- Cora, typical safe breakfast place

If you crave Dim Sum, Don Mee in Chinatown has it.  They still push the carts around with all those steaming baskets.  Comparing that to Vancouver’s arrays of dim sum restaurants, this is just OK dim sum food :-)

LUNCH:  

- Frankie's Modern Diner (our kids favorite place, good for big group)

- Fisherman's Wharf: Barb's Fish and Chips, Fish Store (lots of steaming options for seafood)

DINNER:  

- Red Fish Blue Fish (go before 5 pm to avoid long lines, I like tacones and from the grill items the most)

- Frankie's Modern Diner (I like their lamb dip)

- Nubo Japanese Tapas

- Ebizo Japanese (tight space but kids like food there)

- the usual safe bet, Earls and Cactus.  

If unsure, the Old Spaghetti Factory is always a safe choice with kids.  There's outdoor eating area covered with beautiful flowers hanging baskets.  It's crazy busy during dinner time anywhere in Victoria so either make reservation or have an early dinner around 5pm.

As for treats/coffee shops around downtown, check out:

- Milano Coffee

- Chocolats Favoris Ice Cream (tad too sweet for me:)

- Kid Sister Ice Cream

- Oh Sugar candy shop

- Olde Tyme candy shop

- Murchie's Tea and Coffee

- Habit Coffee

- La Roux Patisserie

- Empire Donuts (it was a hit with our family)

- Xing Fu Tang bubble tea shop

There’s no chance for fine dining for us this time, but if you have older kids, check out:

- Pagliacci's

- Bodega

- BC Legislative Dining Room

- Il Terrazzo restaurant.  It's in a beautiful brick building with vines climbing on it and around it.  The reviews are really good.  I want to go there one day when my baby can sit still and I'm no longer paranoid that he can break any of the dishes.

Part 2 of the trip:

Beach Club Resort Hotel, Parksville

After 5 days in Victoria, we drove 2 hours up north to Parksville.  We stayed in this quaint small town for 4 days.  The highlight of this area is the Old Country Market in Coombs (10 min from Parksville).  The roof of this market is covered in grass and there are goats roaming on it !  yes, GOATS ON THE ROOF !  What a sight !  We ordered food from the market and ate outside so we can keep eyes on the cute goats on the roof.

As for the market, our kids like all the interesting toys they have here.  Lots of wooden toys which is a nice change.  I noticed a few of the products here you can’t find in Vancouver !  Across the market is an ice cream shop and it’s a hit with the kids.  The donut shop here, Billy’s G, will satisfy your sweeet tooth.  There's also a lovely Italian restaurant behind the market, CUCKOO TRATTORIA.  Food was delicious.  Their outdoor garden is lovely. 

Excellent food @ Cuckoo Trattoria

Rathtrevor Beach

Waiting for our turn on the ferry home !  There's no place like home.

We went back to Honolulu again for spring break !  It's the closest warmest place we can travel to from here.  We can barely handle 6 hrs in the air last time so we knew not to go pass that.  It doesn't surprise me if Hawaii will be our usual spot every spring break.  Our kids love to swim in the ocean and while California is just down the coast, the sea water isn't warm enough to jump into in March.

School's out for weeks now !  I am home full time with 3 kids !  It's play play and play all day everyday for us.  I didn't want to sign them up for anything at first but then gave in and signed them up for swimming.  It will give me and the girls some time together without disruptions from the Terrible 2 :-)

We spent Canada Day long weekend on Sunshine Coast with my best friend's family.  The weather was perfect and the airbnb we stayed at was a lovely place.  The house sat on a huge land with lots of green space for the kids to run around.  One afternoon we saw deer and fawns wandering through.  The kids were filled with excitement seeing the "visitors" strolling pass our garden.  Lovebug even followed one up the hill to the next house.

It's been a while since my last post !  Life kinda gets in the way :-)  things are going well.  I am now home full time, lots of things lead to this decision, but work politics surely motivated me to make the bold move.  Originally, my plan was to go down to 2 days a week, to be home more with the kids.  But I  decided to leave before the new schedule kicked in.  As you know I love my job but I can't keep up with the constant changes at work in management and uncleared directions.  I made through the restructuring but the aftermath of it, even 2 years after, still lingers on with all those who stayed.  Morale was low, I couldn't pull them up no matter how hard I tried.  It's not my job anyways.  What's hard is that I cannot go on being happy when people around me aren't.  In the past 10 years, never once a day I woke up dreading work.  The one day it happened and then again, I knew something is up.  I think the start of me wanting to leave happened on the day one of our director gave her notice. I look up to her a lot and admire her creativity and how she is so passionate about what our organization is about. What she shared with me stuck with me.  She said our organization isn't staying true to it's purpose.  That made me sad because I love my work, and I love what we do for the community.  Then a bunch of little things happened, more people left and more changes took place.  I saw it coming, my end date, it's inevitable.  I really thought I would retire here.  One thing I learned is that we can never be so sure of things in life.  Never ever be sure of things because we cannot predict even the next min. in our life.  We might not change, but people and situations around us do, and that changes the dynamic of things.  That's life friends !

Our first plane trip out of country as a family of 5.  C and I were quite nervous about the flight. Our kids are super active and rarely sit in one place for long.  First we were thinking of going to San Diego, Anaheim, or LA, mainly for the short flight.  However after reviewing hotels and distance between hotels and attractions and the beach, we would need a car to zip around all those places. C doesn’t feel comfortable driving in unfamiliar places so after going back and forth on it, California is off our list. I then looked around for other warm places and Hawaii came to mind. Flight is longer than we would like but it’s the only way if we want warm summer-like weather.  This trip is meant for spring break and for Bee's birthday.  She told us months in advance she would rather we go some where, like previous year, than have a party at home.  Although this time, while opening her presents from us, she came to the realization that without a party, she doesn't get many gifts :-D

Bee worked with me on this picture, learning to erase and add layer on Photoshop ! 

March brought in a lot of rain this year.  It was dull and cold and blah.  The only thing to look for this month for me is the birthday of our eldest girl.  Weeks before her birthday, Bee asked if we can stay at a hotel for her birthday instead of having a birthday party.  She loves staying at hotel and go swimming.  Subconsciously I know she wants us all to be together, spending time together and do fun stuff.  She wished she doesn't have school and that we don't have to work so our family can just play all day.  I told her, me too me too !  A short getaway is a brilliant idea.  I couldn't agreed more.  No chores ?  Sign me up.

We decided to go to Victoria as it's the only island around here that has hotels with big pools !  We booked the hotel Grand Pacific based on the location and its' 3 pools - large swimming pool, hot tub, and a kiddie pool.  My hotel booking criteria are all about pool temperature and distance to food options nowadays. 

The girls packed their luggage the day before and were so excited we couldn't get them to eat dinner or  sleep.  It was chaotic.  C struggled trying to put all 3 kids to sleep while I was trying to make Bee a birthday card, wrap her presents and clean up the house.  Who wants to return home to a messy house ?  Not I !  Then when all this is done, I still need to pack too, for me and all the kids (I don't think the girls packed enough warm clothes).  Arrrrgggg !!!

1 am on the clock when I slipped into the bed, body and mind exhausted.

Morning came without a bump.  Travelling to and boarding ferry was smooth.  Peanut cooperated while we had lunch.  Yay !  It already feel like an amazing trip.

We stopped by Gonzales Bay before hitting our hotel as check in is at 3.  From the street parking it doesn't look like much, but as we descended down the stairs pathway, the little beach unfolds in front of us and it was delightful.  The kids went into busy mode and run amok while C and I surveyed the area then place Peanut in a safe sandy spot !  He dug right into the sand the moment we put him down.  

Dotted along the border of this little beach are charming heritage houses.  I love myself a heritage (but fully updated to today's code) house with a porch on the front so I can watch the world go by.  C and I talked about perhaps we can buy a little place here and going to walks in the morning and afternoon.  This of course, was before we look into real estate cost around here :)  Baby Peanut entertained himself for over an hour, digging into the sand.  He loves it so much.  I suspected he ate a bit of sand..or maybe a lot..I don't know :-/ but he left some evident on his lips :(

We got to the hotel close to 3 and checking in was a breeze.  The hotel looks nice and grand outside, like its name.  The location is perfect, close to lots of restaurants and close to the wharf.  The inside interior of the suite, the decor is kinda dated for our taste.  The travel agent told me she went there and loved it and that it's a solid 4 star hotel.  We often don't use many of the services so that doesn't really matter to us.  We do like the location so we decided to try it out !  Beside the cosmetic stuff, chairs and beds are very comfortable.  The room is big enough for us, around 450 square feet, and very clean, no dust behind headboard or window sills.  For family of 5, however, I think the Parkside Resort hotel is better for us because of the kitchen.  Not that I would be doing any cooking, but it's more for the convenience of warming up food and/or for breakfast as we all wake up at different time.  However there are lots of restaurants nearby here so there's no worry of starvation.  The hotel also has an 24 hrs cafe on site too.  As for C, he likes the easy access to Starbucks across the street.  

The weather during this trip has spring written all over it !  Sunny and cool with a couple of cloudy periods.  It was rainy back at home (we check our home security camera) so we are quite thankful for the time here.  I thanked Bee for praying for the weather because I forgot to. 

First thing we did after settling in was to surprise Bee with presents.  She thought the trip was a present for her so she didn't expect anything else.  We got her Lego superhero sets (Catwoman, Batgirl, Robin, and Wonderwoman) !  Bee mentioned she needed superheroes to protect her castles and cake shops.  She lovesssss the Lego and the card I made for her so that's a high note for me :-)  I haven't drawn in a long time.

Bee has been such a great sister to Love and Peanut.  Sometime she takes her role so seriously, that she sounds like C, and it's quite entertaining to watch.  She fusses over things that doesn't line up (like me) and gets frustrated when her items get removed and not put back where she had it last (like C).  Bee loves to be tickled everyday and she tells us pretty much everyday how much she loves our family.  Sweet thing ! She also reminds me often to tell Jesus that I love Him and that is so precious.

Bee loves to sing, silly dance and read.  She read everything, from signs to newspaper to books to instructions on a bottle !  She is generous with her smile and are slowing coming out of her shell.  When spoken to, she would quietly answer.  So brave my girl !  Bee can read my brain, she claimed, and that she knows what I like and what makes me happy.  Some night when C and I switched chores, she would whisper to me that she wanted to give me a break !  So she would ask C to help her ready for bed instead.  She said to me "You get a rest now mommy !  Let's tickle me, that's a nice rest right ? ".  Little miss smarty pant :)

All in all, we enjoyed our time away, together, and got plenty of sleeping in.  The best food I had during this trip was at Nourish, a heritage home converted to restaurant, for brunch.  It's cute little place but has no high chair.  We managed as C and I took turn holding baby Peanut.  Not like we have any other option right ?  Food was dddddelicious.  C was like this is totally your kind of place Tracy, all healthy and vintage feel.

Morning Scramble w/ side of bacon:  soft scrambled eggs, roasted shallots, butternut squash, arugula, lentil hummus, seedy toast

No high chair for baby  :-(

The highlight of this trip, as I don't think anything can beat it, are the seals at the fisherman wharf.  I seen them before in San Fran but this was very up close, mere meters away from me.  I can almost touch them !!!  They are so fat, so round, oh so cute !

This adorable sweet thing loves to wave !  I waved back frantically "Hello hello"

Vacation, mini or long, seems to fueled my kids with an extra pack of energy, because they don't seem to get tired at all.  We walked all over town and they never once complained.  Thank goodness Victoria never seems to run out of things to do with kids.  The kids can burn their steam off at the countless playgrounds around here, then there's the vast space at Beacon Hill park, we can walk along the seawall, walk around the fisherman wharf, and going up and down the many steps at the parliament building (guaranteed to burn off some energy).  If you want brain stimulations, there's the bugs zoo, the crystal garden, miniature world, Royal museum, and maritime museum.  

Most evening, at around 9pm, after a long day of walking and running and swimming, the girls seems to calm down and willing to sit around with us.  We would attempt to watch a family movie and before we know it they all fell fast asleep, about 5-7 min in.  When the kids passed out, it's party time for us hard working parents ! We break out the snacks, snuggle on the sofa, we might kissed ! but it's a bit of a blur for me now.  We both fell asleep just as fast as the kids :)  Sleep is wonderful.  We are romantic like that !

We been to Victoria many many times but never really visit the parliament building so we feel obliged to take the girls there this time around.  It's a beautiful building with lots of intricate details.  C gave them a brief 101 on how our government and house of common works, etc.  Bee asked is she can run for prime minister and we said yes.  We ran up and down the stairs there about 5-6 times, the girls think we're playing tag, I was really trying to burn my belly fat :)

If you are planning to take your kids to Victoria, do take a drive out to visit Willow beach and Cadboro park.  You can read about Willow beach here.  As for Cadboro, it's a huge playground with sea creatures inspired play structures. 

Cadboro and Gyro park/beach is a wide open space with all sorts of play structures for babies and grown kids.  When we were there, the park was packed with lots of kids running around and there were also a lot of sail boats on the water.  A hub of activities on land and sea !!!  

Looking for smooth rocks to collect

Super mommy socks !

I am glad for this short getaway, a time to unwind and watch the kids do their kiddies things.  Sure there were some stressful times, it`s not all rosy :)  People often say to me (seeing the pictures) that (where we go) the trip looks great and the kids are so great, and that their kids won't behave like ours.  And I would tell them, just do it, go on mini trip !  We have many not so great moment during out trip, I just don't capture it.  When my kids are crying or screaming, first thing to do is bring balance to the force, not pulling out camera to take pictures :)  I assured you, any trip with kids comes with some stress, but I also find the fun of being away from home and room-service everyday out weight the not-so amazing time.

Talk about stress, this trip, meal times was a bit of a pain in the noggin !  Peanut won't sit still in his high chair to eat so C and I pretty much gulp down on our food as fast as we can and get out.  We went to 2 restaurants and gave up !  We opted for Red Fish and Blue Fish for the rest of the trip, our trusty solid go-to place because it's no fuss good food and the kids can run around and make as much noise as they want.  This place and the wharf is great to grab some food to enjoy if you got noisy kids like us !

Some things I learned and take away from Bee this weekend:

- Flowers are not blooming yet because they are in their sleep state

- First there's an egg like an eye, then it become a tadpole, then the arms formed then legs then become a frog.  Then when ready, the frog comes back to where they are born and  leave eggs there.

- She can eat 2 boxes of 6 pieces of McD nuggets for snack !

- She loves just hanging out at hotel suite and play 

- She's creative with making up games

- She tried plain toast and likes it

- She doesn't like whipped cream (I can't believe it)

- She doesn't like cake (what ????? Who's kid is this ?)

- She might be loving C more than me.  She told me "daddy works so hard you know mommy ?  He doesn't take many breaks, maybe just lunch.  His work is very hard so he has to think a lot.  I love daddy so much and I miss him all the time."

Such a daddy's girl (rolled eyes) but I love love that she loves her daddy so much !  I too love him so very much.

When it was time to leave the island the girls weren't ready and wanted to stay 10 more days.  Bee said she didn't like this whole trip because it's so short !  She wanted to stay longer, because she loves going out for breakfast, swimming and playing in our suite.  She loves the bolster pillow so much, she said.  Bee asked that we do the same for her birthday next year but she wants to stay at least 10 days because 4 days is too short.  I am glad she likes to celebrate her special day with all of us.  On the way home, Bee reminded all of us to thank her for her great idea and for all the fun we had, in which we all did.  Now if she pick up all the bills for this trip then that would be awesome :)