Victoria is great for a weekend jaunt across the water.  Close to home but far enough to make you feel like you went away.  We went there many times without kid, then with 1, then 2, and now with 3 kids in tow !  The day before we go I like to print out a map of our hotel and surrounding places (restaurants, point of attractions, convenient shops, etc).  I also jot down a tentative itinerary for our four days there.  Listing things we can do and places we can go if the weather is nice or if it's cloudy and rainy.  I do this every time we travel, to give us a frame work to shape our day, to save time and to ensure all the must do items are covered.  For me, I want to visit Hatley museum while the girls said they must visit the bugs zoo.

For this trip, I booked it through BC Ferries Vacation, which includes ferry reservation, ferry rides, and hotel. It's convenient and now with family of 5, I need that extra booking help of an agent with finding us a family room for a steal !  My agent, Kathie, was friendly and helpful.  When posted pictures on fb about this trip, I realized a lot of people don't know that BC Ferries has a travel center that grouped hotel and ferry cost into an affordable package. We saved a lot booking through them vs booking hotel and ferry separately (if you know me, I am all about price comparison and finding deals :)  We saved close to $100 per night at the hotel we picked and also saved the $15/day hotel parking.  I worked out, with the package, ferry ride both way is over $200 so hotel works out to be about $200 a night.  The hotel website quoted me over $300 so this is a deal !  The room we booked is a suite, with full kitchen, so it's a plus.  We will definitely go this route again with BC Ferries.

The ride

The drive to ferry was smooth and put baby Peanut to sleep.  Yay !  When we about to board, C realized he forgot the stroller and I realized I forgot my ergo carrier at home :(  No no no no no !  I can't believe it !!!  The most important item to take and we both forgot ! I even walked around the house to ensure we got everything too.  Oh well, we'll have to pick up a cheap one once there.

We had lunch on the ferry, trusty Triple O :-)  Can't go wrong with chicken tenders and greens.  We had our fill then let the kids blow off their energy at the small play area.  There's free wifi so we quickly logged in to check on the weather and news then logged off.  We want to limit being connected, just so our brain can really rest.

Hotel check in isn't til 4 so we went and check out Hatley castle.

The castle is quite magnificent !  I was picking between this one and Craigdarroch but I opted for Hatley when I read the latter one was reportedly haunted and I am not into that.  Hatley's ground is very well kept.  We went on a Friday so it was quiet.  They were setting up for a wedding and Peanut is wide awake so we decided opt out on the tour.  He would be agitated and we can't see everything due to the wedding anyways.  The visit was a nice stop on the way to hotel.  The girls ran up and down and around this place.  They should be tired and ready for dinner !

We arrived to our hotel, Parkside Hotel & Spa Victoria, a little before 4pm but they let us check in early.  Front desk staff was super nice and friendly.  Our suite was nice and quite huge, over 600 sq. at least.  I like the modern decor and the kitchen with a breakfast counter.  The kids love the huge pool and hot tub and the koi fishes.

Right in front of this hotel, cutting through beautiful yard of St. Ann's Academy, is Beacon Hill park !  Our kids will love the green space.  From here, it's a walkable distance to all other main attractions.  It's just right at the skirt of the downtown core, no car fumes, less crowd, and not noisy.  Quite peaceful here !  The coffee shop downstairs make a delicious Americano.  My husband planned to visit it twice a day.

After touring the hotel and settling in, we went out for dinner then back to our room.  The kids were excited to go swimming at the hotel's pool.  We were excited to use the hot tub.

Hotel guest area

Khoi pond that's a hit with our kids

The big pool, starts at 3 1/2 feet deep

Our suite, queen bed in the bedroom with queen pull out sofa.  Fully equipped kitchen, dining area, laundry closet with a small washer and dryer,  and living room with a big screen TV. 

Bedroom connected to bathtub that's connected to a bathroom (with a standing shower in there)

Private patio with a patio set

Hotel roof top area with benches and patio sets for guests use

Day 2

Morning we went wandering around downtown Victoria, grabbing some warm drinks to keep us toasty !  My phone reported 17 degrees but the city is surrounded by water so it's quite cool and windy at times.  I love the charming heritage look of Victoria city.  No tall glass high rises and no box like buildings.  There are many local brands/stores on the main shopping district.  You don't find Starbucks at every corner.  I sense there's a strong support for local shops here.

Picked up a carrier from Walmart.  I was hoping to pick up a used Ergo on Craigslist but couldn't find any.  Still mad at myself for forgetting my Ergo at home :-S

After lunch we head to Beacon Hill park, about 5 min. walk from our hotel.  This place is a beauty.  It's the highlight of this trip for me.  The kids love the petting zoo with loads of goats and peacocks wandering around.  After petting the goats, we went on a short hike and let the kids run wildly up and down the hills.  Admission to the zoo is by donation and the lady at the gate gave us a peacock feather for souvenir!  How nice is that ?

After dinner and some rest in our hotel, we headed downstairs to the pool.  The kids love swimming in there !  Even more so after they discovered the swimming wings (allowed them to swim in the deep end).  I like the pool here because it is not very crowed.  Usually there're 2-4 other kids and less than 5 adults.  C especially liked the hot tub !  He and I switched holding baby so the other can have some soaking time !

This is the first trip as a family of 5 and the kids behaved so well !  Yay for future road trip !

Day 3

We went to the bugs zoo as per the girls request.  It's a small little place with lots of creepy crawlies.  The kids went nuts, screaming and cringing.  I was lining up to touch a tarantula spider but Peanut was hungry and won't stop whining so we left.  We all got our hands stamped on the way out, this way we can return later in the day.  The admission price is for all day access !

After feeding Peanut, we went for lunch then back to the hotel to pack for the beach !!!  Willows beach is a 10 min drive away, a really nice sandy beach with loads of drift woods.  I fell in love with it the moment we set foot on the sand.  Quiet, not crowded, fine soft sand, and free parking.  I walked around exploring the beach with baby Peanut, while C and the girls collected drift woods and built a hut !  C always built something at the beach :)  He is made to be an architect.

While waiting for our food at Red Fish Blue Fish, we watched the water boats coming and going.

Red Fish Blue Fish's taco !  Seriously delicious.  We make a stop here every time we're in Victoria.

After the beach, we went out for dinner then back to the hotel for a visit to the pool :-)  No matter how fun the day is, it isn't quite complete without swimming !  For our 2 girls that is.

Going home


We went out for breakfast on our last day then back to hotel to pack up.  Before heading home we wanted to visit Willows beach again.  We hang out there for a couple of hours, enjoying the hut C built the day before !  Our time were spent lazying around !  The beach was quiet today.  The sky was blue, calm and clear.

Waiting for a seat at John's Place.  It's so crazy busy here.

Story of my life !  Always late for the camera !!! 

With Bee at home for the summer holiday, I am going to get to spend a lot of time with all of them kids.  I know it's going to be a little chaotic but I am prepared for it.  This is the only summer where I get to be with all 3 of them (back to work next year) so having that tucked in the back of my head, I approached each day with renewed spirit and strength !  We're going to have fun !  That's all we're going to do, anything that's we can think of that's fun.  And through our fun time, I want to get to know Bee a little more.  She's at school a good chunk of day so now that I get her to me, all day long, I want to get to a little closer :)

What I learned about Bee:

She's amazingly gifted.  She has so many creative ideas !  Like making crowns for her friends from construction papers, to making magic wand, slime goo, garden potion, cutting butterfly (for the electric elephant fan), painting rocks, and making books.  Whenever I come up with an idea she would take it and run with it, make it better.  She even came up with a short skit, where we get dressed up and each had a part to act out.  That's my girl !  I tell her often that I'm so proud of her and she would say matter-of-factly to me "Mom, I am an artist ! ?"

Bee loves to write and draw.  Her pictures are often of me or her daddy, our family or activities we did.  I get a lot of "I love you mommy" cards and pictures and they makes my heart fluttered each time.  I am so happy to see her growing each day.  Bee also take on more responsibilities this year.  She sets the dining table, she helps out in the kitchen, helps out with baby and on many occasions, wiped her sister's bum bum :-D  Bee is still into princesses, Elsa and Cinderella are her favorites.  I hope to take her to Disneyland sometime before she grows out of them.

Bee wrote a short skit for us to act and asked me to make them costumes !

Talk about Bee, I can't leave out Lovebug and Peanut !  Lovebug is still quite the drama queen she is and recently likes to bargain!  She bargains with us over everything from timed out to how many bites of dinner she needs to eat.  Funny thing is she doesn't understand numbers yet so sometime she would say "5 min of times out ok?" When she was only timed out for 3 (1 min. Per year). This one child brings me lots of headaches but also makes me laugh out loud often.

Lovebug is very impatient, highly emotional and very dramatic.  She cares a lot about feeling and operates mainly in the "feel" level.  I find myself checking on her often throughout the day.  She would tell me she's sad, mad, or upset or tell me that I'm rude and that she doesn't love me.  At first I was taken back but one can't expect their kids to love them every minute of day.  When I say no to snacks before dinner, I'm rude and I'm no longer loved !!!  I don't fall for it and firm with my rules.  I love her and that's all that mattered.  

Peanut is learning to eat mushy soft food !  Very messy feeding him but seeing him chomping away is pretty funny and rewarding.  He can sit and crawl now !  Pretty soon he'll be taking his first step.  He likes fruits so whenever he sees me holding a tray of them he would lynch towards it to grab whatever he can.  He can't eat solid fruits so after a few chomps on the apple slice or pear, he would spit up all over him and me :(

Summer will soon come to an end and we will be back to our usual routines.  We play so much every day that hubby is worry that falling back into routine will be hard for Bee.  We shall see !  For now I'm just going to enjoy being with my children.  From dawn to dusk, it's crazy, silly, inspiring, surprising, wonderful, and nuisance being with them !  Then when they sleep I miss all the noise, the complaints, I just miss them so darn so much.  

Everyday at around 5pm I would start cleaning up with the kiddos, all the while my ears are keeping out, awaiting for 2 beautiful words -  "I'm home !"  My husband's happy chirpy tone would echo through our entrance, announcing that that's he's finally home, finally done (temporary) with a challenging day at work.  The girls would run out to the stairs gate, screaming "daddy's home!!!".  I too, screaming inside "HE'S HOME ! He's home ! I'm rescued !".

By habit, C would kiss each of the kids, then me and then sit down to listen to the girls, fighting over each other, talking over each other, telling him of their adventurous day.  They do make their day more exciting that what it looked like to me.  I usually would wait for C to get snug into his seat then I would put little Nolan in his arms and walk away, screaming inside "I'm FReeeeeee".  To me, "I'm home" are words of deliverance !  He's here to rescue me, my hero :-)  He's home to take over our rambunctious crazy hyper energized kids !!!!! I'm off to make dinner but that's a piece of cake.

Both daughters wanted streamers to add to their new (used) bicycles.  They discovered streamers by accident when C took them to the toys store.  They were on for $8, for the plastic kind.  Hubby thought they were not-so-pretty and can't justify the cost.  He told the girls, mommy can make you nicer one and for cheap !  C really knows me :-)  I'm all about saving money !

Today our city had a down pour !  It was nice and pleasant all week and just when the weekend rolled around, gray clouds gathered and brought with them the cold rain.  We stayed in today, danced around all morning and all tried to do headstands. I can't believe I can still do it !  Yay me !  Anyways, after lunch the girls reminded me of our outstanding project.  We all went to Michaels to grab ribbons for the streamers.  I also got a whole bunch of new picture frames for another project I have in mind !!

What you will need to make a set of bicycle streamers:

- 3/8" inch ribbon, any color you like
- 2 safety pin (medium size, mine is 1 inch long) or use PAPER CLIPS if your kid likes to pick on the tassels (if they yank on it the pin might break and poke them) 
- scissor

We picked 5 colors, they were 3/8 inch ribbon, each roll was $0.89.  For each color of ribbon, cut 4 X 18" inch strips.  Cut on angle to avoid fraying.  Each tassel will have a total of 10 ribbons, 2 strands of each color.

Tie each strand of ribbon into the safety pin.  When done, push the big top size of the safety pin or the wider end of the paper clips into the pin hole on the handle of the bike.  There you have it !  Super easy right ?  We made 2 sets for $4.98 ($0.89 X 5 X 1.12 (tax)) !  Not too bad right ?  And we still have ribbons over for other projects.

The rain stopped and this little one is out testing the streamers :-)

Bee didn't want to eat her lunch yesterday.  I told her she should try to finish because we shouldn't waste food.  There are people in the world that has little no food, some are starving and some died.  It's hard to think about that, that with all the food waste we throw out here in North America, they can save someone's life.  I get really sad thinking about it.  Why am I here and they ended up over there ?  Why I get to enjoy living in a warm dry house with food in fridge and pantry while others have no home or food.  I feel so blessed to be here and feel sad over why others can't have just the basic life necessities like food and water.  Then I remember something I read, about how we are the arms and legs of Christ.  We are to reach out and share our blessings with others.  I think with all the imbalance in the world, those who have more and those who have little, those who have enough and those who have none, we, those who are considered the "haves" are to share our "haves" with those who have less than us.  We don't sit in our comfy chair and wait for God to do the "balancing" of the world, He put us here for a reason, to be people who do that.

Right now we are collecting money for local women's shelter but once we are done with this I want us to collect money for a cause that our family all want to support.  Bee always say "Mom, I want to help you and help people.  When I grow up I want to be a great helper!".  What a noble idea.  I really want my kids to learn to care for others, other than just immediate family, but others who need assistance.  I desire and pray for them to be kind, to be compassionate, and to feel a sense of responsibility toward others.  We try to talk to them about it, and model kindness to them, but I think a family project that includes them will speak volumes !  I volunteer lots before the kids and we donate regularly, but we forgot to explain to the kids the "why" of it !  Why do we do what we do !!!  We are called to serve others, just like Jesus did.  We don't live just for ourselves.  I think Bee is old enough to understand now.  We can pick a cause we want to help out together this fall.  It will be a great experience for all of us I am sure. 

The peonies are blooming in our garden !!!  Before they all die away, I thought it's high time I cut some and bring them inside !  they are so lovely to look at while I mind the kids.  While out in the garden with some free time before dinner, I had an idea to set up the tee pee !  I've been wanting to do this for a while now.  I even bought the bamboo sticks but just haven't got the time to get to them !  But today, right at this time, I have time :D  If you want to try this, you will need:

- 6 bamboo sticks, $1.19 from Rona (they came in 8 feet high and we got it cut down to around 6 feet to fit into our car)

- 1 flat bed sheet, I used a queen size for mine but I think a king flat sheet will cover better

- 2 strings, 1 to tie the bamboo sticks together (at least 30" long) and 1 for the sheet 

What I did is I gathered all the sticks at the top, tie the string around the sticks then across and around each sticks !!!  Basically just tie them all over so they don't fall or slide out :-)  Then I took each stick and arrange it on the grass so they form a hexagon shape.  Take the bottom end of each stick and push it into into the ground to keep it in position.  Mine barely dug in but they stayed up and kept the shape ok.  

Next, I gathered up the mid point of the flat sheet, wrapped it around the area where I tied the bamboo sticks and used another strong string to tie around the fabric to keep it together and that's all there is to it !  There's no specific way to tie the bamboo or sheet, just tie which ever way you need to keep them from falling apart :D  We also decorated the top of the tee pee with ivy vines and flowers and some wild climbing plant we found in our garden !!!  That part was really fun for the girls.  They gathered up all the stuff and I lifted each of them up to throw the vine over the bamboo sticks.  The structure set up took about 7 min. and decoration took another 5 min.!  Not so bad, not so bad at all.

The girls had great time running in and out of the tee pee !  Bee found a huge moth in the tee pee and we shooed it away before she can take hold it !  She got quite upset so for a good chunk of time ! she was pouting and kept saying "mothy mothy" :(  She also got annoyed with me asking her to be still for a second (I try to take a family picture (didn't work)).  I don't like to force my kids to do something they don't enjoy (depending on what of course) so if they showed no interest or annoyance then I scrap it.  Taking pic. with her is getting harder nowadays as she rather play than sit in for family picture.  Totally understandable and expected.  Both her and Love doesn't mind me taking pictures of them while they play though.  I always prefer to take spontaneous pictures of the girls over posing them, because it not only capture the real moment but also doesn't interfere with them enjoying whatever it is they are doing.

It was a fun afternoon for me !  I got to set up the tee pee, decorated it, watched the kids play and managed to capture some of it.   I love taking pictures of the kids !  It makes me happy.  But you already know that with all the posts I posted :) I do really enjoy it.  I have no special technique, pro. knowledge or special skills, other than just take random shots, click click click, and then I surprise myself with whatever I captured :-)  

Here are more pictures without the Adobe action filter (the name is called Afternoon for those who wants to know):

She lost her first tooth so whenever she holds something that can fit that gap, she puts it there :-)

This is what life is for me at the moment !  Constantly wiping milk mustaches and a baby that licks anything that is near.  

I love this picture !  It's captured them perfectly !  one is all cool in the don't-care kind of way while the other does everything over the top and passionately !

Age 3 is a difficult frustrating age.  I noticed Love can say a lot of things, the sentence makes sense but many of time, it's out of context.  She has an older sister whom she learned a lot of words and phrases from, but the comprehension isn't totally there yet.  She gets stressed and frustrated often because she can't fully describe what she is feeling. It doesn't help that sometimes what she's saying doesn't match up with what she's feeling/experiencing.  I have to remind C and Bee to be patience with her, give her lots of time to express herself, watch for clues and ask open ended questions, to help us figure out what's really happening.

Yesterday at Strong Start, we had a community staff stopped by to share with us some tips on parenting.  One tip she shared (re. bad behavior like hitting), is that as parents we should stay curious with our children,   I thought about it, the word "curious" is very fitting.  It means to explore, to ask questions, to want to know, to be inquisitive.  To get to know our kids and to find out what causes the outburst or tantrum, what I have learned with Love is to take time to observe her.  (Bee wasn't so complicated :) we cruise through 3, 4 & 5 with her).  I also ask her short open ended questions.  Open ended questions allow the kids do most of the answering and give us more info. without us imposing our thoughts on them.  Like asking Love "You're upset.  Tell mommy what makes you go Grrrr !!!"(she does that when she's mad) and I always get something out of her.  For the older one, instead of asking "How's school ?" (something I used to ask and it's so general), I now ask something like "Tell me about the lunch time games you played today" and she would tell me about it and always with other tidbits, like the boy who kissed her cheek.

Temper tantrum for Love doesn't just happen for no reason.  I think when kids misbehave, that behavior is an expression or outcome of an unmet need or an undesirable feeling.  I'm no expert here, just an observation from what I see of my kids.  I also learnt that at 3, kids can only deal with one emotion at a time.  When Love frustrated or upset, she can only deal with that present emotion.  Nothing else mattered to her at that moment.  She needs us to help her to understand that it's OK to feel the way she does, however if she hit or yell or scream, that is not ok and we need to help her learn to express her feeling using worded instead of acting up.

The more I observe and gain more insight into Love's behaviour, I find I can easily pick up when she's in distress, which allow me to calmly ask her how I can help.  I usually say to her "Mommy see you are upset (or frustrated, or angry, or sad, or scare) ?  What can mommy do to help ? " and if she is really upset, she would hit the wall or table and scream louder and I would tell her "Can you talk to me without screaming ?  When you scream I don't understand you so I can't help (show her my sad face) !  Here, tell it to me, in my ear".  I would then lean my ear into her and she would mumble to me the reason for her anger.  Then whatever it is that she's telling me, I would ask her "What should we do ?", she would respond back (more calm, no more yelling) and I would offer, "Do you want mommy to help ?".  I noticed that the more I engage with her, using short questions or comments that she can understand, she can convey her feeling back to me a little better and clearer.  This has been working really well for us.

With Love I always always have to remind myself that she's only 3 :-)  She's so vocal so it's easy to forget sometime, but she's only 3.  She doesn't really have the same comprehension level as her sister and no where near us parents.  Knowing that she can only deal with her present emotion has really helped us in helping her.  Knowing her limit helps me to be more discerning.  I can't completely get rid of tantrum, it's a part of growing and developing for Love.  But I can reduce it by helping her to recognize what she is feeling and helping her with the words to describe it.  I noticed the change in her and me.  I feel I'm more aware of her, more in tune, and can diffuse an outburst pretty fast.  It helps that she trusts me in explaining how she feels.  This makes for faster resolution !!!

I think if we pay attention to our kids, watch them, and listen to them, listen with our ears and eyes, we will have some leading clues on what generally makes them upset or what usually instigate the outburst.  I feel prevention is better than dealing with it and trying to correct them after.  It does take a lot of effort on our part to prevent outburst and to diffuse temper tantrum before it gets out of hand, but we're OK with it.  I rather put in the effort and time than dealing with a kid throwing a full tantrum.  Once they past a certain threshold, it's harder to calm them down and by then everyone is frustrated and unhappy, me included.  Perhaps in a way, it's my lazy approach :D

The more Love can label and communicate how she feels the less frustrated she will be = less opportunity of a melt down.  How good she is with communicating her feeling is dependent on us parents to help her :)