Summer Lovin’ Part 1: June

Henry on the beach

Looking for pinecones and rocks to throw for Ada

The month of June was mostly spent at home, patiently waiting for the lake to warm up, watching the garden grow and enjoying each day as it stretched a little longer. Every morning, I would get up at dawn and sip my coffee in the relative quiet of my kid-free hour before the chaos of the day ensued. With the breast pump droning on, I actually cherished this time as it was the only space in my day where I was alone to write in my journal, answer emails or just enjoy the light unfolding over the lake. Henry would usually stir by 6:30am, calling out, “Helloooooo! Mama?! Hi! Mamaaaaa!!!!! All done fleeeeeeece!”. He he would chat to himself, jump around in his crib, bang his feet against the wall and generally goof about until I finally felt fortified enough with coffee to go and get him 🙂

Since Alice has been sleeping so solidly until 9am, Henry and I have had our mornings together back. I love the first few hours of the day, just Henry and I. We often read or play in his room while I drink my coffee then eat breakfast together before Blake, and eventually Alice get up. Often during the day, Henry is out and about with Blake biking, running around, etc., so our mornings are precious quality time together.

Journaling with my coffee while Henry colours.

Reading with ‘White Bike’, Henry’s toy bike that he is inseparable with.

Our days have been filled with bike rides, sunny afternoons on the beach and mostly just hanging around the house playing. We are so lucky to have the beach which provides endless entertainment and reprieve on really hot days. We often don’t go very far as it’s so much work to load everyone in the car, and why travel when you live in paradise!!

Terrace, B.C.

Our one big trip at the end of June was to… you guessed it – B.C.! Where else!? We seem to spend most of our vacation time out West. This trip was to check out a town in Northern B.C. called Terrace as a potential future home for us. We spent a week there checking out the community, meeting others in the medical profession and generally sussing the place out. It was a great vacation and we came away from Terrace with a really positive feel for the community. We won’t be moving tomorrow, but if Blake and I want to stay married, I had better get him closer to some mountains and Terrace is a pretty fantastic fit for me and my career, not to mention a great place to the kids to continue to enjoy their outdoor hobbies (i.e. Henry’s obsession for skiing and biking).

Waiting in the Sioux Lookout airport with Johnny. We flew from Sioux Lookout to Winnipeg, Winnipeg to Vancouver, stayed overnight in Vancouver, then flew to Terrace the next day.

On the Bearskin flight

Alice on the Bearskin flight which had a stop-over in Red Lake.

Henry and Blake, and ‘White Bike’. Henry’s bike was the only toy that he had for almost two weeks. He never let go of it and never got bored of playing with it! He spent many hours on planes and on car rides doing jumps with the bike, inspecting the wheels, cranking the petals, etc. The kid is obsessed with biking!

Henry riding in style in the Calgary airport on our layover to Vancouver.

In the Vancouver airport waiting to fly to Terrace.

Going through Security at the airport. Traveling with the kids actually went really well. Alice mostly slept on all of the flights. while Henry was entertained on Blake’s lap by watching biking videos, eating Cheerios, running up and down the aisle, and watching out the window. The worst part of the whole journey was our overnight in Vancouver. We had a horrendous night trying to get both the kids to sleep after a late bedtime and a two-hour time change. Henry actually ended up sleeping with Blake and I, which we had never done before. He was so wired and was ready to start the day at 2am. Ugh! After much cajoling, he finally fell asleep between us but was all over the place in the bed! Needless to say, we didn’t get much sleep and after FINALLY getting both of them to sleep, I had to wake them up in the early morning to get ready to board our flight to Terrace! 😦

The lodge where Northern Health put us up for the week! It had a fantastic fine dining restaurant on the main floor so we were able to go down and enjoy a lovely meal after the kids were in bed while ‘Skyping’ with them on our phones 🙂

Our first day, we drove up the Nass Valley in search for the Lava Fields that were recommended as a destination. Unfortunately, we didn’t find them, but we did stop in this random tiny ‘town’ called Rosswood, where they happened to be having a pancake breakfast our of their log-cabin community centre! A win!

Eating pancakes

Saturday market in Terrace was a hit!

Henry going for a horse-drawn carriage ride. Henry declined to take his helmet off, obviously 🙂

Alice and I taking a rest in the shade at the park while Blake and Henry biked around.

Getting ready to go for a swim at Lakelse Lake.

Beautiful view!

Alice and I relaxing while the boys swim.

Taking a drive up to the local ski hill to check things out. Note the constant wearing of the helmet…!

At Shames Mountain – a far cry from the Dryden ski hill! It’s a community owned co-op which is about 30km out of town.

At Shames Mountain.

Henry biking around the ski hill’s parking lot.

Blake and Henry checking out the ski lift. Blake was pretty excited to see the skiing possibilities here. Apparently, there is a lot of amazing backcountry skiing that can be accessed from Shames.

The beautiful Skeena River runs right through Terrace. To Blake’s excitement, you can jump in a boat or fish right from shore in town. It’s pretty amazing to be able to catch fresh salmon without going out of town at all!

Fishing on the Skeena on a Saturday morning.

Henry checking out the fishermen/women.

Flower child 🙂

With Dad-Dad.

On one of our first days in Terrace, we went to the local bike shop to check things out. Henry immediately jumped on a run bike and started zooming about the store. The guys in the shop were so impressed that they lent us a brand-new strider bike for the whole week! It was so so generous of them and it made our week so much easier. Henry biked every single day and we never had to use our stroller as Henry preferred to bike. We also took Henry to Terrace’s community bike park. We weren’t sure how it would go since at home,  he only bikes on very gentle slopes.  Of course, he hopped on his bike and without hesitation, he started zooming about.  We were shocked at how well he did!

Blake and I were also fortunate to be able to go on an afternoon mountain bike ride just the two of us. One of the local doctor’s wives found awesome mountain bikes that we could borrow, lent us her car AND babysat both of our kids so that we could get out and enjoy the trails. We hadn’t gone biking in years together and it was so much fun. A definite highlight. The trails were beautiful and reminded us how much we missed mountain biking!

Before visiting Terrace, I had connected with another young Mom who was a family doc in town. She and her husband were lovely and had us over for dinner and took us on a family hike up Terrace Mountain. I wish I had taken a picture of all of us, as we were all carrying a baby/toddler!

At the top! It was a sweaty climb!

Snack time

Henry loves taking selfies 🙂

Having a rest in the shade at the lookout.

Henry hydrating before the hike down.

At the lodge, in the morning. Henry playing with his helicopter and my breast pump haha

Alice ‘milk drunk’. It never gets old!

Alice slept in the little tent near our bed, while Henry had his own room. It was an awesome apartment at the Lodge with full laundry and a massive kitchen. It was way more comfortable than an average hotel room that I had been expecting.

There was no tub, but we found this little one at a garage sale and put it in the shower which Henry loved!

On a rainy day trip to Prince Rupert. It was beautiful and sunny when we left Terrace but POURING on our arrival to Prince Rupert. We stopped at this little cafe in Cow Bay to grab coffee and feed Alice. It was awesome and had a little fenced in play area for kids. We met this family who was making the move from Juneau, Alaska to Washington, D.C. While we visited over coffee, we noticed a sign above a shelf that said, ‘Gum boots for rent. $5’. On the shelf were a few pairs of kids rainboots. ‘Awesome!’, we thought as we had forgotten Henry’s rain gear and his feet were soaked. After coffee, we grabbed a pair of hot pink boots from the shelf and popped them on Henrys’ feet. Then Blake proceeded to give the barista $5 for the rental. She looked at us like we were crazy! She finally realized what we were talking about and said that the boots were just a joke for decoration! No one had EVER actually tried to rent them in many, many years. Haha She told us just to borrow them, but to make sure to check them for spiders first 🙂 So away we went with Henry sporting his pink boots!

Checking out the boats

Watching the boats at the harbour

Family selfie! Poor Alice didn’t make it in!

At the museum of Northern British Columbia. Henry was so well behaved as we took our time to walk through and look at the exhibits. We had told him not to touch the displays which he took VERY seriously. There was a bus tour group of elderly folks at the museum at the same time as us and so Henry took it upon himself to remind all of the Seniors, multiple times over to ‘NO TOUCH’ as they were enjoying the exhibits! Hahaha, thankfully they thought it was cute 🙂

Alice and I enjoying the view of the harbour while Henry and Blake ran around the deck watching the huge ships come in.

Lunch at an amazing Japanese sushi restaurant. We also toured around the little shops and checked out the local brewery. Prince Rupert was surprisingly a really nice town! We had only ever driven through while catching the ferry out to Haida Gwaii. We will definitely be back and Blake is already talking about buying a big sailboat to explore the Coast.

After our stay in Terrace, we headed over to Vancouver island and west to Tofino for our dear friends’ Cat and Caleb’s wedding. We stayed in Tofino for four days in a beautiful condo right next to the wedding venue. It was a perfect location right on the harbour where Henry could watch the float planes take off and land, see the fishing boats come in and generally watch the non-stop action all from the window. We also spent lots of time at the beach where Henry loved to run about and play in the sand. The wedding also took place on the beach. Henry was a ‘flower child’ who basically threw most of his petals at Blake and dumped the rest out! The ceremony was beautiful and was followed by a great party with all of our friends. I had arranged for a babysitter to come be with Henry and Alice at our condo so that Blake and I could get out and enjoy a carefree night to ourselves. It was great!

Tofino

Flying out of Terrace back to Vancouver where we rented a car, then took the ferry over to Nanaimo. We spent a night in Nanimo with friends (Julia and Travis) who cooked us an amazing salmon dinner!

Haha Henry

Having a cuddle on the plane.

The play area on the ferry over to Nanaimo.

Phew! After a long car ride to Tofino (the kids were great all the way!), we stopped off first at a pub for a beer 🙂

Our amazing condo in Tofino.

The view from our deck.

The view from the upstairs loft bedroom. The grass-topped building in front was where the wedding reception was held, so it was perfect. I was thankful to be so close in case I had to run back and forth during the reception. Fortunately, both kids went down at their usual bedtime without any trouble and no one woke up so I enjoyed a whole night with Blake while the babysitter stayed with the kids.

Upstairs bedroom – the loft bedroom had a huge shower which was the size of a small room. We put Alice’s little tent in there an it was a perfect place for her to sleep 🙂

Checking out the beach.

Out for a walk with Megan

Exploring Long Beach

At Cat and Caleb’s beach wedding

Henry as a ‘flower child’ – a role which he took very seriously! Ha!

The Sioux Lookout crew in Tofino!

Alice all dressed up for the reception 🙂

Post-wedding drink at our condo before the reception.

At the reception! Hahah

The gorgeous view from the reception venue

Megan, Alice and Anne

The oyster bar

A perfect night for a party!

Love these ladies 🙂

The view from our condo the next morning

Post-wedding hangout on the beach the next day.

On the ferry, leaving Tofino and heading back to Vancouver.

We stayed overnight in Vancouver again, then woke up early to fly from Vancouver to Winnipeg, then onto Sioux Lookout. We realized that the best way to keep the kids safely contained at the airport was to leave them in their car seats until the last possible moment!

Snoozing at the airport

Finding our gate…

In Winnipeg – almost home!

Bye BC! Until next time!