one last time

we decided to take one last little vacation to the island. just think, hot weather, our little family sitting nicely on the beach towel, exploring the tide pools, jumping the waves, building sandcastles, enjoying picnic lunches, time spent together, common i know that you can imagine it too, looks nice right, romantic, beautiful, your heart is set and a smile is on your face. you have been waiting for this for some time now and can hardly contain your breath. you feel a bit of, well, something, maybe a bacterial infection in your breast coming on, but that won't stop you, no sir you are going to have that quality time with your family and no one has to know about your little bit of pain. you are packing the girls belongings, making sure to include their sunhats and sunscreen, when your husband comes home to tell you that he has been starting to plan a little bit for your vacation. your heart races a little and is filled with excited. he didn't need to but he has taken a great deal of interest in what you will be doing and has even planned something. something for the family to do on your family trip. maybe a trip to tofino to surf. maybe a day to coombs for ice cream. maybe he has planned for friends to meet you at the beach with a picnic so you can spend the day together with them...oh the anticipation of his planning...yippee. "we are going to take the ferry" (yes you think, to where to where) "across to victoria and" (and, maybe walk along the breakwater, see the inner harbour, spend time kissing under a street light, your heart is pounding) "and pick up some fenders for the car i found on craigslist", (craigslist?, you are beginning to hate that site as it steals most of your wonderful husbands time, but you are certain that he has more planned than just that.) and then? you are sure he has more to say. but sadly, no, his plans for your family vacation are to pick up fenders in victoria (mind you they are a good deal), "and then you can do whatever you want" he says. wow, this is going to be one great family trip, you can already feel it in the air! so, with fenders picked up, you head up island where you spend one day at the beach. oh yes you now remember, you have kids, a two year old and one 10 months old. sitting on that beach blanket - that's not going to happen. exploring the tide pools - the water was all the way in, so none to be found, not sure they would have been fun anyway as the company you are keeping is grumpy and crying. building sandcastles - still grumpy and crying. enjoying picnic lunches - well maybe everyone else is enjoying sitting in the sunshine, you however are trying to man handle a two year old, trying to keep her calm and eating so no one knows just how into everything she is, and the ten month old is spitting and flinging food everywhere, but no matter, you will clean her up in just one minute. and sure, i can pass you more food, let me get that for you, oh and you too! my romantic ideas were falling apart in front of me. this is not what i had planned. and that little infection, definitely getting worse, you are now sick to your stomach in pain, but you have a smile on your face (you think). we got one day of beach time in before scott was flat out on the couch with some ravenous kind of flu. so now my family time is reduced to me and girls, oh right, just like every day. no matter, lets make the most of it. we set out one day for the mall, hit up save-on and got sophie a pair of sweet little sunglasses and then sat at a table at starbucks and shared an ice tea and scone. from there we went into winners and with a cart nearly full of fun clothes, sophie exclaimed to the whole store that she needed to go potty. so we leave our cart and head off to the food court for some potty time. once done, we go back and after trying on a few items, sophie expresses her need to use the potty again. by now, my armpits are a little sweaty, my hair a little frizzy, penny is getting hungry, my patience running a little low. so i take it all off, put it back in the cart and look at sophie who is standing with a look that says it all...i am too late. off to the potty we go again, this time with a little something extra in our panties. i get her cleaned up and leave our panties behind in the garbage...and left the mall altogether. and this was just the beginning of the day! scott tried to convince me he was well enough to go to the river the day we were leaving, but i knew better. he came anyway and it ended up be the romantic time i was looking for (beside the nagging pain of a bacterial infection working its way out of my bosom), all two hours of it! our trip through pictures...the few moments there were no tears

our one day at the beach with grandma and my new friend sarah

the girls, what can i say, one just has to love them grandmas flowers

sprinkler fun with auntie tiana and uncle thayne the first night in parksville, scott and i went on a walk along the beach after we put the girls to bed, i forgot to bring my camera but my thought was that we would go again the next night...but he got sick, so i went with kurok and took some pictures of the beautiful sunset...wishing he was with me.

these next pictures are my favorite. sophie had figured out how to turn the tap on and pull the trigger on the sprayer. we had heard her giggling and knew she was outside but had no idea what she was up to. we crept to the window to find that she had kurok cornered in the stairs and was sneaking up to spray him. her face was priceless. so much concentration to get the hose to work, but it was all worth it when she got him.

so, this was our last vacation of the summer. not sure when we will be brave enough to take another one, i will be sure to let you know.