Our trip to Vancouver.

It has been a while since we visited with our old friends Tom & Denise in Vancouver. The last time we were there was when Bella was just a very tiny 4 months old. A lot has changed since then. 3 more kids, to be exact. We figured we were overdue for a visit, so we found time to fit in a lovely 3 day visit to Vancouver with some of the most hospitable people we know. A fun time was had by all!

Bella, saying goodbye to Vancouver Island.

I took a similar photo with Bella on the top deck of her very first fairy ride when she was just 4 mos old. Even though I held her tight, she was pretty scared this time around. I can't blame her, it was very windy, afterall. So windy, in fact, that our empty stroller was almost blown off the deck, as was my camera. (Baby Alex was in my arms, have no fear.) Needless to say, I wasn't able to get a similar photo of Alex and I.

Getting acquainted: Ysabella, along with beautiful, sweet Mia, 23 mos old, and handsome Luca, almost 4 years old.

Dinner time! Making pizza!

Breakfast time!

Bella, using a knife all by herself for the first time. (Yes, she managed to keep all of her fingers!)

Bed-head, pyjamas and breakfast shakes. Perfection.

At the (very, very packed) Vancouver Aquarium.

On a beach in West Vancouver. Alex tried to eat sand. Again.

Bella spent the entire time collecting sea shells. She filled her bucket with the most special ones she could find. We kept a few of them and I brought them home. However, once home, after taking one whiff of them, she decided they were disgusting. (I offered to wash them, she wanted nothing to do with it.)

Friends X 20 years. That's almost half my life....almost.

Sushi feast! Our families do NOT see enough of each other. :(
(Cheers!)

After returning back to Vancouver Island we had an almost 2 hour drive from the ferry terminal in Nanaimo back down the Island to Victoria. Alex was a bit cranky and Bella, as she so often is, was a thoughtful big sister and reached over so that he could hold her hand. She often makes him laugh to get him to stop crying. Whatever she does, it always works. He adores her. This is one of my all-time favourite photographs. Am I crazy to hope that it will always be like this???

It wasn't long before Bella fell asleep. You know they had fun when they look like this:

A sincere thank you, my dear friends. Let's try not to make it another 4 years before we see each other again! xo