The Best of Vancouver Island - Summer 2013

What an awesome time we had in Nanaimo!  When we arrived it was actually really cool and even a few days of rain here and there, but there was so much to see and do, particularly in terms of nature.  It was so nice to have space for the kids, and Nassim and co. have a beautiful home and lots of garden space that allowed for the kids to really play and have such a good time.    In our first few days before Shirin and Sonja arrived, we managed a trip to see the beautiful Cathedral Grove cedar forest with its ancient trees, we went to a very cute dairy farm with animals for the kids to check out, and delicious cheeses to try, we went to an indoor pool for a swim during a rainy morning (and it was so well equiped for the kids including a little floating fish for Eowyn and Ava to sit in, and life vests for the others and such a fantastic kid area), we went for a little walk at Westwood lake, and we managed to find me a pair of closed shoes!  We also had a girls movie night where Nass and I went out with Taban and Elham and her sister-in-law.  I hadn't been to the movies in 3 years!

Liam and Ava on the fire place

Kids' play - Eowyn, Lua, Liam, Leo, Solace and Ava

But aside from all the excursions (and there were more once Sonja and Shirin arrived), we had such a nice time at the house too.  The kids were quite a crew and they loved being out back and riding bikes together.  Liam hadn't tried to use a pedal bike before, but he picked up riding with training wheels in a matter of hours.  Soon his was zipping around like a pro!  They also spent time reading and had crazy baths altogether.

Eoywn sporting her California T-shirt from Sonja

All 5 in a bath - good thing it's a big one!

Lua and Liam riding his trunki around together

Our first day exploring their neighborhood

lunch with the big kids!

Bike riding on the back patio

A walk at Westwood lake

Westwood lake walk

Westwood Lake

Nassim's giant car that could amazingly transport all of us!

Our chilly but beautiful outing to Cathedral Grove

Balancing on one of the fallen cedar trees

Roots of a fallen cedar - Leo, me and Eowyn

Skipping stones and playing by the stream

Drum playing and kids dancing - a visit to Elham and Agazzi's 

The 5 kiddos reading together in Liam and Eowyn's room (aka the study!)

More reading together

And some reading alone

cheeky chimps on the fire place

Even with two more people in the house it still felt like we had enough space not to go too crazy.  It was especially lovely for the 4 of us to be together again after 2 years, and in those few days we had the chance to really catch up with each other and enjoy ourselves together.  We picked one of the cooler days to drive down to Victoria and see the city, and on the way back have an early dinner at Aunt Jane's.  The four of us got to drive together in Erfan's car, and the guys took the kids in the van - It was a lovely treat for us to have that uninterrupted space to talk to each other.  The drive itself was lovely as we got to see a bit more of the island, and we all were totally charmed by Victoria's waterfront area.  We had a lovely lunch at a farm to table restaurant, and some ridiculously thick milkshakes before our drive up to Duncan to visit with the Richmonds.  It was fun to also get to see Laika after so many years.  

4 reunited in a golf!

Lunch in Victoria at a really sweet spot

The lot of us - it's hard to even count how many we are!

Exploring a bit in Victoria (note the milkshake in my hand!)

The last 4 days together were just gorgeous weather-wise.  We had full on sunshine and heat, and it was perfect weather to go to the beach and do some other outdoors stuff.  We had a lovely morning exploring Rathtrevor beach where the kids checked out mini crabs and splashed in the low tide.  We had a beach picnic and then some of us headed back for nap time.  

Digging for crabs!

Tide slowly coming in

Four sisters and a baby (Ava)

Picnic in the background, crab finding in the fore

The lifestyle on the island, at least among the few people we spent time with, seems so healthy and a lot like here.  We were happy to just be outside a lot and the kids loved hanging out with all sorts of other kids and playing.  Taban and Michael had a slip and slide that they brought over to Nass's as well as a funny sprinkler thing, so the kids had a blast playing in the water as we got food ready and had a lovely BBQ.  Laika and her husband and kids also joined us so we had a very merry crew.  

Sprinkler fun with the kids

Slip and slide madness!

Gorgeous sky and sonja's silhouette!

Laika, 4 sisters, and Taban (oh and of course Ava!)

Laika and co, Sisters and many many kids!

Somewhere in the last few days we managed to take a trip to Newcastle Island with Taban and Michael and their kids.  They have kayaks so we all had a chance to kayak around a bit, which was lovely, and also to have a picnic and hang out.  It was a another perfect weather day, just too bad Lua got too much sun and was not well later that evening.

It felt like we did so much in just a few days.  On one of the last afternoons we had all together, we took another little walk this time closer to Nass and co's house.  We picked many salmon berries and enjoyed them along the way!

Walk in the woods and berry picking

Heading back to get dinner going

Leo reading to Eowyn while she mucks around and dances on the couch

Loving the time together

Cherry eating cousins

This is what bath into bedtime looked like each night!

And this was breakfast!

Nass and me with the tinies

Our last evening together was spend mucking around outside promoting Son and Sham's gym - CrossFit Brit.  There were many more poses, but this one takes the cake!