Vacation Day Three: The Craigdarroch Castle, Fort Rodd Hill national historic site, Fisgard Lighthouse, & Wal-Mart!

We have a kitchenette in our room, but because we were so busy on our first day in Victoria, we didn’t get a chance to go to the grocery store. So, we headed out to have breakfast, hoping to find a place that we couldn’t go to in the states. We ended up at the White Spot. Which, sounds dirty, but it is not. It is apparently, like an upscale Denney’s here.

The wall of a building next door to where we had breakfast.

After a nice breakfast, we headed off to the Craigdarroch Castle. In all our collective trips to Victoria (something like 6 between Bill and I), we had never been to this landmark. It was great! The girls and I (ok, mostly me), enjoyed walking around and looking at the beautiful architecture and the furnishings from the late 19^th century. The family who built the home (the Dunsmuirs) only lived in the house from 1890 to 1908. Since then, the “castle” has been used as a university, a music conservatory and a hospital. At the end of our self-guided tour, we got to watch a play (complete with what seemed like random puppets) that was an adaptation of “Christmas in Connecticut) and had sing-a-longs for the audience. It was quite an adventure.

Abby's picture of her family. I will definitely post more of her pictures when we get home. Unfortunately, the connection here makes it really slow to upload the pictures, so it would take too long to do entries of all of her pictures.


Another photo done by Abby.

The sitting room.


Libby so wanted to go on the other side of the velvet ropes!





Abby pointing out when Libby put a hand over the barrier.

The billiard table.


Breakfast room.

After lunch at a Tim Horton’s (complete with a 20 pack of Timbits!), we headed to Fort Rodd Hill national historic site and Fisgard Lighthouse. It poured down rain our whole visit, but it was fun none-the-less. We walked through the battery (where Libby suicidally close to the edge in a way that only small children with no concept of self-preservation are known to do) and then up to the lighthouse, where Abby played checkers with Bill and then me (we both had a terrible time remembering how to play!). The lighthouse keeper was very nice (and potentially lonely, as he may not get a lot of visitors on a rainy December day) and had some very interesting things to tell about the lighthouse and lighthouses in general in Canada and the US. On the way back to the car, we got to see a mama and a baby deer up close. It was very cool.

The new raincoat I got from my parents for Christmas got quite a work out.



Checkers.




My Little Angel! Hehehe.





Mama and Baby Deer.

Unfortunately, during the minor hike, the sole on one of Abby’s boots separated and her foot got drenched. We decided that she needed new shoes (I had packed a pair of tennis shoes in addition to her boots, but fashion sense…hers, not mine…dictated that you can’t wear pink converse with everything. So, after attempts to find two different Payless Shoe Sources indicated on our GPS, we gave up and stopped at a Wal-Mart Supercentre (the spelling is not a typo!). Which, is just as crazy and white-trashy (I think I just coined a word) here as in the states. On the upside, Abby got two new pairs of shoes. Libby got one (she didn’t want to be left out!), and I got to pick up a few grocery staples all in one stop.

Bill and Abby got bored waiting in the car while Libby and I finished up grocery shopping, so they started playing with the camera.


Isn't she cute?!


Parking underneath the store.

Self-portrait of Bill.

Dinner! We headed back to the hotel, where the girls and I had Kraft Dinner (Kraft Macaroni and Cheese at home) for dinner and Bill had leftover pizza. The kids and Bill swam while I made dinner, then we all swam after dinner and turned in way too late after a night of watching TV and relaxing in the room. We have more plans for tomorrow, but don’t even have an alarm set! I so love vacations.

Vacation Day Two: The Ferry, Miniature World, & The Bug Zoo!

After a continental breakfast at the hotel, we headed for the first ferry to Victoria! Libby was totally freaked out about getting on the boat and started crying that she wanted to go home while we waited in line to drive onto the ferry. Luckily, our trip on the MV Coho was very nice. It was a little rocky in the beginning, but turned into a very pretty trip as the sun came up over the water. We got some great pictures of Abby and Libby playing on the Ferry and by the end, Libby didn’t want to get off the boat. Three year-olds (at least ours) are very contrary.

Libby and her baby out on deck.



My big beautiful girl!




My little beautiful girl!






Walking to Miniature World when we got into Victoria. Abby got a new camera from Santa and she took this picture! We'll post some more of her pictures later. She's going to be a great photographer.

Smiling for Sis, who took this picture, too.

Abby's picture of Daddy.

After getting off the Ferry, we tried to get into our hotel, but our room wasn’t quite ready yet, so we parked the car in the hotel parking garage and headed off to our first attraction…Miniature World! Miniature world is definitely something you should see at least once on a trip to Victoria, even though Bill swears it hasn’t been updated since he was a kid. The girls were very interested in pushing all the buttons, which made lights come on, propellers spin, trains chug along, and a sawmill to start (Well, a video about the working miniature sawmill to start. They’re not allowed to run the sawmill anymore due to fire codes.) There was a doll house with working plumbing (hot and cold water!) and several replicas of WWII cities devastated by the war. It was a fun experience.

After Miniature World, we stopped at the Noodle Box for lunch and then off to The Bug Zoo. The Bug Zoo was awesome and I recommend it for anyone with little kids. It wasn’t very big, but it was just big enough and interesting enough to keep the girls’ attention (and ours for that matter!) the whole way through. We took a guided tour from a very knowledgeable guide who had a lot to say and was great at getting the kids (and me!) to pet and hold the insects. All in all, it was a great time. By the time we finished with the Bug Zoo, the hotel had called to say that our room was ready. So, we headed over there, unloaded everything, and took advantage of the indoor pool (which was the only prerequisite that the girls and I had for a hotel). Then, we ordered pizza and watched TV, heading to bed early, because we were all tired after our busy day.

More to come!