Victoria

We had such a good time on our trip even doing something as simple as taking the ferry ride over to Vancouver Island.  We've never taken our car on a ferry, so it was pretty exciting for us all.  When we arrived on Vancouver Island, we headed down to Victoria to the Butchart Gardens.  They were gorgeous!  We thought we would be rained on, but we had great weather.  We stayed into the evening where they lit up the gardens and had live music and dancing.  I think the kids favorite part was the dancing in the garden.  Hattie still talks about it today.

The next day we went downtown and walked around and ate down at Fisherman's Wharf before heading back to the ferry and making our way back home.

 The flowers were so big, I had to have Brendan's hand in the picture so you can get an idea of size.

 This is where we stayed in Victoria.  We used airbnb to book it.  It was a horse ranch, and we stayed in the in-law apartment on the right.

Parliament Building downtown.

 We had the best hot cocoa at some cafe.  So chocolatey and they made the whipped cream fresh in front of us.

 Down at Fisherman's Wharf we ate some fish and chips and walked around the float home village where people live on the water.  

Water taxi coming in.

Vancouver

After the wedding weekend in Seattle, we headed up to Vancouver, British Columbia.  We loved the city!  Christopher and Brianna recommended renting bikes and riding around Stanley Park, and we loved it!  We stopped and had our picnic lunch by the beach along the way.  It was beautiful!   Later we went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park in North Vancouver.  It was so cool to walk around in the treetops, and the kids loved it too.  

Seattle

Brendan and I went to Seattle 8 years ago when we were dating to visit his sister.  This was our first time back, and we loved it.  The weather was perfect, and we had a good time with all of my family being in town.  We made a stop at Pike Place Market.  Such a fun place, but more work this time around with kids, even with all of our helpers.  I was bummed I left my big camera in the hotel, so these are iphone pics.

I LOVE all of the beautiful flowers at the market, and they are such a deal.  I was feeling left out not having a bouquet in my hands, so Brendan bought me some even though I really had no place to put them while traveling.

 The produce is so colorful!

 We went to Molly Moon's for ice cream, and it was AMAZING!  Some of the delicious flavors I had were blueberry lemon custard (my favorite), strawberry balsamic, and salted caramel.

We went to Ella Bailey park, and it had such a great view of the water and city.  It was also in a cute neighborhood.