Swiss Days and Snowbird Oktoberfest

On Saturday over Labor day weekend we went up to Swiss Days in Midway.  We enjoyed some pie with a slab of ice cream and some fry bread.  We walked around the booths and enjoyed the entertainment and beautiful weather.  

On Monday we went up to Snowbird's Oktoberfest.  We ate some traditional German food and then took the tram up to hear the alpine horns being played.  It was a beautiful view and a fun day with the kids.

Hazel's First Day of Kindergarten

 Hazel started school in August at the school that I used to teach at before I had kids.  In fact I had her on the last day of school while I was teaching.  Unfortunately, a couple days before school started, Hazel fell off her bunk bed and her teeth cut her bottom lip.  Her whole right side of her face was swollen and her chin had a bump on it.  The doctor said to only eat soft foods for a week.  She could barely smile for these photos.  

On the first day of school I sent Hazel with some applesauce as her snack because the school snack was pretzels and crackers, which she couldn't eat.  She spilled the applesauce all over her backpack, so the next day I sent her with a banana.  I got a call later in the day from the school to see if I could come over and hep calm Hazel down.  I guess some kid in the class was allergic to bananas (who is allergic to bananas?) and the teacher asked Hazel to go out into the hall to eat her snack.  Hazel thought she was in trouble and started crying and the teacher couldn't calm her down.  By the time I got to the school she was fine.  The teacher apologized and said she shouldn't have sent her outside.

We haven't had any other incidents like that, and Hazel loves school and her teacher.  She has made lots of friends.  

This is Hazel a few weeks later on school picture day without a swollen face.

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.