Oh BC!! How I've Missed You!

Well. Let me just say that you have to have at least 2 1/2 hours to look through all these pictures. I'm sorry. Guess that's what happens when I don't blog for a month and a half :D I apologize for the lack of text but come on, it's gigantic with mainly just pictures ;)

Our trip out was awesome. The girls were perfect. It was a direct flight from Toronto to Vancouver so it was just about 5 hours. Everyone did this:

While I did this:

Modern Family episodes in flight? Oh hell yes! Let me just say I enjoyed my "alone" time!

Kyle's parents came and picked us up from the airport and we went and stayed with Opa (Kyle's grandpa) in Langley for a couple nights.

There were a lot of (happy) tears this trip on my part. This may have been the first of them:

No second at least...when we got to the airport and saw Kyle's parents would have been number one ;)

Turns out Opa doesn't have enough to keep a 3 year old occupied. You can only colour, craft and read so much apparently:

So Grandma bought her a Mr. Potato Head Play Doh set. HUGE hit.

This was her creation. I'm pretty sure I had nightmares about this for a few days after. Mine's in the back round (yes I'm incredibly proud of it)

Kyle's cousin Marcus and his daughter came by for a visit:

Then it was off to Prince George!!! An 800 km trip. Luckily Sienna did this for most of it:

Because Auntie Courtney and Uncle Mike's truck (which Kyle's parents borrowed to haul all 6 of us back comfortably) came equipped with:

The first day there we did a lot of visiting and relaxing.

And tree decorating! Courtney dropped off my nephew Dalton and he and Sienna had a ball. It was like they hadn't had a year and half since they last saw each other. Tears episode number 3? Ha.

Another night when Dalton stayed over

Christmas Eve gingerbread men. Or as Sienna called them "gingers." "Look at all these gingers!" Kyle didn't know whether to laugh or be offended.

Putting out the reindeer food from Sienna's preschool Christmas Eve.

You can see the glitter flying in the air in this one. Tears moment number 4? 5? I've lost count now ;)

This was right before we tracked Santa online. Pretty awesome.

Christmas eve pajamas. Shirtless of course. Is there any other way?

The set up late Christmas eve.

And Christmas morning!

"He came! He ate the cookies and drank the milk!"

Sienna was so sweet. Worried about Zoey and her getting her stocking gifts.

Christmas day snow playing. Kyle and I and Mike and Courtney all went snowmobiling. It was my first time actually. Shocking really having spent a good chunk of my teen years in PG. SO...MUCH...FUN! Kyle drove and I sat on the back. We did great until we got stuck and had to be pulled out and towed back home haha. Still SUCH a nice way to spend Christmas day.

Love that I'm the only one looking here ha.

Visit with the Baragers :)

Boxing day skating! Kyle's dad's outdoor rink. The boys played a late night hockey game and the girls stayed home and drank and ate ;) But first Sienna tried "real" skating (without bob skates). She loved and hated it. Wanted to do it by herself but was mad when she fell ha.

Kyle's cousin Rick's (and his wife Kristin) two girls. They were amazing with Sienna and Sienna loved them.

One of my favorite pictures of the holidays. The girls had got iPods for Christmas and were playing on them. Well Sienna had to get right in there so she asked to use my phone to play one of her games. So sweet.

Some more outdoor fun!

This was when we went to Candycane Lane. I was determined to go. I'm definitely forcing my love of Christmas on my girls and they're going to love it to even if it kills me haha. She actually loved it but didn't want her picture taken. I love the look..."you're lucky I have this giant adult size donut or I'd be taking you out right now."

We had about 14 Christmases this trip. Three of the four of Mike and Court's kids were at their Mom and Dad's for "real" Christmas so when they got back they had another:

Cousin play :)

These girls got along SO well. Makes it that much harder to be away from them :(

And then Auntie Bev came :)

She almost deserves her own post because she gave my girls SO much love and they gave it back in return. I am stilll hearing about Auntie Bev!

Dez being the wonderful helper she is :)

All 4 kids :)

For whatever reason I have zero pictures of any of our visits with friends (??). I'm going to have to hound them to see if they got any. We did SO much visiting it was wonderful. I really can't say how amazing this Christmas was. It was so good. Couldn't have been better. Well, if we stayed a bit longer maybe ;)

After Prince George we flew down to Vancouver once again. Kyle flew back home because he had to go back to work but the girls and I stayed. My sister came and picked us up and we headed to Victoria!

Playing Wii

My tuckered girl. That time change was pretty brutal. The first night we got there she was asleep by 5. She was up at 445am the next day too ha. After sort of getting on track time wise she was just not caught up in her sleep. Between the time change and all the excitement and festivities she was pretty exhausted some nights!

I love Victoria. Love, love Victoria. We had so much fun. We fed the seals at the marina:

Had plenty of coffee dates:

Were introduced to Auntie Court's good friend Val. And she was introduced to Sienna's "Mickey game." Online:

And board:

We went shopping:

Ya that's my new shirt. She wore it through the mall.

Visited Auntie Miriam:

Went out for sushi...a couple times :)

"Whatever guys, if you won't teach me how to use chopsticks I'll teach myself"

One of the greatest moments of the trip. Sienna popped an edamame bean out of its shell and it landed on Zoey's head. Too great.

We went to the bug zoo:

She was SO brave. Now way I would hold a bug the size of a kitten.

And this is what I miss most about the coast:

Beach and park days in January :)

"Uh this slide looks pretty high sweetie, you sure you want to go up?"

"YES!"

"Alright...up you go"

"It's too high!"
"Mmhmm"

Annnnd down we go

Another great moment of the trip. We were driving around semi lost so I pulled into an empty parking lot only to see this:

Haha. My brother said "Perfect"

Good thing we had a Court!

More perfect west coast moments:

Loving her Uncle Michael time

And Auntie Lew and Uncle Peter time

Court thought it was cold. Ridiculous. It was basically short sleeve shirt weather.

And of course, what would a trip be without some sister love :)

We were so sad to leave. I miss being so close to my brother and sister and Kyle's family. That's what I hate about trips "back." After time the pain kind of goes numb and you forget how much you really miss everyone. When you go back to visit it's like that wound being reopened. It hurts. And it's hard. I guess they only solution is to make more and more trips out (and closer together!).

The trip home went as smoothly as the trip out. The girls were perfect. We had a 2 1/2 hour layover in Calgary but luckily they had this:

So as Sienna did that, Zoey watched:

Just posting this blog has made me SO sad about not being there any more. I miss BC so much. Don't get me wrong I absolutely love it here and am so happy to be living in Kitchener but I'm pretty sure my heart will always be in BC (just a little at least ;) ).