We've been breaking it down all summer long here at the Leavitt house and it's time we catch up with our shenanigans. Our house has been so regularly turned into a bubble blowing discotheque that it's been hard to focus on recording it for posterity.
But even more exciting than the rump shaking grooves rattling the window panes was our trip home to see my family and our little Canadian detour we took. In no particular order, I present our Canadian adventure!
It's always so relaxing to go home to Washington. The summer weather there is a drastic improvement over Las Vegas, the food tastes better, and my family always dotes on us. It's our favorite get away of the year! We ate our faces off, went to movies, and had a great time. They hosted a beach themed birthday party for Abby. She loved it and covered everyone (including herself) in pirate themed temporary tattoos. I loved that my sister made time to go on walks with me while I was there. She has a new found commitment to a healthy lifestyle that is pretty inspiring. On one of these walks, she left me to go home and use the facilities, and I was out running in the blazing heat, with no water and winding my way through roosters and goats, waiting for her to come back. Needless to say, it tested my sisterly good will...
But even more exciting than the rump shaking grooves rattling the window panes was our trip home to see my family and our little Canadian detour we took. In no particular order, I present our Canadian adventure!
It's always so relaxing to go home to Washington. The summer weather there is a drastic improvement over Las Vegas, the food tastes better, and my family always dotes on us. It's our favorite get away of the year! We ate our faces off, went to movies, and had a great time. They hosted a beach themed birthday party for Abby. She loved it and covered everyone (including herself) in pirate themed temporary tattoos. I loved that my sister made time to go on walks with me while I was there. She has a new found commitment to a healthy lifestyle that is pretty inspiring. On one of these walks, she left me to go home and use the facilities, and I was out running in the blazing heat, with no water and winding my way through roosters and goats, waiting for her to come back. Needless to say, it tested my sisterly good will...
So our trip to our friendly neighbors to the north started out a little rough for me. I don't know where my common sense went, but I tried a sample of room temperature smoked salmon dip at a little place called Country Mercantile. Within 6 hours, I deeply regretted that decision and had some pretty serious and debilitating food poisoning. We were supposed to leave for Seattle and Canada the next morning, but I wasn't safe to be around unless I was ten feet from a commode. My family waited until I was dehydrated, listless and malnourished enough to ensure I wouldn't be ruining the upholstery in their van. Then, they rolled me out, stuck me in the front seat and off we went! I can't really remember the first 24 hours of our trip, but once I came out of the pink edged, smoked salmon fog I had a great time!
I love Victoria Canada! It is a delightful place. We actually arrived on Canada Day and were able to see the fireworks from the harbor. I was hugged by intoxicated Canadians and Abby and I had beer sprayed on us. Somehow, that just added to the charm. Brandon and I tried poutine (which is gravy and cheese curds on fries). I thought I would hate it, but it was delicious. We also had the best ice cream and macaroni and cheese I may have ever had. AND their delis sell San Pellegrino. Brandon spent his nights on google figuring out how to license to practice in British Columbia.
We of course had to go butchart gardens. I thought it would be rows and rows of flowers, but it was much more enchanting than that (not that the flowers weren't lovely). Abby and her cousin Tiffanie rode this carousel which was right by a cute little outdoor concert venue. I loved it.
Speaking of my sister, this is a picture of her accepting at a banquet that was held that I was lucky enough to be in town for. She is receiving an award for more than 20 years of dedicated service to the special needs population of the Tri-Cities. I'm so proud of her! It was so fun to hear all of the clients they serve yelling her name. However, I believe I out screamed them all.
Back to Victoria and the butterfly garden. This is a picture of my good pal Eddie. He is the friendliest of parrots. We spent about 45 minutes right next to each other, making noises and getting snuggly. He might be my spirit animal.
In the rose gardens at Butchart they have plaques with the names of the roses, where they were created and the year. For some reason it cracked me up that I'm in Canada, looking at a Las Vegas Rose that was created in Germany.
The Royal British Columbia museum is the bee's knees. They had an AWESOME "Race to the Arctic" exhibit where you traveled along with the exploration teams from Norway and England as they raced to be the first to the south pole. (Spoiler alert: Norway wins and England ends up as popsicles) Don't let the above picture confuse you, the explorers were not chased by Mammoths in Antarctica. This from another exhibit in the museum which was also awesome
A might redwood tree growing on the grounds of the British Columbia parliament. I am pretty sure I remember that both Donna and I literally hugged this tree, cementing what we already knew about ourselves- we are certified tree huggers.
I am raising the world's best kid. When we checked out of our Seattle hotel, Abigail made her bed and left this note for the cleaning ladies. It says " Thank you got all your hard work. Kid, Abigail"
I am putting this picture on the blog to remind myself not to be such a whack-a-doodle. I laid out all of my outfits to pack, making sure to make as many combinations as possible out of as few articles as possible (since Allegiant makes you pay for pretty much every pound of luggage you bring on). I then put sticky notes for which day of the week I would wear it on and then photographed it including accessories. WHAT has HAPPENED to me? this is disgraceful and I need to stop being this person. It didn't go wrong until the sticky notes and the camera were brought out and then it had gone much, much too far.
I love totem poles. They look like home to me. If I was to get a tattoo, it would be of a totem pole. (Don't worry mom, I have no totem pole tattoos............[yet]........)
Yak Attack! We went to this EPIC drive through zoo in Sequim, Washington on our way to catch the AWESOME ferry. You get to feed wheat bread to animals who literally chase your car, put their heads in your car, and who put theirs heads in your face. I was pretty much kissing llama lips. Donna also found her spirit animal, the Tibetan Yak. He's kind, gentle....and has lots of boogers.
Speaking of ferry, we had quite the adventure getting out of Port Angeles. It was a nail bitter seeing if we would actually make it on since we were number 16 in the standby line, and the crew kept us on pins and needles with their noncommittal responses about our chances. It was absolutely the most suspenseful thing to me. Fortunately, we made it on and had a ROCKING ride. That ferry was really going from side to side. Brandon got a little green, but it was delightful!
Oh Canada! How we love thee.
