"Why don't we live here?" wondered Eric

While standing outside in the parking lot of our hotel in Oak Harbor, Eric asked the why don't we live here question. The temperature was mild, the scenery was well, you know and he just couldn't help himself. The accommodations at Jana and Karl's were pretty good too. Emily would not go on the four wheeler by herself so she let Eric steer! Is she crazy?

Everyone rode around Jana and Karl's backyard, even Grandpa went for a ride with Kurt. There's no danger when you have alzheimers. He had a big smile on his face and did not want to get off even for the grandkids.

It was Sunday afternoon and there were six big boys and one medium boy in Grandma's house. (Do we not have any girls in this family?) I told them to go make a pyramid so I could take their picture. I got Jason up top but poor Ashley on the ground disappeared.

They all lived to tell about the fall.

Townsend cousins

The youngest of the Townsend cousins are growing up, but apparently they all still fit in one boat. This may have been Grandma's best investment over the years because there have been a lot of cousin adventures in this pool.

I love this picture of Michael making a big splash. He comes from a long line of Townsend boys trying to empty the pool.

This is more fun if you know everyone you are attempting to soak. The pool was filled with cousins and Lonny who also got soaked.

Uncle Karl built these swings in his new backyard over looking the valley. I asked if they were for the future grandkids and he said no they were for him. I can see why because they were fun!

Victoria, British Columbia

We stayed at the Empress Hotel and it was fancy. Eric thought the tour guide at the hotel was anti-American but we have forgiven her. She explained that Canada has mountain lions and the US of A has cougars. What? As a BYU alum I am partial to any cougar but if a mountain lion wants to be American I am not going to argue with that.

The sign says "happy people in happy boats" but not so much. We went on a harbor tour but it was more lame than interesting. We did learn of where to eat fish and chips however, and it may have been better than our West Seattle Spuds which is practically impossible to imagine.

Emily made a friend and he was Canadian but she didn't mind. I am not sure what he thought.

Eric, Emily and I went to Miniature World which sounded a little iffy for a tourist attraction, in fact, Lonny couldn't, wouldn't do it. It was as they said, minaturetastic! Besides one of the world's largest model railroads there were castles, dollhouses, the circus, Dicken's world, Fairy tales, World War II battles and I am sure more that I can not remember, all in miniature. I give it 4 stars.

Butchart Gardens

I have wanted to go back to Butchart Gardens almost since the first time I was there on a band trip in high school. Lonny had never been, even though he had been to British Columbia numerous times. So if we were going to BC we were going there. It was beautiful, just like I remembered.

The flower baskets were spectacular. Why don't mine ever look like that?

A million people, more or less, or at least a bunch were taking a picture here, so hopefully they will all enjoy having these two beauties in their photo album.

Eric and Emily were trying to look frightened in the picture but this extreme fear of topiary is just odd.

Washington and Victoria, BC!

Here's Emily at the Cheesecake Cafe waiting for the ferry ride to Victoria. Would this little acknowledgment entice you to enter this place? When we went to Washington State this summer we promised Emily we would go to Canada for a couple of days so she could use her passport.

It was a near windless day as the ferry left Anacortes headed to British Columbia. This is a good thing when riding the ferry, especially for Oklahomans without proper outerwear.