Galiano/Vancouver holiday - Part 2

Our time on Galiano was perfect, as I mentioned in the previous post, and Colin just had to capture the sunset as he watched from the rocks out of the back of our cottage. This is a picture of the cottage from those rocks. And the sunset, of course.







After we finally got our cranky boy into bed (both nights), Colin and I played board games. We haven't done that in ages. Of course, there was no television, or even a radio in the cottage, as it's meant to be a place of rest and relaxation, but there were shelves and shelves of books and games, so we played. It was fun. And something we should do more often. We get stuck in the "veg in front of the TV" rut almost every night.

Monday morning, we woke up bright and early (before the sunrise, even), as we had to get packed up and clean the cottage and get to the ferry by 7:45am. We were even awake before Ethan, which is generally unheard of in our house. It was also our 7th wedding anniversary.

We caught the ferry over to Vancouver, as we had plans to go bed shopping at IKEA. And of course, just looking around IKEA is like a holiday for me. I just love it there. This particular IKEA, in Coquitlam, is one of the largest, or maybe IS the largest in all of North America. It's overwhelmingly huge and my feet got tired LONG before I got tired of looking at stuff. We got a few bed ideas, and of course, bought a few things that were not planned, such as a tea kettle, some napkins, and just for Ethan, a dishwashing scrub brush. Yes, we have a weird kid. He saw these brushes in the kitchen section and we could not tear him away from the bin. He just had to have one. Even in the toy section, he was intrigued with the toys, but nothing was nearly as attractive as that scrub brush. He said it was for his birthday. I asked if I had to buy him anything in January, when his birthday actually comes around, and he said no. Good deal! $2 spent in August for a January birthday? Maybe he'll let us do this EVERY year.

After IKEA, we drove to Kevin and Adrienne's to have dinner with them and the kids. Ethan's always thrilled to see his cousins, so this was a huge highlight of the day. For us, too. We wish we could see them all more often.

Finally it was time to go catch yet another ferry to go home. While waiting for that ferry, we had the most delicious gelato ice cream cones. I had hazelnut chocolate. *drool* Sooo yummy! It was a nice anniversary treat, shared with our son. On the ferry, we saw another gorgeous sunset, and then, when we went back inside, and Ethan was playing in the play area, Colin and I suddenly couldn't stop laughing at our unique boy, playing around a bunch of other kids, holding a scrub brush (this thing is so special to him, he was literally snuggling it into his neck in the car and talking to it). We started wondering what other parents might be thinking, about us giving our child scrub brushes to play with. We couldn't stop laughing. At least he didn't have to worry about another kid snatching it from him. I think it's probably the best $2 we've spent on him. LOL

On the ride home from the ferry, Ethan fell asleep in the car, and wonder of wonders, LET US carry him into the house, lay him down in bed, take off his sweater and shorts and cover him up and he DIDN'T WAKE UP!!! That is highly unusual for Ethan, believe me, but was better than him waking and crying all through a meddlesome bedtime routine. He slept soundly, too, because he didn't show up at our bed until after 6am, which is later than usual. It was a tiring weekend for him. And us. But so fun! Hopefully we can do it again sometime, and hopefully have more than 2 nights and a day there.

Now, we're back into our routine, Colin working full-time at the restaurant for another week or two, and then the crazy school schedule starts up again. We plan on enjoying whatever is left of our summer.