Oh August... so many memories!

 I have probably one thousand photos on my computer from the month of August alone, but I decided not to do that and instead try to sum up the summer by collaging a few photos (I saw this on a friends blog!). 

Amy, Chris and Emilie came out for a week at the beginning of August to go camping. We went to Parksville beach for a day, Little Qualicum Cheeseworks, Goats on the Roof in Coombs and we took a walk on ferry to Newcastle Island in which we hiked to Kanaka beach and spent the day there. We are so blessed by such wonderful family!!

In between our company Steve's Cousin from Newfoundland- Caitlyn stopped by for a night on her adventure traveling up the whole west coast by herself. The kids had such a great time with her. 

Steve has been itching all summer to get out and fish, and he finally got too with a good buddy... it was the perfect evening and he caught a spiny dogfish (a shark!) and a few crab that we cooked up and ate. 

I got a last minute call from mom and dad asking if they could come out for a week... we were pretty tired out from our busy summer, but how could we turn them away?! So of course they came and we made some pretty epic memories! My favorite day being scooter-ing on Salt Spring Island! We rented scooters for 4 hours and toured the entire island. We went to the Saturday morning market, Saltspring cheese company- for some AMAZING cheese, and to Saltspring Vineyards for some wine tasting. As well as stopping at some beaches. Such a great day!

Mom really wanted to head out to Tofino, because she LOVES the rugged ocean, but I decided to take them out to Port Renfrew as we had never been yet. Unfortunately Steve had to work, but we found an awesome Groupon to stay in Sooke for a couple of nights, so we couldn't resist!
We went and checked out the beginning of the West Coast Trail hike and were inspired by a family of four who had just completed the hike and had done no training for it. So one day that hike will be crossed off the bucket list (that I have not created yet!)
We then drove out to Botanical beach and were amazed by the beauty of it. It was a 2.5 km hike with a few beach stops on the way, each being so unique and my Adessa Mattie did SO amazing, I was so proud of her! She hiked the ENTIRE way all by herself without complaining! We ended the hike with a beautiful picnic. Then drove out to Sooke to stay in a beautiful resort hotel.
The next day we went and checked out French Beach and China Beach, but it was quite windy and cold and Adessa wasn't in as good of mood as the day before. So we got our exercise in and then headed back to the hotel for swimming! And Danika jumped into the deep end and swam to the shallow end WITHOUT her life jacket! Another milestone hit... SO proud of her! Both the girls are gaining so much confidence in the water. 

Next morning the girls and I got up early and went to the lobby for breakfast and then I took them swimming for a good hour in which we had the pool to ourselves. It was very fun. We then headed to Victoria to my dads favorite place- The fisherman's wharf. We ate fish and chips, ice cream and mini donuts and walked around. Then on the way home we watched 'Brave' ... which I would NOT recommend, my little girls were pretty terrified!

My parents helped us around the house, moved my room around, cleaned up the yard (my mom always has to trim things... and I don't complain!) and helped so much with the girls.
Thanks mom and dad once again for an amazing visit... we love you and appreciate your generosity and love SO much, and we love being tourists and seeing the whole island with you!!!