Birthday Party and a Surprise Visitor!

For the past month Danika has been bringing up "Grandfriends Day" that their school puts on every year. She was pretty upset because "everyone else will have their grand parents there!" So I mentioned it to mom and she booked herself a flight out to surprise the girls! It was also conveniently our birthday weekend, so it was a perfect time to fly out. 

The morning I picked up mom, I didn't tell the girls what we were doing, other then that we had to go to Costco. On our way we took a pit stop to "watch the planes land" and Adessa didn't question. When grandma walked by, Adessa was staring at her and my mom kept walking. Until I said who is that?! Adessa looks at grandma and says, "Where were you going?" it was pretty hilarious! 

After school that day grandma hid in the backyard and shocked Danika! It was so cute! 

 The girls were happy to have grandma with them for grand friends day and mom went to the school to be showed around and for a BBQ lunch. Apparently though the girls were more interested in their own friends and Ms. Adessa didn't want to be touched by grandma... which happens with Steve and I and Adessa in public too... the girl is already embarrassed! 

Took Grandma on a few walks/hikes. One morning while the two older girls were in school I took her for the three hour hike to Mt. Tzhouhalem. It was a gorgeous morning and I loved having my mom with me. Amara hiked majority of the way and kept us entertained. 

Grandma came loaded with birthday gifts and Danika got some beautiful clothes and soccer nets for the backyard, which we have been having lots of fun with! She always spoils us rotten!

Friday after school Danika's birthday party started! 10 little girls in the house... thankful my mom was here to help! She is the party girl! 

The fun pre-dinner snack... the girls loved it! Fruit kabobs stuck into a watermelon. 

Dakota... our extra guest for the next 6 weeks. He was flown out while Leah and Zach went to Europe. He is such a good dog! Meeko loves having a buddy!

Mom and I planned a really fun scavenger hunt for the girls all over the yard- front and back. And their final clue was to dig up their box of treasure, which contained matching shirts, candy and glow sticks! 

The matching girls! 

Dinner was nachos out on the patio... gorgeous weather! 

Adessa's little buddies who left right before the sleepover. 

My beautiful 9 year old! 

 The little kid table

Opening presents

 So many good friends and fun presents!

This girl loves attention... and was the center of attention for much of the party! She is very loved!

No cake for this birthday girl... she just wanted ice cream, so we made a delicious Sundae bar! 

Happy Birthday Danika!!! 

These 2 kept sneaking back for more candy and whipped cream! 

Once again being a little goof... sticking her cone to her nose!

After a soccer game, bouncing on the trampoline and a giant dance party/ game of musical chairs it was time for a campfire! (I love my backyard!)

Missed taking a picture of the giant sleepover party, but after a little bit of a movie I put these tired out girls to bed. In the morning there was pancakes, whipped cream and fruit! Not easy feeding this crew of girls with gluten free and lactose free allergies!
And that could have been the end of the party... it was fun enough, but then I decided to be crazy and we took them to Open house at Camp Qwanoes! Hence the matching shirts... so I could see them all! 

There was so many fun things for the kids to do! Amara loved the bouncy castle slide and was a pro climbing it!

After our free lunch we walked down to the aqua park where the girls played for quite a while... they loved it!

Grandma and I stayed on the beach with the little ones

Highlights of the party!

Saturday night after the craziness died down and Steve returned from his fishing trip (he got "off the hook" for helping with the party... lucky boy!) mom and I went out for my birthday dinner. She took me out to our friends pub on the ocean and we had a nice evening together... except for the part owner sitting and visiting with us for the majority of the time! 

In the morning my girls had the table beautifully set and had beautiful cards made for me. We got ready for church and dropped my mom off at the airport before we said our goodbyes! 

TOFINO!

My third weekend away from  my kids in the month of May... this never happens! But when my sister called and said her and Adam were coming to Tofino for their anniversary again, I decided Steve and I would join them! There is a couple in our church, who have been offering to take the girls, so I took them up on it! The girls were excited to be able to spend the weekend at a dairy farm and were very well taken care of! We were super looking forward to our weekend away. I booked at the Cox Bay beach resort right on Cox Bay in Tofino. We stayed there with Steve's parents and it is a beautiful little condo room with a full kitchen. The beauty of Tofino always amazes me, and I took too many pictures- here they are... 

Our first night we arrived was Adam and Linsey's 11 anniversary so we went out for a nice dinner in Tofino after a beautiful walk on the beach. So nice to see them! I decided to order a caeser because I always see people drinking them. But my first sip confirmed that I DO NOT enjoy them. Yuck!

Saturday morning we decided to take a water taxi to the Hot Springs. It was gorgeous, and a definite highlight. We had our very own private boat and during the hour and a half trip we saw giant sea otters, porpoises, many fish farms and heard some history of the Natives. He took us inside the channels as Steve gets sea sick and we wanted calm water.

It has been 30 degrees on our side of the island for a long time, but not Tofino... it is always chilly! But thankfully the sun was out and we had an awesome boat trip to the island.

Love my sister! So happy to spend time with them without our kids... such a nice treat!

Captain Sam.. he literally lives in the woods and takes his boat to work... which is driving boat all day. He had some good stories for us and was sharing his fishing secrets with Steve. While we hiked to the hot springs, he went fishing and caught himself a nice sized halibut!

Beautiful board walk built the 30 minute hike in to the springs. It was gorgeous!

There were numerous names carved into the boardwalk... assuming people had donated some because there were some intricately designed ones.

The Hot springs were not what I expected. It was basically a crack in between two big rocks, and it was super hard to get into and very slippery. When we arrived the springs were pretty full... but we squished ourselves down there. The waterfall was unbearably hot and the springs were also burning. But such a cool experience!

It flows into the ocean

Gorgeous! We packed in an amazing picnic with cider, amazing cheeses, meats, crackers and the most amazing donuts ever purchased at a bakery in Tofino. There was a couple that walked by saying they wished they were our friends! It was lovely!

On our beach there was the rip curl surf competition all weekend so it was neat to walk along the beach and check that out. We had such a nice little getaway, with delicious food and awesome company! Short but sweet!

The Girls Go Fishing!

One afternoon after church we met the Olson family to go fishing at Chemainus lake. Adessa tried for a few minutes, but was quickly bored and wanted to play with the already caught fish in the bucket!

Amara gave me a heartache... no resting for this momma! She was leaning as far over the edge as she could to try and see all the fishes!

This girl... she keeps me on my toes! 

And this is Ms Fisher-woman! Seriously... she fished ALL afternoon with the men. She caught about 5 little fish and was so excited... I think Steve found himself a little fishing partner. The perfect one... They both love to fish and her love language is quality time, so sitting on a boat with her dad while she talks, is the perfect day for this girl! 

The littlest of the bunch... happy to sit and eat!

Adessa loved holding the fish... but quickly learned that fish belong in the water!

Yes that is a fish falling to the ground, but thankfully we saved it! 

Happy girl!

Why so serious little one
The little kids got bored quickly so we moved our fishing to Fuller lake where the other kids could swim and play at the park.

Fun on the teeter totter!

Best buds 

Haha our cheese face!

SO MUCH FUN!

Putting her worm on to catch the big one!

This little beauty

We ended the evening by ordering and eating pizza on the beach! Perfect afternoon with some tired out little girlies!