Vancouver Island Trip

After taking 380 pictures on the trip, here are just a few for you to enjoy! The details of our trip can be found after the pictures.

Sister-in-law Sandy and I at the beach... pretending to be babes :)
Cutest BABE on the beach!
Okay... maybe this is the cutest BABE with her Opa!
Carly enjoying a Mr. Freeze pop for the first time.
Carly and Auntie Sandy "cheesin" for the camera!

Cousins Casey and Carson Swimming at the lake!!

The cousins, minus Carly!
Carly in her favorite chair, that used to be her daddy's chair when he was little.
Ellie and Caitlin with their faces painted up.
The Family at Elk Falls, minus Dawn and Taryn (they were shopping for Taryn's camp week).
The boys and Dad!

Carson riding with Daddy and Opa on Betsy at Marine Harvest.
Looking at the Salmon at Marine Harvest where Opa works.
Hanging out at the ocean checking out the starfish.
Watching the cruise ships come by the pier, which is not far from Opa and Oma's house.
Carson as pleased as can be after riding the water taxi.

Ahhh, vacation...
Let's bury Auntie Chrissy and leave her here!
Opa and Oma with the Ohio Koomen grandchildren.
The adults enjoying a nice dinner together.
Opa and Carson at the pier.

Carson waiting for the ferry to leave the dock.
More Koomen kids!
Putt-putt golfing before going to the beach.
Oma and Opa in the Canada Day parade, on their tandem with the bike club.
Carson and Caitlin pose on Miracle Beach.

This is it! We made a 10 day journey to visit Jason's parents, brothers, sister-in-laws, and neices and nephews on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. In order to get there, we drove 3 hours, took two planes, had one Minneapolis layover, one overnight stay in Seattle, a car ride, a BC Ferry ride, and a final car ride once we got on the Island.

So for the travels we took to get there... we did the following:

- Surprised Oma (since she did not even know we were coming)

- Celebrated Oma's 60th birthday with quite a bash.

- We went to the lake to swim and play in the sand.

- Visited Opa at Marine Harvest, which is where he works. They raise Salmon there, and it is quite an operation.

- Went to the ocean to play in the sand a little more... getting sand in places you did not know existed more than one time was just not enough. Besides, Carly did not eat the sand until we got to the ocean, and we must experience that once in our lives.

- Celebrated Canada Day on July 1st, with a festival and watching Opa and Oma bike on their tandem in the parade.

- Walked on the pier and watched the cruise ships sail past.

- Went on a water taxi to Quadra Island to eat lunch at April Point Resort. We saw a seaplane land, seals in the water, and giant starfish.

- We went to Elk Falls and hiked through the forest, which made Auntie Sandy very nervous since heights are not her thing.

- We celebrated cousin Sam's birthday with a pinata, scavenger hunt, and cake.

- Caitlin spent countless hours playing and sleeping over with her favorite cousin, Ellie.

- Carson got to see and experience so many modes of transportation, that he thought heaven was right there on the Island.

- Carly fell in love with her OPA!

- We took a family picture of all 15 of us together for the first time in 8 years!! Since our last time together we have added 6 grandchildren, for a total of 7.

We had an awesome time there and we will not wait so long to go back. Caitlin, Carson, and Carly were awesome travelers and had a fun time with their cousins.

We took the same adventure home, minus the hotel stay... so you can only imagine the tired group that we were arriving back in Findlay.