Victoria & Other Stuff

So I’ll start off by warning you this is going to be a LONG post. I’ll work my way back to our trip to Victoria BC.

So this past weekend, I made another batch of bread…actually a double batch. The good news was that the bread turned out lighter and more moist than the last batch I made…the BAD news is that I burned up the motor in my KitchenAid mixer :( I’m trying to find out if I can get it fixed or if I’m going to have to shell out some major $$ for a new one.

I was having a bit of a “bad luck” yesterday, so on top of the mixer, I also broke a wine glass, burned myself, and spilled a huge container of pistachios all over the floor. After all of that I decided I should get out of the kitchen before doing some serious damage!!

I have also taken up attempting homemade yogurt. I’ve tried two different recipes. I think the first was better than the second a little better texture. So anyway, now I’ve made it my mission to perfect a yogurt recipe.

Okay…now on to our trip. We had such a great time! The house we stayed in was great. Eagles landed in the tree near the back porch, we had a pool table, spa, and air hockey table to entertain us and most importantly we had gorgeous weather!! See the slide show below for some pictures taken at the house.

The day we went to Butchart Gardens is the day we saw the most rain…which equated to a couple of 5 minute showers conveniently timed when we were under cover :) Here are some pics from the gardens…which are absolutely beautiful!! We also went back to the gardens at night when it was all lit up. It looked so different! I’m glad we got to see it all lit up.

We also went whale watching and I don’t think we could have asked for a better experience!! We saw 2 Orca. The boats are only allowed to get within 100 meters of the whales because they are a protected species, but the whale started swimming toward the boat and I think at one point they surfaced maybe 100 feet from the boat. We followed the same 2 whales the whole time we were out and finally got the shots below. It was really amazing! There are also a couple of pics of the lighthouse that was under construction.

We also went to Wild Play Parks in Nanaimo. It is a ropes course with wooden bridges, zip lines, cargo nets, tarzan swings etc. It was a lot of fun!! They had 4 different levels, each got progressively higher and more difficult. Steve and I both made it through all four levels and had a great time doing it but were feeling the effects the next day!! We did it in shifts so we could watch Adam, so the girls went first and they guys went after lunch. Everyone got through at least part of the course.

We did a lot of walking around downtown Victoria. They had some great (but expensive shopping). And we had some excellent meals. If you ever go up there lookup these two places: Seagrille at Brentwood Bay Lodge & Cafe Brio …they were both awesome!! We didn’t have any bad food while we were there. Steve and I did a little shopping the day we were in Victoria by ourselves, but we tried to restrain ourselves…we could have done some serious damage!! Below are some random pictures from our time in Victoria.

We did buy the duvet cover & sheet set below since we finally found one that both Steve & I liked.

So, I probably forgot something, but I’m getting tired and it’s time to think about bed. Hope you enjoy!