Sidney by the Sea

On Saturday we spent a lazy day wandering around the sea-side town of Sidney, which is about a 15-minute drive from where we live in Cordova Bay.
The weather was so nice - The view of Mt. Baker was almost flawless.

 

There was an art competition going on - Over a dozen local artists we stationed around the town painting. A judging in the afternoon decided upon a winner, but they were all amazing!

 

We spent a little while at the docks, romanticizing about what it would be like to live on a house boat.

 Sarah learns about sea life at this whale rib exhibit outside of the aquarium.

 Dad has some fun with the statues by the waterfront....

... Okay, maybe a little too much fun.

At Sarah`s request we went to four used book stores.  Kyle found one thing he wanted to bring home.

 

We checked out the public fishing dock, and learned that only Sole can be taken out of the water - All other sea life has been so harshly fished in recent years that they have banned fishermen from even removing them from the ocean.

 

 

 

 

 

Kyle was exhausted after our long day and needed a quick nap in the grass.

 We checked out the outdoor touch tank at the aquarium before we headed for home.

Everyone took a turn touching this purple sea star.

It took a special interest in Kyle, hanging on to his finger to see if he was food.

Downtown Victoria

While the boys were out fishing, us girls wandered around downtown for shopping and a lunch out.

 

We spent an hour in the used  book store (where Sarah found a couple novels she had been looking for) and went to the quilt shop Mum wanted to visit.

 We had lunch in the back garden of the Sally Bun cafe

 

The inner harbour wasn't as busy as we expected, so we wandered around the waterfront and checked out the local artist stalls

 

 

We finished off our trip downtown with gelato and a stroll through the Empress Hotel gardens

Salmon Fishing

Kyle, Todd, Dad and Jordan booked a six-hour fishing trip to try to catch some chinook salmon.

The weather was gorgeous - All four of the boys came home with sunburns!

 

They got their only fish on the line ten minutes before going back to port. 

Dad reeled in the 16-pound salmon in himself, which took about ten minutes.

Dad cleaned and filleted the fish himself when he got home - We had a huge meal out of it, while Todd, Jordan and their families barbequed the rest for Tony and Alanna's anniversary party.

Mamma Mia!

 All ready for our night out at the theatre!

Waiting for the show to start.

Awesome production! So glad we got a chance to see it together!

Oak Bay Marina

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cordova Bay Beach

Mum, Dad and Sarah arrived today for a two-week visit on the island!

They had an early, early morning we had a low-key afternoon of visiting the market and walking along the beach at Corvoda Bay Road.

 

The weather was gorgeous!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thetis Lake

Tonight we took an impromptu evening trip out to Thetis Lake with Gavin and Jen. 

The weather was gorgeous, and since it was dinner time there weren't a ton of people around.

 

Kyle and Gavin jumped into the water and enjoyed a leisurely swim while Jen and I sat in the sun to chat.