This is a very belated post, since her birthday was last month, but I wanted to publish it anyway, and I’ll also publish one sometime this week about her actual party.
Every year so far for Meredith’s birthday, Kris has taken the day off and we’ve gone and done something fun. The first two years were mostly for us, and we chose to go to Salt Spring Island as we thought the boat ride and subsequent wandering would be fun for her even while young.
This year, we asked her what she wanted to do, and she chose a boat ride. We thought we’d do something different this year and go out to Sidney Spit. However, the morning of I thought to check prices, and we realized that the cost was almost $20 for each of us, including Fiona! It occurred to us that we could go over to one of the Gulf Islands again for cheaper than that, even with a vehicle, and that there would probably be more to do. We decided to pick a different one, and so Mayne Island it was. Click on thumbnails to see larger pictures.
So of course, a boat ride started off the day. Meredith was really excited to be on a big boat. We met a neat family from Quebec who had a daughter around Meredith’s age. The girls played most of the ride while we chatted with the parents. The mom kept commenting on how nicely Meredith played and what a great sharer she was, and asked if she was in daycare.
Once on Mayne Island, we stopped by a local grocer for a couple of things we’d forgotten to bring, then drove to a park area the family we’d met had recommended for a picnic. Meredith had a blast on the nearby playground and we sat and enjoyed the quiet and ate our lunch.
Then Meredith discovered the zipline, which brought a whole new level of fun to the day in her eyes. It’s not obvious from these pictures, but this thing went FAST. And she didn’t want Kris to actually hold on to her, so he just had his hands hovering around her. He had to run to keep up. At the end it kind of jerked to a stop and he’d catch her if she fell, but for the most part she was just fine on her own. She wanted Kris and I to each try too, and I’m impressed how well she held on. I found it difficult myself.
Near where we had our picnic was a huge Japanese garden that we decided to visit afterwards. The garden was planted and maintained as a way of commemorating the Japanese families who had settled on the island and been interned during World War II.
Afterwards, we headed back to the ferry and home. It was a long and busy day, and Fiona was tuckered out.
I had baked Meredith a dairy-free chocolate-orange crumb cake. We served it to her when we got home but she was more interested in cutting paper. I asked her to take just one bite, for the camera, and so she took a tiny little bite and stuck it in her mouth, then asked for some peaches and went right back to cutting her paper. So Kris and I enjoyed the cake instead.
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Haha, I love the sequence on the zipline. Looks like it was a really nice trip. I’ve never been to Mayne Island. Where do you catch the ferry?
It’s a BC ferry, so same place as going to Tsawassen.
Weeeeeee…. zip line! Looks like a lot of fun.
Happy happy birthday!