Vancouver Island, Day5 and the ride home

Friday we woke up, packed up and cleaned the car. It was sad to say goodbye to the Turcotts, they had been such fun and gracious hosts and Alex had really gotten attached to Uncle Al and Auntie Pat.

We got in the car and drove to the Shaw Ocean Discovery Center to finally see some fishies!

The whole place was pretty cool, but my absolute favorite part was the entrance. These doors opened up and you walked into an elevator type room, but bigger. The doors shut behind you and you looked up to see a screen showing you the sky. The whole idea was that you were going to go underwater and visit the fish. So there was a computer voice telling us we were about to submerge and then the screen and sound effects started, making you really feel like you were in a sub, going down into the ocean. Alex's face was priceless, she believed it and immediately needed a hand to hold.

The first adventure (after dropping a carton of complementary chocolate milk all over the floor within the first 30 seconds) was seeing the jellyfish.

super cool.

There was a fun discovery center with puzzles and microscopes and all sorts of stuff to enjoy.

Alex really enjoyed looking at all the bright sea creatures.

Heidi loved being pushed right up to the glass and watching the fish swim around, it was so cute.

At the end of the maze there were touching pools where you could stick your hands in the water and feel the creatures.

You had to use your pinky though, and Alex was great at reminding me.

It was a fun way to end our vacation.

Sort of made me want to live by the ocean.

After the Shaw center we drove to the ferry. The kids were kicking, but Danielle and I were beat after a week of dragging them around all over.

We let the girls have free reign of the car while we waited to load, and then once we had driven onto the ferry Alex said "I'm going to steal your keys and THROW them in the water!" I don't know what made her say it, but it made me less willing to let her out of the car at that point.

We wandered to the kids play area, visited the gift shop, had some more Poutine and went out on the deck one last time.

The plan was to stay with Danielle's cousin's family that night in Vancouver and then leave early the next day for Boise.

On the way we stopped by the B.C. temple for a photo opp.

Alex was thrilled that it was raining so she could use her new umbrella, which had mostly been used to protect herself from the imaginary rain inside the car up to that point.

When we made it to the cousins, it was fun watching Alex play with the little girls. Between the 2 families we had a 1 year old, 2 year old, 3 year old and 4 year old. I should have gotten a picture, they were all crazy with the girlyness and Heidi promptly got put in a baby doll stroller and pushed around the house by 3 giggling girls until bedtime.

I was exhausted but stayed up to watch a bit of hockey with everyone, it was a big game and actually fairly entertaining. We left at 3 am the next morning, made it past the border with no trouble and after cleaning up another vomit mess including cheese and juice, rolled into Boise at 5pm. The girls were thrilled to be out of the car (Danielle and i included) and we jumped on the trampoline and enjoyed walking around, being lazy, and visiting with the Johns. The next morning it was another early start and we made it back to Provo just after noon.

We had a wonderful trip, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Although i'm in no hurry to get back in the car anytime soon. I learned a lot and had a fun time, I've fully grasped the meaning of the phrase "a vacation from your vacation" though. It's been nice to be able to sit and watch the kids in a fairly child proof house where there are plenty of toys, and not worry about wrestling a toddler in public, or nursing Heidi in the car.