Vancouver Island Vacation

So, the last month or so we have had a few issues with our car... mostly due to our stupidity in not following our regular service and never having taken it in to a dealer..... after owning it for 3 years. Long story short the car cost $1360 to repair and it wasn't money we had. My father stepped in with the dough and I cancelled the first half of my vacation to work and pay him back. Kate and the kids went on without me to Vancouver Island and my parents home. We had planned to spend 8 days there and house sit while my parents were in Edmonton visiting my brother and his family. I hitched a ride over with my parents on their return Wednesday night and spent the last 3 days with everyone in parksville. It was a good visit and I feel refreshed.

Sebatian, my Father and I went to the Qualicum wine shop where my father has wine made for him. I coaxed a grumpy Sebastian out of the car and in to the 'stinky' wine shop. He had a blast in there... We bottled, corked, labeled and sealed my father's new wine; an Austrailian Shiraz. We stocked our own wine rack over this week as well.
Rigby, Sebastian, my Mother and I went to the parksville beach, dug in the sand and the tide pools. At one point we caught a shrimp in our pail. I can't stand them as food and I tell you, they are not appealling live either. The kids liked it and gave it a shell, some sand and a little crab.

The whole family spent the morning on Saturday at Morningstar Farm visiting the animals, Qualicum cheesfactory, Morningstar Creek Winery and more. The wine was fantastic, we bought bottles of Blueberry and Cranberry wine with an order to my parents to pick up some of the Peach wine in the fall. We also walked away with some super cheeses from the Qualicum Cheese works including a brie and hot n spicy concoction.
We also visited the St Marks fair which is my parents church in Qualicum Beach. Held every year it was a pretty large scale event. We had some mini doughnuts and Sebastian and Rigby both built boats from a craft section.
I painted the living room, living room ceiling, dining room, kids room, office and front door as well as some edging in the hallway prior to going over. It was pretty hectic considering I ALSO swapped the kids room with the office and worked.
Now I am going to sort my records from our office as we are moving them out to the player in the living room. Following this are some pictures from the ferry ride home today.