We're back!

Our first family vacation to Victoria B.C was pretty good overall. We stayed at a beautiful B&B that welcomes children (an extreme rarity), the hostess is also a professional chef so our custom-made breakfasts were sinfully delicious (a huge smoked salmon & cream cheese omelet was my main course, Kieran had his first Belgian waffle), meeting up with several Canadian moms I know for a playdate was really fun (and a major tourist mindset change that we're now parents with a kid to entertain instead of just entertaining ourselves), and the weather was much cooler than it was in Seattle.

Unfortunately things have changed substantially since we were last there in February 2001 as far as customs goes, which wrecked the end of it. In the past we could park our car early to save our spot in line, buy tickets, and go sightseeing to our heart's content then return about a half hour before departure and everyone was happy.

This time, we lost our morning of sightseeing & shopping that I was counting on having because the bastards wanted us to sit in our car for an hour and a half. The ferry staff did not inform us of this fact at all when we asked the night before what time we needed to be there by to get a reasonable spot. Oh well. We'll be back soon after the peak summer season crowds & costs are gone, but I hate having that unfinished feeling!

What pictures we do have are here on Ofoto if you want to see. I'm thinking about a midsummer Vancouver trip to hit Murchie's & some more Lush since the latter's shipping charges just aren't worth it when browsing is half the fun. My Roger's Chocolates fix will just have to wait...