Every year in the late summer or early fall we try to make a trip out to Victoria to visit Joshs’ parents at their place in Sidney. We lucked out this time, enjoying nearly perfect 20 something weather for the whole week. It’s an easy place to love especially when the sun is shining.

We did long walks into town along the ocean, visited the local aquarium in Sidney where we met the brand new octopus, and watched the jellyfish, eels, and other “fishy fishy” types swim around in a well laid out showcase.

The girls loved heading down to the beach to poke around for crabs, collect pieces of sea glass for gramma, and to raid the blackberry bush that was perfectly ripe for picking. We came back with a bucket full of soft, juicy berries every time we went down the steps to the beach. The only trick is to collect them without being attacked by the prickles that line every inch of branch, stem, and leaf!

We headed into downtown Victoria a few times. Once was for our annual trip to Beacon Hill Park to see the petting zoo, the beautiful flower gardens still in bloom, and of course, a stop at the nearby playground.

We took Ry to a real “castle”, otherwise known as the Royal Roads University. There was a wedding taking place at the U that day, and we snuck in for a peek to see if there were any princesses inside. The father of the bride was so kind as to check for us, but unfortunately they weren’t ready and dressed the part yet, otherwise it might have been a little lady’s lucky day. Speaking of lucky, she wasn’t terribly disappointed, and we were able to distract her with a trip down to the Japanese gardens to cross the bridge over the pond.