Return from Pender Island

This posting is waaaay late, but truthfully we’ve been running around since we got back from our weekend getaway, getting on with normal life. Tonight is a bit of a breather, what with only two kids’ swimming lessons. 🙂

Here’s a few photos from the trip, replete with scenery, wildlife and family…

The trip kicked off at noon on Friday. I took the afternoon off, and we all headed off in the car as soon as everything was squared away. The cats had a big bowl of food (a week’s worth) and four clean cat boxes. 🙂 We stopped in Sidney on the way to pick up an appliance for Colin and Carol which they had ordered and paid for. Then it was getting harassed by wasps while waiting for the ferry. We arrived about three o’clock in the afternoon. I didn’t get lost once! I did the last time I tried to get from the ferry to their house. There aren’t that many roads, but the ones that are there twist and turn for all they are worth.

We checked into the B & B just up the road and then walked back to the house. We visited and had dinner and planned the weekend until the kids were getting tired, then laid out their beds in the living room (Miranda on the couch, Ian on a foamy on the floor) and Tammy and I retired to the B & B. The B & B is a nice place, if a tad quiet. Yes, yes, I realize we’re talking about a place on Pender Island, but still. Tammy and I found ourselves practically talking in whispers. (Pfft. City folk!)

Saturday’s plan was to let Baba and Grandpa take the kids to the beach(es) and Tammy and I would be able to go to the Farmer’s Market and maybe some art galleries and have lunch. That worked out pretty well for the morning, but after lunch we called Colin to see if Carol had gotten in touch with the Button Lady. We got a polite request if we could take Ian for the couple of hours before dinner. Our eyes rolled. Ian had been a handful. So we boogied over to their house and picked him up. We filled the next two hours climbing Lively Peak, playing at the Community Centre and finally enjoying a peppermint-chocolate chip milkshake at the Driftwood Centre. All in all, I think Ian was okay, just not perhaps what Baba was expecting. He’s a very, very different child from Miranda. Tammy’s really perfecting her “voice of God” these days, getting Ian to do the right thing. 🙂 Dinner was Japanese take out (the kids had ribs instead) and it was delicious. Tammy and I had brought a bottle of sake and a fruit crumble for dessert.

Sunday was art day (not that I didn’t get a chance to do a bit of pencil sketching at Hope Bay on Saturday). I set up my easel and tried painting their garden… that didn’t end up too good. Then everybody headed to Brooks Point on South Pender Island, where Baba pulled out her watercolors and I set up my easel again. I had more luck this time, painting the “lighthouse” on the point. I’ll post more thoughts on my first attempt at painting “on location” in a later thread.

Here are some more pictures

Lunch was a picnic at Poet’s Cove, then we headed back to the plantation for the last couple hours before heading out to catch the 5:30 ferry home. It was a lot of fun, and I know that I got a chance to try some art things that I’ve wanted to do for a very long time. Tammy and I got to see a lot more of Pender Island on this trip, and I’m now much better at navigating around it. All in all it was a great time. But I think our noisy family is best taken in smaller doses. 🙂

And the cats? They were fine. The food bowl was empty, the greedy little buggers.