Our Last Day in Victoria

Evan and I on pebble beach. I named it pebble beach... I don't actually know what it's called.
Evan and I walked around Beacon Hill Park again today. We discovered a mother duck and three ducklings sleeping under this tree.
Scott and Evan at beach #1 for the day. We stopped for a bit on the way back to Victoria from Pearson.
Scott stayed at Pearson last night. So Evan and I enjoyed an evening and this morning together.

Evan likes to chase crows.
He also likes to eat rocks, we think it's the saltiness. I tasted them, they were salty & yummy.


Evan and dad together on pebble beach. He misses Scott so much when they're not together for a whole night.
When Evan gets tired of eating rocks, he likes to throw rocks over obstacles, like big logs.
Evan and I watching wind surfers or are they kite surfers? They were pretty amazing.
That black dot on just over sea level is the wind surfing guy in mid jump. They would jump really high, it was amazing to see.

Evan's New Friends at Pearson

We spent most of the day at Lester B. Pearson College. Evan made a few new friends. This particular 16 month old is Carl. Carl is Danish and doesn't speak English, but neither does Evan so they're perfect play mates. It's interesting meeting so many of Scott's friends. There are lots of stories, (good and hilarious) and everyone loves him.
Evan on the docks with dad and Gillian. This afternoon people were sailing, canoeing, kayaking, diving and even swimming... poor Scott, being a dad is not without its responsibilities...


One of Scott's oldest friends, Ryan. They were friends while in Pearson and they were roommates for years after while they went to UVic.

Thursday Morning

This morning, as Scott worked hard to put together an island cupboard, Evan and I played around in the apartment. And of course our curious one loves to climb out to the balcony. It's quite safe, and he mostly likes the going out and coming in part... it's a big accomplishment for him.
He loves the big king bed, and all the fluffy blankets and pillows. His favourite game is when we toss him (gently of course) into the blanket.

Home Sweet Home

Scott enjoying a good book on our super comfortable king-sized bed. So many duck feathers we could nest here forever!
Evan and I on the main balcony. It's big enough for a bbq and patio set. There's a beautiful view of downtown, mountains on the mainland and the ocean in between.
Evan and the super large bathtub... bathtub's are fun.
One small part of the beautiful view, those mountains look so high, even from so far away.
Evan posing nicely for us on the chinese bench in the master bedroom. He loves posing... or maybe I like making him pose... because he's the MOST BEAUTIFUL baby in the world! (Is it obvious it's getting harder to keep him still, make him smile, catch his eyes open, etc...?)

Undersea Gardens

Scott, Evan and I had a lovely day today. We went to Beacon Hill for a long walk and stopped in at the petting zoo (no pics only video for that). Then we walked along the harbour, had bubble tea and went to the Undersea Gardens. We got to see all kinds of sea creatures and a man in a scuba suit.
We had a great lunch at the Wharfside Eatery. A nice view of the harbour and a pound of King Grab legs. Evan went nuts for the crab, I could hardly crack it open quick enough for him. We walked a little downtown, stopped at the Christmas Store for a look and headed back to the beautiful condo we're staying at. Right now Scott and Evan are napping, once they're up I'll get some condo pictures for you all. (The condo belongs to Scott's dad, Roy, and is very nice.)
Yesterday we went down to Pearson to meet all of Scott's old friends at the reunion. Spent a day with them on the beach and then had supper at My Chosen Cafe (they used to walk 90 minutes to get non-cafeteria food). We'll be spending more time at Pearson tomorrow and Friday. Today was our family day.
Hopefully we'll remember to take more pictures the next few days. Should have some of Evan on the beach, right? He loves the beach but he gets a little fixated on the sand/driftwood/rocks and tries to eat it all... most of my time is spent frustrating his efforts.
I love the live music all around, the bustle of all kinds of people. You see the rich elderly vacationers along side the street people on every corner. I'm really loving Victoria. It's mostly the closeness of the ocean and accessibility of everything by foot - no need for a car to avoid boredom here. Lethbridge just doesn't have the same variety of culture and just "things to do." Friday is the first day of Folkfest. I am so excited to be here for that. There will be a wide variety of ethnic food (probably accompanied by jazz as it's also Jazz fest this week.) So sorry for you all not being here...

Monday at the Lewis'

Evan mowing the lawn.












Evan loves playing with his new blue ball, it keeps disappearing on him though!








Scott and Dan, watching the kids.












Evan and his new friends (Galena and Adiel). The water was too cold for him, although it was a really hot day. Thanks to Evan there was a lot of splashing going on.




And as always there was toy eating time! I have two pictures of him mouthing this particular plastic dolfin, taken 30 mintues apart... he went back to it a few times... must have been pretty tasty.

Dinner in the Airport

Once again Evan made us proud by being such a good little traveller. We had three short flights to get to Victoria and arrived after midnight. The airline lost a bag, but we got it back the next day.


Evan really enjoyed Montana's. There was a two year old boy that kept waving at him, that was pretty exciting!

Evan and Auntie Esther

Evan and Esther playing around together in the front of our house. He's walking really well, and is pretty independent in any surroundings he's used to.














Evan takes time out for a cuddle!
















And then of course there's the flying practice time. He's probably going to want to be a pilot, just like his dad did.

Family Time

Evan loves to "wrastle" with his pooh bear. Here he is trying to take out a chunk. He seems to think that mouthing things is a sign of affection. His current fun thing to do is to give people's toes a little bite. He seems surprised though when we laugh or pull away. What is it with toes? Do they look like cookies to babies?
Spending some time with the family at Dairy Queen. It's my dad's favourite thing to do... Evan's going to like this one more and more...





Evan with Uncle Matt. He's getting more and more comfortable with all of our family members. He's over the 'separation anxiety' stage and into the 'pay attention to me' stage.

Update

I thought I should probably include some update of his progress. Since I cannot upload the video we capture to show everyone. Evan is practically running! It's so cute because it's really just a very fast waddle, with his hands up in the air for balance. He's still only got two bottom teeth, but he's eating all kinds of things as long as it's soft enough to gum. He's really understanding a lot now like "come here" and "would you like a cookie" and so on. He says a few words, "mama" "dada" "cat" and "woof"... He points at things, he reads books to himself in baby language and he's constantly moving, playing, doing... he's not so interested in sitting still.
He is entirely, absolutely the cutest little boy ever! He goes down for naps much more easily, it usually takes five minutes or less to get him to sleep. He adores his aunties living here. He's always banging on their door so he can join them. He loves to dance. It's so cute, it's a combination of body wiggling and head banging. Every time he goes to Nittaya's room he points at her stereo and starts head banging - it's his signal for them to turn on the music (that's only when he's not already there pushing the buttons of course.)
We are going to Victoria for Scott's college reunion Sunday, we'll be back the following Saturday. I'm looking forward to showing Evan the ocean and going for walks and doing all kinds of fun things as a family. We'll take lots of pictures, and update this blog whenever we find a wireless signal.

Cuddle Time

Evan decided he needed a little cuddle time. So he yelled at me and I dutifully let him up. It's so cool though because he never used to want to take the time from his busy schedule to do more than give me a quick hug... Now he seeks out cuddle time. It also gives him the opportunity for a little rest, he's got so much to do!
One shot with his eyes open! All shots used to be with his eyes open (except the sleeping shots of course), but now he's learned to squint at the flash...




And he's done! Bye bye for now!

Father and son

We had a quiet little father's day. Nothing to report. Scott did an amazing job on Sunday talking about the Da Vinci Code. It was well thought out, well planned and was more a production than a sermon. It was pretty awesome!
Aren't my two guys handsome together?!? Scott's back to his usual summer do (shaved head) and Evan still doesn't have enough hair to cut.

Evan sweeping the floor. He's a very helpful guy... okay, maybe I'm making stuff up. But he really does like to imitate. He walked around with the broom for a good five minutes... it was super cute. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to upload video, so you'll have to take my word for it.









We're having a good time learning new foods like spaghetti. I haven't figured out how to make it a clean experience yet, but we're learning as we go.





Evan's a little hamster! We think he's storing paper in his cheeks so he can build a nest...

Evan's Week

One of those wonderful, pre-shower shots (thanks dad!) But doesn't Evan look great!








Grandma is more occupied with trying to get Evan to smile than to do so herself. After three pics, this was the best one...aren't they cute!













Evan checking out his usual haunts. He loves obstacle courses!
















On his way to play with the tv buttons he found himself in his toy box. So he decided to hang out in there a while.

Cute Pics in November

Scott took these shots of Evan while he was finishing his breakfast. Again we see a cute progression of expression. He is such a little charmer, as soon as he knew how.
Tonight and last night we had the opportunity to hear some rappers and the amazing DJ Search. (I hear he placed 2nd in the world a few years back.) One of our friends, Slam, aka Scott Tucker, performed both nights. Evan loved it (and fell asleep to it both nights). I put him on the ground and he "head banged", then bounced on his own for a while. I think it's his dance still. Anytime good music (ie mostly my kind of music - rock, hip-hop, stuff with beat) comes on he head bangs and kind of dances around. It is unbelievably cute!
The conference is now over, it was a great time! So many great speakers. We do get to hear from one more tomorrow morning at our church service, so that'll be a blast!