We were a little worried about the flight with Eli, but he was such a good boy. He slept a lot of the way there. On the way back, he had a couple of accidents--one in which we had to change clothes--but he was still charming everyone around him as he likes to do. The flight attendants were in love (one offered to trade me my glass of water for Eli) and rewarded us by letting us take a picture in the cockpit of the airplane.
Everyone on the Pratt side of the family has now been able to see Eli, and he got to see his cousins for the first time. Two of those cousins are twins--Camden and Brennen--who were born just three weeks before Eli, so it's nice that he has cousins his own age (soon he will have another cousin--Sophee--close in age on the Grant side). Of course, Eli doesn't realize any of this at this point, but he will appreciate it some day. For now, we just get to look at the cute pictures of them together.
Eli also got to see his one living great grandparent--his great Grandma Rosie--and we were able to stay a night with her while we were in Gig Harbor. Josh and I love to hear her stories and marvel at her experiences. We love you Grandma Rosie!
Before going to Canada, we celebrated Dad Pratt's birthday, which was on the 13th. After coming back we had a birthday celebration for Josh, whose birthday was on the 26th (more about his birthday here in Houston in the next blog--sorry I'm way behind in my blogging). For both birthday celebrations, we did some grilling with the whole family. We surprised Josh with a banner and balloons, and we blindfolded him so he wouldn't know where he was going when we took him blueberry picking, which he loves to do. Actually, we didn't go blueberry picking until the next day because of time constraints, so initially he was blindfolded to go to the grocery store, which he easily guessed. Josh loves to ruin surprises :). However, we had a good time eating homemade ice cream and cobbler and picking blueberries. We later went to Point Defiance as part of his birthday too. He was able to do a little bit of hiking there, and we visited Fort Nisqually where we saw and heard about the settlement there. Because all of this pre-birthday celebration took some time, we ended up extending our stay in Gig Harbor by two days, which we didn't mind at all. Thank goodness Southwest lets you cancel flights, and thanks to Mom Pratt for rapid rewards!
We went up to Victoria, B.C., Canada on Monday the 14th with Mom and Dad Pratt and Megan. We drove about an hour and a half to Port Angeles, where we took the ferry. It was freezing out on the deck because of the wind, so I went inside and ended up falling asleep since I was still tired from time zone changes. It was about a 90 minute ferry ride to Victoria, and when we got there, we had to wait in a long line of cars to get through customs. When we finally got through, Dad Grant was waiting for us. He showed us to the hotel where we had a beautiful view of the water. Thanks to Mom and Dad Grant for such a nice place to stay!
Monday evening we ended up taking a stroll to downtown Victoria. On Tuesday, we visited the Parliament building with a big statue of Queen Victoria on the outside. Just because politics are so interesting to me, this was one of my favorite things to look at in Victoria. We got a brief history of the architect and how the building came about and a small introduction to parliamentary procedure. Basically, the architect was a fraud, the edifice was way too expensive, and the stained glass windows show the sun setting on the British empire, which was a no-no back when Great Britain was king of the hill.
After touring the Parliament Building, we visited Craigdarroch (meaning "rocky place") Castle. It, too, was interesting to me because I've always wanted to tour a castle. The history there showed that money does not equal happiness. It was a huge place with tons of rooms that were unfortunately not enjoyed by the whole family.
On Wednesday we went to Butchart Gardens. The gardens were absolutely beautiful, though the price was definitely not. My favorite were the Sunken Gardens and the Italian Gardens. On the way there, Eli had a blowout, which is somehow much worse when traveling. Fortunately, the sun was able to get out any staining. Most of the day was spent at Butchart, but in the evening, we went up to Sydney (known for its many bookstores). Everything had basically closed down by the time we got there, but it was a quaint little town with a nice view of the water, and we ate fish and chips.
On Thursday we went to Beacon Hill, a beautiful park with lots of ducks and a petting zoo. Eli loved to watch the ducks, and the flowers were just as beautiful as those enjoyed in Butchart Gardens. After Beacon Hill, we went to the beach, rocky but beautiful. Finally, we went to Chinatown where they supposedly have the smallest street in all of Canada. I think this was also the day (or maybe it was Tuesday) when Eli got a sample of the hotel swimming pool. He discovered that Houston swimming pools are a little bit warmer even though they aren't heated as the hotel one supposedly was. Needless to say, he was not a happy baby, though his swimming time only totaled a few minutes. The sauna on our room's balcony was a lot nicer, but Eli didn't get to try that for obvious reasons. Mommy and Daddy enjoyed it though!
Friday was Josh's favorite day as we did a little bit of hiking, which he loves to do. We went to Goldstream Provincial Park. Josh told us that the hike would be about a mile, but I swear (and so does Megan and Mom Pratt) that it was more like two or three because we kept going and going. Eli really seemed to enjoy it with his Daddy, though. Unfortunately, we lost Eli's hat (the really cute one that Uncle Kendall gave him) somewhere along the way, and we accidentally taped over the video footage we took of it. However, we did see some beautiful waterfalls at the beginning and end.
After hiking and eating lunch, Josh took us on a car ride to the end of the world. He, along with Mom and Dad Pratt's GPS system, got us where we needed to go though. We ended up at a lovely beach with a beautiful view of the ocean. Josh loved this, which explains why he wants to live on the coast someday.
On Saturday we (except Mom and Dad Grant, who went inside) took a look at the outside only of the Emily Carr House (she is a known artist and writer in Canada) and looked around a thrift shop (Josh's all-time favorite type of store) before we had to catch the ferry back to the States. Mom and Dad Grant caught a later ferry and met up with us on Sunday in Gig Harbor.
All in all, the trip was an adventure and one for the memory books. Unfortunately, Eli will not remember it, but he had a great time, and we always have the pictures and video footage. In fact, some of the footage includes Eli laughing as Grandma Grant tickled him. It was his first sustained laughter and still very rare (either he's not a laugher or he needs more time). We also caught him smiling on camera. Precious footage and photos. Great memories. Tons of fun.
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