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Project 365 - Day 165

Meh, this is ok, but I didn't have much time to find a good 'p' today. Kinda works, right?

So at the moment Ken is watching the new Alice in Wonderland movie, so I get the computer. Whee. Still trying to get settled after our crazy weekend away from home. We had a wonderful time, seeing the family and celebrating a wedding. Lets go back to last Friday when the fun started. Since Ariel was a flower girl, we had to be at the rehearsal on the Friday night, so we decided to leave on the 9am ferry to the island. That way we had the morning and afternoon to spend as a mini vacation with just our family.

We arrived at the terminal at 845am and got on the 9am boat, barely getting on, oops. Haha. Since we rushed out the door we didn't eat, so we had breakfast on the boat. Ariel quite liked the waffles and strawberries.

Xander did too! He was very happy to be going on an adventure.

We arrived to a warm sunny day in Victoria and took the kids to Beacon Hill Park. First stop was the petting zoo. Ariel wasn't too sure what she thought of the baby goats...

...one did like the look of Xander's hair and nearly had it for lunch.

We let Ariel run free in the gardens to get her sillies out. She loved running down the paths and hiding from us.

Me and my girl!

I loved seeing the calla lilies, simply gorgeous.

Some fun pictures in the big tree...

... my cuties!

It was lunch time and we took the kids into the city to the James Bay tea room. Ken and I had tea there on our 'mini honeymoon' and I remembered seeing a little girl having the kid's tea while there. I commented that I couldn't wait to bring our own kids one day, and that finally happened!

Ariel loved it, especially the cream she could pile on everything.

After lunch we took Ariel to see the Parliament building. She liked the stairs and thought it was like a castle. While she played I ended up talking to an elderly lady who was quite taken with Ariel. She reminded me a lot of Nana, so it was nice to chat.

We walked through the town, seeing Darth Vader playing the fiddle, of course Ken wanted a picture with him, haha. Ariel wasn't impressed.

One fun thing we came upon was a little arts market. Ariel saw a lady selling sock monkeys, and even though we have several, Ariel felt that it was something you could never have too many of. With the rehearsal in the evening, I felt it might be a good incentive for listening to instructions, so Ariel got to pick one, the ballerina, and we picked the vampire for Xander who was super in love with his. So cute!

Our final stop was the old time photo place. Ken has a joke that if we do enough of them over the years we can create a fake family album. Haha. I let Ariel pick what outfits they should do, and of course she went for the pretty dresses. She even picked Xander's outfit. They looked super cute and we got the best picture.

Then it was off to the hotel to check in and get ready for the rehearsal. The hotel was very nice and Ariel was quite taken with it. We got freshened up and met up with everyone at the golf course where the wedding would take place.


Ariel did well and I was right, the monkey was a good help for keeping her mind on task. After a few runs on walking and such, we went off for the dinner at the home of Lindsay's sister. Super yummy burgers with all the fixings. Soooo good! Lindsay had some lovely treats for the flower girls, sweet bags with teddy bears and bracelets with their names on them. Very special indeed! Ariel was rushing off to show Daddy.

Ariel was getting tired so we packed it in and went back to the hotel and had a swim in the pool to end the evening.

The next morning, we all slept in, well they did, I was up at 530am for some dumb reason. I just couldn't sleep... even Xander pulled off an uninterrupted 9 hours! We had a lazy breakfast, yummy salmon eggs Benedict. Delicious! Then back to the room to hang out till it was time for Ariel's hair appointment. When we got to the salon, Ariel was amazing! She was eager to get her hair done and told me to go read magazines, haha. She was a little upset only when we first arrived when she saw one of the other flower girls crying. I guess the heat from the curling iron was scaring her and she was having a hard time. Ariel, the little sensitive girl that she is, felt terrible and wanted Grace's 'sad eyes' to go away. Aw...

Ariel's hair took about an hour and a half, a long time in my opinion but it was really fun to watch Ariel transform. I think she thought it was cool too. Look at all those curls!

We went on our way to the golf club to get dressed. Upon arriving the planners told us Ariel's basket was downstairs and since she didn't really practice throwing petals I better go over it quickly with her. I showed her by just throwing one petal, so not to make a mess and Ariel got it nodding. Lindsay arrived with her bridesmaids and I left Ariel with girls to make their way to the ceremony in the golf carts.

I found Ken and Xander, who were looking really cute. It was very warm and sunny, so we had to shield Xander from the sun.


The ceremony started and when Ariel came down the isle she dropped only one petal. It then dawned on me she was doing exactly what I had showed her to do, haha. That's my girl!

Ariel stood up front for the whole ceremony, which amazed me. A few times I would look over and she would give me a little smile.

Kyle and Lindsay looked amazing and it was a very emotional ceremony. Lots of happy tears and even at one point an eagle flying over head.

My pretty girl!

Following the ceremony were family pictures and then a break as they went off for their private pictures.


We joined Blair and Deb on the balcony for a snack and drink. Xander thought it be fun to try a lemon, haha.

The cocktail time was announced and we could enter the main room and enjoy seeing the pretty decor. I loved the tiffany blue...

...even Xander's highchair getting a swag as well. Hee.

Cupcakes...

...and a candy bar, yum!

The reception started and we were called to dinner, which was an amazing spread of food. It almost seemed endless. We stuffed ourselves silly with everything from oysters, smoked fish, beautiful salads, steak, salmon, veggies and so much more.

During the speeches, Ken took Ariel for a walk and came back in time for the dance to start. She was so excited about that part, big surprise eh? She was having a ball and then they took a break to do the boqute and garter toss. The girls all got ready and then when Lindsay threw the flowers they landed in front of Ariel's feet. She picked them up and then tried to give them back thinking Lindsay had lost them, haha. When told she could keep them, she got pretty excited and brought them to me for safe keeping while she went back to dancing.

More dancing and Ariel enjoyed getting to dance with her Daddy... it was very sweet!

The dance went late into the night, with another small buffet of food brought out. Meat, cheese, crackers and fruit to keep the energy up for dancing. Like we needed more food, but we still ate it, haha, it be rude not to right?

Both kids fell asleep and we finally packed them up to bring them back to the hotel. It was an amazing day and we had enjoyed it so much.

In the morning we joined everyone again for brunch, again more food, before heading to the ferry to go home. It was sad this fun weekend was ending, but we had a fabulous time and now have to rest up for the next wedding next weekend... yes, we get to do it all again in a short week, yay!