Tofino

In early July we made our way to Tofino, BC with Ed, Liezel and Sophia. We stopped on the way there at the famous Goats on the Roof Market in Coombs and it was interesting to see how much it has changed since we were there in 2008. The drive was long and luckily no one became car sick. The weather was raining on and off and the whole time I had high hopes that it would clear by the time we arrived. It was not to be. By the time we reached the campsite, it was a downpour. To make matter worse, we found that there was an oversight on our part and the sites we were given were quite a ways from each other. We were able to squeeze all 7 of us on to one site and just used the Westy to block the entire view of the 'illegal' site. Thank goodness because we didn't have too much in way of shelters apart from the Westy. The next day we headed into town and had a chance to shop at the farmer's market, explore around town and have lunch at Big Daddy's Fish Stand. Our second full day was graced with sun. Finally! We headed to the beach for the day. We hit up Incinerator Rock Beach, Long Beach and the South Beach Trail at the Kw'istis Visitor Centre. South Beach was probably my favourite beach as it was an awesome place for shelling. So many cool finds! Our last day was met with rain, again. We didn't let it stop us from heading to Ucluelet, Cathedral Grove and Parksville on the way back to the ferry in Nanaimo.

Though it rained for most of our trip, that one day of sun allowed us a chance to see how great it would be to make this trip again next year. I think we'll definitely be back. We'll hopefully be at a different campground, but we'll be back! :)

A stop for lunch and some shopping in Coombs, BC

With so much rain, we HAD to have s'mores to go with the fire every night.

Josh and Ed at the beach by our campsite.

The kids had loads of fun on the beach even in the chilly weather.

Incinerator Rock/Long Beach

The walk to South Beach had so many cool views.

 

Here are our treasures. Too bad they stunk up the car so badly that even the kids were ok with letting them go.

Cathedral Grove

These two, bonded over their love for their doggies.

A rare group shot.

Girl Guides District Camp at Camp Olave

The end of June brought us to our last Girl Guides event of the school year. Camp Olave is a camp owned by the Girl Guides near Sechelt and now that I've had the chance to go myself, I can see why Maddy loves it so much. It was really nice to see the older sections take on leadership roles and to see the strong bond between the girls in each of the units. It was a great way to end the year of Guiding.

 Our first look at the beautiful view.

 Our own Brownie campfire with s'mores at the Kwi Kwa site.

 District campfire led by the Rangers.

The ropes course was brand new this year, and it was a definite hit.