1st Ironman Race

The girls ran their first 1K race. It was part of the Subaru Ironman festivities that is happening this weekend. A fun run for the kids. Alex and Rachel were FANTASTIC. It helped that their friends from school were there too. So they were super pumped. I wasn't sure what to expect but there were hundreds of kids. At the start of the race, the kids took off on me. I wasn't wearing running shoes but summer sandals. I had to chase after them so not to lose them in the crowd. I looked around and realized that every other mama and papa were dressed sporty and was wearing runners. Jeesh....I'm so not sporty. I thought I was going to walk pushing the stroller while the girls jogged beside me. Thank goodness I was with another person who stayed behind and looked after Sophia.

The girls were super proud of themselves. Their 1st medal. So cool.

Alex was bee lining it to the finish line. She has wanted a medal for the longest time. She was really disappointed when she didn't get one after the soccer season. But today her dream came true. Rachel got a cramp near the end of the race but didn't slow down because of all the people on the sidelines cheering us on. After the race she beamed that we had so many cheerleaders during the race.

Posing with some of their buddies before the race started.

Sophia proudly wearing her sister's medal at home. She doesn't know what it is but she knows it is really important because all the big kids got one. She wouldn't nap in the stroller even though she hadn't napped this afternoon. She just loves being around people.

Can't wait for next year's race.

This photo is for you Shannon!

I never get to choose what the twins will wear. For a long long time now they have dressed themselves and will resist any suggestions that I might give them. But this morning I gave them no choice. I wanted them to all wear these beautiful matching outfits (on the same day!) that my friend, Shannon, had given them for their birthday. So lovely and girly. Thanks Shannon and Jeff!

Grandparent visit

The kids are being spoiled with ice cream at the beach thanks to their Grandpa from Toronto as well as lots of attention from both grandparents. Fun times for the Chung Chungs.

We went on a Family Adventure today.  I felt totally out of my comfort zone but am happy that we went on our outing.  We went whale watching!  And actually got to see a mama humpback whale with her calf.  So special. 

The girls right before our trip out to sea.  Very excited.

Papa was able to capture some pictures of all the sea animals we saw.  

Mama Whale.  The whales were beautiful.  They would surface and swim for a while and then go down for about 5 minutes at a time to feed.  Then they would pop up somewhere in the horizon.  Spectacular really to witness it floating on a small boat in the ocean.

Sleepy Sea Lions.  They were huge.

Cute Seals.  Something about the seal's face reminds me of Tobi.

Bald Eagle.  There are a pair of adult eagles with their 2 young ones that live on this small island.  We waited by it's nest for a couple of minutes and then saw this one fly back and land on the tree.

We weren't able to see the Otters or the Black Bears today.  I had really wanted to see the Black bears feeding on the shores but I guess that will have to wait until another day.  The girls did really well considering the trip was 2 1/2 hours long.  Sophia fell asleep 1/2 way through and the twins started to get sea sick in the last hour.  Papa put down his camera and had to hold them on the back of the deck to get fresh air and in case they had to puke.  An Italian lady was already on the back of the boat being sick so I was pretty worried the girls were going to lose it.  But they kept chewing their gum and Papa kept pointing out the sea lions and such to keep their minds off the motion sickness.  We were happy to be back on land and ended our great morning with the yummiest Fish and Chips for lunch.

Then we got back to our hotel and the girls drew pics of the adventure.  Alex's picture is the one on top and Rachel below.

What we discovered on the beach today

On Vacation

This girl is naughty.  We all love her BUT she is naughty.   She is a total goofball and has the best sense of humour and makes us all laugh but she is a handful.  You see Papa and I love eating out.  Alex and Rachel were good listeners and would be so well behaved out in public.  We could take them to ANY restaurant and they would eat in their highchairs, eat well and then we would be off.  When other parents complained that their kids were awful in restaurants we were thankful that our girls were not.  Well guess what.  Sophia doesn't like eating out.  She SCREAMS! She WILL NOT sit in her high chair.  And she wiggles, throws food and basically SCREAMS until you hold her all the time.  Which means that Papa and Mama can not enjoy our food but have to eat it with one hand really fast with wiggly Sophia in the other hand.   I think it's because I joked about other people's kids.  You know, in the privacy of our home.  I would say things like...Joyce is totally spoiling Hudson!  She holds him ALL the time,  or I would say other things like... X person sleeps with her baby, how in the world will the baby learn to fall asleep on their own.  You know, things like that, which have come back to bite me in my bum!!!!!!!

Well I bring this up because we are on vacation and have to eat out for a lot of our meals.  It's been a little stressful up to this point.  We were in Vancouver (our favorite city to EAT) for the last 3 days without a kitchen to cook in.   But we were able to eat at some of our favorite restaurants and now we are in Tofino.  My very favorite place to visit in B.C.  It is so peaceful and BEAUTIFUL here.  AND most importantly we have a kitchen in our unit.  Hurray!  So we can eat more meals at 'home'.

I should mention though that Sophia is doing amazing in the sleep department.  The long drives have been so much better than we anticipated because of Sophia's long naps.  Like I'm talking 3 hours long.  This never happens.  So we were so so thrilled that it happened on both long drives so far.  Other parents tell us that their babies sleep well on long naps all the time.  I think they lie. just kidding...sort of.
This place is awesome for kids.  They have marshmallow roasts every night by the beach.  The kids love it.  They also love looking for treasures on the beach.  Rachel found her first sand dollar last night.  Alex can't wait to go out today to look for her sand dollar, see star fish, etc...  

A few pictures from our stroll after dinner last night.

Carnival Photos 2009

We went to the fair that came into town yesterday evening. We have wanted to go for a couple of days but it is too HOT during the day. Reaching almost 40 degrees. Yikes. So we went after dinner with some friends of ours and everyone had a great time. We had to go and buy tickets for the rides THREE times. We kept running out of tickets because the kids kept wanting to go on more rides. One of the highlights were the sugar donuts. Soooo good.