Family Weekend Fun in Nanaimo

Twice a year we make a trip to Nanaimo to visit with Jim's family and some of our friends from back when we lived there. Luckily my boss was nice enough to give me the day off on Friday which allowed us that one extra day to get stuff bought and friends/family visited while we are there.

On Friday afternoon when we arrived in town we went straight to my good friend Annie's house where we were staying and had a great visit with her while James had a nap. Then off to the mall to get some new summer clothes for little man and start the BIG BOY ROOM shopping! :o)

Friday night we had supper with Jim's Grandma Doris and her partner Roger. Doris was married to Jim's wonderful Grandpa Doug who died 4 years ago and that we both just loved and adored. Since his passing we have made it a point to keep Doris in our lives and absolutely love Roger to bits too. They both adore James and to him they are Grandma Doris and Grandpa Roger.

Here's some cute pictures of our visit with them.

That night we made it back to Annie's for a short visit with her, Jay (her bf) and Acasia (their daughter) before the munchkins headed to bed and we had our adult only visit.

Here is James and Acasia brushing their teeth and
snuggling while we read stories before bed.

On Saturday morning we went and picked up Jim's Mom and took her to Tania's for breakfast and had a fantastic visit with her. She was chatting and playing with James and it was so cute to see. He loved saying Tracy and was excited to color with her and laughed when she said Scooby from the coloring book. Warmed my heart so much to see these two together.

Feeding treats to Grandma Tracy's dog Ben

On Saturday afternoon we spent a few hours at Woodgrove shopping for James's new big boy room. We bought a comforter set, new sheets, lamp, floor mats, curtains...all in blue and white! Will take pictures as the room comes together.

Getting ready to head out again to the mall for more 

BIG BOY ROOM SHOPPING!!

Saturday evening we headed out to Jim's cousins house for a fun few hours together where the kids could play outside on their property and we could all enjoy a wonderful supper, birthday cake and visit. We were able to spend time with Jim's dad Colin, brother Tom, his cousin Shelley and her hubby Scott and their little girl Brooklyn, and his cousin Shawn and his girlfriend Kyla and their son Eli. Would have loved to see Shawn & Shelley's parents Auntie Marcia and Uncle Paul but they had dinner plans and weren't able to join us. We did get to see Auntie briefly when she came out to Shawn's to drop off James's wonderful Easter and birthday presents. Next time I hope we get to have a better visit with them!

Pictures from our evening out at the "Ranch"

Trampoline Fun

Bubbles with Uncle Tom

Playing catch with Grandpa Colin 

Eli doesn't look like he's as much of a hugger as James is! 

Attempting to get a picture of the 3 of them is almost impossible nowadays. 

Attempting one more photo! 

For some reason our kid doesn't like people singing Happy Birthday to him! 

Great big THANK YOU to Auntie Shelley for how wonderful she was about celebrating James's birthday. Thanks for the gift and the cake, even though he wouldn't touch it! 

Barrows men photos with a tired little man and a happy Grandpa Colin!

On Sunday morning we hung out with our amazing hosts Annie, Jay and Acasia. James absolutely adores Acasia and kept running up to her wanting to play. Although we were from the same small town we grew up in different circles. We met and became friends when we both lived in Nanaimo and had so many great times together, then we moved in together as roommates and our friendship fell apart because of my immaturity and lack of common sense. Years later with an engagement and a move to PR under my belt and lots of growing up having been done, I found her through Facebook and we've never looked back. That first night we spent talking for hours and felt like no time had passed. Anyways, fast forward many years and we are best buddies again and make time to see each other whenever we are there in Nanaimo or she comes here to visit her parents in Powell River. She so graciously offers her home for us to stay when we are in Nanaimo and Jim and I both appreciate having a warm, comfortable and private place to stay when we are away from home.

Sunday afternoon we met for lunch at our favorite out of town restaurant BOSTON PIZZA for lunch with our friends Aaron & Kayla. We hadn't had a good visit with them since we were in Nanaimo last year for James's 1st Birthday. When we saw them in November we were with a bunch of people and I didn't feel like we got to really visit with them. It was good to see them and we had such a great time with them and James was having a ton of fun playing with them, but was irritated with how many pictures Mommy had taken over the weekend, hence the unimpressed cheeeessseeee face he is making in the photos!

We had such an amazing weekend away and love all of our family and friends so much. Thanks to all those that were able to make it out to see us and hope to catch everyone again when we are able to make it there in the fall. If anyone ever wants to visit us in Powell River, just let us know when and we'll be ready for you! No need to bring a car over, just drive to Comox and hop on the ferry and we'll pick you up!