a weekend of cousins and kids!!

On Friday night, my cousin Susan and her 3 year old daughter Alaina, who live in Calgary, came to stay with me. First of all that was exciting because they were my first "guests" in my new place (got to pull out new towels and everything!!). Second of all, that was exciting because we headed out Saturday morning to catch the ferry for Vancouver Island, to go visit Susan's sister Karla(who is also my cousin, of course), her husband Brian, and their little munchkin Zander (almost 9 months) who live in Courtenay. The ferry was a fiasco in and of itself, suffice to say things didn't work out exactly as planned and it became a very expensive weekend, but no worries, there is no price tag on family time, so it was all good. Here are some pictures (many pictures, because the kids are just way too cute!) from our weekend of fun. I have realized that i didn't really take pictures of my cousins! whoops, sorry girls, i just got distracted by your adorable little kidlets!!!! enjoy!!!

Here's Alaina, chillin' on my couch as we got ready to leave for the ferry
And baby Zander
Alaina and I picked some peas in Karla's garden
Showing off the fruits of our labour
We spent some time on Sunday afternoon out on Brian and Karla's sailboat!! It was a great day, a nice gentle breeze for a mellow, relaxing sail. I was hanging out on the bow for a bit, so yes, those are my feet.

Skipper Brian
Zander checking out the water
and getting a bit windblown....lol!!
One of the few pics of my cousin Susan...hey cuzzy!!
After sailing, we came back home and got ready to meander our way back to Nanaimo, to take me back to the ferry (i had to work monday morning, so i had to come home sunday night....). Here are a few shots from around the house...Zander hanging out on the pot...and playing with tp

And chewing on Karla's ski pass...mmmm...plastic...
We spent some time hanging out at the hostel that Karla and Brian own (by the way, this is my first attempt at adding a link, so i hope it works...). Karla gave Alaina some sidewalk chalk, so when she and I weren't drawing princesses (i should have takend a picture, they were awesome!), we taught her how to play hopscotch
On the way to the ferry on Sunday we drove down the coast and stopped in Parksville for supper and checked out the sandcastle competition that was underway. There were some pretty spectacular creations!!

and of course, Alaina wanted to get in on the action and started making her own creation

Meanwhile, Zander had a good time just chillin'
and then down to the waters edge where curious little babies find things like seaweed to grab

And Alaina spent her time throwing rocks

and finally, a little love between cousins!!

So there's my weekend excursion. It was fantastic to see my cousins (it's been a while) and play with their kids (who are adorable) and visit some places i've never been before!!