It really isn't easy to take care of 3 kids, stay healthy, and keep up with work. So much to juggle, hence it’s already July and I’m only my 2nd post of the year. 

F is already 9 months, and we celebrated with a long weekend trip to Salt Spring Island. 

I was excited to go back after all these years (read more about my 2017 trip at this link). Not much has changed, other than the addition of more food trucks (gentrification???).

Oh and the addition of my 3 kids, of course. 

Before the trip, I was a bit worried about what they would eat. It's always difficult to feed each of them, because they have their own preferences, likes and dislikes, which also depend on their level of fatigue. I only let myself think about it for a few minutes, because there weren’t enough neurons in my very full and tired brain to even remember to think about it (if that makes sense…). 

For dinner on the 1st day, we went to Cassette. Spoiler - we all loved it, 10/10 food and service for a group of 9 with a total of 5 kids. 

Entree for 2, with the salmon option, for me, baby F, and H: 

PERFECT fish, crispy skin, no bones. Comes with a salad that I only managed to get one bite of, because the rest of the family devoured it. Can you see the little golden edible flowers garnishing the salad? 

Fried chicken burger for S: 

Also perfectly cooked chicken!!! H is usually pretty picky with fish and chicken, but he was extremely quiet during this meal, too busy eating. 

Cassette smash burger for P: 

He left 3/4 of the burger, mostly because he didn’t nap despite waking up at 6AM to make it for the 8:50AM ferry. More of this delicious burger for me… 

Piles of fries, as you can see from the photos. None of the fried food was overly greasy. The staff remembered to keep salt levels low. I wish we had time to have dessert. Actually, I wish I had the foresight to use formula, so that I could have an alcoholic beverage at the breweries and the cider place that we visited back in 2017. 

For most of this trip, I was with the baby, either nursing or napping him, and not doing a whole lot. We did finally make it to the infamous Salt Spring Island Saturday farmers’ market and made a quick loop around before heading to the nearby playground. Honest opinion of the market is that it was a bit of a bust though, so crowded and overpriced, with a mediocre quality of goods. Who am I to judge though? Some people might like driftwood bird houses, still fresh with bird doo doo. :) 

While F napped, the other kids went for short hikes, beach time, blackberry picking, going to the goat cheese place, bakeries. Because I was mostly with the baby, I think P must have felt neglected. I forget sometimes that he’s not as independent as his older sister, who was having a blast with her cousins and making up games… Anyways, hoping the next trip will be better for him. At the end, he bonded with my cousin’s huge dog and we ended up leaving on a very high note. Guess we’ll come back again… 

I just want to go back to this…

Might as well just eat.

Look at all that butter. @Happy Date Bakery & Restaurant. Maybe I don’t exercise enough to have this, but we’re all going to die one day, and I’d rather eat this and be happy than deprive myself of all that fluffy bread with butter.

Reasons why I cannot sleep:

1. SimCity BuildIt is keeping me awake.
2. I dread transiting to work, but how else am I going to save some money?
3. Too much coffee today to stay awake.
4. Just not ready to sleep yet.

Waking up at 6AM tomorrow to bus to work when I could be riding comfortably in my Veloster. (Maybe not that comfortably, I get pretty nervous when I’m driving these days, probably because of all the previous accidents). It’ll be my first time using the monthly pass on the Compass card. I’ll let you know how it goes.

We hiked to Skookumchuk Narrows, and passed by Brown Lake:

We went to both North Point and Roland Point. Roland Point has a closer view of the rapids and kayakers were using this spot to enter the water:

These rapids only occur at certain times, when the tides are right (there’s a tidal schedule somewhere on the Internet).

You probably can’t tell what’s in the titanium pot on the right (H bought this pot for $70. SUPER lightweight), but we had instant noodles in there. Sardines to top off the noodles.

H was covered in sweat during this hike, possibly because he wore his Patagonia down puffer jacket the whole way. It was an easy hike.

Here a few places to look for hikes along the Sunshine Coast:

http://www.sunshine-coast-trails.com/

http://penderharbour.org/Recreation/Trails/trails.html

http://www.sunshinecoast-trail.com/

http://www.sunshinecoastcanada.com/hidden-gems/sunshine-coast-trail

 

We went to pick up groceries at the IGA at Madeira Park afterwards for dinner:

Cedar Creek wine, tortellini, spinach, pepperoni sticks, and crushed up Ruffle cheese chips.

We still had not yet discovered a good coffee place. Coffee on the coast is watery and not effective. Will bring my own next time.

Not quite the middle, but we were on the side of nowhere. We still had data.

Enjoying the view at brunch, before hiking to Skookumchuck Narrows. I need a waffle maker to make bacon waffle benny’s.

We booked this place through BC Ferries, so it included the ferry ride over for $360. TripAdvisor review here.

Beautiful day for a drive and a hike, and H & I wanted to take the new Veloster up on the highway, so we decided to hit up Joffre Lake yesterday. I came here last year with L & A: http://luwesa.blogspot.ca/2014/06/joffre-lakes.html 

The lower lake was amazing (the Veloster was amazing too. I really missed it.):

Traffic heading up the Upper Levels highway was horrid, we were side tracked by the Squamish farmer’s market, and there was construction along the Duffy Lake Road, so by the time we arrived at the lake, it was already about 3:30PM. Not enough time to go up and come down before dark. We ate our snacks by the parking lot and left. Harrison brought Astronaut ice cream by Mountain House that came with his Cairn box a while back:

Tasted like real ice cream, but the texture was stickier and well… dry, ‘cause that’s essentially what it was.