When spending any significant time on Vancouver Island one should absolutely carve out at least half day for Butchart Gardens.
Somehow we accidentally got split into three separate groups. There was Laura with August and Tevye, Marianne with Xavier and Déla, and myself with Ciáran and Grace.
There were a few items new to the gardens that I don’t remember, but then again, it has been 20 years or so. It was fun to walk around focusing on a much smaller number of kids rather than focusing on keeping track of everybody.
Ciáran really seemed to enjoy getting a bit more attention than he usually does.
Towards the end of our time there we weren’t sure where everybody else was. This is where multiple people having cell phones worked in our favor. 20 years ago who knows what we would have done. Now we can just text “where are you” and get a response.
Rather close to Butchart Gardens is the Victoria Butterfly Garden and Insectorium. Their word, not mine. Laura and I thought it was a relocation of what used to be in the Crystal Garden downtown Victoria, but apparently it is not.
Xavier made a new friend.
Here are Tevye and Xavier desperately trying to get one of the butterflies to land on them.
It was a long day having gotten up early, so there was time for a quick nap.
For more than one kid.
Then it qwas on to one of the numerous parks in Victoria, this one with a bit of beachfront.
Grace loved playing with the sand.
This was one of the best playgrounds I have seen with plenty to do.
How good is this playground?
Alright, that’s it for this round.