Today is Carl's 11th birthday. Which means it's been almost 11 years since we left Huntington Beach for Wichita...

Tomorrow Carl is having a mega-Minecraft sleepover! Tonight, we are having prime rib for dinner and a lemon birthday cake.

Traditional mother-son birthday photo:

This entry written by Veronica:

After three different trips to Jane's house I finally finished making this skirt. I made 100% of it. Jane fixed the machine when it got stuck and gave me much needed advice. Thank you Jane! This is my second sewing project, the first being the quilt I made with Kyle. I hope you see this Kyle and get well soon!

On Friday Judy and I took a three day trip to Victoria BC aboard the high speed Victoria Clipper. We parked the car and downtown Seattle and spent three days walking the streets of Victoria.

This was not the Tijuana of SoCal! Sure we needed passports and processed through customs as we disembarked the ferry. Canada redesigned their currency a few years ago and the new bills have a clear panel with holograms. Very pretty. Cash was easy, I just hit an ATM at a close by 7-11 for Canada dollars. Credit cards are seamless with a 1.7% foreign transaction fee.

This is the view from our hotel balcony. On the right is the Clipper in the background.

The Clipper schedule is designed to accommodate day trips. We arrived at 10:30 AM and the ship was docked until about 5:30 PM if you want to return the same day.

The BC Legislature Building sits right next to our hotel. The fountains ice over in the winter creating beautiful sculptures. (click image to enlarge)

A shout out to my father. Dad and I sold carillons in the late 1970's for the IT Verdin company.

The Netherlands Carillon contains 62 bells. They played automatically during our trip but can be played by the carillonneur, she would climb the steps to the clavier (keyboard) to play the bells. It gets rather loud sitting just below the bells.

We could not visit without an afternoon enjoying tea at the Empress Hotel.

This landmark hotel frames the boat harbor and provides first class service. We sat at a window just under the Empress name. The tea room occupies that whole area. The front door is off to the left in this picture.

The Bard and Banker represents the British style pubs at pepper Victoria. This one captured my heart with great beer, scotch, and atmosphere. The interior is designed to look like authentic Scottish pubs.

My pictures do not do justice to the rich woodwork and warm atmosphere. The mussels were excellent and I loved the tables for two tucked away in every quiet corner. We must return.

Thank you Jane for hanging with the kids.