Part II

Day two was fairly jam-packed....this a long post!

The forecast for our time away was dismal at best. Fortunately we woke up on Tuesday to only a high overcast. We knew we had to take immediate advantage of this situation! We tucked in to a hearty breakfast at the hotel's 'free' breakfast area. I say 'free' because we all know this is hidden in your room costs! But that being said, it was a very good breakfast. Pancakes, omelettes, toast, yogurt, sausage, danish, bacon, juices etc. Most impressive for Holiday Inn Express!

We met up with Suzanne after breakfast at a beach she recommended.

The beach was situated just below the base and Comox airport. We had a fantastic view of the Aurora doing touch and go landings, glider planes being pulled for training and the usual air traffic coming and going.

Even though the sun wasn't shining it was warm with very little wind.

The boys found lots of things to keep themselves amused.

Liam especially enjoyed collecting treasure for his sand pail. I plan to put all the pretty shells in a glass jar for my bathroom.

We walked until we could not stand Liam repeating over and over: I tired, pick Liam up.

So Liam got a ride back to the car. He'd gone to bed quite late the night before and it was starting to show!

We all needed a little break at this point. Very glad that I had packed juice and snacks. Moms know best!

By the time we were back to the parking area Keith's neck was pretty sore from the weight of Liam's big ole head!

This little snack revived him for our next stop which was the static display at the base.

It was a free self guided tour and we casually wandered around the different war planes.

We all had our favorites. The boys picked ones that did different missions or had different capabilities. I chose mine on color and design!

Afterwards we parted ways with Suzanne and headed for a quick bite to eat at Wendy's before getting back to the hotel for Liam's nap. Keith stayed in the hotel room while I took the kids down the pool. This was definitely when having that extra bedroom in the room was appreciated. Liam could nap undisturbed and Keith could at least watch TV in the main part of the room.

The pool area was top notch. The kids had the area all to themselves for 2.5 hours while I read my book.

After swimming and naptime, we had some time to kill before supper. In one of the tour guides I picked up on the ferry I read about a beautiful park (check it out here) that seemed really interesting. And it was FREE!

The grounds were amazing and I'll have to let the photos speak for themselves. I keep saying to Keith: My mom would love it here!

We decided it was time to find some supper and headed to White Spot. They had their annual 'Celebrate BC' specials so the boys and I had the burgers, salad and blueberry pie deal.

Liam had his first pirate pack. He loved it!

The crust was just 'meh' so I just ate the fresh blueberries and it was certainly delicious!

After supper we dropped off the older two boys for a sleep over at Suz & Tyler's. We headed back for a dip in the hot tub before bed. Just wanted to show you a need little thing that smart hotels are doing. Leaving a make up remover cloth along with the usual freebies one gets in hotel bathrooms.

Because I am sure that cleaning mascara/make up out of washcloths is not a fun thing to do. I felt much better being able to toss that cloth than leave the blackened washcloth for the hotel to deal with!