Tofino 2019

Over the past four years, Tofino has become my happy place. It's a place where everything slows down. We have a few days of no household responsibilities, and we can spend time with family, walking on the beach and eating good food. We can get as close to care-free as we can get when you have a three year old and 11 month old toddling around.

The beginning of June marks three weeks until my return to work and the end of my second maternity leave. It seems surreal that an entire year has gone by already.

This year, we decided to drive out to Tofino. I was very skeptical about the logistics of driving such a long way with two small kids, but the girls did fairly well. 

On day 1, we drove to Salmon Arm, and stopped at the Enchanted Forest along the way. Lacey was absolutely enchanted! She enthusiastically ran from each of the small fairy tale houses, bursting with excitement to see which one was next. She loved the three little pigs houses the most.

On day 2, we drove to Abbotsford. This leg of the journey was relatively uneventful, aside from several toddler tantrums. 

On day 3, we boarded the ferry, and then drove to Tofino.

And finally.... Hello, Cox Bay!

Hello beach walking, digging in sand and tide pool investigating!

I love this photo. It looks like it should be on a brochure or an advertisement for the area.

This was Scarlett's first time walking on sand. It didn't take her long to figure it out. She did plenty of sand taste testing as well, and even insisted that I taste some when she shoved her sandy hand in my mouth. Ugh.

Lots of time spent with family. 

And lots of good food enjoyed. There is a bakery in Ucluelet called Zoe's Bakery, and it is delicious. We couldn't find a table big enough for all of us, so we ended up sitting at the tiny kids table. 

The major incident that marred this portion of the trip for me was an unidentified bug that bit me on my leg near my ankle on our second day in Tofino. Initially I was worried it was a tick bite, but after a visit to the doctor and the Tofino hospital, it seems more likely it was a spider bite.

The bite was so red, angry, blistery and itchy. The turning point for me was when I got a prescription cream that helped with the insane itching! Thank God for modern medicine! 

We even managed to get a pretty good family shot! Everyone is looking at the camera, and no one is actively frowning. 

After four nights in Tofino, we painstakingly packed up all of our luggage (omigod, how did it multiple after these four nights?!), and hit the road for Nanoose Bay.