After the most amazingly mild winter, spring is here with vengeance. There are cherry blossoms are out as are all the daffodils. The days are so warm and sunny and we have forgotten what rain is like – the locals are talking about bush fires water restrictions over the summer.

We are officially on Spring Break as of today and yesterday we celebrated the passing of the first of 3 terms. The kids report cards came in – graded and everything (definitely not an “everyone is awesome and deserves a certificate culture” here!) We celebrated my birthday yesterday and the end of term with 3 other families on campus. The kids ran riot in the now empty boarding house while we continued to make the most of the amazing craft beer culture here.

For my birthday – in the spirit of accumulating nothing this year – I was given an envelope full of certificates

– From Dibs:

• A back massage
• 5 Min a day discussing Skulduggery pleasant – the 9 volume book series we are both reading!
• 1 full day of directing all questions to Dad instead of me!

– From Jemima

• To eat chocolate together
• Make my bed
• play soccer together

– From Chloe

• Free Cuddles
• Make a necklace together
• No complaining for a day

From Shem – Whale watching in Victoria.

We did that one today and it could not have been more amazing. The weather was beyond beautiful and in a Zodiac inflatable boat we zoomed out into the waters between Vancouver Island and Washington State USA. We were lucky enough to see a hump back whale which is really rare in these waters, especially at this time of the year. There were dozens of bald eagles that were so beautiful, lots of seals and the scenery was just stunning. It was a perfect day.

   

One of the best benefits of this exchange so far has been rather unexpected. Because the kids finish school at 2.15, the weather has been so good (thank goodness!) and we are not FLAT OUT with commitments, the kids have been spending hours and hours outside playing with their campus friends.

They have developed a series of club houses around the school, the one by the pond (complete with medical center and jail!) is next to the gym and the one on the viewing platform is outside our house. The time to just imagine,play, create and get dirty is so good. All that is required is that food is occasionally thrown out the door. The kids have worked out how to ‘work the system’ and get stashes of food of each parent without them knowing about previous contributions!! I am still thinking of ways to ensure the kids have more of this time when we get home, but I’m just not sure what you would get rid of to make it happen – such a challenge.

We have developed a great friendship with Simon and Ashley Beaty, who remind us so much of the Haighs – especially when getting together on a Friday night for a quick and innocent drink! Their daughter Lauren has captured the girls hearts and they constantly fight over who Lauren likes best (driving me insane).

Even more bizarre is that Liam, the Head of House for our boarding house is quite seriously a Canadian version of David Roberts – so have we gone far out of our comfort zone in meeting new people – maybe not!

We are off to the ‘interior’ as it is called here – which means anywhere not coastal in Canada. We have 7 days skiing at a mountain called SilverStar which is reportedly one of the best family mountain in Canada. Your lift tickets do include the tube park and ice-skating and we are staying right in the heart of the village. There is currently a 2.5mt base of snow and we are completely pumped and completely over our now useless seasons passes to the local mountain (well not quite over it, but moving on!)

Anyway the year is flying by and we are having a ball, but also each missing home in many ways and looking forward to upcoming visits from family and friends. The kids have loved skyping home and their generational understanding of the way communication works was very evident yesterday when the Dunell’s skyped us and we could hear them but not see them. The kids said “Mum its no use, we cant see them”  and I said “yes, but you can just talk to them..” they looked at me as if I had two heads and said  “don’t be silly mum, we need to see them!!”

Finally, quote of the day…

Jemima runs down the school steps at the end of the last day of schools and yells..

“Dad Dad its spring break, this is going to be the best summer ever…” Love it!!!!