Summer on Vancouver Island

If you didn't already know, Mike and I are enjoying a short vacation on Vancouver Island right now!  

We had the ABSOLUTE pleasure of photographing my good friend Julie's marriage to Michael Willing on Saturday and have been using that wedding as an excuse to stay on the island for a little while until our next wedding!

It has been an AWESOME vacation so far!  Mike and I took off Monday evening from Calgary and drove through the night (and through the intense heat wave!) and got to Vancouver on Tuesday afternoon.  

Vancouver was fantastic as always... Shannon and Jason were there visiting with Shan's sister Kristy so it was fun hanging out with them there!  We went to Granville island for the day and sat on the Bridges patio drinking mojito's and sipping oysters! I got myself a scary looking burn that day... Eeek!  Other than that it was such heaven.  The ocean breeze was such a relief in the humid high +30's!  I'll leave those photo's up to Shan!  We put our camera's to rest for the majority of our vacation :) 

The crew went Ocean Kayaking and I was lucky enough to catch a date with Miss Keira-anne (and the famous Jordy the dog) last minute!  We sipped Okanagan Kettle Valley Pinot Gris down by the ocean (mischieviously hidden in Starbucks thermos') as we watched Jordy run around and play with other adorable pups.  I even thought for a moment that I might enjoy having a dog one day?  It was sort of a breakthrough for me...

Keira and I just have an incredible bond... it's crazy how life changes and we change, but every time we see each other we can just pick up where we left off.  

Since being on Vancouver Island we have had ourselves all kinds of fun.  

Yesterday Mike, Dad and I went to Coombs Market for lunch and some magical Island Farms ice cream.  We then hit up the sandy beach in Parksville for a peaceful nap in the sunshine.  

on Thursday  I had one of the BEST birthday's of all time...

My mom and I went to enjoy some time together in Victoria while Mike, Dad, Jay and Shan went golfing at Bear Mountain!  

Congratulations Shannon on getting a birdie on one of the HARDEST golf courses in Western Canada!

It was another hot hot summery day in the B.C heat wave, but we managed to keep cool with gelato and various other lovely Vancouver Island Delicacies.  

The rose garden at The Empress is looking particularly fantastic right now!  I'm not sure how these delicate roses are managing to live through this intense heat! 

Mom and I EVEN went to The Noodle Box in Victoria- one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE places to eat.  Mmmm... it was everything I remembered and more.

We all met up in the evening at one of my favorite dining spots on the island - Steeples Restaurant in Shawnigan Lake.  Since Mike and I had never dined there in the summer time we had no idea that they had outdoor seating in their backyard garden.  Dinner was absolutely perfect, and the company was even better.  We sat in the garden eating dinner until it got dark and had coffee (and fiery birthday Sambuca) under the stars.  It really was just perfect.