Happy Anniversary to Me...and my husband

The Pictures listed above are from Butchart Gardens in Victoria.

Three weeks ago tomorrow my husband and I were officially married for 6 years. We've lived together for 10 years. The first 1.5 of those years as roommates. It's been great. Most years we've tried to do something special for our anniversary. The first year we did a series of day trips from Vancouver, B.C., Mt Rainier, and Lake Quinalt. The second year I don't think we did anything. I think it came and went. Our third year, D booked us on a 13 day trip to DisneyWorld. It was fabulous. Let me be the first to tell you. You don't have to have kids to do this trip. In fact, if you want to go outside of DW it's best if you didn't. We did everything you could do in Orlando Florida those 13 days in October. This year, we went to Victoria, Canada. It was beautiful. We caught the Victoria Clipper boat downtown Seattle on Thursday morning and by !0:45 we were there. Everything is within walking distance, and while I didn't have my fancy new camera with me I did have my little pocket sony which is also an excellent camera.

I make it sound stress free and carefree and it was anything but. D asked me the week before we were to leave if I had arranged for the dogs to stay with our friend Lillian. I said, 'of course' I arranged all sorts of dates with Lillian. Please note that my track record this summer of arranging dates with Lillian and actually doing it is against me. I totally forgot to talk to her about this weekend, but I didn't know that until Tuesday Sept 29th, two days before we were to leave literally the country. I email Lillian on Monday and heard back Tuesday. Panic mode entered. She was full so I was going to have to see if Adix's was available. They are great by the way. They were, they could take them, they just needed updated vaccination records. Sweet. D also emailed me, hopefully they can take them but if they can, the dogs need their shots. He was right, the post card from the vet had arrived over the weekend that the dogs were due for their exams and shots. CRAP! Lets outline a new scenario now. Dogs need their shots, D and I are leaving for a long weekend, it's month end at the office which means all the charges have to be in, HAVE TO BE IN, before I leave town. Not only do they HAVE TO BE IN, they have to be in without any error that prevent posting. Plus now I have to take the dogs to the vet for their exam. Remember this is Tuesday, we leave on Thursday. I call the vet on Tuesday. Dr. B. is not available and I won't see another vet. She is available on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. okay, we'll take it. So now my stress has hit an all time high. I'm furiously working at the office and getting nothing done, or so it seems, I have to try and figure out how I'm going to take the dogs to the vet, drop them at the kennel, get to work, and get my piece done for month end without incidence. Well I did it. I was at work till late in the evening but I did it. Dogs are healthy, we had a great time in Victoria, and everyone is home safe.

The only major downfall I encountered was, when I opened my backpack on the boat I only had one knitting project, and it wasn't the one I really wanted to knit. I was devastated. It worked out well though. We were so busy during all of our time that I was too tired to knit at night and there was no time during the day. Please enjoy the pictures below. They are from The Empress Hotel Rose Gardens, Butchart Gardens, and the Royal British Museum of Natural History. Again, so you don't think I'm crazy having a blog about knitting and that there is no knitting posted. It's coming up on Christmas and I can't possibly post pictures of what I'm doing lest readers discover it and ruin the surprise. (I of course build up the surprise so much that I'm never happy with the reaction I get when I give someone something that's knitted) To all my FB friends, I'm sorry, these pictures are all repeats of what you've been subjected too. Enjoy them again. It'll do you good.

xoxo

Carmel

p.s. Thanks to Wikipedia for all the information. :)

Leave Seattle on the Clipper

The Empress Hotel in Victoria

Parliment

A Scene at the Royal British Museum

The Harbor in Victoria

Me, in our hotel room. I never knew my smile was crooked till I took this picture.

Good Morning Victoria

Water Taxi. These are so much fun. For $4.00 a piece Canadian they'll take you where you want to go. For $40.o0 canadian they'll take you on a tour of the Harbor, what people don't know is you can walk around the harbor for free.