Yesterday, we took Hannah and Nathan to Victoria for their birthdays. We wanted to take Nathan, who is train-obsessed, to the Museum so we could go to the old town and go to the Port Hardy train station in said old town and wait for the train. It is so much fun; there are whistles and lights and train track sounds. It sounds silly, but it is really neat, and it was a hit, in that he flattened himself against the window trying to see the train, and insisted on staying there for four or five successive trains. Which means that Margaret has now been fed in a museum train station.
Anyway, I should start at the beginning.
Yesterday morning, I arrayed her in her ferry sweater.
And put her newly-made double-thick monkey blanket on top of her.
We picked up the children (Nathan, Hannah, and Emily - another pair of semi-adult hands, since Hannah has a history of getting herself lost in Victoria) and stood in line to get on the ferry. Usually, we get there early enough that we don't need to wait while they unload the cars, but since we were planning on sitting on the back of the ferry so the girls wouldn't get seasick, we didn't need to rush. The fact that we didn't need to rush didn't stop my mother and I from being anxious. There are ways that one conducts oneself on the way to Victoria, and it involves being the first on the boat and the first off and sitting in a specific row in the front cabin. We've reduced this trip to a science.
We got on the ferry and wrangled the stroller up the stairs. Margaret remained a fairly good sport about the whole thing, though I think she thought that an elevator would be an improvement.
This did not stop her from dropping off to sleep, either rocked by the gentle rise and fall of the boat, or bored cross-eyed by our inane conversation.
In order to get off the boat, you have to stand at a counterintuitive place right by the luggage cart.
We got off first.
She's a little blurry because we're heading for customs, and she was going to have to account for herself for the first time in her life. (We got her in and out of the country even though there's an error on her birth certificate. Also, the US immigration guy on the way back was from the Hill. Weird).
Margaret enjoyed the Museum.
Getting off the boat first on the way back is a little trickier. You have to go around the back of the boat, and stand in the wind and dark and cold.
So we bundled her up properly.
You should have taken them up to the BC Forest Museum (I think) where Nathan could have ridden on the train.
ReplyDeleteThe BC Forest Museum requires a car and an hour of driving each way, as I remember. You can take him next summer; it's an Uncle Ronnish sort of thing to do.
ReplyDeleteAlso, we went on the noon boat and came back on the 7. We weren't long on time. What we should have done is gone at 8 and taken him to Miniature World, but we didn't know he'd like all the models quite as much as he did.
What if she is one of those terrorist babies we've all been so worried about. Come to think of it her mother is at least part Canadian... I think we'll just have to repeal the 14th amendment.
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