Once in Nanaiamo we stayed with Kristian's aunt's family. There's Jadranka (who we call Tetka, which is aunt in Croatian), Lucas and Maya. Hugo happily laps up all the attention

Tetka has fun dressing Hugo in some of Maya's things

Hugo rejects the girlie hat, to his father's relief and pride

Kristian caught up with long time friend Tomy

Maya tries to hold a very big looking Hugo

We visited a very dear family friend, Mike. This is Mike and Tetka.

Mike owns a restaurant in Vancouver Island and made us the most delicious fish and chips. The fish was fresh halibut some friends had caught early that day. Yum-o!

Kristian and Mike

Maya and Hugo became inseparable best of friends

Hugo group hugs Lucas and Maya

On Thursday (of week two) Kristian, Hugo and I took a two hour drive in a HUGE rented truck from Nanaiamo to the capital of Vancouver Island, Victoria. Unfortunately Hugo was teething and cried the entire journey so we were very relieved to reach our destination and settle down to a comforting meal

Peter tickles Hugo, much to his delight

And also teaches him how to write with (and not eat) a crayon

Peter and Jordan

Unlike his legendary two-hour long effort in Sydney, Jordan was quickly defeated by his ribs

Hugo, Peter and Jordan

Hugo is happily introduced to the tastes of lemon and lime and comfortably sits with Jordon, offering some last minute tips for Jordan's big soccer game the next day

Although we were quite impressed with our set up, Hugo wasn't

Chubby cheeks!!!

Hugo now pulls off his hats so we applied two to ensure warmth and greater frustration

Soccer Dad and Mom

Jordan (the obvious star of the game) rests momentarily on the sidelines

Hugo offers a new friend his shoe

Although he enjoyed watching his first game of soccer, Hugo grew tired and very grumpy towards the end of the game

The family came over for our last night in Victoria. There was Jane and Peter, Jane's twin sister Julie, Julie's husband Les, their son Alex and daughter Janica and Janica's boyfriend Gerad. We had a great dinner and then Hugo happily entertained the ladies while the men watched hockey. Gerad showed Hugo how to bang on some bowls and Hugo was so excited and banged so hard that he broke the utensil at hand. It was hilarious at the time.

Hugo liked to play a game with Peter where he'd crawl to the other side of the room and wait....

...for Peter to then pull him backwards on the floorboards. He's laugh the whole way there and back

Janica, Julie, Me and Jane (the photo was quite overexposed and looks better in sepia)

Hugo was enamored with Brian's beautiful daughter Sarah when she visited for Thanksgiving

Unfortunately our camera battery died, so this is the only picture we have of the MASSIVE Thanksgiving feast Mom made. Included was the biggest turkey I've seen to date, stuffing to die for, gravy, roast pork, mashed potato, roasted vegetables, two salads and corn. The food was divine and looked untouched even though each of us had around two servings. 

Last Monday (3 Oct), we took a ferry from Vancouver to visit Vancouver Island

The trip takes around 1.5 hours and travels past many very beautiful islands such as these

I forgot to get a picture of the ferry, which can hold up to 500 cars and thousands of passengers. This is the view from one of its many windows

Although watching the people on the ferry wasn't interesting, the snow capped mountains on many of the islands were

Must. Get. Camera.

There is a small staircase of 4-5 stairs leading from the lounge and tv area to the kitchen and dining room and I'm sad to say that Hugo has mastered climbing every single one of them

I absolutely adore this photo!! It reminds me vaguely of one taken when I was a baby. He just looks so adorably cute!!

No he isn't upset, this is one of Hugo's expressions as he talks to me

Hugo still loves taking off his socks

Mission successful

Time to start on the other sock

He crawls double time to his toys

Cheeky

Mom and Brian's backyard looks over one of Vancouver's most exclusive and spectacular golf courses

When you look to the left, all you can see are the trees and mountains

To the right you can see a valley of more Vancouver

It must be hard to wake up to this everyday

Kristian and Hugo happily watch TV on the MASSIVE screen here

Brian's attempt shadows in comparison