Last week we unexpectedly received news that Little MPB is now a Canadian citizen.  We were (and still are) beyond elated and couldn’t believe that his application was processed in 6 weeks, not the 8 months we were quoted.  With this very unexpected news, we decided we had to celebrate.  Having never prepared a Canadian citizenship party, I didn’t really know where to start.  And, what I didn’t mention last week is that we also weren’t going to be at home for this celebration (call me paranoid, but I don’t tend to share our travel plans in advance because I don’t really want to tell the world when our house is vacant for a few days).

Our weekend away had been planned for a while as we were going to visit the newest addition to our extended family.  Which meant we visited the family that hasn’t always been supportive of us and who recently had a new baby girl whose name I struggle with.  The trip went surprisingly well as I managed to avoid too many emotions around the baby name and there was no unnecessary family drama.

This weekend away took us to Victoria, British Columbia which is a stunningly beautiful city.  There were many adorable toddler moments, lots of toddler laughter and a few tears from all the toddlers as they had to learn to share.   There were sleepless nights as Little MPB is working on his 2 year molars.  There was also a few meals out with said toddlers, some went shockingly well and one went catastrophically horrible due to ridiculously bad service that resulted in us walking out without the adult meals with miserable toddlers in tow.  The kids also had a blast at a small Aquarium and enjoyed multiple outdoor playgrounds.  We ate wild blackberries which needed a few more days/weeks on the vine.  We visited Fisherman’s Wharf.  We enjoyed spectacular meals.  We perused local farmer’s markets and lovely little shops were I spent a bit too much money and Mr. MPB surprised me with a lovely pair of locally made earrings.

As for our Little MPB Canadian Citizen Celebration we visited the British Columbia Legislature, which is a stunningly beautiful historic government building.  The toddlers ran around on the lawn and we took a few family photos.   We even managed to find an inexpensive, but very nice, Canadian themed present for Little MPB to commemorate his citizenship.  And there was a cake with a Canada Flag, Little MPB’s name and some red candles which we enjoyed for desert one evening.  All the adults sang O Canada, because it seemed appropriate.  One of the toddlers said Happy Birthday Little MPB, because they associated cake with birthdays (it was adorable).  We even managed to get a wonderful photo of Little MPB with his cake and some family photos too.  Then we laughed as Little MPB promptly shoved an entire piece of cake into his mouth, while the others used forks and ate like civilized toddlers.

And, as a travelling parent, I have to add the short flight went so much better then our international flight to Iceland.  The flight length was manageable, we splurged on the $50 Plus seats to give us an entire row and 4 inches of extra space.  Just like the last flight we relied on a tablet with Paw Patrol to entertain Little MPB and Little MPB and I still walked the aisle (oddly passengers and the flight crew were clearly less accepting of our aisle walking then they were on the longer flight).  But, all in all, it was a much more enjoyable experience, likely due to the shorter flight.

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