Tag: victoria

Victoria Summer Events & Festivals for Families

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summertoddler

This post was originally published on Victoria Moms Blog.

With this recent sunshine and heat, it feels like summer is finally here. Summer is one of my favourite times of year (the other favourite is Christmas!) and it’s partly because of all of the events and festivities around town. My poor husband … I think he must spend a good chunk of time every morning accepting the iPhone calendar invites I send him, with all of the fun events that I want to check out as a family. But we love our weekend explorations!

Here are some of the festivals and events I’m hoping to check out with my family this summer. Hopefully you might enjoy some of them too! If I’ve missed a fun family-friendly event please let me know, and I’ll create a calendar invite for my husband ASAP! :)

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Spring Festivals & Events for Families

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This post was originally published on Victoria Moms Blog.

Beautiful pink blossoms are starting to pop up on trees all over town, and I’m pretty sure that was the sun we saw peeking out through the clouds today. Spring is in the air! As the weather gets warmer, one of my family’s favourite things to do on the weekend is explore local events and festivals. Spring is a great time for local events, and Victoria and the surrounding areas have a lot to offer!

Here are some of the family-friendly events and festivals that are coming up in the next few months. I can’t wait to head out to these events with my family, and hope that you might enjoy them with your family as well. Do you know of any festivals or events that I’ve missed? I’d love to hear them!

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Top 10 Rainy Day Outings with Young Children

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This post was originally published on Victoria Moms Blog.

It seems that every time I open the weather app on my phone, it’s filled with grey clouds, and big fat rain drops. Okay, so maybe they aren’t big rain drops, but the days with rain definitely seem to outnumber the days with the little sun peeking out from behind a cloud! It’s that time of year where we have cozy mornings at home doing crafts, playing games, and make believing. Those are some of our family’s favorite things to do on rainy days … but sometimes we feel the need to get out and explore new things! If you’re looking for ways to get out of the house, here are our family’s Top 10 favorite rainy day outings:

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Family-friendly NYE Ideas

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This post was originally published on Victoria Moms Blog.

When I was little, we always spent New Years Eve as a family (often grandparents included!). For my husband who grew up in South America, New Years Eve is a big celebration, and one that is always spent with your family. Growing up, he was taught that you can miss Christmas if you must … but you’d better be there for New Years Eve! Now that we have a daughter of our own, we have continued the tradition of a Family (and close friends!) New Years Eve. For those of you looking for family-friendly NYE options this year, I’ve gathered some ideas here: a listing of family-friendly Victoria NYE events being held around town, and ideas for throwing your own NYE party with family and friends at home!

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Fall Outings with Toddlers: Festivals & Events in Victoria

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Yesterday, the temperature dropped below 20 degrees. I even saw strange wet drops falling from the sky! And 2 days from now will be the last day of August… As much as I don’t want to believe it, summer is drawing to a close! It won’t be long before we are trading our flip flops for boots, and our sun hats for umbrellas.

As Fall approaches, I’ve started putting together a list of festivals and events for our family to explore. If you’re like us, and love to check out different activities around town each weekend, I’m hoping you might find this list helpful.

As I learn about new events, I will add them here. Please let me know of any events I might have missed. And … since I LOVE Christmas so much, I’ll likely do another separate post with just Christmas events for families!

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Summer Outings with Toddlers: Festivals & Events in Victoria

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At the end of March, I wrote a post called Spring Things to do with Toddlers: Festivals & Events in Victoria. I talked about how our little family loves our weekend adventures. My iPhone calendar is full of all of the festivals and events that I have been able to find, and each weekend we take a look at what’s going on, and what we want to explore. As the month of June continues to fly by, summer is just around the corner! So here is my list of Summer 2016 (July/August) family friendly festivals and events in Victoria and the peninsula. I haven’t attended all of these events before, so can’t guarantee your enjoyment … but many of them are events we have loved in the past!

*Update: new events added July 2nd, 2016 (marked with an asterisk)

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Spring Things to do with Toddlers: Festivals & Events in Victoria

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I’ve mentioned before how my husband, daughter and I love to go on weekend adventures. We head out first thing in the morning (well “first thing” for a family with a toddler!), as soon as we can all get dressed and packed up. Then we return back home in time for Baby E’s afternoon nap. Although recently it looks like Baby E might be getting ready to drop her nap (mixed emotions about that)!

I am constantly on the lookout for events, festivals and activities that we can explore. Maybe it’s my background as a teacher, but I love to research and plan outings. I search online for event listings and info, and add them all to our phone calendars. Then we see which events we can make it to. That might sound a bit crazy, and it does take a bit of work to gather everything .. but we really love exploring new events around town, so it’s worth it! I’ve found a bunch of Spring events (April through June) and I thought I would share what I have put together. Just in case anyone living in the Sidney/Victoria area might be interested! I have never been to a number of the events listed here, so I can’t vouch for them just yet. But I am excited to check them out! I will note the events that we have taken Baby E to in the past.

As I come across new events, I’ll add them to this list. I’m planing to do another post for summer when it gets closer (it feels close, with the sunshine this week!)

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ABC floor puzzle

We’re singing in the rain … and visiting the museum, Butchart Gardens, and more!

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Over the past few months it feels like we have seen a lot of rain. Victoria has been known to experience its fair share of rain … but I feel that this year has been a bit extreme! Baby E has even taken to lifting up the blinds and peering outside in the morning, reaching for her rain boots as she asks me “is it raining Mama?”

It can be a bit trickier finding fun things to do with a toddler when the grass (and slides!) are soaking wet, and a lot of your regular outdoor activities aren’t possible. Our family loves to go on little “adventures”  – usually on Saturday mornings, packing up and heading out as soon as we are up and ready, returning back in time for Baby E’s nap! Here are some of the adventures we have enjoyed during the rainy Fall/Winter season, as well as some of our favorite ‘At Home’ rainy day activities.

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Exploring Victoria & Sidney during the holidays

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Christmas is one of my husband and I’s favorite times of the year. The decorations, beautiful trees, incredible meals, time with family and friends … I’d actually say it’s my very favorite time of year! Summer time is a close second!

One of our favorite things about Christmas is all of the activities around town. This is even more fun now that we have a little one to share things with. Everything is that much more exciting when seen through the eyes of a child that is experiencing things for the first time!

Both Sidney and Victoria have tons of activities for families during the holiday season. Here are some of our favorites, and a few new ones that we hope to try out this year:

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Birthday Brunch at Jam Cafe

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For my birthday last week, my husband surprised me with brunch at Jam Cafe! Neither of us had been to Jam Cafe before, but my husband had done some research on brunch places in Victoria, and Jam Cafe looked like one of the best!

Jam Cafe please wait to be seated sign
Waiting outside Jam Cafe

Jam Cafe is located at 542 Herald Street, Victoria B.C. We went on a Friday morning around 10:30am, and there was already a lineup! It was a beautiful sunny day, so we were happy to line up outside and enjoy our time together (toddler-free!). We probably waited 30-45 minutes for our little table for two … but we both agree that it was worth it!

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