Part One
Some people like to collect coins,
Some people like to collect rocks and
Some people collect antique toys.......
My husband collects the rare and unique VW Vanagon.
"The colour of your van changed?" asked Steve, a friend and fellow 4x4 adventurer. He had just stepped out of his Jeep as I walked towards the pick-up spot, for the kids at school.
"Yes.... I never know which car I'm driving from day to day." I replied. We have a dark blue Suzuki named 'Zuki', a gold VW vanagon named 'Goldie' and the new addition to our family, is a silver VW automatic Vanagon named 'Otto'.
"Your van is quite talented, " I heard from behind, "It can change colour." Shelly stated as she walked up between Steve and I.
"Yes it can... it's a miracle." I laughed.
"I see it's changed year as well." she continued.
"It's gotten younger.... and it's changed transmissions.... it's gone from manual to automatic."
"Tell me, I'm not crazy," said Bobby, another Mom coming to pick-up her children, "You were driving a gold van yesterday, weren't you?"
"Yup, that's Goldie... today I'm driving Otto." Yes, some husbands collect simple things like coins. My husband prefers to collect cars and car parts, (Two summers ago I had wild flowers growing out of a VW diesel engine in my backyard).
We were are very own VW Vanagon camel train on our way to Parksville and Rathtrevor Provincial Park.
"Hey look honey." I sang into the walkie talkie as our caravan pulled out of our driveway, "His and Her vans."
Some couple like to wear the same tops, buy the same rings, eat the same foods.... we?..... we drive the same cars, VW Vanagons.
They did bring home a fish or two or three......
"Daddy's a lousy fisherman." She sang, skipping down that path from the beach to our campsite as the 2 fish danced back and forth on the stick she was carrying. "I caught the most and the biggest!" she continued, while the second rate fisherman stumbled behind her with the cumbersome Coleman canoe on his back.
"These things are heavy!" He grunted as he deposited the load behind Goldie.
"I didn't have time to fish," he whispered to me later, "They kept getting the line tangled... I had to put the worms on their hooks for them... then take the fish off their hooks." He may have gone from greatest fisherman to the worst, but he's the best dad... that's for sure.
Bring your bikes...there's some really nice trails in and around the area... easy ride to Parksville and shopping (2 grocery stores near by)...... if you run out of marshmallows.
Kalina didn't have a bike... so we did it Dutch style. The roots in the forest trails were a bit bumpy, so we softened it up with a sweater for her delicate derriere. We biked past a beautiful Daisy field... marsh land... forest...and beach.
"I do not accept what you are doing!" a high pitched, thick German accent called out as an older woman in a white car passed us on the way into the San Pariel area beside the park. We had made an error and ended up on a narrow bendy road... we were holding up traffic. It's certainly not the first time I've made a wrong turn and ended up in someones way... That's life!
"Sorry." I called out after her, as she sped past us.
Here are a few pictures from that bike ride.
On Sunday, Father's day.....after breakfast Rene and the girls biked around the empty campsites to collect wood left by other campers. We had enough for the rest of the week...$7 bucks a night was getting expensive to roast a couple of marshmallows.
Here's a couple of pictures from Father's day..."So the man will leave his Father and Mother and be united with his wife, and the 2 will become one body." Genesis 2:24
... and they multiplied....Early Monday morning we drove Otto to Tofino.... just for the day.... to see the big waves, hang out on the big beaches, watch the surfers Hang ten and do one eighties...
We drove through Coombs.. visited Goats on the Roof... neat shops with fresh produce, deli, bakery, ice cream and a market place with world wide items for sale. From Dutch stroop waffles to Jamaican Hot Sauce.
We stopped at a old fashioned candy store just outside of Port Alberni... The kids bought a lollipop...
Drove to Tofino and played on the beach at Long Beach and ate dinner at The wickaninnish Restaurant.
Rene and I ate there a few years back when he turned 40, see blog Tofino on a BMW R60, it was really good four years ago.... this time around it was terribly disappointing. There were ants crawling up a post right next to our table... one crawled on Rene and I had to wipe it off his back. It took 2 hours for Rene and I to get our main course.... the girls had finished their dinners before we got ours.... and it was cold when we did finally get it. The fish was bland... the squash was still hard and uncooked... but the view.... well it was gorgeous. 
Bring a picnic and sit on the beach to watch the sun go down... the food will be finer.
During the day we stopped off at a surf shop called The Storm in Tofino to look up our old Neighbour and the girls old babysitter Jennifer. We had heard from her Mom that she was working in Tofino now for the summer.
"Sorry she's not working here today," said a co-worker, "But try the surf school next door. She works there too." So off we went 2 doors down to the Pacific Surf School and she was there.... She's so good at her job in sales that she booked us for a 3 hour family surf lesson for the following Saturday.
"I guess were coming back here in 5 days."
"We are now on Long beach at Innskille Rock. My family + dog are climbing the rock as I watch surfers resting on their boards for a good wave. The waves sound so nice.... I just close my eyes and I can't hear any humans - only faintly in the distance do I hear a laugh here or a soft murmur of conversation there. Nature overpowers human sound here. Waves, bird song, wind....wonderful....peaceful...heavenly.
The sun is trying to burn through the cloud cover. Every once in a while I feel it's warmth shine through."
To be continued........ Stay tuned for Part Two.... "Lets go surfing now... every body's learning how...."
Can 44 year old parents of 2 learn how to surf? Find out soon....
