Family Day + Valentine's Day = Love

A few years ago our province adopted a new holiday called Family Day.  While this is definitely a "made up" holiday and sounds kind of cheesy, it really is great to have a day off of work and school with nothing else going on than spending time with your family.

 

This year, though, we'd just had a week of "family days" when we were snowed in and couldn't really get away from each other even if we wanted to.

 

So, what were we going to do for Family Day?

 

Well, Jason came up with the idea to visit a semi-local national historical site--The Gulf of Georgia Cannery--since Parks Canada is offering free admission to all of its sites this year to celebrate the country's 150th birthday.

 

The only problem was, this didn't sound very exciting to any of us except Jason.  Finally, he talked me into it, though, and we just told the kids we were going for "a drive."

 

 

But when we got there, we found lots of interesting things to see and do.

 

 

Eric wasn't crazy about the educational tour, but he LOVED all the interactive, hands-on areas where he could play.

 

There was a fish canning assembly line . . . I thought of Mom canning all of Dad's fish! :)

 

 

And also places to garden,

 

 

knit,

 

 

and bake. 

 

 

 It's amazing how much fun kids can have pretending to do everyday things!

 

And all of these spots had posters I could read to learn about the history of the cannery, as well as women's efforts during WW II, which I found very interesting.  (Jason, of course, was on the tour!)

 

So, in the end we all had a good time.

 

And then the next day was Valentine's Day!

 

Janae and Alaina could wear red, white, and pink to school instead of their uniforms, and you can be sure there wasn't a trace of navy blue or anything resembling a polo shirt, at least on Alaina :)

 

We also put some last-minute heart braids in Alaina's hair . . . which miraculously lasted all day!

 

Speaking of miracles, Eric was astounded when his grilled cheese sandwich came out heart-shaped (Ben is getting harder to impress, though!),

 

 

and he had fun helping me break the five eggs required for our chocolate lava cake dessert (with only one lost in the process).

 

The Hello Kitty apron was entirely his idea!

We had our traditional heart-shaped pizzas for dinner--which Alaina said was the thing she looked forward to the most on Valentine's Day :) 

 

Then we had the lava cakes--Jason bought my favorite ice cream to go with them, and Janae served them all on fancy plates! 

 

 

Two days of family and love = two happy days!  It's a good combination.