I also have another thing to consider – a 7 year old who will only go down the hill on my lap. It means I get lots of kidlet time as as fast as we go down the hill, we are up it again. The conveyance system they have is awesome. I think they should add a minibar and life would be grand!

Here is a video and some picture from last year – we really had a terrific time.

Keep in mind that there are two parts to downtown Chemainus. For a long time we only knew of the shops around the Theatre, until we discovered that if you go down the hill towards the marinas and docks, there’s Old Town with even more shops and some of the most beautiful bed and breakfasts we’ve seen in a long time – the kids still talk about the houses they saw.

Something we found particularly nice was that virtually all of the shopkeepers in the town took the time to chat with our kids – asking them how they were enjoying their day and were they going to see a play at the theatre. The girls felt very grown-up talking with all these people. I think it was just so nice that the kids were being included in the conversation and weren’t some annoyance to be tolerated.

If you haven’t had a chance to introduce your children to the magic of live theatre, there’s no better time than the Christmas season. Most theatre companies have something for families at this time of year and a set of theatre tickets makes a great Christmas gift. Both of our kids attended their first live theatre having seen several big-screen movies, and there was something magical for them about actors on a stage, the costumes, the sets – it had a spectacle all its own.

Speaking of spectacles, a trip to Vancouver is definitely worth it for the kids to see Beauty and the Beast. We had a chance to go last week and this Arts Club production at the lovely Stanley Theatre is top-notch; from the excellent singing to the costumes to the amazing sets on the revolving stage, our kids were enthralled. Our three year old sat through the entire production without moving a muscle – her eyes riveted on the stage. Her favourite bit? The smooching at the end. It doesn’t matter how many times they’ve seen the movie in theatres or on DVD, the live production will impress. The show runs until January 6th.

If anyone else has any ideas or thoughts about stories we’ve done or stories you’d like to see.  We’d love to hear from you just leave us a comment and we’ll try to get to it as soon as possible.

Then of course there’s the food… including a great little cheese shop, a bakery, and capping it off with home-made ice cream. All the amazing seafood was lost on our eldest, while the rest of us wished we hadn’t eaten a large lunch before finding Cowichan Bay! There’s a floating motel that the kids were anxious to try and they looked longingly as a group of whale watchers returned to shore – we have to come back when we have more time and bigger appetites!

Parking is tight in this small village – it was a cloudy day and the entire street was still packed with vehicles. If you keep driving north past the shops, you’ll come to a large parking lot – and it’s just a short, pleasant stroll back in to the shops. We saw a poster talking about a proposed walkway along the waterfront, which would be a fabulous addition to the village atmosphere.

If you can, plan your day around the tide tables – arrive when the water is going out – and bring the snorkels because the kids will love swimming the shallow waters looking at crabs and mud-skippers. But keep an eye on the fast-moving tide – thanks to the folks who rescued our beach bag on our last trip!!

Here’s a map of Parksville.

According to our eldest, there’s a great advantage to Qualicum Beach over Parksville – there are virtually no pieces of shells in the sand at Qualicum, so she could easily run around in bare feet and didn’t have to be so careful when digging the moat of her castle by hand.

Even better, though, were the geoducks (pronounced goo-ee-ducks), which are the world’s largest burrowing clams – there were hundreds just in the small area where we played. They live deep in the sand (for well over a century!) and feed through a siphon that sticks out through the surface. If you’re walking near one of these siphons, they retract, often shooting up tall streams of water, which produced squeals of delight from our youngest.