Victoria and Beyond

Ok, first off the big news – Dylan is now an official kindergarten student! Tomorrow morning will be the start of week number two and if it is anything like last week then Nardine will have a hard time getting her to leave the school when it’s time to go home! Dylan is in Mrs. Ottenbriet’s class, which has a total of 22 students. She goes four days a week for three hours in the morning and then for two of those days she stays on at kindercare until 3pm. Overall Dylan is loving kindergarten, has already made a good friend named Marielle and is bound to have a great year at school.

Before school kicked off, Dylan and I had the chance to hit the water and do a little whale watching. We went out with the Prince of Whales company and had a blast! When we first got to the boat I gave Dylan the choice to pick where she wanted us to sit. She immediately headed up the stairs to sit on the upper, exposed deck. I was a little worried that once the boat picked up speed Dylan would stop having fun but the opposite was true – she loved the wind and waves and we spent most of the ride out to San Juan Island with our feet dangling over the edge!

We got really lucky with whales, seeing not only two of the resident pods (which are around all year) but also a transient pod that was closer to Victoria. The whales got really close to the boat and Dylan was blown away by how big they were and especially loved all of the girl whales. Overall we spent about three hours watching the whales, exploring the boat, and eating chocolate bars we bought from the on board canteen (this was likely one of Dylan’s highlights from the trip!). On the ride home we settled in at the back of the boat, out of the wind, where there was lots of room so Dylan got to spread out and take it easy. Overall a real great day!

Speaking of great days, Nardine and I were treated to our own special day by all the Australian relatives, who chipped in and purchased us a romance package at the Laurel Point Inn (the same hotel we were married at). Nard and I checked in to a gorgeous suite, with views of the harbour, to find rose petals on the bed and champagne on ice. We had dinner that night with Toni and Dean at Pescatore’s (blackened halibut rules!) before retiring to the Empress for a night cap (probably should have skipped that one!). The next morning it was breakfast in bed, lounging around in our terrycloth robes before eventually renting kayaks and exploring the harbour. It was the perfect way to spend some alone time with Nardine before I left and we both want to extend our gratitude to all of you who made it happen.

As for that, I have now left Victoria and am on my way overseas. In fact I’m writing this from my room in Trenton, Ontario where tomorrow I start the long trip over to Kandahar. Leaving Nardine and the kids definitely wasn’t an easy thing to do but I know that they are in good hands in Victoria and will have lots of support from both our families. I will be doing my best to keep the blog up to date with what life is like for me and I know that Nardine will do her usual great job of keeping you informed on all the happenings back home. For those of you who want to get a hold of me you can email me at cory@thekwasnys.com, send me a message on my Facebook account or go old school and send me a letter/parcel at this address:

Capt CS Kwasny
BG HQ/TACP
OP ATHENA
PO BOX 5058 STN FORCES
BELLEVILLE ON K8N 5W6

Here is a list of guidelines for sending stuff overseas. Also for those of you that live near a Military Family Resource Centre or MFRC (every base in Canada has one associated with it) you can drop of letters or parcels and they will send it for free.