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Category Archives: Blog

Book Review: Hold On To Your Kids

9 / 19 / 239 / 3 / 23

Book Synopsis

Synopsis on Kobo.com

A psychologist with a reputation for penetrating to the heart of complex parenting issues joins forces with a physician and bestselling author to tackle one of the most disturbing and misunderstood trends of our time — peers replacing parents in the lives of our children.

Dr. Neufeld has dubbed this phenomenon peer orientation, which refers to the tendency of children and youth to look to their peers for direction: for a sense of right and wrong, for values, identity and codes of behaviour. But peer orientation undermines family cohesion, poisons the school atmosphere, and fosters an aggressively hostile and sexualized youth culture. It provides a powerful explanation for schoolyard bullying and youth violence; its effects are painfully evident in the context of teenage gangs and criminal activity, in tragedies such as in Littleton, Colorado; Tabor, Alberta and Victoria, B.C. It is an escalating trend that has never been adequately described or contested until Hold On to Your Kids. Once understood, it becomes self-evident — as do the solutions.

Hold On to Your Kids will restore parenting to its natural intuitive basis and the parent-child relationship to its rightful preeminence. The concepts, principles and practical advice contained in Hold On to Your Kids will empower parents to satisfy their children’s inborn need to find direction by turning towards a source of authority, contact and warmth.

What I Thought

So I listened to this book on Audible. And thought it was extremely long to listen to. By Chapter 13 I was craving solutions. I thought the book was quite comprehensive but I also thought it was way too extensive into the problems. If you are like me and don’t want to hear about all the ways that kids are falling apart then skip to Chapter 14 and go from there 🙂

I am, however, highly recommending this book because it gives great advice. Here are my 4 takeaways that we’ve already implemented or will be implementing with our family.

  1. Keep Family Time Sacred
  2. Book Family Vacations
  3. Collect Your Kids
  4. Build A Village Of Parental Figures In Your Kid’s Lives
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dĹŤTERRA’s New 2023 Products

9 / 14 / 239 / 19 / 23

TL;DR

dĹŤTERRA’s new 2023 products are here!

Essential Oils: 10 ml Blue Lotus Touch, 5ml Birch, 15ml & 10 ml Shinrin-Yoku (Forest Bathing Blend)

New Supplements: PB Restore & PB Assist+, Serenity Softgels (New Formulation)

New Products: Serenity Stick, SuperMint Toothpaste

I love attending dĹŤTERRA’s annual convention every year. Learning about the new products in person is amazing because dĹŤTERRA always provides us with the best education about the new launches. So let’s get into it!

Blue Lotus

This oil was launched during the 2022 holiday season but is now a permanent product! Did you know it takes 1 ton of Blue Lotus petals to make 1 Kilo of Blue Lotus absolute? It took 4 years to source and create this 100% pure essential oil and it’s 100% exclusive to dĹŤTERRA. Sourced from Guangdong province in China, this oil has created jobs for 92 farmers and has impacted 285 lives in the community.

How To Use:

  • For feelings of hydrated, soft skin, apply Blue Lotus Touch to the face or hands routinely.
  • Roll Blue Lotus Touch onto the feet or back as part of a relaxing massage.
  • Apply Blue Lotus to your hands and cover your nose & mouth and take a deep inhale for a relaxing, floral aroma
  • Apply Blue Lotus Touch with your favourite floral roll-on like Jasmine or Magnolia to create a personal fragrance that is both calming and unique.

Birch

I’ve had a bottle of Birch in my essential oil storage box for a while now. You see, we used to get a bottle when we ordered our convention kits of new products a few years ago. But since it wasn’t a permanent product I have been using it VERY sparingly.

Did you know: dĹŤTERRA is the ONLY essential oil company able to produce 100% pure Birch essential oil? See most Birch essential oils are synthetic because it’s extremely easy and inexpensive to produce them in a lab. So how can you tell? See most companies only do a GCMS test on their supply and it cannot actually detect if a Birch oil is pure or synthetic. So in addition to the GCMS test, dĹŤTERRA also does a carbon-14 analysis to confirm that our supply is pure. We have partnered with a distiller in Kane, Pennsylvania who has taught dĹŤTERRA how to create this beautiful essential oil.

How To Use:

  • Diffuse for a stimulating aroma
  • Ask your massage therapist to use in a massage
  • Promote healthy-looking skin by adding to your moisturizer

Shinrin-Yoku

I love it when dĹŤTERRA formulates a new blend of essential oils. And this one does not disappoint. Named after the Japanese forest bathing practice this blend is all about bringing the outside, inside. This essential oil blend contains Lemon, Patchouli, Magnolia, Siberian Fir, Cypress, Cardamom, Hinoki, Lavandin, Grapefruit, Geranium, and Lemon Petitgrain.

Fun fact: Did you know that a 1992 Study found that 93% of Americans spend their time inside? I can only imagine how badly that statistic has increased since the pandemic! So using studies showing the positive health impacts of spending time in a forest dĹŤTERRA’s science team used different essential oils that are rich in terpenes to bridge the restorative powers of spending time outside in the forest to our inside environments where live, work or drive.

How To Use:

  • Diffuse in any home or car diffuser

ProBiome – PB Restore

70% of our immune system is in our gut. Having a healthy gut microbiome affects our metabolic health, cardiovascular health, oral health, skin health, reproductive health, and hormonal health. So other than eating a diverse diet how can we support our gut microbiome? Well, dĹŤTERRA’s answer is PB Restore.

The ingredients in PB Restore will crowd out the bad microbes in our gut, supporting us to stay well. This by nature will support our systemic health and wellbeing.

Fun Fact: PB Restore is double encapsulated so the biotics arrive alive in our gut to do the work they need to do.

I have been a long-time fan of the former PB Assist + so how does it compare to PB Restore?

PB Restore contains:

  • 30 bioactive components
  • 24 probiotic strains from 22 species
  • 18 billion live cell CFUs per dose
  • Prebiotics, Probiotics & Postbiotics
  • 4 Bacteriophages (clears out bad bacteria)

How To Use:

  • Take 1 per day with a meal

ProBiome – PB Assist+

We just started giving the PB Assist Jr. sachets to our twin toddlers so I was excited that the product just got even better.

So how does the new PB Assist+ sachets compare to the former PB Assist Jr.

PB Assist+ contains:

  • 1 prebiotic fiber
  • 13 probiotic strains from 9 species
  • 7 billion active live cell CFUs per dose

How To Use:

  • We are giving it to our twins before breakfast!
  • Adults, you can take this too. And you can stack these with PB Restore for 42 probiotic strains together!

Serenity Sleep System – Serenity Stick

I’m writing out this blog before travelling home to Ottawa and all I can say is I’m so excited to use this on the twins before bedtime moving forward!!

The Serenity Stick provides a soothing, calming aroma when applied topically. It slides on easily with no greasy feeling or residue. AND its free of parabens, phthalates and synthetic fragrances. The Stick contains the same oils as the Serenity essential oil blend (Lavender, Cedarwood, Ylang Ylang, Marjoram, Roman Chamomile, Sandalwood and Coriander) plus with the new addition of Valerian Root.

Fun Fact: Valerian Root is harvested by the same community of growers as Blue Lotus and this essential oil has created 106 jobs and now supports over 328 lives in the community. How cool is that?

How To Use:

  • Apply to the wrists, neck, chest or bottoms of the feet before bed

Serenity Sleep System – Serenity Softgels (New Formula)

I’ve been a huge fan of Serenity Softgels for a while now. I started taking LDN about 3 months ago to support my body’s healing from an MS flare. One of the side effects of LDN is vivid dreams so I’ve been having a lot of nightmares. But when I take it with a Serenity Softgel then the dreams aren’t as upsetting.

This new formulation contains Lavender, Lemon Balm, Passionflower, Chamomile, L-Theanine and brand new ingredient Tart Cherry extract. It’s in a vegan-friendly capsule that is carrageenan free! PS. They included the Tart Cherry extract because it’s a natural source of melatonin.

How To Use:

  • Take 1 -2 Softgel(s) before bed!

Supermint Toothpaste

Although I’m a huge fan of the OnGuard Toothpaste I am SUPER excited for a minty fresh one! Because I have a few bottles of the OnGuard toothpaste I will use it when I brush my teeth before bed and then use SuperMint in the morning for fresh breath!

This toothpaste contains a hydroxyapatite to preserve and rebuild tooth enamel and hydrated silica and calcium carbonate which are natural mild, polishing agents.

Suggestion:

  • Brush with SuperMint Toothpast in the AM for fresh breath
  • Brush with OnGuard Toothpaste in the PM to kill of bacteria from the day

So when will the new products will be available to order?

October 1
• Shinrin Yoku 15mL & 10mL
• Blue Lotus 10mL
• Supermint Toothpaste
• Serenity Sofgels & Serenity Stick


October 15
• Birch 5mL

November 1
• PB Restore & PB Assist + Sticks

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Book Review: Homeschool by Design

9 / 12 / 239 / 3 / 23

Book Synopsis

Synopsis on Amazon

How would it feel to know exactly how to homeschool? Join homeschooling expert, Monica La Vella, as you embark on a quest to design your homeschool. In this fun and easy-to-read guide through the Sea of Knowledge, you will create a homeschool design that’s a perfect fit for your family. By the end of this book, you’ll: – choose your homeschooling method – be confident in planning your days (or in choosing not to plan your days) – know how to document learning in a fun and carefree way – create a fully designed homeschool that’s right for your family.

Homeschool by Design

What I Thought:

Never in a million years, did I think I was going to be considering homeschooling our twins. But here we are living in a crazy world. Where public schools no longer seem like a safe place for children to be. AND I know that we can teach them beautifully how to navigate this world in a supportive and uplifting environment.

After watching one of my friends Ange Peters shift to homeschooling her children a few years ago I knew I could count on her to share resources. One of her book recommendations was Homeschool by Design by Monica La Vella. I picked it up on Amazon and have been reading it on and off over the summer. I’m in no rush to homeschool the kids. To be honest, we will probably wait to put in a more organized structure (if any) until they are 6 years old. I just knew I wanted to start learning myself sooner rather than later. That way I didn’t feel like I was rushing to set everyone up for success when the time came.

I appreciate the different chapters and the questions that she poses to parents. As we decide on everything from structure or no structure to getting organized to documenting learning and more.

This book will definitely be used as a reference guide when the time comes for us to organize their homeschooling more.

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Value Statements

9 / 7 / 239 / 13 / 23

I’m adding a new element to my annual goal-setting, and planning method and it’s called value statements.

I’ve discovered that by creating value statements before I plan out my year has become a huge game changer for me. I can’t wait to walk you through how I wrote them out, how they guided my planning for 2023 and how much has come to fruition already.

In the fall of 2022, I had the pleasure of attending a retreat my friend and psychotherapist Alison Villa hosted in Durham County. We stayed at the beautiful stone house at Glencolton farm and she took a few of us (from our online therapy group) through her Values Reset program.

Now without giving away too much of the goods from her program, I wanted to walk you through a little bit of the process and the resulting value statements that I’m using to guide my life and how I set goals.

If she ever decides to offer this as an online program I highly recommend taking it!


The Value Statement Process

The Dream Big Buckets

In the Values Reset program, we sat down and dreamed big in different areas of our lives including what we value around family, couple, community, location, home, food, extended family, travel, possessions, transportation, how we spend our time, and an other category. I chose my other category to be around hobbies or leisure. When we went home from the retreat we were also encouraged to spend some time writing down what we value around a career bucket.

We were guided to write down the things that were important to us and asked questions that also helped prompt our thinking or inspired us to write down things that we wanted in that area of our lives. The only caveat was that time and money were not to be considered an issue. We joked that some people, like my husband, needed the prompt, “Write down things as if you had a f*ck ton of money”. Sometimes it’s all about perspective.

Due to only spending 2 days at the retreat, after filling out all our dream big buckets we were asked to prioritize our top 3 categories for writing out our value statements. So this is where I brought in my life category ranking system from my goal-setting method.

So in my goal-setting method, I do a life category audit and score each category from 1 to 10. 1 being I’m not happy in this area of my life and 10 being I’ve got this alllll figured out. I then prioritize setting goals for the life categories that I want to improve upon (or scored the lowest in). So this is where I focused on writing out value statements first for the categories where I felt I wasn’t truly living in alignment with my values. After the retreat, I took the time to write our value statements for every life category. I even put them into pretty images (which I’ll share throughout this blog post) so I could print them out and put them somewhere where I could see them every day (I chose my office).

When I completed my life category audit at the end of 2022 I ranked travel and leisure the lowest and then couple, career, health, fitness, spiritual / stress management, and friendships. So I had a lot of value statements to prioritize.


The Value Statement Writing Process

Travel & Hobbies Value Statements

Let’s start with Travel and Hobbies as these were my lowest-scored categories.

So after looking at my brain dump boxes, I pulled out a few things that stood out to me.

From there we were coached to write 2-3 sentences that described our values for that category. You’ll notice many of my value statements start with “I value” or “We value”. When I got home from the retreat I walked my husband through the process and shared some of my value statements that involve him. He helped add or edit them so those value statements that involve Mike start with “We value.”

Travel Value Statement
Hobbies Value Statement

Now let me walk you through how I’ve used my value statements to guide my goal-setting this year. Since I always share my 2023 goals on my blog (here is the post for reference). I used these value statements to goal set in Travel, Couple and Friendships.

Travel: I planned out the 3 trips at the beginning of the year, put them on the calendar and then booked them.

My husband and I travelled to the Dominican Republic in March for our annual honeymoon (which I’ll classify as a relaxing trip). We travelled in August to Vancouver Island with our twins and explored 3 parts of the island (so I’m classifying this one as our adventure trip). I travelled to Austin, Texas for a web3 conference in April, I’m heading to Salt Lake City in September for dĹŤTERRA’s annual convention and I’m potentially heading to Poland in November for one of my web3 clients’ events. For next year, I’m already planning our annual canoe trip to Algonquin Park. After hiking the twins around Vancouver Island they are ready for an adventurous canoe trip with a few portages (ok maybe at least one) next year.

Now about the working remotely part in the winter. I’m truly considering us becoming sunbirds next year. And it’s due to writing this out as part of my value statement. You’ll see it on my Travel and my Location value statements. I am actively starting to think about where we might live during the winter next year so we can get ample sunlight as Ottawa winters are just becoming too draining for me and my health.

Hobbies: I have made an effort to take one yoga class weekly. Which is covered in my Fitness goal for the year. I have a reminder set up in my reminders app for every Sunday to remind me to book my weekly Yoga class on Tuesday. I’m taking the Strength & Stretch at Yogatown Barrhaven with my yoga teacher trainer Aleysha Derksen which is just the perfect class for me to take each week.

I’ve dedicated time to hunting each spring and fall. We’ve prioritized time hiking and now I just need to map out where I can fit in some biking.

I go out stand-up paddleboarding at the cottage. And as I heal my MS flare and liver health I’ll then prioritize healing my pelvic floor so I can get back to road & trail running. From there I’ll see when and where I can tackle the more adventurous hobbies that are begging me to try.


Couple & Community Value Statements

Couple Value Statement
Community Value Statement

Couple: There are several things that I was yearning for in my relationship with my husband. I hold utmost importance on us being on the same page each week and communicating clearly with each other what’s going on in our lives. So scheduling a weekly date night, a weekly schedule check-in and going on daily dog walks in the morning has been everything to me.

I have a reminder that I first planned out in Asana but then moved to the Reminder app to remind myself on the 1st of every month to plan out our date nights for the month and line up grandparents to come over or hire a babysitter. We’ve only missed one or two so far this year so I’m loving the time I get to connect with my husband.

Community: After being ostracized by friends and family over the past few years finding a community where we feel at home was important to us. One of my goals around friendships this year was to book a monthly friendship date to truly make important friendships a priority. While I’m not truly sure how to build that community around us we are making baby steps and prioritizing the right friendships so we can focus on building the community we value and envision.


Family & Extended Family Value Statements

Family Value Statement
Extended Family Value Statement

These two value statements are also nicely paired together:

Family: While I wrote this out individually, I edited this completely with my husband when I got home from the retreat so it reflects both our values. This process showed me that we are very much on the same wavelength with many things. He pointed out that at the beginning of this year, I made an effort to not only schedule weekly couple date nights but also monthly Daddy/Daughter, Mother/Son dates and monthly Daddy/Son, Mother/Daughter dates. Since our attention is often pulled in many directions when we’re together ensuring we have one on one time not only as a couple but as parent-to-child as well. So Mike helped me add the last sentence of our value statement.

Extended Family: We truly have beautiful relationships with both sets of our parents and watching them flourish and grow relationships with our twins has been so important to us. So this value statement was crafted based on time spent with my family who are local to Ottawa, my husband’s family who live several hours away and also dear friends who have become like family in the last 2 years.


Home & Location Value Statements

Home Value Statement
Location Value Statement

Home and Location are also so intricately tied together. And both of these value statements are very much in the dream big category. While I’d like to say I’m trying to figure out how to make these happen within a year these will probably be a little further out for us based on current circumstances that we are prioritizing. So let me share some questions that helped me dream big in these areas and thus craft the statements.

Home: What does your physical home look like? What do you see out the windows? How much land or lack thereof are you on? What aspects of the home light you up? For me, I wrote out my value statement and then showed it to my husband when I got home. He added a few things to the value statement that were intricately linked to his values. Can you tell which part was his addition? I can’t wait to build towards this dream and see where it brings us.

Location: I decided to share Home and Location together because where we build our home is very much tied to location. My Travel value statement is also linked to location especially when it comes to the snowbird mentality I’m hoping to adopt shortly for our lives. For location, I also shared this with my husband and he added his part. Can you tell which addition came from him?


Food, Possessions & Transportation Value Statements

Food Value Statement
Possessions Value Statement
Transportation Value Statement

I had fun creating these three value statements:

Food: Since moving back to Ottawa in 2021 I have focused immensely on building relationships with local farmers and I’m pretty proud to say that 90% of our food is sourced directly from farms or farmer’s markets. I’ve even learned to preserve food to make our food last longer and rely less on grocery stores.

Our current grocery shopping is snacks and juice for the kids, oranges, bananas, avocados and coconut water. Oh and the occasional produce that I can’t find at a farmer like brussel sprouts, parsnips and carrots.

I’m really proud of how we nourish our family and the treats part is real as I have pictures on my phone of the babes eating Smores around the campfire at our friends’ place or our cottage with faces covered in chocolate.

Possessions: This value statement was interesting to write. I was inspired by some of my retreat goers to also focus on minimalism. And while I don’t think it’s a true value of mine, I do believe we can purge many of the items that we have and live with less. This became very true for me as we moved our lives across the country in a short time span and we realized just how many things we had that we necessarily didn’t or don’t need.

I added in the rose gold because I’ve been very drawn to decorating my home office with that metal and colour. And after buying cheap clothing for years I know it’s time to invest in quality pieces since I truly don’t love shopping and would appreciate not having to shop for new clothes each year.

Transportation: This was an interesting category to think about. I hadn’t really thought about transportation as a value but I had fun writing out this value statement nonetheless. While many of my fellow retreatgoers started dreaming about the make and model of the car they wanted, I got more practical. See our family has always valued purchasing cars with high re-sell values so that we can make the most of our purchase when replacing cars. This is something we’re trying to do every 5 – 6 years to ensure we are getting a great re-sell cost from the vehicle we currently drive.

I’ve driven Honda CRVs for years and my husband has a Toyota Tundra. Because we have two kids and two dogs, we are finally thinking about replacing the CRV with something larger so we can all drive to the cottage in one vehicle vs. two!

I loved putting in the part about how we enjoy trips via different travel methods as I thought that would be a fun way to incorporate variety into our family’s life as we book annual trips together.


Time & Career Value Statements

Time Value Statement
Career Value Statement

Last but not least we have Time & Career value statements which I believe are intricately linked. While at the retreat we didn’t even touch on career as it is such a loaded one and requires dedicated time.

So during the retreat, we dreamed big about how we spend our time and then when we got home we did a remote session to set up our career statements.

Time: I asked myself how do I want to spend my day. Because so much of my day is centered around career I had a really hard time separating the two. So I asked myself questions around moments in my day. What was important for me in how I start my day? What was important for me in how I end my days? How and when do I spend time with my family? And then how and when do I spend time working and making money for our family?

Career: We were challenged to dream big here in terms of how much we earn. We were challenged to look at how much we make annually, increase it and then increase it again. So this is the number I landed on. The fun part of this value statement was to define not only how much I make but also how I spend my time earning this revenue. How many days do I want to work a week? What physical location do I want to work in? What sort of people am I working for and with? And how do I take care of myself and what do I outsource so I can make this all happen!?


I hope you found this post useful, This year I’m publishing my first weekly planner called The Essential Planner which will walk you through my goal-setting method. Get on the waitlist below to be the first to find out about the official launch date:

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Vancouver Island Trip with Toddlers

9 / 5 / 239 / 3 / 23

Do you need any ideas for travelling to Vancouver Island with toddlers?

I love documenting our trips so I can look back on the memories and in the process I hope if you come across this post you find some ideas for how to travel on Vancouver Island with toddlers. We made this trip with our boy/girl twins after they had just turned 3 years old.

The twins were born in Nanaimo and we lived in Port Alberni for just a little over a year so we haven’t been back to the island since we left at the end of March 2021. I was really excited to make this trip with them so we could show our babes the rainforest terrain, the mountains and the ocean. I planned out 3 different locations on the island and 3 different Airbnbs. Here are the details of the trip, where we stayed, where we ate and the activities we did each day.

Flying By Plane With Toddlers

I had everything planned out to a T for the flight. We packed backpacks for the twins with a hammock for the plane seat, a busy book (Pink for Alora and Blue for Ryland), a tablet (Amazon Fire 7), headphones, a colouring book, a maze book, and crayons.

I also bought the twins these Bento boxes off of Amazon (I got the Ocean Blue for Ryland and the Coral Pink for Alora) and filled them with snacks (Lentil crisps + fresh fruit), we also packed ziplock bags of fruit bars and pouches from Costco.

And while Ryland thrived watching shows on his tablet or a movie on the airplane, I went through EVERYTHING in Alora’s bag to keep her entertained. That girl is exactly like me and does not like sitting still! Oh, and we ended up returning the hammocks when we got home as neither kid wanted to use them!

Jordan River

We landed in Victoria on a Friday afternoon, picked up our rental car and then drove south to Sooke, BC. We picked up groceries so we could make breakfast at our Airbnb and then drove to our rental to settle in. With the time difference, it was hard to do anything that day so we kept the babes up until we made dinner and then got them settled to go to sleep.

Our Airbnb in Jordan River

I found an amazing Airbnb in Capital, BC (Jordan River) right on a cliff overlooking the ocean. We had insane views of the ocean and mountains across the way in the US from the kitchen, dining room, living room and upstairs loft.

While we had a few annoyances like the dishwasher and one of the stove burners not working and a mouse living in the house it really was an amazing place to stay. Super private and quiet and clean inside.

Activities in Jordan River

Day 1: On our first morning, the twins woke up super early (I’m talking 3 am) due to still being on East Coast time and after trying to get them to stay in bed we gave up at 5 am and got them up and made breakfast. I bought eggs, bacon and gluten-free toast and then we bought oat milk and frozen fruit for smoothies. The only thing I regret not packing is protein powder as our babes thrive when they’ve had ample protein in the morning. After breakfast, we took the stairs down to the beach. There was one other lone soul taking landscape pictures of the insane scenery but otherwise, we had the beach all to ourselves.

Later that morning we drove to Sandcut Beach to see the waterfall. While it wasn’t super impressive in the middle of the summer still gorgeous none the less. I will also take super cool sun shots through the morning clouds any day of the week.

We ended up climbing up the rocks where the waterfall runs down and exploring, Alora fell in the water so after a change of clothes we hopped back down to the beach. Found a huge fallen tree and taught the twins how to carefully climb down to the end and back.

We stopped at Cold Shoulder Cafe for lunch, which was just around the corner from our Airbnb. A great place to grab quick eats and pastries. The coffee wasn’t too shabby either 🙂

After putting the twins down for a nap, we grabbed pizza at Stoked Pizzeria and drove to China Beach to eat dinner on the beach 🙂

Day 2: We finally got the twins on West Coast time so after a normal wake-up hour and breakfast, we packed everyone in the car and drove up the coast towards Port Renfrew. We spent the morning exploring Botanical Beach and all the tide pools full of crabs and tiny fish. I even spied some sea lions just off the beach on a rocky outcropping but couldn’t get a good shot due to the fog and clouds.

We stopped for lunch at Coastal Kitchen Cafe and then headed back to the Airbnb for the twins’ nap. The kids ended up falling asleep in the car so we drove along the coast for an hour and a half, and stopped at Stoked Pizzaria again to grab dinner. We ate the pizza in the parking lot and then drove to Mystic Beach to see if we could do the hike. The kids were absolutely troopers. We hiked a total of 10 km this day and only had to piggyback them out the last 2 km. AND we only did it so we could make it home for bedtime, and avoid epic meltdowns. Otherwise, they could’ve hiked the last bit out themselves.

Day 3: On our last day in Jordan River, we packed up and grabbed breakfast at Shirley Delicious on our way out of town and explored the Victoria Butterfly Gardens before heading up the coast to the Nanaimo area.

Nanaimo / Lantville / Nanoose Bay

We chose to stay for the week up near the Nanaimo area. I had made friends with one of our maternity & newborn photographers, so we stayed close to her house so we could hang out a few times during the week. My heart is full of key time on the east coast of the island, with a dear friend and her girls and more exploring of the island with the babes.

Our Lantzville Airbnb

I outdid myself with the Airbnb I booked here. The house is absolutely gorgeous, and the view is incredible. This is a dream house to live in and the view made me never want to leave. I even asked our hosts to contact us first if they ever decided to sell!

The house had 3 bedrooms upstairs (1 King, 1 with 3 Single Beds and 1 with 1 Single Bed) and then 1 bedroom downstairs with a Queen). There was even an epic playroom in the basement complete with a ton of toys and swings. Our twins really didn’t want to leave this Airbnb. Oh, and there was a sandpit out on the patio veranda with a large digger for them to try out.

Activities Around Nanaimo

Day 4: We headed out for a quick hike at Little Qualicum Falls, then met up with my friend Lacey and her 3 girls and explored Butterfly World in Coombs.

We showed the babes the goats on the roof at The Old Country Market, grabbed some picnic supplies for lunch while driving back and got ourselves some donuts at Billy G’s Donut Shop for dessert.

Day 5: We explored Englishman River Falls and then had a beach date with Lacey and her girls in the afternoon with a pizza dinner back at their house.

Day 6: I looked online to find other waterfall hikes and found this one for Lower Shooting Stars Falls. However, in the summer it’s barely there so it wasn’t an impressive hike at all. The only bonus is the twins learned to walk carefully on rocks 🙂

We drove into Nanoose Bay to explore and stopped at the Nanoose Bay Cafe for a mid-morning snack. Eating while looking out on the bay wasn’t so bad 🙂

That evening the twins got to stay up late for a family photoshoot. We choose to do it where we took maternity photos with the babes still in my belly. So that was a special place for us to visit again.

Ucluelet & Tofino

Day 7: We left Lantzville early so we could get through the Cameron Lake closure early. This got us into Port Alberni quite early. We grabbed coffee and breakfast from Wildflower Bakeshop & Cafe. Then we drove by our old neighbourhood, showed the babes where we lived and knocked on a neighbour’s door to say hi. We ended up sitting in their backyard chatting and catching up. We headed over to Porto Taco for lunch. Then Coombs Country Candy for gelato (my favourite gelato of all time!) and then off to Ucluelet for the weekend.

Our Ucluelet AirBnB

Our Airbnb here was ok but not as spectacular as our last two. It’s hard to find something nice in Tofino or Ucluelet without paying with an arm and a leg.

Activities Around Ucluelet / Tofino

Once we got all settled into the Airbnb we drove into Tofino to do some shopping. We grabbed dinner at Shed. I really wanted to eat on the beach so we took our meals over to Chestermans beach. However, the hornets were pretty bad and after I got stung on my finger we headed out.

We decided to explore around the Amphitrite Lighthouse which was just near our rental before bedtime.

Day 8: We got up early and headed into Tofino for coffee at Rhino Coffee, did some more shopping around town (I got a sweater and my husband got a poncho) and then we headed out for a short hike at the Rainforest Trail.

We headed over to Tacofino for lunch. And even though we were one of the first people in line, it took over an hour to get tacos. So we wasted a lot of time there. As we were driving back to Ucluelet for naps, the twins fell asleep. So we didn’t manage to get full naps when we got back to the rental.

Everyone was a bit frantic without naps. As we were packing up to head to Terrace Beach I accidentally closed the front door on Alora’s finger. After many tears and screams and cuddles I ended up taking Ryland down to the beach while Dad consoled Alora. Dad and Alora met up with us a bit later. Our postpartum doula (who took the most amazing care of me and the twins) was also in town so she popped down to the beach for a quick hi! Ps. Alora’s finger is completely fine and was barely bruised the next day. We were extremely lucky!

Day 9: Our flight home out of the Nanaimo airport was at 10 am. We left the Airbnb before the sun was up so we could get through the Cameron Lake closure. We gave ourselves enough time to fill up the rental car with gas and drop it off at the airport.

It was the most perfect trip. I’m so proud of how we planned it and how we adapted as things changed on us 🙂

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About Robyn!

I help to empower you with healthy habits
- By using dĹŤTERRA Essential Oils
- Sharing my Multiple Sclerosis journey
- Show you how to thrive with an autoimmune sidekick

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robynpineault

I only see my goals, I don’t believe in failure. I only see my goals, I don’t believe in failure.

I am a successful web3 Marketing Director
I am a two time published Author
I am an independent Book Publisher 
I am a successful Network Marketer
I am an Autoimmune Thriver 
I am a patient, calm & fun Twin Mom
I am a loving Wife
I am a Weekly Planner Creator
I am an AirBnb Experience Entrepreneur

Some of these things are already and some of these things I’m speaking into existence. 

I only see my goals and I know what I can achieve and I will reverse engineer it until it happens. What’s one goals you’re going after?!
3 Things I Love About Being A Twin Family
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- The way that they play together and love on each other is amazing. They have a built in best friend for life. 
- We only have to buy baby/kid supplies once and then can sell or donate them after they are done with them (no needing to store anything - since we only planned on having two kids).
- Its fun to watch them experience things at the same age and at the same time but from totally different little people perspectives.

📸 @islandmomentsphotography
Fun fact about the book Resilience Redefined is th Fun fact about the book Resilience Redefined is that I have 3 authors with the name Sara/Sarah 🙂 
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Find out how they see resilience and don't forget to pre-order your copy before October 24th to get some pre-order gifts. 
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Grab your copy or gift a copy to someone who lives with autoimmune disease! 

Comment BOOK to get a link to pre-order via DM!
One thing I hate going a day without! dĹŤTERRA l One thing I hate going a day without! 

dĹŤTERRA launched the MetaPWR system last year and I hate missing a day of taking the MetaPWR Advantage. 

It’s so easy to whip up in a glass of water or add it to an adrenal cocktail. My go to recipe is:
1 Orange (Freshly Squeezed)
Fill Mason Jar with Coconut Water
1 Sachet of MetaPWR Advantage
Pinch of Sea Salt 

Comment METAPWR if you’d like to try a sample!
The twins started forest school a few weeks ago no The twins started forest school a few weeks ago now and more important than sunscreen or bug spray was bottles of OnGuard sanitizing mist in their bags. 
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While we don't use conventional sanitizers this one is clutch for killing 99% of germs! AND it won't strip their hands of healthy oils. 
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These guys might pick up every cold and sickness that's being passed around but I'd like to give them a fighting chance.
Who Are You Becoming?! Adios Salt Lake City, unti Who Are You Becoming?!

Adios Salt Lake City, until next time. This will have been my 5th in person convention and my 8th year of saying yes to the @doterra business opportunity. 

I always leave dōTERRA’s annual convention with a renewed sense of hope, purpose and drive. I get excited for the new products. I get inspired by the motivational talks. My heart is full connecting with other amazing like minded human beings. And I get a good dose of inspiration to continue to build this beautiful business.

If you’re curious about the business opportunity comment BIZ and I’ll send you some info!
Even when life flips us upside down, I wouldn't / Even when life flips us upside down, I wouldn't / couldn't imagine doing life with anybody else. Can’t wait to get home tomorrow and squeeze and smooch my family
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📸 @islandmomentsphotography
I get so giddy and jazzed up. I think this is my I get so giddy and jazzed up.

I think this is my 5th time attending @doterra’s annual convention in person. And my 8th year with dōTERRA. And I couldn’t be more excited for the new product announcements. 

This company spoils us every year and since I love learning I’m already diving into the science and sourcing practices to understand why these products are truly incredible. I can’t wait to share more as I learn about how these can support your wellness goals.

Which product are you most excited to try?
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