Let the Sun Shine In!

This will be quick cuz we've got to get on the road!

Stopped in Peachland to visit Gosia (and drop off her key etc). Got the tour of her parents’ home there – very nice!  So great to see you even for a brief time Gos -- thanks again for lunch!

Met the Hermansons at the beach and stayed for a few hours in the afternoon sunshine! We all enjoyed the water and the beach at Okanogan Lake. Great fun!  Maki was even splashing and kicking in the water today!

(Here's Seth at the beach!  We have a cute pic of Caitlyn as a sand-monster, but it didn't saved and I don't have time to redo it ... next blog!)

An evening BBQ on the deck of the studio Gail&Scott are staying at. A great night: LOTS of food, an amazing view of Kalamalka Lake, 3 kids peacefully sleeping inside, and lots of laughing. When Seth is older he’ll probably be able to write a sequel to, Sh*t my Dad Said. Haha

A bit of a late start this morning … albeit mostly because Mak slept in (YAY for us all sleeping in!) and for me trying to post this before we leave! We’re off to Halcyon Hot Springs Resort today! WHOOP!



Sleeping Accomodations: 4 poops on the potty

Shower: 3 poops on the potty

View/Surroundings: 4 poops on the potty

Breakfast:  2 poopy diapers for Justin and 2.5 poops on the potty for me

Time to hit to hit the road!

Hee Haw!

Another great vacation day!


Apparently we had settled into Gosia’s very well, as we had to be on our game this morning to pack up, clean up, and move out. Still, we were settled in the car in time for Mak to have his morning nap, and made our way out of Vancouver without having to tackle rush hour traffic!

We stopped in Hope for lunch … well … all day breakfast. Man we love breakfast!!

We knew we wanted to hit a certain deli, but didn’t know which exit to take … so Justin followed his spidey senses. We did find the deli, but more interesting was that on our way from the deli to the park (we spent half an hour playing in the grass) … we found the RONA! Too little too late, and yet we were appeased …

We arrived at the Old Hedley Road Inn late afternoon, where we were greeted warmly by our hosts, the puppies, and the miniature donkeys, Julio and Tequila.

One of the donkeys sneezed/spit on Mak and I … par for the course today though. Mak has spread his fair share of spit as the entire day he’s been practicing his motorboat. So cute and so annoying all at the same time!

This place has an awesome vibe. Great view, friendly hosts, nice room. We had originally intended on hitting a winery tour, but we stopped to pick up some groceries to bbq, and ended up just hanging out on the deck instead. It was such a beautiful evening!

Our suite has a 3-piece bath, so Maki had his first shower this evening. Daddy showered with him. He did OK, but I think he takes after his Daddy and prefers baths. After Maki went to sleep J&I enjoyed the view from the hot tub. A very relaxing day!














Sleeping Accommodations: 4.75 poops on the potty

Shower: 4 poops on the potty

View/Surroundings: 4.5 poops on the potty (an easy 5 if the highway wasn’t so close)

Breakfast:  5 poops on the potty

It’s hard to believe we’ll be home in less than a week. Good thing we still have lots of interesting things to do/see before then! Onto next …

BOnkers ... BOring ... BOy oh BOy ... BOing ...

(All day Maki thought words that started with BO were HI-larious)

Today was a true vacation day ... a beautiful day in Vancouver, with nothing to do but hang out!

In an attempt to try and keep Maki close to his routine, and let him catch up on his sleep, we hung out at home (i.e. Gos') for the morning.  In the afternoon, we did some wandering with Auntie Rach ... stopping for cool drinks, peeks into stores with interesting Japanese paraphernalia, and browsing in book stores.  Back in time for wiggling and making supper together.

Our souls were cleansed by much laughter.  We were entertained by Maki, as well as quotations from the book, Shit My Dad Says.  Perhaps not humor everyone enjoys, but we were all in the mood today (Neil -- YOU need to read this book!) - unfortunately, we haven't yet found a quote that is appropriate to post in the blog.


QT with Daddy & Mama:

Love you Auntie Rach!!!

This is our last day in Vancouver -- we pack up and leave for Hedley in the morning. First time in the car since we got here (Justin managed to score a rockstar parking spot right in front of Gos' building and we weren't willing to move!).

Sleeping Accomodations:  3 poops on the potty

Shower:  5 poops on the potty

View/Surroundings:  3.75 poops on the potty

Breakfast:  N/A

Fully Stocked Bar:  4.5 poops on the potty

One with the Force

JGKF - the laws of attraction were in full force as we made the transfer from Gabriola to Vancouver this week!  As we lined up for the ferry, we couldn't help but notice the wind.  That makes for a rocky ferry ride!  "I will not throw up on the ferry.  I will not throw up on the ferry."  OK - maybe this one was the Hyland's Homeopathic Motion Sickness ... regardless ... I was FINE on the ferry.  YAY!  We had to then transfer to another ferry.  We were in line when the ferry 2+ hours previous was leaving, but when it was finally time for boarding our ferry, we were getting nervous.  I repeated over and over (and over ...), "we will get on this boat!"  We did.  Just squeaked on.  When we got off the ferry, we were the last car off the ferry.  Insane.  Then, we were driving toward Vancouver, our gas light on, thinking we'd for sure see a gas station imminently, only to find ourselves stuck in very heavy traffic going over the Lions Gate Bridge (for those of you unfamiliar with this bridge, or I suppose bridges in general, there is no gas station!).  We end up in downtown Vancouver mere blocks from our destination, and we miss one of our turns.  In doing a loop to turn around, lo and behold:  ESSO!  While I suppose running out of gas on the bridge would have made for a good story several years from now ... we much preferred things working out this way!

We spent the rest of the evening visiting with Rach - we saw her cutesy new apartment then made our way over to Gosia's, (where we are crashing - thanks Gos!) for take-out and chatting.


Yesterday we hit Vancouver on foot. We wandered around W4th, then in the afternoon met up with Rachel and Megan on Granville where we toured a few antique stores and art galleries, then went down for a walk/talk along the water.




Then we walked all the way back and headed over to Mike's (I mean, Dr. Mike's) for supper: we ordered southern BBQ for 3, and ended up with a huge tray of pulled pork, brisket, ribs, chicken ... so good. And incidentally, for those of you who know my history with Mike's cat, I need to report that Jasper didn't even hiss at me ... not one time!!


Thanks for joining us on the walk back to Gosia's Mike -- so much visiting to do, but we needed to try and keep Maki somewhat on his routine! Robin showed up just in time for a quick hello before Maklin literally closed his eyes and went to sleep as soon as we laid him in the playpen. Nice to see you guys -- great to catch up!

Maklin is in the middle of a big growth spurt.  He is eating A LOT and is waking up 2 hours earlier than usual ... to eat. 

He's needs his sustenance ... he's a Jedi in training.

potty training

Catching up scaling of our Roberts Creek and Gabriola Accomodations:

Roberts Creek:  rented cabin for the week

Sleeping Accomodations:  1 poop on the potty (but just caught the signs at the last minute and it almost ended up in the diaper)

Shower: 2 poops on the potty

View/Surroundings: 3 poops on the potty

Breakfast:  N/A


Gabriola:  Casa Blanca by the Sea

Sleeping Accomodations: 5 poops on the potty!!

Shower:  4 poops on the potty

View/Surroundings:  4.5 poops on the potty

Breakfast: N/A

kissing cousins

Yesterday we met up at the Silva Bay Farmers' Market in the morning (mmmmm ooey-gooey white bread buttery cinnamon buns!).  We found Maki a trip souvenir: a cute little handmade wooden truck.  :)  Then we all walked onto the ferry to spend the afternoon at the Dragon Boat festival in Nanaimo.  We didn't actually watch that much of the dragon boating though ... we mostly wandered along the docks, hung out at the playground, and ate festival food.  The kids even managed to jump in the bouncy castle post-lunch with no tummy troubles (we were seriously skeptical!).  What a great way to spend a very hot and sunny Sunday afternoon!  We refreshed ourselves with real fruit popsicles when we got back.  SO good.  Mak thought so too (this pic is on Sully's camera ... ); vacation apparently means Maklin can have popsicles too!! (thank goodness for the travel size Sunlight bar to remove the raspberry drips!)  Maki had a great day ... the heat and the fresh air meant easily into bed for a big sleep!

This morning we went for a wee hike into the forest to see the Elder Cedar:

(This blog is stupid btw ... it should not be this difficult.  It is VERY finicky re publishing pictures, alignment etc ... good thing I'm on a relaxing vacation cuz I tend to curse when trying to post this blog!!  Apparently the text will just have to be centered from now on ... it refuses to change!  I suppose the pictures will just have to go wherever they want!!)

Maki was equally interested in the forest surroundings and my ponytail that was bobbing just far enough ahead of his face that he had to really work at grabbing onto it. He did succeed a few times though!

Today is the halfway point of our holiday. Hard to believe … it seems like it’s going by so fast! We walked through the woods with the Reids this afternoon to a quiet little beach spot. River was the only one brave enough to get in the water though!  Still … the view from the beach was awesome … we had a great time exploring, sunning, and chatting.

(And yes ... it randomly switched to left alignment all by itself).

We walked back all along the beach.  We walked; Maklin napped:

After a tour of the quarry (great work Dallas -- the lot looks fantastic!! What is finished rocks (HA!) and the potential is amazing!  Menno -- we thought you'd enjoy this photo opp:

Our last supper together, we ate together at the B&B.  I was pleased to find that Robyn was equally annoyed by the piercing ding of our microwave!  (Justin feels the microwave has brought out my inner rage ...) It's not the newest machine ... in fact, we considered holding frying pans in front ourselves as to not catch any stray radiation!!  The Harvest Thyme wraps and pizza were totally worth it though!

We of course had to take/post this picture for Gramma K before we parted:

A great few days of QT with the fam.

Tomorrow morning -- Vancouver-ho, and in good spirits.  Justin thinks it's good therapy for me to be blogging:  "it's a good outlet.  It's good that you're writing about your anger."  Punk.

See the Sea

Yay for Hyland's Homeopathic Motion Sickness - I've now been on 5 ferry rides motion sickness free.  :)  Justin calls them my placebo pills, but frankly, even if the effect is purely psychological ... totally worth it!

We scored on the ferry trip over as well ... Justin, being atypical when it comes to the male stereotype regarding asking for directions, asked the ship steward about transferring ferries so that we could be most efficient.  Efficient indeed!  Somehow we managed to be on the ferry that actually made the next route we wanted to take, so we didn't even have to get off ... just flip around and repark.  Excellent!

We made it to Gabriola mid-afternoon and headed straight to Harvest Thyme to say hi to Robyn before getting set up at our B&B:  Casa Blanca By The Sea (http://www.staygabriola.com/):  a spacious (as in the size of our house) basement suite.  Mak his own room, and there's lots of space for wiggling!  The view is awesome:

We spent the evening having a picnic on the beach and swimming.  Here's Justin and the kids in the water: