B.C. Day 6

On Wednesday the 13th, we went to one of our favorite beaches. It was called Sun-Oka and it is Jared's Aunt's favorite beach, so we figured we would check it out. Before we left, the kids found some dress up clothes. The kids made some friends, which was great! I love the purple on the duck's back! We had some food for the ducks and they literally came right up to us! The Mom of Haley's new friend rented an Aqua-Cycle and invited Haley to ride on it with them, so she got to go out onto the lake which she was very happy about!

Kiera's friend had some child-sized kayaks, so Kiera and Blake got to try those out, which they enjoyed! The only problem was, they went quite far out and they couldn't hear us yelling for them to come back. They eventually turned to look at us and saw us waving them back.

We had just finished a late supper and were talking to Jared's Aunt about getting some ice cream at Summerland Sweets. She informed us that it closed at 8 p.m. and it was about 7:45, so we quickly booted it to the van and got there just in time! They also have their own vineyard and make their own fruit wine right on site, so Jared got to try some and we bought a few bottles for gifts and ourselves. I don't normally like any wine but their apricot wine was actually quite tasty! We drove around after, looking at houses and the scenery in general. This was one house that I really liked! Summerland has a pretty round about

This was back at Jared's Aunt's house. I thought this tree on her yard looked interesting.

I enjoyed watching the mountains turn a bit pink at sunset.

So much character This was at the front of the house right beside the driveway. Thursday was our last full day in B.C., so I am almost done posting this trip's pictures! Maybe there's hope to get our Branson photos posted before Christmas! The sad thing is I haven't even put them on the computer and looked at them yet! That will be my new goal. Now that I've been sitting for an extended period of time, it's time to go exercise!

B.C. Day 5

Our trip can be summarized with one word: beaches. Every day, we went to a different beach. It was fun and beautiful! On Tuesday morning, July 12, we met up with a friend of Jared's whom I used to work with and we got to hang out with him, his wife and their baby girl for the morning. We decided spontaneously to take our kids to see "The Secret Life of Pets" in the theater, since in Penticton Tuesdays are cheap night there, too! We drove half an hour to go see it and the kids really enjoyed it! Another fancy house right next to the water The view coming down the road to Jared's Aunt's house These are some pictures of the inside of the house. All of our bedrooms were upstairs. This is the bedroom Jared + I slept in.

Haley's room

The renovated bathroom

Blake slept in this room, which was also a big play room. I think the girls each had a "sleepover" with him as well.

This is the main floor

The weather forecast before we left said that it would be raining all week, which would have totally ruined our beach plans, but I think it only rained once or twice for 5 minutes while we were driving and it was sunny most of the time! Praise God!

Day 4 Continued

We left in the morning (Monday, July 11) to go to Kelowna to meet Art, Jenene and Sophia at their hotel. The view on the way there was not too shabby. They stayed at a really nice Best Western for one night, so we joined them in the morning for a swim before they had to check out. The hot tubs were outside and the grounds were quite lovely. Jared had really been wanting to hit up a Kelly O'Bryan's (an Irish pub restaurant), so we decided to drive downtown for lunch. We had trouble finding parking, so we ended up parking about 10 minutes away and then enjoying a nice walk in downtown Kelowna. There were interesting things to see!

We ate outside on the upstairs balcony and it was right by the water and I just loved it!

The washroom was beautiful, so I quickly took pictures before someone walked in. It's not often I see nice wooden doors in public washrooms. Both my sister and I ordered Irish Stew in a bread bowl. It was delicious! The view from where we ate I don't think these 2 cousins could look more different, unless Sophia was black. I guess that's what happens when one sister marries a blond-haired blue-eyed man and the other marries a half Filipino and one quarter Portuguese man! After lunch, we walked around by the water. We then drove to Gyro Beach and spent a couple of hours there. You can see the big zipline that goes into the water and Kiera and Haley both had fun on that. Blake fell off of it (at the beginning he fell into the water instead of holding on until the end), so he didn't try it after that. This was Art + Jenene's first time visiting Kelowna and Art said they would love to visit again. I second that! After a day that flew by way too quickly, it was time to say goodbye. Our visit was short but incredibly sweet! On the way back to the van, someone had some beautiful flowers on their front yard, so I had to get a picture. I guess we tired the kids out! Butt Road...hee hee! I thought the houses built on top of hills were really interesting! Summerland is where we stayed. Our van turned over 200,000 kms while we were there. This was right in Summerland...so pretty! Thus concludes day 4. I'm not sure if I'll get this trip posted by Christmas, but that's my goal!