Kelowna 2014

This year was the third year in a row that we have made the trip to Kelowna and stayed at Barona Beach.  Seriously, it is summer paradise for me.  It reminds me so much of Hawaii, the scenery, the weather, the pool, the fruit stands, all it is missing is the palm trees....

Over the past 2 years travelling with the kids had changed. When we started going the kids were 1.5 and 4, Cooper still napped and Grady wasn't all that fond of the water.  We were up at the crack of dawn, spent an hour at the pool in the morning, had lunch and than a quiet afternoon in the condo while Cooper napped.  

This year with the kids at 3.5 and 6, things looked a lot different.  They slept later, loved the pool, and had there own list of things they wanted to do in Kelowna.  Grady remembers our prior trips and knew the things he wanted to do, spray park, play center, McDonald's play center, train museum.....   Our days were full of activities.  So full in fact that the week flew by!   Grady kept asking why our trip was so short and why we didn't stay for 2 weeks.  Good question Grady, good question.  

The biggest change I noted was the water play.  The kids are almost independent in the water.  Grady could touch in half the pool and Cooper learned to swim with water wings while we were away. So instead of being in the water, I could sit in the edge and watch.  Don't get me wrong, I did my fair share of water play, but it was nice to have the option to sit and watch every so often!  They loved the water so much and would stay in as long as we let them.  I am just happy to sit outside and soak up the sun.  Unfortunately we didn't see as much of the sun as we hoped for this week but it was a memorable trip just the same.  We are already planning next years trip.  

Here a few highlights of our time in Kelowna.

We swam very day. Sometime twice.  Grady was wild in the water.  Jumping all over the place, swimming under water... such a change from the Grady we knew last summer.  So proud of him!  He was still cautious enough to know that if he wanted to go past 4ft he needed a life jacket.

Cooper went from squeezing our fingers and not letting go on the first day to telling us to not help him because he could swim.  It was such a transformation right before our eyes. Proud of my little Coop.

Cooper even jumped into the pool.  Well, into our spring float.  Best. Purchase. Ever.  I got them on clearance at target for $11 each and the kids loved them.  I kind of loved them to.

We didn't travel light.  I brought my air compressor with me and boy was I glad I did.  We blew all the water toys up and then brought them to the pool each and every time.  This photo does not show the laundry basket full of smaller pool toys we also brought.  I told them we could bring as much to the pool that we could carry in one trip.  They took it seriously.

One of the favorites was the floating basketball net and ball.  This thing was well used by us and the other kids at the pool.  The kids were very good at sharing their toys.

We made our annual trip to Vernon to the water slide park.  It really is something else and each year the kids like it more and more and we spend a longer amount of time there.

What was surprising about this trip was how much Cooper liked it.  We got him to go down the water slide in town for the first time before we left, so we were optimistic that he would go down in Vernon.  We were right.  That kid couldn't get enough.  Look at that smile!

Grady, on the other hand, was more cautious.  Loved the water slides but stuck to the smaller ones.  I am guessing because he went down on his own where as Cooper went down with James.  Much less scary when you ride down with Dad!

While is seems that all we did was spend time at the pool, I promise that we did much much more.  As usual, I planned to finish this all in one post, but alas, I could not.  Look at it is as your personal tour guide if you ever plan to visit the Kelowna area.  

Next up, non pool activities!

My 35th Birthday

Today was my birthday and I'm ok with being 35. Not so sure I'll feel as good about turning 40... Yikes!

My birthday had everything I needed, my boys, sunshine, beer and clam, and my birthday hat. 

A good birthday indeed!

Vacation wardrobe

The fam and I were away in Kelowna last week, post to follow, but while we were away I decided to challenge myself in the wardrobe department again.  

As you know, I just took part in a summer style challenge a few weeks back with Alison from Get your Pretty On. Well.... Alison included a bonus Summer Vacation Packing list for 10 days, and wouldn't you know it, I was going on a 10 day vacation. So I decided to give it a try and tell you all about it!  She gave detailed outfits by day and I adjusted according to what we were doing.  

The List had 14 items on it and I did a few substitutions/additions.  This is the clothes that I packed using the list.

1.  Swimsuit

2.  Fedora

3.  Statement Earrings

4.  White Tshirt - I subbed a tank

5.  Printed Tank - I subbed a graphic Tee

6.  Tote Bag - I subbed for denim shorts

7.  Maxi dress

8.  Long Necklace

9.  White Shorts

10.  Chambray shirt - I subbed a denim vest

11.  Metallic flip flops (didn't even take these out of the suitcase!)

12.  Wedges - I subbed beach flip flops

13.  Bright Shorts

14.  Sneakers - I subbed for bright tank

I decided to stick with her 14 item list but sub in the things that I knew I wouldn't use.  So the idea was to wear only those items on my vacation.  I piled everything up and looked at the teeny tiny pile and I wondered if I would survive with so little choices.

Well, that is not all I packed.  Here are a few extras I threw in that weren't included on the list but to me could not go on vacation without.

1.  An Extra Black Tank - This is a lulu lemon one perfect for wearing with shorts or with my sweats.  I chose the black one since it will go with everything.  When it is hot out (and it will be!), sometimes you just need a few extra shirts.   I didn't end up wearing this in the end.  

2.  Sweats and sweatshirt.  AC is darn cold so I always need a comfy outfit for nigh time and a sweatshirt for indoors.  I wore this everyday after supper.  

3.  Extra bathing suits.  I plan to be in the water at least once a day and this mama hates putting on a wet suit so the more bathing suits the better.  I wore every single one!

4.  A swim cover up for going to and from the pool.  The fact that I only packed one was a miracle!  I didn't need it much either since out unit just outside the pool.  I sometimes just wore a towel.  

5.  An extra hat.  Just because. I wore a hat almost everyday to cover my frizzies. 

6.  I forgot to show it, but I also plan to pack an exercise outfit.  You just never know when you will have the opportunity to go for a quick run.

A few things I forgot. 

1.  My jean jacket.  I didn't pack it since I was supposed to wear it to travel.  It was super hot that day so I forgot it.  Big mistake, big, huge!  That left me with only one long sleeved shirt for the entire trip.  

2.  A slip. Yes, it is very old lady but my maxi is slightly see through and I feel more comfortable with one on.  It didn't stop me from wearing it though!

3. Bandeau.  I like to wear one under the maxi so my bra doesn't show as much.  Instead I wore a white tank underneath.  Worked good as an alternative.  

With the details out of the way, lets move onto the outfits.

Days 1-4

My fave outfit was the white on white with the jean vest.  Can I just say how much I love my jean vest.  On one of the cooler nights I even wore it over my sweatshirt to go to movies.  

Is also like to thank the condo for having such a great full length mirror for me to take my pictures.   Great light to.  Except it was in the bathroom.  Oh well.  

Day 5-8

In this set I love the maxi and vest combo.   The white on white was brave and I can't say I love it.  It was missing the vest :)

Let me just say that I also love my fedora.  And over this vacation I had 2 ways to wear my hair, in a hat with a side pony or in a bun.  It was perfect for covering my chlorine filled, frizzy, unwashed vacation hair. 

Day 9 and 10

What I loved about this challenge is that even after 10 days of wearing the same items on rotation I still felt good in every outfit.   Even though I was home in day 10, I opted to wear the challenge outfit because I wanted to.   

I would recommend this vacation challenge to everyone.  It severely decreased the amount that I packed and I still had oodles of outfit choices each day.  Not to mention I loved wearing shorts everyday and ditching the office wear.....

Five on Friday

1.  We have been on vacation this week and are headed home tomorrow.  It has felt like the shortest week ever and none of us feel ready to come home.  

2.  My birthday is next week.  I love birthdays, eating cake, drinking wine during the week, being spoiled.....  For the most part I know what I am getting.  Curious to see what James will buy as he is always a last minute shopper.  

3.  I feel like summer this half over already but at the same time just started.  I have no more holidays planned this summer so not sure what else we will do.  Stacey convinced me to make a summer bucket list with the kids so we will start checking some of those off when we get home.  

4.  The kids have their first summer camp next week for 2 days.  Grady's is a full day and I am a little nervous for him as he hasn't done anything full day since daycare 2 years ago.  Thankfully they will each have 2 friends in their class which will help.  And let's face it, he has to prepare himself to start grade 1 in 5ish weeks!

5.  I sported a bikini everyday on this trip.  Something I haven't done since before kids.  And you know what, it felt great.  It is way more comfortable and easier to go  to the bathroom.  Maybe with age I have just become more comfortable in my own skin?

Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation

For Grady's birthday this year, we asked that people didn't bring gifts.  Instead, we asked that they bring a donation to the Alberta's Children Hospital Foundation.  I saw it on a friends facebook posting that you can bring your child into the hospital to do the donation and I thought that was a great idea!

 

Some people wonder how Grady did with the no gifts thing.  He saw Cooper do it in the fall, so he knew that it was an option.  I explained to him why we were doing it and where the money was going.  We also talked about all the other people that would buy him gifts including many family members.  We also discussed that after his party I would take him to pick one item that I bought for him as an early present (He picked a ball glove and lacrosse set). 

 

Last week, the kids and I made our way down to the children's hospital to do the donation.  Grady raised a total of $235 at his party and I am so proud of him for donating it in lieu of gifts.  Like he had a choice.  The program is great!  They have a big cheque on a white board where he signs his own name like  real cheque.

 

Next he put his heart on the wall of kid donors.  His heart was placed just below his friend Marley's heart by chance.

 

Then he got to hold his cheque before giving it back to the lady.

 

While you don't have to do the cheque presentation, I think it is a great way to talk to your kids about the hospital and to help them understand where their donation is going.  I hope it helped anyway.

 

If you are interested in doing this, you can find more information here.

 

After the hospital, we headed over to the mall where Grady desperately wanted to buy this blue jays hat.  He was so sweet and did donate all his birthday money after all, so the came home with us.

All in all, it was a great experience which we hope to repeat for Cooper's birthday!

Weekend Visitors

Just a few days after our return from SK, my sisters, their boyfriends, and a one of their friends arrived at our house for a weekend full of stampede and nephew fun!

 

On the Friday night we hit up the chuck wagons and grandstand show.  A first for everyone except James and I.  It was a night full of horses, drinks, food, and fun.

 

Saturday morning, the boys, James, and I got up at the crack of dawn, like usual, and headed to our annual Stampede breakfast at West Market Square.  The rest of the crew stayed in bed and came to the breakfast just before 11am. 

 

 

We suspected the the others may not make it, so we invited our neighbors along.   We waited in line for a very long time for a free pancakes and the kids were pretty well waiting with their friends.

 

 

Cooper went on a pony ride all by himself.  So proud of him.  He is our little adventurer.  Grady had no interest in a pony ride.

 

That afternoon, we busted out the water balloons.  It was such a beautiful weekend that it seemed like the perfect way to spend the afternoon.  It took so long to fill the balloons and literally 3 minutes to pop them all.  I think the big boys had more fun then the littles!  The girls and I watched dryly from the deck .  Ha!

 

When we ran out of the smaller water balloons, Joel started using normal sized ones and filling them super full, like bigger than Grady's head.  I love the picture below of before and after.  Those monster balloons certainly did explode!

Another thing that seemed to interest our company was grady perler beads.  I did these as a kid, you put the beads in a peg board and you iron them together and voila you have a design.

At times the table was full of beaders.

 

Some even beaded naked.

 

 

At the end of the day, I think this was the biggest and best one.  Grady had a lot of help from uncle Joel who enjoyed it as much, if not more, than Grady.   We made this one into a magnet that is proudly displayed on our fridge.

 

I manged to get Blaire to the barre class on Sunday morning and I'm so glad we went.

 

I'm still loving my classes and it is nice to do it with someone else who enjoys.  Blaire made it look easy and didn't sweat at all.  While I was a wet mess full of sweat!  I hope we'll do it again some day.

 

I had a great weekend!  I hope that they will make it an annual trip.  We got adult time, kid time, some time at the mall, beer, wine, water fights, beading, early morning, late nights, all crammed into one tiny little weekend.  So so worth it.  Come back any time!

Wordless Wednesday

No Words

Today my heart is heavy.  Like the rest of Canada, I waited, full of hope that Nathan and his grandparents would be found and all would be as it should.  Yesterday, that hope was shattered.  Every time I look at that little blond hair boy, I see Grady and imagine how I would feel if that happened to our family.  Losing my son and parents in one tragic event.  Poor Nathan, just a victim of being at the wrong place a the wrong time.  Having a sleepover on the wrong night.  How does one move on after these events?  How does a community walk by that house and not remember the couple that used to live there? I couldn't move on and post about our lives when there is a family in our city full of grief over the loss of 3 family members who were lost tragically.  My heart goes out to the families involved. I wish there was something I could do to ease their pain.

Canada Day Weekend

I'm behind. I know, I know. I desperately trying to catch up and I hope to be up to date by the end of the week. In the meantime, let's travel back to what we did over the long weekend. Technically it wasn't a long weekend since the holiday this year was on a Tuesday, however we took the Friday and Monday off to enjoy an extra long weekend to go and visit my family.

The purpose of the trip was to celebrate the life of my uncle Rob, my Dad's brother, that passed away in the fall after a long battle with MS.  The service was nice and I got to see 3 of my cousins I haven't seen since I was a kid.  It was uber hot that day so after the service we went to Dad and Sheila's for burgers, drinks and a swim.

The rest of the weekend was full of fun.  I'll let the pictures do a lot of the talking.

There was hockey.  Of course.

We attempted a geocashe that is about a block from my mom's house.  It was our first fail.  We just couldn't find it.  James read after that someone tried to find it a month ago and couldn't find it either.  James and Madi gave up super fast while James, Grady and I stuck it out.  We are all disappointed to be unsuccessful.

We swam.  The kids love swimming at Grandpa Lorne's.  I loved it as a kid to.  My Dad keeps the pool super warm which makes it much more enjoyable for the adults.  Grady is getting so good in the water and Cooper has come along way to.

We hotubbed.  This visit the kids could go in on their own and we just stood on the outside.  They like to go in a lot so it is a welcome change to have to go in with them.

We blew lots and lots of bubbles and played in the back yard.  Taiya and the boys played great together and James even texted the next day to say that Tai was asking about her cousins.  Love to watch their little relationship blossom.

Kiptyn and Grandma watched from the safety of the shade.  Look at those squeezable little cheeks!

We visited some parks. This particular day was beyond hot and we forgot sunscreen and water.  We just weren't accustomed to the hot weather yet!

We ran through the sprinklers at GGs and played in her motor home.  GG has a fantastic yard with lots of flowers and a great little deck to visit on.

The kids rode home from GGs in their underwear since they were soaking wet!

We ran through the sprinkler.

We had lots of laughs. I think Cooper was spraying Grady with water in this photo and loving every moment of it.

The kids played in the paddling pool.  Often running between the ice cold pool to the extra hot hot tub.

Then it started to rain and we decided to go and spend the day at the lake anyway.  The lake was infested with caterpillars.  They were on all the trees. They were starting to make cocoons.  Grady was all over it since they learned all about the process in school.  My mom refused to walk under the trees as she was scared one would fall on her.

Since it rained all day at the trailer we got creative and played Charades.  It was a hit with all of us!  We would tell the kids what it said and they would act it out for the others.  Except Cooper would just act out whatever he wanted.

We also played some cards.

A picture to prove that I was there to!

We went out to Joel's place which is like a kids wonderland with a full rink in his backyard and a trampoline!  It was super windy out this day so we couldnt' stay as long as we would have liked.

The hitmen fans.  Blaire left her jersey for me to wear this season at the hitmen games.  Joel used to play for the hitmen so she has her very own jersey!

The kids are finally starting to pose together and I couldn't be happier.  Love these boys!

We also set off fireworks. Something you don't see in Alberta often. 

We set off one set at the lake and one set in the city across the street from my moms.  The kids had never watched fireworks so they were super pumped.  Notice it is daylight.  The kids don't stay up late enough to do them at night but they enjoyed them just the same!

Finally, we set off on our journey home on Tuesday morning with a planned stop at Deena's place just outside of Saskatoon. Well, James and I got lost and ended up 45 minutes off track so instead, we met for lunch at A&W with 6 kids in tow!  We snapped a quick selfie in the parking lot.

We crammed a lot into our super fun extra long weekend.  The lakes in SK are beautiful and worth a stop if you are ever in the area.  I have such fond lake memories growing up and hope to pass a few along to my big city kids!