Is It Fall Yet?

As I sit here on a calm Saturday morning, it is cool enough to wear yoga pants and a sweater this morning whilst I sip my coffee. This...is bliss. We have had a record breaking summer for high temperatures (okay, I don't know that for a fact, but is sure feels like it! Definitely the hottest summer I've lived here) and this pregnant mama is ready for the cooler weather that fall brings. I'm not one to thrive in a hot, humid climate...so this 30+ degree weather...I was not made for. It's not what we sign up for living in the prairies in Alberta!
Plus? I'm burnt out. Since the beginning of July, my schedule has been GO!GO!GO! If I wasn't working 2-3 shifts a week we were always busy. We were out of town or doing day trips to the city, camping, the lake, our BC vacation, swimming lessons...busy busy!...I wanted a busy summer and I got it. And now, I want summer to be over. I just want to relax. I want to stay in my own house one full day and not be committed to going anywhere. I think that's why I've not been feeling as good with this pregnancy. Busy, on my feet, plus all the heat...makes me sore and achy, so I'm looking forward to relaxing. Well, as much relaxing as I can get with a 2.5 year old to take care of! In the next 3 months, I want lots of coffee visits with friends, play dates with Luke, and snuggles with Blake, and a visit or two to see my mom, GG, and to see Ben, Jess, & Abby's new house. I want to get my maternity pictures taken with Katie. I want to do lots of baking and cooking for harvest. I just want life to calm down before Squishy turns it upside down again (and I mean that in the best of ways!) in November. I want to enjoy a date with my husband, it's been far too long.

Anyone else burnt out from a busy summer? Don't get me wrong...I've loved this summer. Braden had SO much fun and he's at such an enjoyable age. Nothing terrible at all about these twos for us, and that's the truth! But I want to enjoy home time and savor these last 12 weeks as a family of 3. I look so forward to meeting Squishy, but I need to cherish some down time and unwind from the summer shenanigans. I was going to write our "what we've done this summer" list. But just thinking about it makes me more exhausted, so I'll spare us all!

I think my last summer activity will be another trip to the zoo on a cooler day. I did buy a season pass after all...so I might as well make it worth my while! It's fun seeing Braden truly enjoy all these activities this year, this age has just been awesome!

August Long Weekend

Laura was 1 day overdue and was bound and determined to enjoy her last pregnant weekend, also celebrating her 5th wedding anniversary with Craig, at the lake. So all but a few family members joined us at the lake for an absolutely gorgeous day. The kids had fun in the dingy and of course on the real boat and in the tube!

I went on the boat just once and took a few pictures of Braden in the tube with cousin Luke and Uncle Craig. They all just had a blast and I'm so glad we get to make these memories with such wonderful people!




We had a nice, big picnic with great food. The kids wore themselves out silly and it was time to head home. But not before a few family pictures...of whoever was around!

And then of course there's the two pregnant sisters! Better late than never to take a pregnancy picture together!

We are waiting to hear some exciting baby news! Laura went into labor/was induced last night! Good luck Nelson family!

Our BC Summer Vacation Part 3

This is the last BC post! I will always attest that this blog is for me and my family. I don't write to appease to anyone...but at the same time I don't want to bore my readers with every.single.detail of everything we do. So this is our last day in BC, which was 1 week ago today. We spent it at Parker Cover on the Okanagan Lake. This is where Jay's grandparents retired to and he spent 6 weeks there every summer. I'm happy we can share this with Braden!


The weather was beautiful, there was lots of shade provided by the big, beautiful trees if we needed it...and Braden and Jay enjoyed floating around the lake in the dingy and building sandcastles on the little beach.

Even the doggy had a great time on our vacation. I don't know if she really appreciates coming, after all...she is just a dog! But it sure beats a week in the kennel, at least we figure so!

 

Then that little thief stole my chair as I got up to take those pictures of him and the dog. Braden moves a LOT faster than Mommy these days!



Then it was back to the lake. He loved to pull the boat down to the water "all by 'yself!"

 

And was very proud of his sandcastle that he built with Daddy!

I loved this vacation so much! I aspire to bring my mom, meet up with Nelsons, my in-laws if they can make it too, and have Ben, Jess, & Abby there at the same time next year. These kids are going to have a great time growing up together, I want to do big family vacations and make lots and lots of memories together. Family is just so important and I cherish mine every day. We are stronger now than ever!

Our BC Summer Vacation Part 2

The next day took us to Kelowna to visit my cousin Amy and her awesome little son Kingston. Kingston is about a year younger than Braden and he looks JUST like Amy did as a kid! Amy and I were very close growing up, I went to go visit her a couple of times when I was a teenager and she lived out at the Okanagan, we lost touch for many years and thanks to the power of social media...we're close and keep in touch regularly! I'm so happy we'll be able to see her and her family (hopefully!) every year that we go out to BC!


They had an awesome spray park, so we made an impromptu visit there before the time ran out on our parking meter as we met Amy in Kelowna for lunch.

Braden had a BLAST running around with Jay at the spray park and the weather was in the high 20's so it was just perfect! Since he had so much fun there...we knew he'd have a blast at Atlantis Water Slides in Vernon the next day...

And boy did he ever! I was a grumpus and didn't take my DSLR camera with us...plus I didn't want to guard and protect it or carry it around with us while we were there. We got a nice picnic table and Jay took Braden around all morning down the slides! They had 2 little kid slides which Braden could do "all by 'y self!" And he LOVED it. I would be at the top to help him wait his turn, then Jay would be at the bottom to catch up  and set him on the ground so he could do the cycle over and over again! Even though he had to push himself all the way down this slide...Jay said he was ear-to-ear smiling the WHOLE time!!

I LOVE on this video you can hear the joy in his "weeee!" as he pushes himself down the slide. He had the time of his life - bar none!

And this video is why I'm so glad I put Braden in swimming lessons for the next 2 weeks! He's just thrilled and loves to swim!

I think that day was the best for all of us! Just seeing the joy that the water slides brought Braden...amazing. I hope to provide joy like that to our kids for all their lives...or at least I can hope! Later that day, we took Braden and Kihei down to the park, as we do every afternoon. Jay was playing with Braden in the park, and I took Kihei on a walk through the woods around the park. She was tracking something...and then I found out what. It was a deer having a nap in someone's front yard! She was interested (of course) but not "excited" about it nor wanting to chase it. She was very calm. So I let her look at it for a few minutes and then started walking back to the park. Then Jay said "she's following you!" I thought he meant the dog, "well, duh, Jay! Of course she's following me she's on a leash." But nope...the deer was! The deer was VERY curious about Kihei! I'd walk a bit and stop, and there she was.

The next day we would find out from a neighbor, that while we were gone in the morning and had Kihei tied up in the front yard, he would see her having a nap with 2 deer! He does have a picture of it, but we didn't make contact with him in order to get it, so I hope he saves it and Ray can get it next time they go there!

Once Braden was in bed, for dessert I sliced us up some fresh BC peaches. This picture was quite a buzz on my Instagram and had many a girls salivating...as I find myself doing right now! The answer is, yes...they are as good, and BETTER as they look!!

One more BC post and that's the end of our summer vacationing for this year!

Our BC Summer Vacation Part 1

We postponed this vacation twice. We were supposed to go in the middle of June with the Nelsons, but the guys were still really busy spraying the crops, so we thought we'd go by ourselves at the end of June. At the end of June they were still spraying and hauling grain, so we decided to go at the end of July. We couldn't (and didn't want to) find a reason to cancel, so off we went. I was looking much more forward to the road trip this year than last year on our way to Ben & Jess's wedding. Braden was only 17 months last year, vs. 2.5 years this year...what a difference!

The trip there was great. But, between bringing the dog who was acting like she had to #2 the whole way there causing extra potty breaks, a 2.5 year old who needs to pee at least every 2 hours, and a 6 month pregnant me...well, let's just say we stopped A LOT on the way there! But that's okay...! I'd rather much have a potty trained Braden than having to change diapers! We stopped at Great Cedar Boardwalk to stretch our legs and take in this gorgeous scenery...but it sadly will be our last time there. The National Park now charges $15 just to do the walk through, which we didn't know until we were leaving. Jay has stopped there all his life and has never had to pay.

Braden, as I imagined, didn't sleep. Not even for a minute! But that's okay, he's used to not having naps and was very pleasant the whole way. He is a chatty Kathy and was a broken record at times "We find more trains? We find more trains? We find more trains, Mommy!?" We looked at saw many trains, tunnels, bridges, you name it! There was really only 2 stretches of construction, and we didn't even get slowed down much because of it, which was a first. BUT, my son truly appreciates and LOVES construction equipment. It was very entertaining for him pointing out skid steers, steam rollers, diggers, dozers, everything! We stopped in Armstrong at the Log Cabin which had Dave's goat walk and Braden really loved the goats. Plus, they have the best pies EVER and we indulged in a strawberry rhubarb delicious!

The total trip took us about 8.5 hours with stops, so I figure that's not too bad. Plus, once you get to the cabin and look at the gorgeous view of the Okanagan Lake...everything that seemed to stress you out, like Braden falling into a goat's horn, cutting his upper gums on a digger toy, and Jay spilling half a strawberry milkshake into the console of our vehicle (all within a 15 minute time span!) just seem to fade away!

Braden went to bed late and woke up early at 5:30 BC time which is 6:30 Alberta home time. He always does this. Don't they all? The later they go to bed, the earlier they wake up. But, with a fresh up of coffee and that gorgeous view in the morning, again - can't complain! His wake up times got better and better as the week went on too, and of course he even slept in on the morning we wanted to leave!

The first full day we were there we headed to Davison Orchards in Vernon, BC. If you are in the area and have kids...I highly recommend it. Laura discovered it last year (or the year before?) and it is absolutely amazing!

Beautiful landscaping, the hilly orchards of Vernon to look at - just gorgeous! Braden loved it too, there's a playground for kids with a big sandbox, slides, digging equipment/toys and lots of vintage tractors!

They also had a tractor that pulled a train of carts...so Braden naturally called it a "tractor train"! He was very excited about the ride...but then wasn't so keen when the tractor stopped in the orchard and the tour guide gave us a 15 minute presentation on the orchard and the history of apples!

This is a place we'll definitely be taking our kids to for years to come!

Hope you liked the photo explosion...more to come later this week!