Below, are two pictures of our daughters in the exact same onesie and socks! Dingoes all over the world are working themselves into a lip-smacking frenzy. The interesting factoid here is that Isabelle is eight months old in this picture, which is when this onesie finally fit, and Elodie… well, Elodie isn’t even five months old. Perhaps more than a snack, then.
While we did head back to Langley for a few more days before heading into the Okanagan, we covered that in earlier posts, so I’m skipping right to the drive. We left Langley early in the morning to meet our friends Kyle, Magda, Alex and Drew for lunch. We had a fantastic meal at a Kelowna golf course, and then joined them for a swim at Kyle’s uncle’s place, overlooking Okanagan lake. It was a great afternoon and a perfect way to break up the drive.
We hopped back in the car, and headed up to Vernon to stay with Arik, Charis, Kiana and Cecelia. We spent two nights at their place on Lake Kalamalka, and it was amazing, as usual. Lake Kalamalka is probably our favourite lake, and the cottage is a great way to enjoy it. It was our second time staying there with Arik and Charis and we can’t thank them enough! Belle, Kiana and Cecelia had a great time playing together and we all made sure to make good use of the boat, kayaks, docks and patio.
We dejectedly left the lake for the longest drive of our entire trip, and that was our trip! We arrived back home around 10:00pm and crashed into bed. We miss you, BC, but it was nice to sleep in our own beds.
We can’t thank all our hosts and hostesses enough, and thanks to everyone who was able to make the time to visit with us! To all those we missed, we’re sorry and we hope to see you next time!
We’re almost done with the road trip posts! Just two more posts, I think. After driving down the Island from Nanaimo, we set up camp in my parents’ basement, while Kathleen and Brian and Maddy squashed into Kathleen’s old bedroom upstairs. It was a very fun and full house for the first few days, though we lost Brian to work responsibilities in Winnipeg much too quickly. We happily settled in to a routine of enjoying old haunts with friends (Blue Fox Cafe, Spinnakers Gastropub, Pagliaccis, etc) and spending time with family. Also, in what is hopefully becoming an annual tradition, we celebrated my 31st birthday with a barbecue at Scott and Sarah’s house (thanks guys!). Other highlights were swimming with cousin Molly, visiting the aquarium in Sidney and (also quickly becoming an annual tradition) having a sushi picnic in Beacon Hill Park.
So due to some technical difficulties, we didn’t have all the photos from Langley, but we have them now! Here are a few more shots of cousins playing in the pool, me exhaustedly cleaning the pool with the remote control robot, Michelle and I all purdied up for Kim’s wedding, and some shots of grandparents enjoying their grandkids. Enjoy!
The day after our visit to the hospital, we hopped on the 8:30am ferry, and headed off to the Island. We spent our first night in Nanaimo at my grandpa’s house where Elodie met her great grandparents, great aunt and uncle and a second cousin. She also met her aunt and uncle, and her birthday twin/cousin, Maddie! My parents were there as well, and we spent lots of time down at the beach exploring tidal pools, throwing sticks in the water and checking out marine life, including some barnacles that Belle scraped her leg on. Luckily, she’s one tough cookie; the cuts didn’t even phase her.
After Langley, we headed into Vancouver for two nights. Craig’s parents had offered us the use of their incredible False Creek condo while they were away traveling, and we simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity. We’d been able to squeeze in a visit with Susie and Hans at Granville Island earlier (pics also below), but we were still looking forward to spending a little more time in our old haunts with our Vancouver buds around town.
We spent our first evening enjoying great Mexican food with Craig and Katie, and met them for brunch the next morning at one of our favourite eateries. We then spent the day strolling around the seawall, and meeting friends at the David Lam park playground. Isabelle made a new friend at the park, and spent almost two hours playing, climbing and running, so in retrospect, it wasn’t super surprising that as we packed up our stuff to leave, our exhausted child missed a step on a ladder and crashed a good six feet onto the ground. Initially worried about a head injury, we bundled her into the stroller and watched closely how she recovered. Ice cream sped up recovery very quickly, and it wasn’t until almost an hour later that we realized our child couldn’t bear weight on one of her legs. Off to BC Children’s Hospital we went, where an x-ray revealed that our child would, in fact, walk again someday (then next day). While we would have much preferred thai food with our friends Brenndan, Andrea and Emmett, which were our original plans for the evening, as hospital visits go, three hours from door to door was pretty amazing.
Since I’m grouping the posts geographically, I’m going to skip ahead a bit. After we returned from the island, we stopped in Crescent Beach to visit our cousins. Isabelle renewed her love of their trampoline, and we all had a great visit with Chelsea, Luke and Eli. We then headed back downtown a few days later for Kim and Michael’s wedding! We left Belle with Grandmama and Grandpapa Tousignant, but Elodie partied it up with us at the reception.
After an early morning departure from Golden, breakfast at my favourite roadside eatery, and stops in Kamloops and Bridal Falls, we arrived at Michelle’s parents’ place in Langley! We spent a week in Langley initially, then returned for another three nights on our way back from the Island (the photos that follow are from both visits, though we’re missing a few from Shirley’s camera due to network issues – those will get a follow-up blog post). Guy and Shirley, being the fantastic hosts that they are, showed us a great time. While it rained the first day, we were able to get some great use out of Belle’s new rain suit, and after that it was all sunshine and pool parties! They also took us to Fort Langley and to Harrison Hot Springs (where Belle was pretty much the only kid to brave the chilly water). We visited some great friends and family while we were there and can’t thank Guy and Shirley enough for another amazing visit. We’ll try anyway, though. Thanks so much!
At the end of June, we packed up the Mazda and headed off to BC for the last month of Michelle’s maternity leave. Our first stop was Golden, BC, to visit my Aunt Janne, Uncle Grant and cousins Megan and Ben. Our options from Edmonton to Golden were via Rocky Mountain House, which was slightly longer, or via Calgary. Since we usually go via Calgary, we chose the Rocky Mountain House route and were rewarded with a beautiful drive through rolling hills, empty roads and the Icefield Parkway. We only had to make two stops to feed Elodie in Rocky Mountain House and near Field, BC, so we made quite good time. We also saw five bears (one Grizzly and four black) over four different sightings, some bighorn sheep and some deer, which Belle thought was fantastic. The girls were amazing, considering the eight hours in the car, and my Aunt and Uncle were fantastic hosts, as always. We had a great visit and it was a crucial break for all of us in the drive out to the coast.
We had a great visit with Grandma Armstrong after she helped Kathleen get set up with Maddie in Winnipeg, and right before we left for our BC road trip. Belle was thrilled with Grandma’s nightly music performances, and we all had a great time walking, playing and shopping around Edmonton. We also caught a “Stars and Strollers” showing of Brave, and both Isabelle and Elodie were great for it. Thanks for a great visit, Grandma!
So I’m not sure how Isabelle decided that my dad would be “Pop-Pop,” but I love the nod to Arrested Development, so I’m happy that it seems to have stuck. Anyway, last month Pop-Pop came to visit, and we had a great time introducing him to Elodie, our house and our new neighbourhood. We squeezed in some awesome walks, meals, playground visits and serious duplo sessions, so all in all, it was a great visit. We were also able to get him for both Father’s Day and his Birthday, so we covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time. I think most of the pictures below are of Isabelle attacking Pop-Pop in various guerrilla warfare style offensive maneuvers.
