July Recap, Part 1

Posted in Adventures, Family, Recap, Summer by Kara

We are half-stinkin’-way through summer! Can you believe it? I can’t. Life has been pretty hectic and I haven’t been able to set aside much time for the blog other than quick book reviews, so here’s Part 1 of what went down this month:

After the Canada Day long weekend, Isla and Norah got to go on a 5-day camping trip with my mom and stepdad! The weather wasn’t super great but they both had an amazing time – it was Norah’s first time camping with them and she was jazzed, to say the least! Kyle and I were also very thankful for my mom and stepdad taking them as well – it was wonderful to have a meal together without having to tell someone to eat their supper or to have “just one more bite,” haha!

Really, the weather was super shifty all month, but we took full advantage of the sunnier days by spending time outside and visiting the splash park:

We also took a day trip to a lake to hang out with Kyle’s mom and stepdad while they were camping. They have kayaks, so we were able to borrow those and paddle around the lake for a little bit, and I borrow the kiddie kayak from my mom and Isla got to do some paddling as well! We also went on a little hike/walk around the provincial campsite as well, and both girls were exhausted by the end of the day. We were barely 5 minutes into the drive home and Norah had passed out hard in her carseat.

At the beginning of the month Kyle had stumbled upon an AirBnB listing for a cabin at one of our favourite lakes to visit, and it just so happened to be available during his week of holidays in July! We booked it for two nights, and my goodness, it was amazing! I would hardly have called the space we stayed in a cabin – it had full amenities and was super spacious and comfortable! (And to be able to shower off at night was SO luxurious, lol) Really, it was borderline glamping, haha. While it wasn’t lakefront, we were only a 10 minute walk from the boat launches and a 5 minute drive from the public beach! The cabin even allowed pets, so both dogs were able to come with us.

The girls had a blast swimming and playing in the water during the day, and we made s’mores after dinner both nights. Overall it was AMAZING and I hope we can book it again next year!

20190722_161237 — The water wasn’t nearly as warm as *I’d* like it, but these two crazies didn’t mind at all!

20190723_171309(0) — Dirty little Lake Monsters!

20190723_174902 — Take a stab at how many shots I had to take to get this single photo …

Overall, I think our family time in July was spot-on! We made the best out of every moment we could, and I think it worked out beautifully! I think we had a great blend of adventure and R&R.

Are you a camper or a “glamper?”

Tomorrow I’ll post Part 2 of my July recap, which will be my trip to Vancouver to see the Backstreet Boys in concert!

3Jul2018

Weekend Wrap-up

Posted in Adventures, Travel, Weekend Update by Kara

Happy Tuesday, everyone! I hope all my Canadian readers had a wonderful long weekend, and to my American followers, I hope you have a great Fourth of July tomorrow!

We had a weekend jam-packed with adventure, so I’ll just jump right into it!

{Friday}
We packed up early and headed out to the lake for the night! My aunt and uncle had bought a place right on the water and invited us out to stay, so we couldn’t say no to that! A good chunk of my family was also going up, so it was a fun little trip!

While the weather was all over the place, the girls had an absolute blast! There was a lot of running in the rain and swatting mosquitos, but by the end of the night the rain subsided and we had some beautiful rainbows and sunsets, and celebrated with an awesome campfire!

20180629_172415

20180629_1540491

20180630_202322

20180629_2058081

And yes, that’s a fox! He (she?) was just hanging out on the side of the road and didn’t give a flying fox (HAAAA) about me being 10ft away from him. The next morning when I was taking Campbell for a walk, there was three of them just hanging out on the road. Nature is crazy, yo.

{Saturday}
We had a bit of a slow morning but we eventually got loaded up and headed home around lunchtime. We made a quick stop to visit Kyle’s dad and stretch our legs, but managed to make good time and made it home with plenty of time to prep dinner and throw some laundry on.

The girls were EXHAUSTED and didn’t argue at all when we went them to bed early, haha.

20180630_1102201

{Sunday/a.k.a. Canada Day!}
We were back in the truck and travelling east to the Little Shuswap for our annual visit with Kyle’s best friend from high school. While it was rainy (again) the kids scrambled to the playground during every break from the showers and we had a nice visit with everyone. There was even a little Canada Day celebration in the park that we wandered over to, and the girls got their faces painted.

20180701_204724

{Monday}
Today was a lazy day for the most part, although I did get up early and get in a 4 mile run on the treadmill before everyone else woke up. After showering and feeding the ~~tigers~~ kids I went off to the store to get our groceries for the week.

I gave Campbell a much needed bath as well! After being at the lake he was pretty grimy and stinky, plus he was eaten alive by mosquitos, so it was long overdue.

After lunch Kyle went out for his long run and the girls and I just had a quiet afternoon or fingernail painting, block building, and laundry doing.

That’s about it! How was your holiday?

3Aug2016

Kangaroo Creek Farm

Posted in Adventures by Kara

You guys. There is a place less than 2 hours away from me where you can go pet, feed, and hold kangaroos and this past Monday, I finally checked visiting Kangaroo Creek Farm off my bucket list!

It was a holiday in BC on Monday, which meant my mom had the day off (Kyle picked up an OT shift), so we loaded up the girls and headed out to Winfield to visit the farm. It was a beautiful day for a drive and the farm did not disappoint!

There were kangaroos, wallabies, wallaroos, capybaras, maras, goats, parrots … the list goes on!

Isla had so much fun checking out the animals and I’m sure we’ll be repeat visitors once Norah is old enough to explore on her own as well. Kangaroo Creek Farm is well worth the drive and is probably one of the coolest petting “zoos” out there. (I say “zoo” because it’s actually owned by regular people – they live on the premises and lease the land around them to raise their animals.)

But enough blabbering: Pictures!