summer fun (sun or no sun!)

It's been a lovely break to be out of the motorhome for a few weeks! As much as we love being on the road, we're enjoying having a bit more space around us and just being in one place for awhile! It's been an unusually cool summer in the Okanagan but we're making the most of it and enjoying every moment. We've all been enjoying the pool at my folks. We're out there almost every day, sometimes all day if the weather is nice!

Bella has learned to swim without flotation and is LOVING the feeling of floating through the water. She's an absolute fish and spends HOURS at a time in the pool.

Thor's loving the water too! Especially if he's in the pool with his mom or dad!

We're so happy to be in the Okanagan during fruit season! We gorged on fresh strawberries for a couple of weeks. We picked 3 times and froze lots for the summer and just filled our bellies with the rest. I've been totally inspired by my friend's blog and all of her yummy recipes and ideas for strawberries! We ate strawberry shortcake and strawberry fool for dessert on quite a few occasions... yum! Now strawberries are done and we're filling up on cherries. The kids have had cherry belly (tummy aches) a few times lately! But it's so hard to stop eating these juicy delights once you start!

Bella sporting some cherry earrings!

We hit the basil jackpot last weekend, so turned it into LOTS of delicious pesto! We've been enjoying it on everything ...fresh bread, pizza, pasta, polenta.... it turns an ordinary meal into something extraordinary!

There are lots of these beauties flying around the yard at this time of year. We love watching them. This one was so intent on the nectar it was drinking that it paid no attention to us watching it. Thor was absolutely enthralled!

We had a picnic on the boat this past weekend. It was busy and wavy, but nice to be on the lake. Only John was brave enough to jump in! The rest of us are waiting for a warmer day and calmer water!



It's been a great summer so far! We're planning to enjoy another week here, then will hit the road again at the beginning of August. I'll keep you posted!

the rest of the adventure

Whew, it's been awhile since I've posted anything! We got back to Kelowna on July 4th, and have been enjoying summer here. Lots of relaxing and swimming in the pool! The last week of our road trip was fun but I got a bad cold and was pretty eager to get back. Here are some photos of that last week:

Enjoying Glass Beach in Fort Bragg, Northern California.

Glass Beach was the local garbage dump back in the 1950's. It was cleaned up long ago, but all the glass that was dumped over the years continues to show up. It's a facinating place to explore!

From Fort Bragg we headed north to visit Paul Bunyon. The kids remembered him from last time and couldn't wait to see him again. He "talked" to us all and made it a very memorable experience! I saw him when I was 2 1/2 years old on a trip to California with my parents and he's my first memory from childhood.

This time we hiked through "The Trees of Mystery" - an absolutely gorgeous forest of big old trees behind Paul.

We took a gondola up to the top of a mountain for a beautiful view of the ocean and the mountains beyond. Zara and Bella rode down alone - they loved the feeling of independence! Such big girls! 



There were lots of wood carvings on our hike back down out of the forest. This one was my favorite!

We spent a night at Crescent Beach - the kids loved playing on the big beach. They drew a HUGE house in the sand with sticks and played for hours out there. We camped just across the road. It was lovely!

In Southern Oregan near Humbug Mountain, we stopped at Prehistoric Park. It was a bit cheesy, but the kids enjoyed seeing the life size dinosaurs!

The Oregon Coast was WINDY! So windy we could hardly walk on the beach without getting totally sand blasted. My cold was at it's peak at this point and I couldn't stand the wind. I don't like wind at the best of time, but while sick it just drove me crazy!

So we left the coast after a day and headed to Eugene. We got there on Saturday morning in time for the amazing weekly Saturday Market. This was by far the best market I've ever seen... 2 blocks of everything handmade and a block of beautiful organic veggies and fruit..... all set in a lovely park with trees and shade and grassy spaces. We stayed there for hours just soaking it up and eating good food! It was bliss!

The next day we drove up to Northern Washington to visit GG Nybo again in Port Susan near Marysville. We had a lovely evening with her and her friend, then drove "home" the next morning - on the 4th of July.



Bella in the motorhome with her daisy chain crown and new feather hair extentions from the Eugene Market.

We were happy to arrive back in Kelowna and get off the road for a little while. We've been swimming, relaxing, enjoying the fresh Okanagan fruit, enjoying the farmer's market, catching up with friends and just enjoying life!