The Beautiful Okanagan and Shuswap

We're back from an adventure and full-filled trip. It was so much fun and totally not worth the pre-stressing over how Nora will do because you really can't predict it and even if you could, you wouldn't know how you'd react at that point in time anyway. Plus, it's always so much easier when there's two of you to help look after Nora, never mind the unlimited fun and attention she got when we met up with the family!

The first part of our trip was to Vernon & Kelowna for a family reunion to celebrate Trav's cousin, Ian's marriage to Raylene. The driving went okay, took Nora a while to get to sleep when we headed out but at least she was able to sleep for majority of the drives to and from. Driving at night is also a bit quicker as there isn't as much traffic.

Main Highlights and Memories:

• Spending quality time with Naomi and Alex. Nora also enjoyed hanging out with their dog, Brody. For the first time, Nora actually went down for bedtime really great at 8:30pm the one night (usually it takes a lot longer with a lot more tears). We've learnt that if Trav puts her down for bed, she doesn't protest as much... so we actually got to watch a movie rental while on vacation (a first!)

• Celebrating Ian and Raylene's wedding. Unfortunately it was pouring ran that day but everyone embraced it and wore their poncho's or carried their umbrella's. The bridesmaids even bought matching umbrellas and gumboots!
• Nora was so well behaved the whole time during the ceremony and the reception. Highlights for her were watching the bubbles at the ceremony, keeping herself amused and entertained during the speeches, clapping whenever a piece of the slideshow ended and of course, the dancing... just LOVED the dancing on the dance floor - too sweet.

The second part of the trip was spending time with our friend's Jeff & Sarah and their baby girl, Izzy up on Shuswap Lake. Jeff's parents have recently retired to a little place off the lake and were so kind enough to invite us to their home.

Main highlights

• Bathtime with Izzy. Nora tried collecting all four ducks and keeping them to herself - she thought she was quite the entertainer for trying to keep all four in her hands at all times... which was okay for Izzy because all she wanted to do was suck on all the washcloths :)

• Boating! Jeff & his dad recently bought a new boat so Trav and Jeff enjoyed time on the water wakeboarding and tubing
• Seeing Nora wearing her life jacket with a look of 'what the heck is going on' while boarding the boat - she seemed so stiff and petrified, but really, it was the jacket being so tight and upright on her, she couldn't move at all, just her eyes :)
• She napped both times we were on the boat - so sweet holding a sleeping baby, don't do that often, so it felt really special
• Trav really enjoyed the wakeboarding and looked really good doing it. It's like snowboarding (with the board and boots attached to you) but on the water, seems MUCH harder... maybe I'll try next time.
• When Nora awoke from her nap, she got to see Trav & Jeff on the double tube - she loved how they would bump up and down against the waves, and especially LOVED it when they flipped right over - phewwy it was so fast for them, it was crazy... so while I caught a mini heart attack, Nora clapped and screamed for more :)
• Swimming in the lake! Once the boys were done with their tubing, we stopped the boat in the middle of the lake and hung out for a bit... Nora couldn't wait to get in the water, she's so adventurous like her dad - so sweet.

Weather could've been a bit better, especially for the Okanagan, but we'll take what we can get. It was still a lot of fun hanging out with Trav and Nora and I can't wait for more summer trips. We have realized though... with all the packing, we HAVE to get a new car with loads and loads of storage space, but not quite ready for a minivan ;)