Strawberry Picking

At the beginning of the summer, Ethan told us a handful of things that he wanted to do this summer.  One of those things was to pick strawberries.  We had picked some in Edmonton but didn't do it last summer and he really wanted to do it again.  We invited Jen and the kids to come along.  Ethan did awesome at picking.  Abby didn't want anything to do with picking the strawberries but she enjoyed eating them from our basket.

 

 

 

 And this year, I had some help cleaning the strawberries when we got home.

Our British Columbia Vacation - Part 2

Sunday we left the Okanagan Valley and headed further west to Vancouver Island.  We took the ferry from Tsawwassen Terminal (south of Vancouver) to Swartz Bay (north of Victoria).  We rented a cottage near Duncan and although we intented to drive the long way through Victoria, we didn't pay attention to where the GPS was taking us so we ended up taking a second (very small) ferry from Brentwood Bay to Mill Bay.

 

Monday morning we went to the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium.

Wade's dad flew in to join us for part of the week so we went and picked him up at the airport and then went to the Buchart Gardens.

Wednesday we went for a short hike and then checked out Rathtrevor Beach.  We got there just before high tide so we played around for about an hour while the tide started to move in.  Ethan had fun finding a few shells and Abby just walked around and splashed.

Wednesday we headed to Tofino on the west side of the island.  It was about a 4 hour drive from Duncan so it was a long day.  We decided to take a water taxi to Meares Island and did a hike that is called the Big Tree Hike.  It was about 2.5km round trip and was mostly on a boardwalk.  An interesting hike with some amazing trees.

We also stopped to sample some beer at the Tofino Brewery which was started by the nephew of one of Wade's bosses.  Last we stopped at a beach to watch some surfers and then started the drive home.  We suspected everyone would be tired the next day so we went to the BC Forest Discovery Centre in Duncan.  Not a lot of forestry in Kansas, so it was education to learn more about the forestry industry plus they had a train which is always a hit with Ethan.

Friday, we headed to Victoria and looked around in the BC Legislature Building, the Inner Habour, and the downtown area. 

We dropped Thane and Edith off at the airport and then went for another hike in Goldstream Park.  We went to the top of Niagara Falls and saw a train trestle that went through the park.  It was only about a 30 minute hike but was very steep and was definitely our hardest hike of the trip.  We also stopped back by the lower falls since it wasn't as busy as the day we were there earlier in the week.

Saturday we started the trip home.  We took a different ferry this time, we left from the Departure Bay in Nanaimo and got off at Horseshoe Bay north of Vancouver. 

We split the trip in about half and stayed in Kamloops.  We seem to have the worst luck with ice cold pools when traveling but we finally had a pool that was comfortable.  Plus there was slide that was separate from the pool so Ethan could do it and we didn't have to worry about him being dumped into the pool.  We could see a train going trough the spiral tunnels so we made another quick stop to see it.  It's hard to see in this picture but if you look close you can see the train in 3 different areas.

The cottage we stayed at near Duncan was on a farm.  Here's a few pics we took around the farm.

And here's a cute picture of Abby during the trip.  It was a lot for a one year old but she did well.  On the trip home we saw 2 more teeth breaking through so she was probably fighting that some during the trip also.

Our British Columbia Vacation - Part 1

With Wade in the plant this year, most of his vacation time is during shutdown so we decided to take that time and go check out some of British Columbia.  Wade's mom was visiting for Ethan's birthday so we invited her to come along and she flew home from Vancouver.  Our first week we spent in the Okanagan Valley and rented part of a house in West Kelowna.

Our first stop was a place we had been before but is one of Ethan's favorites.  The spiral tunnels just inside BC.  We didn't see any trains that day but everyone got to stretch their legs a little.

We ate lunch in Golden and checked out the bridge there (another place we had been before but it was pretty to see it with all the flowers in bloom).

We made another stop at Revelstoke to visit the Revelstoke Railway Museum that we've heard about from several people.  They even had a train simulator which Ethan enjoyed.

We got to Kelowna in time for dinner and was glad to be out of the car.  Monday we took a train ride on the Kettle Valley Steam Railway.

Tuesday, we went for a hike in the Myra Canyon.  It's an old rail line that has been turned into a trail so it was a easy hike.  We thought about renting bikes but decided just to walk some of it which ended up nice because we started early and had the trail to ourselves the first half.  We walked 4km in which included 10 trestles and 2 tunnels.  Unfortunately some smoke from forest fires moved in so we didn't get to enjoy the canyon views.  Ethan did really well for a 5 mile hike and Abby enjoyed hanging out with dad in the carrier.

The "overlooks" were actually part of the original design and held water barrels in case there was a fire.  This trestle had three overlooks so Ethan wanted one person to stand in each one for a picture. 

Later that day we toured the Mission Hill Family Estate Winery that was close to where we were staying.  Wade and I went back another evening for dinner while Edith stayed with the kids.

Wednesday, we started with a trip to the Kangaroo Creek Farm which had lots more than just kangaroos.

We also we to the Davison Orchards Country Village, Planet Bee, and a splash park.

Thursday, we decided to take it easy because Abby had been fighting a little virus for a couple days.  We just took Ethan to an indoor play place which of course he had a blast at.  On Friday, I woke up with Abby's cold.  Wade and Edith took the kids to a different splash park and a beach at one of the lakes.  The last day, we let Ethan pick what to do and he wanted to go back to Myra Canyon and the splash park.  This time we only hiked in 2km on the Myra Canyon trail but we started at the opposite end.  We treated ourselves to ice cream that night.  Which Abby loves.

Of course the morning we were leaving, the smog/smoke finally moved out and we could see the views we had been missing most of the week.  Here's the view from the house we stayed at.