Road Trip Tales: Part 4

The final segment of our summer road trip tales is finally here. I know you all have been anxiously waiting, right? ;)

For our Thursday evening, we spent it at the Tait's house. Dear friends for what sometimes feels like forever. We have many fond memories on their couch (pre-kids) spending all evening there. We had a great time, and Abbi loved being around all the kiddos. She especially adored Bella. Again, another awesome BBQ, this time Salmon. It was incredible food. For dessert, ice cream, obviously. Its a rare night spent at the Tait's without some ice cream. And it was even better considering how hot it was, again!

Abbi would have followed Bell to the moon. She adored her. And yes, a cute bum shot!

The Tait clan. Eli chowing down some butter, er..I mean corn ;)

The kids eating ice cream, and Gabe trying to nab some.

On Friday, we stopped by the Bay, where my Mom works. A chance for my Mom to show off two of her three Grandkiddos.

Making up schedules with Joan.

Abbi even got her own Bay name tag. Probably the cutest Bay employee on record!

A shot of my Mom and I. Can't you see the resemblance? ;)

We left Nanaimo on the first ferry Saturday morning. We made reservations because there was no way I was wasting any more time in a ferry terminal. We made it on, and we even got to ride the new ferry - Coastal Renaissance. I'm quite glad it worked out that we got to go on it. More for Rob's sake than anything. A boat is a boat to me. For the record...its a nice boat :)

Some pictures from our ride...

We reached our destination, Kelowna, around Noon. We spent the night with the Brown's and the McArthurs. It was lovely. So relaxing, and we felt so pampered while we were there. Another hot, hot day, but the house had air conditioning. They cooked us up another great meal - steak, freshly caught crab, and some incredible soup that Layna put together. Probably the best soup I've ever had. So many dimensions, so much flavour. Mmm, delish! There were also garden fresh baby potatoes with our dinner, and in the morning we had peach crepes made with freshly picked peaches. Sooo good! That night after both kids went to bed, we sat out on the patio, with a view of the lake and just chatted over dessert. I'm so glad it worked out for us to stay with them, it was so refreshing to be with old friends. Good visit!

The fabulous view of the lake. Slightly smoky mind you, but a view nonetheless!

Gabe getting snuggles from Christie.

Abbi adored Layna. They were best buds while we were there.

Gabe getting snuggles, this time from Layna & Matt.

All the pups, Coco, Zica & Kiki. I wish I could have taken them all home with me!

Finally here are just a few pictures from our drive home. It was a long day. We left Kelowna around Noon, and arrived in Edmonton (at home) 12 hours later. The kids did pretty well. We had a slight melt down about 1 hour away from home, but at that point you just grin and bear it and get to your destination. Especially when its pouring buckets and there is a hail storm raging. Yeah, you could say we just kept on driving.

Some mountain shots...

The Three Sisters. Banff, AB.

That's one giant chunk of rock missing there...

Yup, we nearly drove right into that down by Calgary. Thankfully we took the by-pass route and I think we missed the worst of it (this is the storm that caused quite a bit of damage in the Carstairs area with large hail).

All in all, it was a great time away, but like any vacation, coming home also has a sweetness to it as well. It felt a bit too short, especially for Rob, who really only had one week away from home. Regardless, we are glad we did it. The kids fared quite well. We got some hot, hot heat (maybe a little too hot!). Some incredible food. And had a great time with family and friends. Thank you to all who hosted us, fed us, made the effort to see us, and ultimately loved on us!