Nice view… for now!

What can we say – we love vacationing in Canada! We were back out west for what turned out to be our longest vacation away from home, ever! (By my count, we were off the island for about 42 days.) We ended up not being able to go to Big White this winter, so it made sense to tack that extra time onto our summer vacation. Covid rules were a little more lax than last summer – only Ryley had to quarantine for two weeks this year as opposed to everyone (she wasn’t vaccinated yet, much to her chagrin) – so Jenn and I planned to work remotely while she quarantined to not exacerbate her FOMO, and to justify being away for so long!

We had a bit of a rocky start – Jenn had a solo flight credit to use up from a previous Covid cancellation (again many hours on the phone with various airlines, etc), she therefore had to book seperately from the kids and I. You can see where this is going – ultimately we should have been on the same Friday flight out of Bermuda but something got messed up and Jenn ended up being booked for the day after the kids and I! It ultimately worked out, however, as she managed to get on a different flight the same day as the rest of us, though it was via a different city. We were able to meet up en route in Charlotte and all flew together the rest of the way via Toronto, overnighting and arriving in Kelowna Saturday afternoon. Whew!

This year we started out at a house in West Kelowna, for a change of locale from last year (scenery is much the same, still gorgeous!). Our first night and next day were pretty relaxed, just settling in and relying on take out dinner then lunch. As mentioned, only Ryley wasn’t able to leave the house at first so over the next week Jenn and I took turns doing errands, like Target or groceries, taking Josh to a nearby skate park (I think we hit every skate park in the Okanagan by the time we flew out!), or together for lunch up the road at Mission Hill with some fellow Stonegate condo-owners. It just so happened the Tokyo summer Olympics were just ramping up as well when we arrived, so it was easy to stay at the house with Ryley and chill by the pool with some sports on TV / iPad – a particular highlight being our pal Flora winning a gold medal in triathlon! Beyond swimming and TV watching, Jenn arranged for some HelloFresh meals and KiwiCo activity boxes for the kids to help with dinners and keep somewhat entertained while we were working and mostly tethered to the house.

Lets Ride

Traveling to the Okanagan during ‘fire season’ always comes with the risk of some hazy or even full-on smokey days. We were happy to find clear skies on our arrival so we could enjoy the lake views from the pool / deck; however, over our week in West Kelowna the smoke would come and go, though by Tuesday it seemed to settle in to block our views! To escape the smoke, Jenn and I each took a turn taking Josh up to Big White for some downhill mountain biking – it was much less smoky up there – which was awesome (Ryley wasn’t keen on biking so didn’t feel like she was missing out…)!

Unfortunately the smoke didn’t fully blow away before the long weekend, when we packed up our rental minivan on Sunday to head to house #2 around the south end of the Lake Okanagan in Naramata. Normally one of my favorite drives is this one: down the west side of the lake, with panoramic views over the water as you make your way south… not this time, though – foiled by a neverending cloud of smoke, just thick enough to block the view but fortunately not enough to impede driving visibility! We still enjoyed the day, filling the 5 or so hour gap before we could check-in to the house in Naramata at the Peachland skate park, some grocery shopping, and lunch in the car from McDonald’s (as Ryley was still quarantined we didn’t take her in anywhere to be safe – and yes – at least one of us stayed with her!). By Sunday evening we were settled in to the house and ready for the next phase of our vacation! And by ‘next phase’ I mean work week, just in a different location. 😉

Now into August, Jenn and I continued to work on Monday, and were happy to enjoy an ever-improving view from our ‘office’ as the week went along. It was still pretty smoky when we arrived, but even on the first day we saw some lifting of the smoke as we could catch fleeting glimpses of the lake right in front of us. The next day we could see across the lake to the other shoreline, and by Wednesday afternoon the smoke was all but gone, leaving a glorious view of the Lake in front of us. Beyond our excitement at the smoke clearing, there wasn’t too much else happening during the week; work aside, it was very relaxed – our massive pool got a lot of use, the kids enjoyed the nearby pump track, and we continued our nightly routine of Olympics-watching.

Finally Free!

By Friday, we were ready to really get into vacation mode as Ryley was finally free of quarantine at lunchtime! First order of business was to immediately leave the house and hit the ropes course at the Okanagan Adventure Park back up in Kelowna. Given it was a bit of a drive to get there, we made it an overnight adventure, having Cactus Club takeout / an evening with friends of ours (the Gilberts) and then staying at the Royal Anne hotel downtown. The following morning, we drove a bit further to meet up with some more friends (the Von Waltons) at the Kangaroo Farm. It was great to catch up with all these guys before a grueling afternoon of shopping (the ‘Costco run’) back in Kelowna to prepare for the upcoming few weeks with family. Jenn’s brother Andrew and his family arrived in Naramata while we were out adventuring, while the rest of Jenn’s family was due to arrive Saturday evening, so we got our supplies and headed back down to the rental house to meet up with everyone for our traditional first-night pizza party!

The first full family day we started off by chillin’ – literally – as it was a weirdly cool and rainy morning (11° – Jenn was wrapped in a blanket at breakfast!). All the week’s puzzles and crafts came out to pass the time until the sun came out (the diamond dots were a favorite all week as everyone took a turn on the family photo when there was a spare moment or two), then it was pool party time! Having a pool was a great addition, it was good to have as a fall-back if we didn’t feel like going on an adventure that day, as was the nearby pump track that got plenty of use!

The 10 days or so with Jenn’s family was great as always – great meals, lots of wine, lots of little adventures with (and a few without) the kids! As we were in the heart of wine country, so there were of course trips for tastings to nearby wineries like Foxtrot and Jenn’s favorite Lake Breeze, we took a pontoon boat out for a day on the Lake, checked out a few beaches / parks (3 Mile and Manitou Park), and Wendy even divulged the location of the “secret peach farm” to us so we could visit! The kids loved the few trips to Loco Landing, too (there is a skate park beside that Josh hung out at, but he came back over for the go karts!). We also had another Gypsy Chix picnic, but indoors (that day was a bit too smoky to eat outside), which was cool. It has become tradition to have an early birthday party for the kids’ cousin Ruby (her birthday is at the end of August) this year the family threw her a surprise birthday party on the last day we were all together (we took her to the peach farm while the house was being prepared) – she was pretty excited! We had an amazing ice cream cake (a la Wendy) after another great meal, then played some games, it was all pretty fun.

Let’s Eat!

Most of Jenn’s family left at this point (we’re about 26 days into our vacation now, Aug 17th) – her folks stayed in the house for a few more days and had some friends come to visit while we moved on to ‘phase 3’ of our vacation… but we’d be back! We wanted to spend a little time up around Lake Country (where our house is built), so we had a condo rented for a few days in McKinley Beach, between Lake Country and Kelowna. Before we settled in, Jenn had dinner with some friends at the Modest Butcher while I took the kids for some video games & go karts at Scandia in Kelowna (complete with a Dad-approved 10pm A&W drive-thru dinner!).

McKinley was our home base for about 6 days or so; during this stint we kept super busy as one might expect! First up was some ziplining in Oyama (so fun!), then we saw a movie set for a Christmas movie just wrapping up filming while wandering around Vernon, and had an awesome dinner at Pane Vino nearby (an instagram recommendation!). We also had been meaning to check out some of the hiking near(ish) where our house is so we did that the following day at Spion Kop, a fairly extensive trail system. Ryley’s not a huge hiking fan, so we did a not-too-long hike (hour and a half), then went back to the condo to chill before heading out to see our friends the Woods in Kelowna for dinner.

Jenn does a ton of work getting our vacations together, and with Covid not making things any easier (many hours on the phone rearranging flights and using up credits, to start with), so I helped arrange a ‘day off’ for her to hang with her friend Amber while the kids and I hunted down a new bike wheel to replace the one that Josh busted at the pump track earlier in our holiday! The girls headed back to Spion Kop for some more hiking, lunch at Arrowleaf Cellars, and some wine tasting at Grey Monk, which sounds much more fun than shopping for a bike wheel!

1, 2, 3…

Saturday now; it had been a few weeks since we’d been to the Kangaroo farm – we were staying nearby, so we used it as a meeting place to see our buddy Joanna this time! We introduced her to Pane Vino for lunch, then bid her adieu so we could rest up for dinner at Cactus Club that evening (we have to go every year at least once!). We rounded out the weekend with a pontoon boat rental to tour the lake with Amber and a few of her kids – though the weather wasn’t ideal (cool and windy) it was still a good afternoon. Monday was our last day before the ‘final phase’ of our holiday, it was a low-key affair spent in Kelowna shopping, skate-parking, and the girls had their nails done.

I had mentioned earlier that we’d be back in Naramata – we got a deal on the house rental by taking it for an entire month, so while we took a break from it for about a week (Jenn’s folks stayed there while we were gone), we went back down on the Tuesday to meet up and stay with with my family this time (hitting the Peachland skate park and the pump track by the house on the way) for our final week of vacation in the Okanagan. Nana & Papa arrived on Wednesday and my sister and her family arrived the day after.

We were all leaving the following Monday, so made the most of our time there. We went on a few hikes at nearby Creek Park to Naramata Falls (did some geocaching on the trails, too), and took in the Naramata Farmers Market in the first few days – again filling our spare time with plenty of swimming and some board games. Jenn and Josh both had bikes by this point (we bought Josh a new bike while there) so they went or a spin out on the Three Blind Mice trails for a morning. She found a goat farm for us to visit on Friday, which was pretty cool – the kids really had fun, the baby goats were adorable! We wanted to show Cass’ boys Loco Landing as well so we went there for some fun after the goats!

Say Cheese!

Josh and I hadn’t been golfing in the Okanagan yet (ever!) so as Papa and Cass’ partner Kent are fairly avid golfers Papa booked us a tee time at the Summerland Golf Club for a round on Saturday morning – beautiful course on a beautiful day – we had a great time. While we were hacking away, the rest were back at the house swimming and doing some more geocaching. Upon our return, we all ventured back to Loco Landing (boys must have loved it the day before!) to round out the day. I think we were all tuckered out, as the next day we happily opted for a chilled out pool session while we watched water bombers collect water from the lake in front of the house to douse a new fire that started just down near Penticton (we could see it clearly from our place)!

Before we knew it Monday had rolled around, which meant that was the end of our time in the Okanagan for 2021. It was great to see my family there this year for sure, I think we all had a great time and now they can see why we like it there so much (minus the forest fires of course!). We all left Monday morning, our next and final phase in our vacation (‘phase 5’ now I think?) was a few days in Vancouver with Wendy, Tim, & Ruby before finally flying back to Bermuda.

Our time in Vancouver is typically pretty low-key and a good way to end a summer vacation. We took a day trip out to Chilliwack to see my Grandparents, the corn maze, and also to see a litter of brand-new poodles (Wendy knew the breeder as they had just got their new dog, Dolly, from there), Ruby and Ryley were especially over-the-moon excited to sit in the little kennel and be swarmed by the cuteness! Not sure if the puppies or the few hours of virtual reality gaming in Vancouver were our kids’ favorite! So, a few playgrounds, some crafting, and evening dance shows later, it was time to pack the bags and head to the airport to officially wrap up our 2021 summer vacation.

Can’t wait for next year… though I can’t imagine our vacation will be nearly this long!