A Week Away - Adam's 30th and a Week at the Cabin!

We just got back from a week away at the cabin in Oroville. I also took this opportunity to take a week away from social media. I hardly touched my phone the whole time we were away, and it felt GREAT! I'm sure I'd have more photos of me and Dave and the kids if I had my phone with me, but I honestly enjoyed being completely present in every moment. 

So without further ado, this is what the last week and a half has looked like for me!

I left off last Thankful Thursday, talking about how we were buying a van! Well, on Friday we actually got to go and pick it up! It was a major hassle and the dealership was uber disorganized, but I don't really feel like focusing on those negatives. We have our van, and we LOVE it. I knew we would, but it just feels so right and we like it more every time we see it. 

Saturday evening (August 11) we celebrated Adam's 30th birthday with a Pinot Noir tasting at my parents' house. We had Emilia with us, and she slept the whole evening which was fantastic! We tasted 6 different pinot noirs and rated them 1-5, taking notes and discussing each one. It was very posh and pretend-snobby. 

Dom was there for the pre-drink ;)

A beautiful charcuterie board put together by Aly.

 

Opa & Little Em <3

The aftermath

Dominic was coming down with a cold, so we put him down at home and had David's mom come by to watch him so we could go. It's especially sad that he was getting sick because we were planning to leave for the cabin early the next morning. 

But seriously, I have never seen anything so sad. He was clearly not feeling well at all.

Well if you know me, I like to have a plan and stick to it! David and I were up (and a little hungover) at 530 Sunday morning to pack the van. When the kids got up and had breakfast we packed everything into the car and were on the road by 8am! We didn't have high expectations for a smooth, quick drive, but we had food packed for lunch and were intending to stop in Manning for a long break. Manning came and went and both the kids were doing amazing. Emilia slept almost the whole way and Dominic was just being sad and sick, but quiet. 

LOOK AT ALL THAT SPACE! We never would have been able to fit all of this into the Santa Fe. Purchase immediately paid off.

In Princeton I had to pee, so we pulled over at a park with some baseball diamonds and a picnic table and let the dog and Dom run around so I could feed Em, and then we all had some lunch. From there it was a quick drive to the cabin past the forest fires in Keremeos, and we arrived just in time for a nap for each of the kidlets. I could not have asked for anything better. 

Perfect little pit stop buddies

Can see the fire burning on the hill

On our way home a week later you could not even see these mountains at all it was SO smoky. Unreal.

This was Sunday; by Friday you couldn't see halfway across the lake.

Patiently waiting for his playpen to be set up

The next couple days Dominic got sicker and sicker. It was so so sad. I've never seen him so sick, and I was worried about the smoke in the air aggravating his lungs further. Fortunately, by Wednesday Dom was pretty much back to his normal self. I think the saddest thing about him being so sick was that he was still in good spirits - if I was that ill I'd be curled up on the couch whining all day!

We had such a great time at the cabin, and we were actually able to relax a bit with the help we had from my parents and Scott & Ashleigh. My parents came up on Monday, and the first night I went to put Emilia to bed and came back into the cabin to be sent by Scott & Ashleigh down to the front lawn because David "needed help". I start walking down there and know something is up. He has set up two chairs, a table, and I can see wine and wine glasses. He starts walking up the lawn towards me and has a look on his face. My first thoughtis, "OH SHIT! HE'S GOING TO PROPOSE!" Then I realized we have already done that... and gotten married... and had two kids. 
David planned the most amazing surprise for me to make up for the last two Mother's Days. (The first one he was in the hospital with appendicitis, and the second one I had a 4 day old newborn). He spent months creating a "Mom Life" magazine where he had special articles/submissions by my grandparents, parents, inlaws, siblings and some of my best friends. I cried. 
It is the most thoughtful gift I have ever received. I'll cherish it forever. 

Can you believe Dave designed all this?! Sooooo special!

Dominic played LOTS of poker over the week. He loved playing with the chips and dice, and sorting them back into their colors. 

Rolling the dice!

A trip to the pond where I most definitely did NOT see the "Do not touch the turtles" sign... Oops.

This was a special and nostalgic moment for me. I remember being little and my dad and uncles picking up the turtles to show us their hard shells and pretty undersides.

I walked by a few days later with my parents and saw this sign. It was literally right beside where we were. I was so embarrassed. I am a rule follower, so if I had seen it I would NOT have taken the turtle out. Lucky for the turtle, I picked the feistiest one of the pond I'm sure. I figured he'd be more scared of me than I him, but I was wrong. He hissed at us! And then demanded more cheerios when I put him back in the water. 

Some boat time for Dominic, and his first ever RIDE in the boat! I thought he'd be way too scared, but he totally enjoyed it. Probably because he'd been in the boat a couple times earlier in the week so he was familiar with the space, and we started slow. 

Pretending to turn the key

Steering the ship

Using the gear shifter as a microphone. I'm not sure where he got that idea from.

Checking for obstacles

Look how happy he is! I thought for sure he'd be crying and overwhelmed the whole time! *Yes, we did have a lifejacket for him*

Lots and lots of games, hanging out, swimming, pickleball and eating/drinking!

Bath time for Yaya!

She's such a happy little squish

Playing in the rocks at the beach. Again, so reminiscent of being a little kid and doing this exact thing.

Smokanagan

Dom never swam on his own, but we eased him in this far and he still had a smile on his face! Slow and steady is his speed.

Mom got some action shots of our pickleball game.

So much watermelon for Dom!

Dave and I missed out on wine tasting, so we went to town one day and picked up 4 different wines to do a little blind tasting of our own at the cabin. Here you see Dave snobbily swirling his taster.

The new pickleball court! Just built this year. 

That mountain you can see in the background is normally very clear as it is quite close by. We have walked to it and hiked up it. By Saturday you could not see it at all (photo of the non-view to come)

Hanging out on Beer Island! He was okay as long as he was sitting with me.

Saturday was SO smoky outside it would burn our eyes and lungs. David brought a projector up, so we watched a couple Harry Potter movies on the projector. It was sort of nice and cozy for a while, and then I just wanted to go run around outside. 

Emilia got in on the HP action too!

Riding the tractor with "Mohma" (Oma)

Our diminished view by the end of the week.

Where there should be a nice mountain, there is just haze. It feels claustrophobic to me.

Our drive home was not NEARLY as smooth as our drive there. It was more like what you'd expect driving with a 19 month old and a 3 month old. They both cried on and off... Emilia slept for a while, Dom did not. They tried our patience, and we stopped for lunch in Princeton, and then stopped at Kawkawa Lake in Hope. I didn't take any pictures as we were all kind of grumpy and we had our hands full with two kids and a dog and zero preparation haha! Alas, we made it. It was so worth the trek. I can't wait to see my kids grow up here the way I did. The trip(s) to the cabin was (and still are) an annual tradition I looked forward to every year!

My only regret from the week is that we didn't get a single picture with all 4 of us... That was my main goal, but every day we forgot, and then the kids went to bed (oh my gosh I forgot to mention how beautifully they slept!!! Perfect sleeping angels) and we'd push it off to the next day until it was too late. Boo!