The last time we were at the cabin, Dom was 19 months old and Emilia was 3 months old. That was 4 years ago. Growing up we went at LEAST once a year!
My parents had the cabin booked July 9-17, but we went up on the 8th to spend a night with Opa & Oma Gerber as well. I was pretty anxious about the drive as it was our first long trip in the car with the kids, and Eva in particular does not love the car. Also we have another road trip to go camping in a couple weeks so it was sort of a test run for that. The drive was okay. Not great, but I had some Clonazepam in my system so I survived haha. We left at 9am hoping we could get to Manning, have lunch, and then she'd have a good nap in the car. Instead we dealt with crankies from home til almost Manning, then she fell asleep for half an hour and woke up right before Manning. We got out and let the kids run around for a bit, ran into Jeff, Marta & Own, had some lunch, and packed back up hoping Eva would fall back asleep. Alas. Not the case. She was very cranky almost the whole way to the cabin. She'd scream unless I had a hand on her, which reaching back from the passenger seat was NOT comfortable (it's actually how I damaged a nerve a couple months ago). We finally made it to the cabin after 6 hours and got Eva down for a nap right away while we unpacked.
On the car ride the big kids were awesome. I gave them each a "Road Trip Bingo" I'd made, and then around Princeton? Keremeos? Dom was getting restless so I gave him a special thing I'd made for him. I printed each of the NHL logos, laminated them with tape, and printed them out. He'd been playing games with these tiny logos from his NHL Monopoly game, so I thought this would be better than trying to pack them along. Boy oh boy. I expected he would like them, but I did NOT expect they would turn into an absolute OBSESSION for the first couple days of the trip. He would not let them out of his sight. He woke up and got his teams, he played with them all day inside, outside, in his bed, he brought them to bed with him, he made up games with them... Insane. He's been really into playing War lately, so he made up a War game with the teams which is actually pretty funny. Maybe a little arbitrary, but he got almost everyone in on it at some point. So that kept Dom busy the rest of the way.
Emilia was a great little traveler and I would honestly make that drive 6 times a year if it was just those two in the car. Anywho we got to the cabin finally and stretched our legs and got unpacked. We settled in pretty quickly with some snacks by the lake, and then our week began! I can't possibly break down everything we did, but it was a week full of fun, sun, party island, cousins, kiddie-pools, boat rides, swimming, drinking and more drinking, roqueworst, camp fires, eating and more eating, wine tasting, throwing the ball for Sherlock, doing nostalgic activities with the kids, some surprise sickness and fevers and germ sharing, and SO so so many memories.
Here comes a mishmash of my photos, others' photos, and out of order photos! Followed by a couple of funny moments you probably had to be there for, but I figure most of my readers were there haha!
Mom & Dad went up Thursday evening and sent us this teaser shot! Ahhhhhhh. Can't wait for the deep exhale when I get to see this view in person!
Uncle Adam rocking it. Eva's looking directly into his soul it appears.
Guess who took this picture? It wasn't me. Someone much more artsy and photography-y than me.
On to my photos it appears!
I made this using Canva. Huge hit for Dom! Emilia was a little confused and was "cheating" according to Dom, but Dom was all in. Apparently 5 is the right age for this sort of thing!
Our lunch stop in Manning! Gophers was one of the Bingo items, so I had to make sure we made this stop haha.
Fancy meeting you here!
At last we have arrived!
Dom with his "teams" quizzing Great Opa on the team logos
He got one!
Mr. O <3
These two were so sweet those first few days. We were up there with just us, Mom & Dad, Jeff, Marta & Owen for 4 days before the rest joined us.
Dom feeling a little nervous that first boat ride.
Warmed up quick once he realized why the boat tips when we turn!
Snuggle muffin.
Mid-July and we could still have a campfire! No ban! And no smoke in the air. This was amaaaazing! It's been a long time since fires were allowed at the cabin in the summer.
Opa & Oma G were there that first night still, and we all really wanted to cook up a roqueworst on the fire, but couldn't find any roasting sticks. Opa (my Opa) went inside to look for one and after 5-10 minutes we hear this great noise from inside. I figured either he'd found one or he was calling for help. Dave went in to check on him and make sure everything was okay, and found him relishing in his triumph. He had made a roasting stick out of a metal coat hanger. That is something that will not be forgotten!
It was bendy, and the sausage was heavy! It was a 3-man job, but you know we got our roasted roqueworst at the end of it haha! Opa was so proud! Though Dad went out the next day to buy actual roasting sticks.
Good morning Eva! She had a great first sleep (and almost all subsequent sleeps) in the playpen. Whether she was sharing a room or not.
Leading up to the trip Dom was acting out at home because he was nervous about the water, the boat, and feeling pressured to do those things. We assure him he didn't have to do anything he didn't want to do. He wanted to brave the boat right away, and by the end of the week he was a total fish in the water begging us to go in and swim with him. He (and Emilia) surprised us SO much with their growth in confidence in these areas!
On this particular boat ride, Eva did not end up coming as she was too cranky with the life jacket, but on one of our last days she finally got to go and had zero fear. Of course.
My heart is so full with these 3 <3
I mean come on!
There's a "bridge" to cross the lagoon and I got a couple shots from the middle of it. Looking back towards the mountain we used to (and still could) climb.
Looking out towards the lake. Our property is on the right.
And looking up towards the cabin! I find it hard to explain sometimes how the layout is, so here is a better shot. You can see the front which faces the lake. on the side are sliding doors to the living room and Master bedroom. Then there's a breezeway, bathroom, and 4 separate rooms down the deck to the right there. Not conventional, but very smart design for the space and climate!
So glad we brought our Costco tent! Every day these kids played in it, ran around and wrestled in it, Dom practiced throwing a ball into it, and even napped in it one day.
Emilia got really good at independent play this week. Lots of quiet time playing whatever she wanted however she wanted.
Hello happy boy! This guy was in the water all day every day. When we weren't throwing the ball and he wasn't chasing us swimming, he'd just stand in the water and peer at us over the hill, waiting. He actually lost about 4 lb while we were there which is just what we were hoping would happen. It's a lot easier to maintain a lower weight than to lose weight. He got progressively less sore as the week went on, though he is still showing his age. Hopefully we can get him the exercise he needs to keep him being fit, though it'll be impossible to replicate the cabin activity! He'd swim 45 minutes straight, chasing the ball or chasing the swimmers and not even be tired.
Tent snuggles with my girl while someone else played with the big kids and Daddy went golfing on the Saturday! Oh man having all those extra adults around was SO handy and SO appreciated, especially with having 3 kids. I mean sure there were 3 other babies around too and it was absolute madness most of the time, but it would have been more madness if it was just the 5 of us!
She spent half an hour sitting in the grass putting golf balls in little piles.
It was quickly discovered that the inner tube functioned as a great baby-keeping device, especially for Owen who is just 10 month so not walking yet. He loved it in there!
Where you could find me the first 4-5 days of the trip. Occasionally with kids crawling all over me.
I brought up fruit loops and yarn to make fruit loop necklaces with the kids one day. The yarn ended up being hairy and Dom was not too impressed, but it was fun for a while anyway haha! They also made a necklace for Uncle Awesome. Speaking of which. Jeff got his boating license the day before coming to the cabin. Dom has almost always called him Uncle Dump (it started when he was learning to talk like 3 years ago and stuck). This trip Jeff decided Dom and Emilia have to call him Uncle Awesome in order to get boat rides. That's all it took! Uncle Awesome it is! Dinner with a view!
Sherlock in his natural habitat
The first few days we were up early and I actually did a little yoga out on the pickleball court. This court is awesome! We played some doubles with Jeff & Marta the first night, but unfortunately didn't get a chance to get out there again after that. Either too hot or too exhausted at the end of the day haha.
While I went wine tasting with Mom & Marta on the Sunday and looks like Dom got to drive the tractor with Opa! Oh man. So many memories. It's a different level of special watching my kids make these same memories at my favourite place.
Mom took Marta and I wine tasting on Monday and we were surprised to find a ridiculous border lineup. Monday morning in Oroville... WTF! We waited, and it was worth it, but gosh that was a test in patience. Note to everyone. DO YOUR ARRIVECAN APP! We got ours done (barely), but didn't realize we had to until this point in the lineup and we only had 10 minutes to scramble and get it all done.
First stop. Vin Amite (not pronounced like Dynamite). Beautiful tasting and personal charcuterie board.
Second stop. Kismet! We loved their wines and bought a few. We then had lunch at their restaurant next door which serves authentic Indian food. Oh man. It was incredible. We had pappadi chaat, and then a "happy sampler" which had samosas, veggie pakoras, paneer pakoras, fish pakoras, and fresh sauces. I'm drooling again just thinking about it.
We shared a bottle of the Kismet Infinity Rose and Marta and I were feeling pretty good afterwards!
Came home and had some party island time with the adults after bedtime. Ohhhh bedtime. Definitely the best part of the day! Our kids went down pretty well every night and we could rely on 730 onwards being adult time. I count down every day at home too, but it's different when this is your after-bedtime routine!
Dollar store activities for the win!
Tuesday Scott, Ash, Phoebe and Adam came up. Full house except for Aly. We couldn't quite be there with all 16 of us at the same time! Owen seemed a little bit confused, and would go to any of my brothers as if they were Jeff. It's like he couldn't tell the difference between them all. I mean we get confused often too, but it was awfully handy to know he wouldn't panic if his parents left for a swim or something haha!
Aunty Ashleigh is here!
We were nervous leading up to the trip about the property being surrounded by water and all these babies. It turned out to be pretty okay actually. We all figured Myles would be the runner, but it ended up being Eva. She surprised us all with her fearlessness this trip. She'd book it for the water or the lagoon, but luckily figured out that the hill before the water was steep, so she'd plop onto her butt and awkwardly try to scoot down before we could get to her. She'd often plop down prematurely and end up scooting along the flat grass leading up to the hill too.
Family dinner! This was the day Dave and I were on dinner and I was planning to make pesto tortellini. After wine tasting I abandoned ship on that idea and we made smokies and salad instead. Best decision ever haha.
Loved having the outdoor shower to rinse the kids off every evening before bed. Way more fun for them and less formal than packing them inside for a shower. Allowed for the naked babies to run around the lawn and air out after a long day in wet diapers too!
Look at this face!
Tuesday night Dave and I went in at 930pm and got Dom & Emilia out of bed for their first cabin campfire experience. It turns out Emilia wished we left her in bed and Dom was afraid coyotes were going to get us, but they kept asking to do it again throughout the week haha. We were planning to our last night, but then the wind picked up and we couldn't have a fire. It was cute anyway, and they went straight back to sleep after so no harm done!
They clearly remember something about the campfire as this was the game they were playing this evening. Roasting marshmallows <3
All the dads went golfing on Wednesday again, so the ladies had to hold down the fort.
Maybe I should learn how to golf. This looks pretty nice!
I actually used to do pretty well at the driving range, but that was many years ago.
On Thursday Adam & I were in charge of dinner, and he bought these ginormous steaks. We had steak, double baked potatoes, asparagus, and caesar salad(?).
A 10 minute walk with a toddler taking 5,000,000 hours.
We made a few walks down to the turtle pond where the turtles swim up as soon as they see you coming, expecting food. Eva wanted to jump right in, and the kids poked at them with reeds. After this Eva would run down to the lake at the cabin, point at the water, and say, "turta".
#ProofOfMom
Proof of Eva being nutso. Myles is walking nicely holding Aunty Ashleigh's hand. Eva kept running for the edge of the road there which was a drop off into the prickles and cacti. Luckily Opa is there to catch her.
I have SO many memories walking down this road to the pond, seeing that yellow arrow at the end meaning we were almost there, feeling like the walk took an eternity, fishing, feeding the turtles, etc. One time I think it was Jeff, Scott and I (maybe Adam too), and we went out in the row boat that is always flipped over by the pond. In the middle of the pond we noticed a whole bunch of black widow spiders coming out of the woodwork. I don't know if they were hatching or what, but that was some of the scariest shit ever.
Hello Mr. M! You pooping? Also notice the water bottle there? That's Emilia's. It's no wonder all the babies got the same sickness that week haha. Everyone just wanted the kids hydrated, so we didn't care which water bottle they drank from.
Only way to contain Myles for a short period of time
I went wine tasting with Mom & Ash & Dad on the Thursday. I wasn't feeling 100% as I'd been sick that morning, but it was still very enjoyable, Emilia came along and felt special, and we had a delicious lunch at Spirit Ridge!
Apparently about 30 minutes after we left, Eva was stung by a bee. Oops... our first bee sting. Supposedly she handled it very well and they weren't even sure she'd been stung til they saw the mark.
I have to say though, the bugs were not bad at all this year. We could eat every meal outside without being harrassed by any wasps. The wasps are probably my least favourite part of summer and I have a slightly irrational inability to be anywhere near them. So I am super grateful for that! The mosquitoes weren't great, but that just comes with the territory.
First stop was Moon Cursor! Emilia was pretty bored here, but I brought some supplies for the next place to keep her entertained while we tasted. She felt quite special getting to go on a girls outing with me though!
I brought some paper, pens, stickers, pipe cleaners and beads in little containers and pulled them out at Nk'mip for her. She spent a solid 15-20 minutes drawing maps and making a card for Rebecca's birthday (which was on the 16th, but we'll celebrate on the 24th!).
If my next grilled cheese doesn't look like this I don't even want it. SO delicious
Tuckered out after a morning wine tasting!
More evidence of water bottle sharing. My little mullet-girl!
This was from Friday. On Wednesday Phoebe randomly spike a fever and got very lethargic in the afternoon (welcome to the cabin, Scott & Ash!). She developed a rash all over her body and was clearly uncomfortable. By Friday they brought her to the clinic, and Myles, Dom & Eva developed fevers. It was a little scary as they were getting dehydrated, very hot (103F), and it was 36 degrees outside. We spent the last two days of the trip chasing the kids around with water haha. However, I did get a SUPER snuggle nap from Eva for like an hour and a half while she had a fever before I had given her Tylenol. It sort of came out of nowhere.
Someone started feeling better! At the clinic she was diagnosed with a virus, most likely Hand Foot Mouth Disease. Story checks out! Super unfortunate and unexpected, but also unpredictable and unavoidable at that point. We all just handled it and made the most out of the situation and our last few days!
We knew Myles was unwell when he sat still and napped in Adams lap for hours. Also when he threw up a few times... but none of the other kids did that, so may have been something different.
Two parents caring for their sleepy sick babies
About an hour after Myles started getting sick, Eva's temperature started creeping up. About half an hour after that, Dom's started creeping up. Within an hour they were both totally fevered and toast. We set up this air mattress in the tent for Dom just to see what would happen and he promptly crashed for an hour. Poor guy. He felt so shitty. It was kind of nice that he could tell us what was going on. He was really achy and his throat hurt. Now we know how to treat the other babes too!
That sick day also doubled as a TV day. They watched Tangled 3 times that day... I shit you not. Haha! It was the 5th time that trip that they watched Tangled. There were other DVDs there, but nope. Tangled was the movie of choice. It wasn't unheard of to catch Uncle Adam sitting there childless watching bits of it too haha.
Enjoying a brief break during nap time
Back from the doctor and ready to party!
Miss Emilia playing with kitchen toys by the water. Another core memory of mine.
Tylenol has kicked in!
Honeysuckle sun suits were a lifesaver for all 4 of the babies. It makes it so much easier to protect their skin!
Friday night was R-O-U-G-H rough. We got to bed around 1130, and at 12:22am Eva woke up screaming. She did that every 20-45 minutes until 4am, but would settle quickly with a rub of the back. I could feel she had a fever, but because she settled back to sleep so fast each time I just left her. At 4am she didn't settle immediately, so I scooped her up and felt she was so hot. Dave was up too, so we got her some Tylenol and I brought her into bed with me. She snuggled and slept on me, still fussing and crying every 45 minutes or so for an hour and a half. I slept that night in 20 minute increments, and then not at all when she was on me until 6am when her fever went away and she settled. Then her and I slept until just after 7 and were up for the day. Ohhhhh man. That was worse than any of the newborn sleeps I had with my kids! Only comparable night would be day 4 after having Eva when I had to go to have an emergency D&C, but at least I got a "nap" while I was knocked out and then got some heavy duty meds. Anywho, I was tired, Dave was tired, we were both grumpy, we both napped, and I am so glad we rescheduled our trip end-date. We were supposed to go home on Saturday so we could get to Rebecca's Sunday birthday party, but since the kids were sick we couldn't go anyway so we stayed an extra day.
That Saturday was a relaxing down day. Everyone had had rough sleeps, babies were heavily medicated with tylenol and motrin on a rigorous schedule, and the weather was perfect.
Aunty Ashleigh loves pretend play :)
Eva and I took some dips in the lake to cool down. She loved the water. I don't think we got any photos of D&E in the water, but oh they loved it! They both wore a life jacket as they can't actually swim, but Dom would insist on floating around and "swimming" everywhere and announcing, "I can do it on my own!" Emilia was getting braver blowing bubbles and floating as well, and we were just so proud!
Scott and Ash made pulled pork tacos for Friday night's dinner which were IN-credible. There was lots of leftover pork and corn tortillas, so Scott made his own tortilla chips and pulled pork nachos for lunch on Saturday. I cannot begin to describe how delicious these were with margaritas. Especially after such a horrible night the night before.
On Saturday I was out in the water with Dom and my foot sunk into some clay. I had a flash of memories and scooped some up and brought it to shore. I showed Emilia the clay and how to mold it with our hands. I brought down some kitchen tools and we lost her for the rest of the day. More replications of my own core memories! <3
I was trying to get a cute shot of them in their matching sunsuits and Phoebe had to go and make it one of my favorite photos of the weekend haha.
Our last night we played some games on the front deck and then Dad started up a fire. Right around that time the wind picked up and we all opted to put out the fire as it did not feel at all responsible. The wind kept howling, so we sat comfortably on the south side of the cabin out of the wind and enjoyed some snacks and wine together. It was unorthodox, but a very memorable way to end our time at the cabin!
Sunday we were out the door by around 10am and on the road for our rough ride home! We had been gone for 10 days! I can't believe it! It felt weird to come back to reality. The drive home Eva screamed/cried about 75% of the time, slept for 15%, and fussed for the other 10%. It was not fun. It made me extra nervous for drives to come, but we have some ideas that might help. They just also might make it impossible to fit all our stuff in the van. We'll see what happens!
A stop in Manning for lunch and I didn't think to look at the forecast. It was breezy and 15 degrees and we'd packed all the kids' warm stuff away. Poor Emilia had to wear my long sleeve and Dom was wearing one of my sweaters. It was awesome haha.
Finally about 15 minutes from home, Emilia and Eva both passed out.
The 10 days was full of so many amazing, challenging, memorable things. I was telling Dave how I was so impressed with myself for not getting totally burnt out by all the people. Dave just laughed and said, "Ya. We'll see!" Sure enough, the day after we got home (Monday), I totally crashed. Eva had gone for a playdate with Ashleigh and Phoebe (perks of all the babies getting HFM together), and I was home organizing after the trip. After I picked up Eva Dave looked at me and told me to lay down. I was barely a human at that point. Just a zombie. I laid down and didn't even move for an hour and a half until Dom & Emilia came to wake me up to tell me that Emilia had brushed her hair by herself. Sweet. Thanks. haha. I may have slept forever at that point!
Today (Tuesday) I'm finally feeling mostly recovered, and went to spin this morning to help get back to my routine. There are so many things I missed...
Here are a couple jokes for me to remember. 99% sure you had to be there, but as I said above, most of my readers were there haha.
- Moon Face. Jeff stared ponderingly into the sky one evening and asked us, "Can you look at the moon without seeing a face?" I said, "You can look at it and see a face?" I looked up and asked him what face he saw, thinking maybe I could make one out. He made the face. A sort of forlorn face that must be accompanied with a sad sound. After that moment, I cannot look at the moon and not see the face. He has ruined us! But "moon face" became a running joke for the whole week.
- Eva's spa treatment. One day I was having a little rest in the Costco tent by the beach after dinner. I was roused by a nice leg massage, I assumed to be from Eva. I wondered where she found lotion and when I opened my eyes I found her very focused rubbing potato salad onto my legs. Mmmmm! Thanks hun!
- Renee's trauma. One morning I woke up on a hunt for my water bottle. I found Myles out on the front deck with Jeff and Adam and he was playing with my water bottle. I said, "Oh perfect! Thank you Myles! I was just looking for this!" and took a big ole sip. I immediately sprayed it all out of my mouth right in front of Myles with a look of horror on my face. I looked down, and there was an earwig crawling away. I had sucked up an earwig from my straw and I may never be the same again. Adam may also never be the same, probably dying with a smile on his face thinking about this moment.
- Dad's voice to text. He was trying to text Uncle Rich to ask him if he could bring up an extra set of right handed clubs, but his voice to text picked up half of another conversation as well. It ended up as, "We are at our wits end in there. You don't happen to have an extra set of right-handed golf clubs at the cabin here. Do you? He was fine until David is planning on renting for tomorrow, but I thought I'd ask."
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