The Cabin - 2024!

The cabin crew! (minus Marta)

On June 26 after work we packed up and drove out to Agassiz to spend the night so that we could cut an hour off of our drive to the cabin the next day. We were supposed to go up on the 30th, but Great Opa and Oma were up there and offered to have us a few days early! I was all for the extra few days and getting to spend some time with them! 

Up on time and out the door just after 8 the next morning! The drive went as smoothly as we could have hoped for. Dom was asking if we could see the border pretty much right away which was comical. Like no... we can't... We stopped in Princeton for a pee break 

Picking flowers in Princeton

Made it! Just as promised, right upon arrival Dom ran straight to the swing chair 

These three were in the water most of the week. Especially the hairy one :) Literally all week haha

I discovered ladder ball is NOT my spiritual gift.

First of many walks to the pond!

The first couple days were really nice weather. Nice in the sense that we got to wear long sleeves and long pants in the mornings and not stress too much about dehydration and heat stroke :)

Opa and I were a great Marbles team

I think this is the sleepiest he was the whole trip. This dog, nearly 10 years old, had more energy this trip than he has in 5 years. I think because he's just in better shape and not overweight? I don't know, but he had no chill haha. It was annoying and great to see at the same time. Until the second last day when he started slowing down and getting cramps and showing his age a bit more. But if you were at the water or he saw the ball it was game over! All memories of being old and sore were gone!

Thanks, Dave for the proof of mom!

Just wild and amazing watching them recreate memories I have from my childhood <3

A quiet moment of play.

We went out back to find firewood and came across this little beauty deer at the back of the property! She wasn't overly concerned about us. Just kept munching away on the trees. We actually saw so many deer this trip around the property. Maybe the developments in the area are just pushing them into civilization more or something. We saw a buck and a fawn too which is rare and very cool!

Wheels creeping up on the doe.

We got to have a few fires over the trip since the weather was great and there wasn't a ban! Our first one was with Great Opa and Oma. We roasted a sausage and Opa just lit up seeing the kids devour the sausage before bed haha.

It's a 2-man job

This face... might have to be my new phone background. 

The next morning the kids, particularly Dom, were having a hard time. They were all demanding a lot of attention, so Dom and I took a little walk together with just the two of us. I tried hard to give each kid a little bit of Mommy-time. 

Just before Great Opa & Oma left, they got the boat in the water and Opa took us for a spin! The kids absolutely loved it. It was the only time we got in the boat the whole week unfortunately, but we did love it.

"It's windyyyy!"

<3

Opa & Oma left and then the other Opa & Oma were coming up that evening! We had half a day on our own at the cabin. We did some colouring, and then during Eva's nap Dom was begging to hike the mountain. It was getting warm, and Dave and I were not really into it. I agreed to drive Dom up there and we'd go scope it out and then maybe try the next morning or something. 

A couple switch-backs up, already farther than I thought we'd make it. He still had a big smile on his face!

This poor kid didn't realize he got stuck with the parent who cannot start something without finishing it. We trekked up that whole mountain and HE MADE IT!! He wanted to turn back many times (which is fair because that was the original plan), but I encouraged him, we took frequent breaks, and we made it to the freaking top. I am soooo proud of him!

I think this was huge for him. One of his affirmations is "I can do hard things", and this is definitely the hardest thing he's ever completed, so he will have this in his back pocket to give him courage and confidence from now on.

Throwing rocks off the top. 

I remember being young (like older than him, but young), and hiking this mountain and just being miserable and struggling the whole way up and having a hard time catching my breath. I am proud of him for doing it, and I'm also proud of me for doing it! Especially given my heatlh issues this year. This is the first time I did it since I have been working on my cardio with Spin. I crushed it. 

Back down we go!

Opa and Oma made it! Yay!!

The next morning we weren't sure what to do with our time before the other folks came up. We decided to take the kids up to Molson to relive some childhood memories and to see what they thought. I honestly was prepared for the kids to be miserable and bored and hate it. I was pleasantly surprised that they had an absolute blast! They bombed around that place just like we did as kids, playing with and touching everything!

We did the Old Molson area first and then went down to the school. The kids were used to playing with everything at the first area so the "do not touch" policy at the school was a bit of a struggle haha.

"Would you like to buy some money?!"

Molson has had some major upgrades since the last time I was there. They must have had a donor or something. Way more stuff, and more organized and structured. In the old gymnasium they had these creepy dolls dressed in old clothes. Eva took a liking to this creepy woman. "I just love her!" She kept fixing her scarf and adjusting her dress like she was caring for her.

Again, gravitating towards the creepy dolls. She very carefully read this girl a book and made sure she could see the whole time. 

Emilia: This is what I look like in school...

Checking out old cameras with Dad

Our only family photo!

And back for some swimming. The next few days were a beautiful 27-30 degrees. Absolute perfection!

Dom plays marbles just as strategically as we do. He schoooooled me this game!

Uncle Jeff, Aunty Marta & Owen made it on Monday afternoon! The boys immediately got down to Playmobil hockey. It was really cute watching these two boys play together. Dom was just excited to have someone else equally into sports, and Owen was just excited to be able to play with Dom. Who cares about age gaps!

"Look I'm Dom!"

The next day was the most logical day for us to go to Osoyoos with everyone to do some mini golf and go-karting at Rattlesnake Canyon. Marta had some unavoidable work stuff come up that week, so she spent a lot of time cooped up in the cabin which was unfortunate. We missed her! 

Mini golf was just as chaotic as you'd expect. Nobody kept score, but Dom, Emilia and I all got a hole-in-one on the first hole. I got another later on as well. 

After mini-golf, we went and did some go-karting! We did double karts so that each of the kids got to participate too!

Eva was paired with me

Emilia and Dave

Dom and Opa

Owen and Jeff

After some ice cream, the kids talked us into riding the little kids helicopter ride. These faces make it all worth it!

I took very few photos the rest of the week, and there was no further agenda other than the boys going golfing on the Thursday. 

Uncle Jeff on kid duty and lawn duty at the same time.

Finally brought out the rainbow rice Emilia and I made for her birthday!

Emilia was very into building and playing in forts. Opa and Oma helped with this one that became a restaurant for the afternoon we all had to go visit. What a great view for a restaurant!

The kids insisted on doing a "wine tasting" like we did last year with Emilia hosting for the ladies. They grabbed a bunch of drinks and tiny glasses. They were so distracted by Shrek in the background they were not engaged, but at least we can say we did it haha.

Dom handed me this sweet note after I beat him at Crazy Dice <3
"Good game mom. I know you won, but I had fun."

Gearing up to lost another game of ladder ball 21-0...

The beloved opera tree!

A week later this photo surfaced of the one and only straight-arm of the trip haha. Back in the day (pre-children), all us "big kids" would go out on party island and float out to the reeds and play drinking games all afternoon. I do not know how we did that. Sheesh!

The drive home! Sherlock was trying to see out the window at first and then finally fell asleep and rested for most of the drive. 

For the first time ever, the kids watched movies/TV the whole way from the border to home. We stopped in Princeton for lunch, but I'm very glad that we used the (as Katrina so aptly puts it) "road trip epidural". That was the smoothest and easiest drive we've ever had. No big fights. No screaming... Very manageable! I have resisted it because we never had TV in the car as kids, but you know what... no regrets!

When we got home it was 35 degrees outside and just as hot if not worse in our house. Our AC took a very very long time (like over 24 hours) to get things to a manageable temperature. We figured the kids would all crash right away at home. Alas... everyone was an absolute disaster. I ran to the grocery store and got some food for sandwiches and then none of the kids were asleep til 9pm. They were all so overtired and hot and miserable. It didn't help that at about 8pm we found a tick on Eva's head. Without giving too much details, it was well fed, and I gag thinking about it, and we got it all off in the first go. Fricking nasty. 

It may be unrelated, but she now has 4 swollen and hard lymph nodes on her neck on the same side the tick was on, so we're going to the dr this week to get her checked out. 

Anyway. Overall the cabin week was absolutely lovely. It was great to be away from the stresses of home. I didn't get/take enough alone time and didn't feel as refreshed as I could have, so adjusting back to home life was a bit trickier than it could have been, but I am so grateful we have this place that we can go to. It is not lost on me how blessed we are.