Monday, July 17, 2017

Canada via Camper

To kick start our summer vacation, we rented a 26' Winnie Minnie RV, loaded up the four kiddos, turned off our electronic devices and headed north for a week-long loop of camping in British Columbia.  We drove to a different provincial park campsite each day and found ourselves exploring rivers, creeks, lakes, deserts, forests, and various historic sites along the Caribou Wagon Road.  Other than the challenges of trying to meet everyone's sleep needs, we had an awesome adventure complete with a multitude of mosquito bites, twenty train sightings in one day, and daily cold water plunges.

Loaded up and heading out in the Minnie Winnie.


Our first night at Sasquatch Provincial Park.  We were steps from the lake -- which we headed to within a few minutes of our arrival after a long day of driving.


In the woods.










First of many bites of s'mores.


Taking a shot at finding gold in historic Yale.


Running the General Store at Yale's Tent City living museum.


Checking out the period clothing. 




Stella was very excited (and insistent) on registering at the historic church.


Exploring the Tent City's local jail.


Riding the Hell's Gate Air Tram over the mighty Fraser River.








Windswept on the bridge spanning the canyon.


Visiting the Historic Hat Creek Ranch on the old Caribou Wagon Road.


An original stagecoach from the days of the BC Gold Rush, circa 1860's.


One of the many roadhouses that once stretched along the Caribou Wagon Road.  Touring this roadhouse definitely took me back in time.


An old miner's camp.


 Moments before we boarded for our own stagecoach wagon ride around the ranch.


Learning the game of "double ball" at the First Nations people Secwepemc village.


Enjoying the pelts in the village.


Post-dunk at Juniper Beach Provincial Park in the high desert of BC.  The river was chilly, but the air temperature more than made up for it in the 90's.



Building cities with the river rocks only a handful of steps from our campsite and trusty Minnie Winnie RV.

Counting the trains on the tracks on the other side of the river.


A mini-train ride (and a respite from the blazing sun) at the BC Wildlife Park.


The swimming lake at Lac Le Jeune Provincial Park.


Happy Canada Day!


One of the many Happy Canada Day activities in the small town of Princeton, BC.


Making sand balls along the Similkameen River.




River-side discoveries.


A sitting spot near our campsite in E.C. Manning Provincial Park.


Exploring the shallow, river-rock loaded Similkameen River.



Tucked in the Cascade Mountains.


Searching for evidence of beavers.


Friday, June 23, 2017

Working Backwards

Time for a bit of blog catch-up.

Our newest addition to the family -- an electric cargo bike.  We've had it for less than a month and have already pedaled over 200 miles on it with preschool drop offs and pick ups, grocery store runs, family outings and longer commutes to work.


We headed out for a Memorial Day family hike to Heybrook Lookout with awesome views from the observation deck.  The bigs did a great job of keeping the littles motivated and moving throughout the hike.





A and J participated in their third year of track and field this year.  They both qualified for the City Championships in the 400 and 1500.


The Easter Bunny had to up her game to match the developing skills of our Easter Egg Hunt crew.





Over spring break, we took a day trip to the Skagit Valley and managed to find excellent baked goods among other things.







The kids were very excited that their grandparents were able to come to visit and see some of our favorite hangouts.





Despite the rumors, we do actually get snow -- at least once every few years -- here in Seattle. This amount warrants a snow day from school!





Our "baby" turned three in December and she insisted that Elmo join the party.




We have a tradition of going to a Christmas tree farm to find "the one." So far, these trips have been far less eventful than the Griswolds'.








We were invited to spend some time with friends on the Olympic Peninsula and the ferry ride is always exciting for the under-5 set (and usually the over-5 set too.)





The day-after-Thanksgiving parade was a big hit!


This is our favorite pumpkin patch. It comes with this ready-made photo spot, which is perfect when one of the kids gets caught up in gravity.


The twins played on separate soccer teams this year but there were plenty of chances to watch each other's games.


Iver was very proud to turn four.


It's nice that Iver's age changes in lock step with the twins' grade -- just in case we forget either!