life {lately} ~ v. 16 vacation edition

we're back from our summer camping road trip vacation.

two weeks of camping, beach and ocean fun, and lots and lots of driving.

almost 3000 kilometres.  

our trip included stops in penticton, seattle and ocean shores.

we had a blast hanging out and exploring washington state.

loved driving up the coast.

absolutely beautiful!

here's just a snip-it of our trip

i'll definitely have more posts and photos coming later this week.

stay tuned.

rock chalk and a bucket list

it's a super soggy mess outside and we're in for a ton of rain over the next three days.  not that i'm complaining.  we need rain.  so many wildfires burning already and its only may.  with all the rain in the forecast what better time to do our summer bucket list.  i'm even more excited about our list this year because a) i'm not super mondo pregnant and b) i got my art on (like three months ago) and made a chalkboard wall in the kitchen.

way way way back in february i told convinced the hubs that we needed a chalkboard wall somewhere in our house.  so i went out to home depot and picked up some chalkboard paint, a roller and spent a couple afternoons painting the wall.  (had to allow drying time in between coats)  i put two coats on and i probably will do a third one in the near future.  i was a little worried about how it would look once i did something to it.  the wall holds up pretty well with regular chalk, but when i used the chalkboard pens it left some of the "ink" behind.  won't be using them again.  i was also worried about my lack of artistry.  so i kind of cheated and used paper to help create a sort of stencil for the lettering and found it way too tedious.  screw that.  time is a hot commodity around here and not easily found.  so i tried free handing it.  with some inspiration from jessica over at little baby garvin, i totally got my art confidence.  it also helps to remember that it's chalk.  if you don't like it ... erase it.  holy crap so much easier, so much less time consuming and i can be way more creative.

now for the summer bucket list.  i did one of these a couple summers ago.  we made it through a few of the items on our list, but for the most part i never really thought about it.  by having a rather large reminder, in the middle of the kitchen i might add, of all the fun things we want to do perhaps we'll do all the fun things we want to do.  duh.  have a peak.

anyone else do a bucket list?

and do you actually do everything you want to?

wordless{ish} wednesday ~ get wet

what do you do when it is freaking hot out?  get wet.  and that's just what we did on monday.  played with the hose, the sprinkler and in the splash pool.  and it wasn't just liam who was staying cool.  rob and i taught liam to spray us with the hose using the mist setting.  it was basically the only way i was able to cool off in this un-relenting heat.  we're still in for a few more really hot days here and then a bit of a cool down.  i pray for rain every night.  and seriously wish we had air conditioning.  until then, we'll just continue to get wet.

happy wednesday!!

vacation ~ part deux

I kinda feel like this title is for a really lame movie sequel.  You know the kind ... trying to be just as cool as the first but so not even close.   I promise that this vacation sequel will not disappoint, unlike many movie sequels that should never have been made.  On with the show.

After four awesome sunny beach lovin' days in Penticton we headed to Kelowna to spend some time with family (aunts, uncles, cousins, gramma and a couple of dogs).  We try to go for a visit at least once a year ... if not more.  We were blessed with more hot sunny days and made the most of every minute.  Bike rides along the lake, playing at the water park, soaking up some rays, swimming in the pool, a birthday celebration, trips to a few (okay 3) wineries and just some plain 'ol family fun.  I had so much fun on our family vacation adventure, and I'm not going to lie ... I'm a little sad that it's already over.  Guess it means that summer is almost at a close.  Okay so really there are still 3 weeks of vacation left, but the count down is on for my return to work after a year off.  and I'm just being a little pouty about it : (  Can't wait for next year's family vacation!!

Grey Monk Winery

mmmm ... chocolate pie

first freezie experience

wordless(ish) wednesday: water boys

While we were in Kelowna last week we took Liam to a water park.  He was totally excited about it.  At first.  Then not so much, unless it was just his feet getting wet.  He was however having a great time hanging out with Daddy.

i don't wanna go home  : (

home sweet home

I love coming home from vacation (we've been home for two days now ... just getting settled back in).  Almost as much as I love getting ready to go on vacation.  Almost.  I don't know if it's the comfort of being in your own space or if it's just that I'm back sleeping in my own bed?  Either or, I just love coming home.

We had a super vacation.  But before I get into that ... I just want to say a really big thanks to Gillian and Melissa for guest posting while we were away soaking up some much needed sun.   Thanks ladies, you rock!

Now on to the super de-duper family vacation.  It was almost like 2 trips in one, Penticton for the first four days and Kelowna for the last four.  We started out with a long drive heading west to Penticton.  Seriously, it was just over ten hours when it used to take eight.  Not sure how we some how added two hours, meh.  Liam was super baby until about the last ten minutes and then total meltdown.  But I can't blame him ... I was done too.  Ten hours in a car is a long time!  Once in Penticton it was all about beach time.  Liam was unsure of the lake at first, perhaps because he couldn't see the bottom?  But once he realized how much fun it was he was all smiles for the remainder of the trip.  He was totally into investigating the sand.  That is until he got it in his mouth.  Our days were filled with playing at the beach, swimming in the pool at our motel, bbq'ing some awesome dinners and hanging out with some awesome peeps.  All in all I'd say Penticton was nothing short of fantastic!

Part two of our vacay will appear on Thursday.  Way too many photos to go through.  Is 500+ too many for just a week?  Perhaps photographers anonymous is in my future.