Day Trips

We were able to get into two mini day trips recently, thanks to Jason have a stretch off from work with how his schedule worked recently. It was a nice change from just staying around home.

Friends of ours were camping out at Cultus Lake and we asked if it would be okay for us to join them for a bit of one of their days out there. We headed out after Everly's morning nap, we were not sure how she would do for napping when out there so we wanted to get one decent nap in. We arrived to their camp site after 1pm. It was hot that day but not too bad since their camp site was nice and shaded by all the trees. Their oldest son was having a great time playing in his splash pool they brought. I love how care free he is, he was just enjoying splashing in the water and didn't mind at all that he was getting his feet and legs covered in dirt and mud.

We brought the packnplay with us, to give Everly somewhere to play. She is at the fun phase of anything and everything that makes it into her hands will go into her mouth. At one point, our friends oldest joined her in the there. Its great seeing a friendship start this early. He has always been so kind towards her, towards all kids really.

A bunch of us went for a walk down to the lake, some braved the water (there is a swimmers itch warning currently) and the rest of us relaxed in the shade. It was not that busy out on the lake, probably because it was a work day. Everly and her buddy both fell asleep in their strollers and had their afternoon naps in their strollers.

A round or two of Monopoly Deal (aka the marriage wrecker) was played, and dinner made over a fire was enjoyed with of course some s'mores to wrap it all up. It was great to visit with friends, and just get away from home even just for a little bit. This day trip just makes us look forward to taking Everly camping in the future so much more, next summer for sure!
That evening we ended up staying up late waiting for confirmation that we could go to Anvil for the day to visit. We got word late, but we were happy that it all worked out. We rushed to finish rounding up what we'd need for leaving in the morning so that we could get a few extra minutes of sleep as we needed to get out to Lions Bay by 8am. Everly was a trooper getting woken up earlier than normal and packed into her car seat. Thankfully she did get a little bit more sleep on the drive out there but not much, she loves to watch what is going on around her. We made one pit stop to grab coffee and timbits to bring with us to the island. We were enlightened to the fact that Timmy's has 10cup travel packs of coffee when one was brought to us after Everly arrived... those things are awesome!!!

This was her first time on a smaller, faster boat. We put her in her little life jacket for safety of course. She enjoyed the ride over, held tight in her Dad's arms. Again I found myself thankful for our cheap jogger stroller, we brought it with us again to Anvil and it came in handy taking munchkin and her stuff around.

It was great to see a bunch of the campers I have gotten to know over the past two summers of being a part of camp 4 at Anvil, several remembered I had been pregnant last summer and were excited to see Everly. Everly was not alone, there were 2 other munchkins who are up at the camp for the whole week. It was great to meet the other two little ones.

Jason was happy to get to play some sports and relax. I always just love being at Anvil, it is my home away from home. We took Everly down to the beach and she got to go in the ocean again, this time we actually got photos. She was not impressed when a wave crashed up near her and splashed her in the face, but rocks are apparently yummy. There was a staff soccer game, we enjoyed watching on the side lines.

We may have found a sippy cup that Everly likes. Our friends let us a try one of theirs that they use with their little girl after being on the hunt for one themselves and being told about this one. Its pretty neat, since it has a weighted straw the goes with the liquid. Everly wanted to just chew on the straw at first, but eventually figured it out. With practice we may have a little girl who can use a sippy cup that has a straw soon.

The boat ride back was bumpy, not the worst I have ever had, but bumpy. To the point where other passengers asked if it be possible to slow down for Everly. She was grumpy not because of the bumps but because she was tired. She ended up falling asleep! It used to be that we'd take the bumpiest roads to get her to fall asleep, seems its possible still for that trick to work.

Had a bit of an adventure during the drive home. The vehicle in front of us hit something metal, sadly we were not able to swerve and miss it, we ended up hitting it too. Both vehicles ended up on the side of the highway with flat tires. We were concerned that the rim may have been damaged too, and we saw liquid gush out the bottom of the car too when we pulled over and got out to look. We are thankful that there is construction going on because it meant safety vehicles were driving the road and we quickly had a truck parked behind us with arrows flashing. We called BCAA and had them change the tire for us. We weren't sure if we'd be able to drive the car back, but the BCAA worker was certain it was just the AC having liquid go on the ground which is normal on hot days. We had originally called my parents to come grab me and Everly, and then changed that plan to getting Jason's brother to grab us because he was working just a bit down the highway. Thankfully we were able to drive ourselves home. Some how during all that craziness Everly kept on sleeping, she didn't wake up until we were getting back in the car to drive slowly home.

It was a fun filled two days. We had a great time hanging out with friends. Definitely need to do more day trips or mini adventures to places... any suggestions?