Back from Canada

Lee, Connor & I went to Canada to visit with my mom & Connie & her gang. We left on the 17th, spent the night in Olympia (the brewery is gone now), and then headed up the next day for the rest of the trip. I have photos from Olympia, but I forgot to upload them back into the camera after I downloaded them!

Lee was able to get a few things done around the house for my mom, and I just figure whenever we go up there, he can help out that way as much as possible. I expect Carolyn's husband to do the same. I think Carl gets to work on the sprinkler system this time :) Lee fixed the weathervane, shingles & lights on the gazebo, for instance.

I got to attend the 7th grade band concert of my nephew, Mikael. He graduated from elementary school the following Tuesday, which Connie & my mom attended.

We found a scenic spot and scattered some of my dad's ashes on a mountainside. That was one of his requests. Interestingly, the sky had a nice vapor trail from two planes which made a big cross in the sky. I have never noticed intersecting vapor trails any other time we'd be there before, only parallel ones :)

My dad's long-time friend, Al, had not made it up for the memorial last month, so he visited for a weekend while we were there too. I hadn't had the opportunity to get to know Al before, and this was a nice chance to do that. He is now retired and has passed his successful business in LA to his sons, who have made it even more successful!

Aaron celebrated his 8th birthday while we were there too, and Connor had a lot of fun chasing the other kids around, and following along with the treasure hunt we did. It was raining so the kids wore "treasure hunting outfits" of trash bags :)

My mom & I went to the Okanagan Lavendar & Herb Farm. This is pretty much it. It looked a lot bigger in their brochure! The plant in front there is Oregon Grape, which is Oregon's state plant. I had never seen it (or noticed that was it) in Oregon :)

We checked out a park we hadn't been to in the past, with a bunch of water play stuff. Connor spent the entire time on the little water slide. What a surprise.

The "Best of Kelowna" dining guide had just come out while we were there, so we tried a few restaurants. Connor liked Jaxs because you can take an elevator (and the food was really good), but Hector's Casa wasn't all that. It got the best rating for mexican food, but Taco Time was listed as #3, so the competition wasn't all that stiff :P

I did walk with my mom almost every morning, and enjoyed the view all around the Kettle Valley development. It's a really beautiful place to live, and I'm really glad Connie & her family get to live there too. I only gained one pound for the 2 weeks we were there :)