It has been about a month (maybe longer) since I wrote a new post for our family blog. Summer has revalued our free time and each evening and day evening with pleasant weather is intended to be spent performing some kind of outdoor activity. Due to the weather’s decision to be rather unusual, cool, damp and unpredictable the activities have been less frequent than we had hoped. Also I have been working at a retail establishment that is open 7am to 9 each day and I have been working random shifts so I have not had the luxury of having evenings and weekends off. None the less we have been enjoying our first family summer in the Okey-Dokey-Nagan.
Earlier in the summer we went camping with some friends on Okanagan Lake. It was a cool weekend that threatened rain for nearly the whole 4 days. I had to drive for 40 minutes on two days to goto work directly from the campsite, but I agreed to go because it meant a great deal to Dalavanh. It was fun and the weather turned out to be quite acceptable for the last two days. We paddled the canoe a couple of times, the kids played, we ate meals prepared over a campfire, and we sat around the fire with our friends each night. It was a good priming for the camping that is to take place over the rest of the summer. Even though it was the 2nd or 3rd week in June the weather reminded me of May Long Weekend weather that we typically had back in Manitoba. It was windy, calm, raining, sunny, cool and for a brief second: warm. It kind of pitted us against the elements, which was both invigorating and a bit bothersome.
I managed to get out mountain biking with a friend in Kelowna one afternoon. We biked the trails up in the Crawford Estates area in the mountains above K-Town. I had not hiked or biked through the burnt forests that were created by the huge forest fires that took place through the valley 6 or 7 years ago so the day was very interesting for that reason alone. It was good to get out with a friend I see occasionally and stretch some rarely used trail riding muscles. We spent 1 hour and 20 minutes riding up hill and about 30 minutes riding downhill after the climb. I track these things on a bike computer, yes I am a bit of a statistics nerd when it comes to biking. We biked a total of 18 km’s that afternoon. It was great fun to roll down the hills, though one 4 foot shear drop had me wondering how I was going to carry my bike down safely, let alone ride down the drop.
We have spent a few days on Kalamalka Lake at the beach as a family. It is a soft sand beach that is the most popular in the Vernon area. We happened to go on weekdays so it was not too busy. Jada loves to run around the beach blanket and then down to the lake shore, then back to the blanket and around it, and repeat. Whatever makes her happy is great, and it doesn’t involve either of us chasing her or cleaning up after her so it is wonderful. All has been great at the beach except for the last early afternoon when we were there when a family positioned themselves behind us. The family had about 5 kids and the mother called out in an obnoxious, loud voice reprimanding her spawn over, and over again. Dalavanh and I looked at each other and shook our heads, the phrase “some people…” was telepathically communicated and we both made a motion to pack up and go home, simultaneously. Oh well, we were sun burnt and my farmers tan wasn’t going to disappear anyway.
In a continual effort to engage in family adventures we purchased Dalavanh a trail worthy mountain bike. It is a Norco with a front suspension fork and disc brakes. A bike like this should help my wife to enjoy trail riding and she should enjoy it for many years (unless she gives it away like the last two bikes but that is behind us…sort of.) I took her on a trail in Kal Lake Park to Cosen‘s Bay Beach. It involves riding a trail that first is a good climb, and then a lengthy downhill ride to the beach. The tough part is the climb up the hill riding back from the beach, but we both managed. I had our bike trailer in tow with Jada riding as the passenger. I liked the way Jada squealed and sang as we rolled and bumped along. If all goes according to plan my wife will be a motivated trail rider and I will have a family member to accompany me on excursions a few years down the road. Dalavanh was quite sure that she was going to die of a heart attack, a stroke, muscle cramps olr sore knees a few times during the ride but miraculously survived. I have a few more rides planned for the summer so we will see how they go. Dalavanh has decried that bike rides should be done on flat ground. I will need to demonstrate to her that we do not live in Winnipeg or on the prairies anymore and that biking in BC means climbing and descending hills. Once she gets her first rush of adrenaline and endorphins from an excellent ride her opinion will transform, or she might die of leg cramps LOL.
I think that is enough of my ramblings for one post. We will continue to live and adventure here in the Okanagan for the remainder of this so far silly weather summer and will post again when time and energy permit.
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