This year we spent the May long-weekend in Kelowna with Christina’s parents. Having recently acquired a mini-van, we travelled in comfort and had lots of room for all the extra baggage that kids require.

The weather was hot and sunny most days and Natalie had a blast in the backyard. She was obsessed with the two dogs Bell and Oreo, and always wanted to be outside playing with them. Natalie and Papa spent quite a bit of time picking dandelions and making bouquets out of them as well. She had lots of fun on the swing set as well.

On Saturday, we packed the whole family into our van and made a day trip out to Sorrento to visit Christina’s grandparents. We visited in the backyard, played bocce, and enjoyed a wonderful dinner before heading back to Kelowna. It was nice that our van fit all seven of us as we could all travel together instead of taking two separate vehicles.

On Sunday, we took a trip to the other side of the lake to visit the Carmelis Goat Cheese Artisan to look at the goats and eat cheese and gelato. While the cheese was good, everyone really enjoyed the gelato.

Carmelis had been destroyed during the Okanagan Mountain Park Forest Fire in August 2003, but has since been rebuilt. It was quite dramatic to see freshly rebuilt buildings on the hillsides of scorched trees.

Our trip back home to Vancouver on Monday was uneventful, however given the poor weather we returned to it feels like all the sunshine was just a dream.