Summer begins (Westbank trip)

The day after school ended we headed up to the Okanagan for a week holiday with our friends Ray and Ginny and their kids. Their anniversary is the same day as my birthday and this year they celebrated their 15th! One evening they went on a date to celebrate while we looked after their kids. This is them dressed ready for a date although Ray had holes in his jeans which you can't see.

Up in Westbank the pool is a main feature for everyone to enjoy. Aaron and Madi are pretty good swimmers now and Lexi is coming along good too.

Kyle swims around in his 'floaty' suit which he likes.

One day we took the kids to the Go-Karts which they really enjoyed. Aaron and Kyle shared one car while Aaron drove and Madi and Lexi each had their own car.

They all tried to be the fastest and I think Madi had the fastest car while Lexi at one point banged into the wall, but she got back in the race quickly. Aaron and Kyle can't wait to go again sometime.

Back in the pool, I put the underwater bag on my camera to try a few shots...

and a self-portrait.

Here are a few random pictures: Ginny and Madi

Kyle wearing Daddy's shoes and protected with zinc oxide.

Madi and Aaron having a picnic.

For Canada Day we didn't a lot of Canada-related things but the kids did get Canadian tattoos and decorated the house a bit.

In the afternoon we all went on a boat ride and some tubing. The water wasn't too choppy which made it more enjoyable.

Aaron and I taking a turn...

and Ginny and Shelby taking a ride.

Here are the kids hanging out after finding a geocache by the lake.

On Thursday we went for a walk along the former railway trestles near Kelowna. Many of the trestles were damaged in the fire of 2003 but have now been replaced.

The chipmunks in the area were very friendly, which probably has to do with the amount of food they receives from these humans...

The group

A view of the forest damaged by the fire in 2003.

On the way back to Kelowna, we saw a black bear and her cub, but I didn't get any great pictures of them. Then on Thursday afternoon we went to Penticton to celebrate Aaron and Kyle`s great grandma`s (`Nana`s) birthday. We went out for dinner and then back to their place for cake. Aaron and Kyle helped blow out the candles.

On Friday we were able to borrow a SeaDoo from a friend of Ray's for an afternoon. Ray took his kids and I took mine. We had fun ripping around the lake with this very powerful machine which can go just over 100km/hr!

On our hike the day before Madi picked some nice flowers along the route including this one, I think they called it a lampshade flower or something like that.

As usual the week went by too fast. The weather was great everyday and we all came back a little more tanned with another fun holiday together with our friends.