Been there, biked that.

finally taught her how to blow and not eat a dandelion

We don't get out to the farm as much as we used to before we had Natallie. Somehow sitting in the car for 6 hours with a crying baby isn't as much fun of a get-away as it was pre-baby. But Simon has been doing the Okanagon 100K Century Ride with his mom for the past several years and it means so much to both of them to do it together.

The drive up consisted of two parts: cranky, tired baby and me asking Simon every three minutes if we were close to the rest stop yet and peaceful, sleeping baby where Simon and I had a great time just enjoying long conversations that rarely happens anymore. We didn't get to Enderby til mid-night and the plan was to transfer Natallie to her play pen in stealth mode but we forgot to factor in Sophie, who barked up the storm and let everyone know in the entire Enderby vicinity (even Grindrod) that we had arrived on the farm. Natallie woke up and sleepily inquired, "dog dog? dog dog?" and I lied to her and said, "no dog dog, go back to sleep" and rushed her inside the house. She surprisingly cooperated and fell back to sleep until 7:30 the next morning!

The next day we drove up a remote logging road and had a picnic at the top of the Okanagon Valley. It was a gorgeous view and we built a campfire to roast hot dogs for lunch. It was the first time Natallie had seen a campfire and she sat in her highchair and just stared at the fire for 20 minutes, she didn't make a sound or anything. Just memorized. After lunch, the guys rode their motorbikes around a bit while Natallie had fun playing tag and balancing on the fallen logs. Anything can be fun!

Sunday was race day. Simon and his mom left the house really early and started biking before 8:30am. Daphne, a family friend, who is also an avid biker but didn't do the ride this year was kind enough to drive me and Natallie with her 2 kids around so we could meet up with Simon and his mom at the halfway point. We wanted to be at the finish line too but they were waaaaay faster than we anticipated, they finished 100km in 4 hours and 44 minutes. So proud of them! and proud that Simon encouraged his mom the whole way. There are some horrible steep hills and Simon put one hand on his mom's back and pushed her up the hill while still on his bike! I think it made his mom's day when another biker saw and said, "now that's love!"

Pushing his mom up the hill

at the half-way point

a kiss for the road

100km, been there, biked that!

Monday was all-about-Natallie day (but isn't every day?) Anyways, we took Natallie to the Enderby Log Barn.  They have a random collection of antique-y things and random statues everywhere from a giant gorilla to dinosaurs to giraffes. (and just in case you were wondering, Natallie signed all of the above!) We left with fun pictures and overpriced pint of raspberries ($8?!!) and a fresh baked apple pie.

And in the afternoon, we went to Davidson's Orchards which is pretty much the same thing but there were more animals and little bikes but Natallie's little legs weren't quite long enough to reach the pedals. 

The drive home went suprisingly well, it seemed like a great idea to let Natallie color in her car seat and it did keep her happy and entertained for at least an hour. When we got to Merrit (3 hours later), we found a little blue Smurf! She had colored blue marker all over her hands, her feet, her face and her car seat. Oh well, good thing they are washable! After lunch, Natallie wanted to run around and play before getting back in the car but we were in the middle of nowhere so Simon just tied a string around a toy boat and Natallie was so happy to drag her boat around the Tim Horton's parking lot.

didn't get a good picture of the Miss Smurf

Toy boat fun!

Ahhh the simple joys in life.
Family fun. Love it.