Camping With The Family

No smoke and the lake was calm

Hey everyone! I am back from camping with my man's family around Oliver, BC. This is the second time I've gone on their big family trip and it was great! My man's family has been going to the same campground since his mom was a kid. A ton of friends and family now come for the same week every summer. We were able to go for the whole week this time and it was a great way to end the summer.

We left early Saturday morning to beat the heat for the 4 hour drive. We made good time and got there just before the campground lets you check in. We got to see the legend of the chain across the lane, that my man's family and friends have spoken about. I guess I should clarify that "camping" is more like glamping but we are in a tent. Anyways back to the trip.

Before we left for camping my man's mom told us that heavy rain was expected for the first night and to get a tarp. I am so thankful that we got one and put it on when we set up the

Tarp to keep the rain out!

tent. It started raining incredibly hard around midnight and my man's poor sister didn't put a tarp up until later and her stuff got soaked. The rest of the week the weather was really nice. There was some windy days and an afternoon shower another day, but there was no smoke! There was a fire on the other side of the hills but we didn't get any smoke from it. Last year was so smokey and awful that we really lucked out. 
We spent a lot of time down by the water and going for walks around the area. Most evenings we ended up at one of the sites and played music. My man brought his accordion and there were a couple guitars. After music sometimes we would play board games with the family. It's hard to get all the siblings together as some have children so you can't leave them along. We did our best to play with everyone. 
One morning, we went with my man's parents to Osoyoos to get their bike tire fixed. I have never been there so it was fun to get to walk around a bit. It seemed a bit small and kind of resort like, but it was still interesting to see. We didn't spend much time there, just long enough to get the tire fixed. 
Every year the whole family goes for ice cream at Tickleberry's. The ice cream sizes are huge and they have so many flavours to choose from! This year I was smarter and got a child's size waffle cone, which is still two scoops of ice cream and massive! Somehow I ate the whole thing and wasn't dying. I played it safe with the flavours though. Stuck with my favourite of cookies 'n cream then on top got espresso flake. After ice cream, we tagged along with my man's parents again to go into Penticton, another place that I haven't been. We walked along the beach and then went to a used bookstore. There were so many books in the store that it was a little overwhelming. It was a little hard to know where to start looking. We didn't have much time to look but I did end up getting a book, even though we all agreed that the prices were still pretty high for a used bookstore. To end the day, I went with some of the family to a few wineries. This was only the second time that I have ever gone wine tasting. I had a lot of fun. I am learning more about wine just from going and I got to know some of the family better. While driving we decided to do a girl's wine tasting trip the next day. I am so fortunate with my man's family being so welcoming and inviting me along to the girl's trip and just in general welcoming me into the family. 

Driving home was pretty overcast

Wine tasting with the girl's and one niece was a blast. Typically when I am with my man's family, we are there together. It was really nice to spend time with just his sister and 2 sister's in law. I may have bought 6 bottles of wine from the 6 wineries we went to over the two days. When we got back from the wineries we picked up the men and all the kids and headed over to a cider mill. Last year I had asked if we could check it out and I loved all of their ciders. This year they had some different ones. We ended up getting a couple of the new flavours. This was our last day in Oliver and it was kind of sad. I wasn't ready to leave yet. I was ready to sleep in a real bed again, but I wasn't ready to get back to reality.
Now that I am back, I am applying for jobs that will fit around my school schedule, which is proving to be difficult. I am going into my 4th and final year of my Child and Youth Care Counselling Degree and have my practicum. My practicum hours are what is making finding a job difficult. But I will keep looking and applying! 
I hope everyone has had an amazing summer!

Song of the Day: Leaving on a Jet Plane by John Denver (we played this around one of the campfires and I forgot how much I love this song!!)