The BEST 6 things about our summer vacation

Well - it may have only lasted 52 hours but we made the most of our summer vacation!

For those of you just tuning in.....Derek and I work 5 months out of the year.

Yes, that's it.

BUT
we work ALL 5 months - every day - this year that number is

157
work days in a row!

Thankfully - just before the busy season really sets in - our great camp hosts offered to step in as Operators and look after the place for us for a few days.

This gave us a chance to head down to Chilliwack to do our much needed shopping (it had been 18! days) and to visit with family.

1. The beautiful drive down 
The drive down early Monday morning was pretty uneventful but WOW it sure is a pretty drive through the Fraser Canyon. As the snow is still melting up in the mountains the river is getting higher and higher and there are many waterfalls running down the rocky cliffs. The sky was overcast and it was a bit cool, but we stopped along the way at a rest area to look out at a lake. The trip to Chilliwack takes us 2 hours..

Derek does look like he needs some away time!

2. The chance to visit with family

It's always a treat to visit with family and Derek's mom and sister and her family are no exception. How nice to be treated so well - meals cooked etc. We can just lay back with our feet up and watch movies, tv and all that kind of fun stuff. Cassia of course gets a real thrill of being smooched and cuddled by her Gram Gram, Auntie and two cousins.

3. The HOT TUB

To know Derek and I is to KNOW that we LOVE hot springs! Remember Ainsworth? And Ash Springs in Nevada? But we'll take a hot tub in a pinch! How nice that Derek's mom lives within spitting distance of a rec center with a swimming pool and hot tub! And not just a small round hot tub - this thing is HUGE! And just outside a playground for Cassia. She got to make two separate trips to the playground - I'm sure you can imagine how well that went over!

4. An evening out

Two things that don't happen often in our little family collided in one evening. Derek and I went out to dinner - treated by his sister Lisa AND Cassia wasn't with us - she was happily looked after by her Gram Gram and cousin Krysta.  We went back to our new favourite restaurant in Chilliwack Pho Galaxy. You may recall we discovered this little jewel back in April while visiting there prior to coming back up to the park. We go for the HUGE, and I mean HUGE bowls of vietnamese soup and spring rolls. 

That's fresh Thai Basil. We realized - again - how much we LOVE it and picked some up for our garden. Actually, we purchased a seed pack of 5 types of Basil - Sweet, Purple, Lemon, Thai, and Cinnamon. Already planted!

5. Thrift Store Shopping

Thankfully I had some items to take to the Bibles for Mission. Which gave me an excellent excuse to go around to the front and waltz right in to see what I could find. I had a feeling that Derek's eyes rolled slightly! But he wasn't far behind me. About 2 minutes later I heard the "I'll meet you outside". However, as he was walking past the VHS section he paused - hmmm ..... And so - by the time we left we had a basket because we couldn't possibly carry all 15 VHS videos that we purchased for Cassia. Since we don't have satellite or cable and we don't mind her watching certain videos we loaded up - after all - they were 

25¢ each!

Fortunately Derek's mom passed on her TV/VHS combo to us back in April when we stopped in to see her. Derek also scored on a few CDs' like the almost new collectors set of 3 Hank Williams Sr. CD's of his unrecorded songs - it's a beautiful thing with stories and pictures. You may recall that we stopped in at Hanks childhood home in Georgina, Alabama.

6. Shop 'til we drop
Although we don't mind our bi monthly shopping trips into the closest large center - Merritt - there are some things we just can't get there. Knowing we were taking a trip down to Chilliwack, we started our list of all the things we wanted needed. Not only did we load up on groceries - we stopped in at Cobs Bread! (one of our luxuries), a meat market and a fruit and veggie market. On Tuesday Derek and I headed out together to visit Staples (I so needed an automated change sorter - a luxury you say?! nope - survival - I get A LOT of change through the summer!), the health food store, the Autoplan office to return our trailer plates and Canadian Tire.


AND I got my hair cut.


WoW! Busy but fun!


On top of that Derek was able to spend some quality time in his sister's garden - mowing the lawn, trimming the trees and moving a few plants around. His passion.


And hat's off to all of you who live in cities 24/7. A couple of days in such a congested and busy urban center was enough for us! 


Ahhhhhhhh good to be back to our forest home - one step removed from civilization.


Cheers,


Teresa


Today's Interesting Link: Like my new social media icons on the top right?! They're good. I may or may not keep the circles, I'm not sure. That doesn't matter because the real FEAT was getting them there. Thanks to Something Swanky, which I found through Pinterest, I was able to figure out how to add them myself. I'm on the look out for icons that may work better but in the mean time, every time I look at them I'm pretty impressed with myself. If I can do it - you can do it!

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