I can’t believe summer is over! SBean came in for a cuddle this morning and I realized how much I am going to miss this… pause. On Friday everything changes. GULP. We have to figure out a new normal… Again. Ugh I’m not looking forward to it. In order to delay the inevitable, Ninja took an extra long, long weekend! We found cool hiking trails, interesting sightseeing spots, and fun local (relatively) places to explore!
Day 1: Ninja and HBear spent the first day of our “holidays” playing golf with his Mom and Dad! HBear LOVES to golf and was looking forward to golfing with Grandma and Grandpa this summer! SBean and I played the best of 3 boardgames and then we went hard to work in the kitchen preparing picnic lunches that included homemade almond poppyseed muffins, blondies, and banana bread! Those recipes will be coming soon! We also made my favourite Thai noodle salad and chicken salad sandwiches! They were absolutely delicious, so I put them both in this post! You’re welcome 😊.
Day 2: On Thursday morning we packed up the van with snacks, our delicious lunch, and bags filled with outfits for every occasion! We had shorts, sweats, pajamas, bathing suits, towels, and hoodies! Our first stop was the Shuswap Falls! Ninja found this beautiful little spot and it had a nice little trail down to the bottom of the falls so we could look at it from a different vantage point. It was the perfect place to have our lunch! Unfortunately, a cute little neon green inchworm fell into the strawberries and SBean almost lost her shit 😂 After lunch we took some interesting logging roads 😳😂 up to Mabel Lake. SBean was beside herself because she didn’t know if we were lost, she kept asking if we had cell service and if we knew where we were 😂. Mabel Lake is a place that both Ninja and I visited when we were younger. We thought we could swim at the beach and enjoy a little slice of our childhood at the same time as showing our Girls where we used to play… Nope LOL The entire place is private now, or maybe it always was HAHA and the beach is no longer the perfect view because it is loaded with boats and a giant marina. It was pretty disappointing but it led us to a fantastic adventure! We drove down the highway a bit to the Shuswap River, that flows into Mable Lake, it looked like the perfect place for a dip! We found a little sandy area and the Girls had the best time splashing around. It was gorgeous! HBear swam out to a rock and pretended to be Ariel from Little Mermaid 😆. After we dried off we headed into Enderby for dinner. We have not been to a restaurant in over 6 months. I did my research and choose one with a patio. Enderby is a small town so I was hoping there wouldn’t be a lot of people, turns out the restaurant, The Small Ax Bistro (find them on Facebook), made us feel incredibly safe and the food and the drinks were absolutely delicious! After dinner we went for a little walk down the river to pick up a quick geocache, for a drive to the Enderby Cliffs to check out a future potential hike and then we were on to another surprise! The Starlight Drive-In! Growing up in Winnipeg I lived incredibly close to the drive-in. We went almost every weekend for my entire childhood. I really wanted to give the Girls the drive-in experience! They were also very safe with the COVID safety measures! We had giant spots and only one person was allowed in the concession from each space. We got popcorn, candy, and pop! The Girls were in their glory! They cozied up in the back of the minivan and we opened the hatch. Dressed in their pajamas, cuddled with the stuffies and their blankets they were excited and cozy. Ninja and I brought out our beach chairs and sat beside the van and it was amazing! As the sun went down the movie came on and we watched SpongeBob SquarePants Sponge on the Run 😳 it was actually a super cute movie and the Girls loved it! By 9:15 we were on the road and headed home! Until we realized that we had picked up a screw on our way to the Cliffs. We had actually realized it on the way to the drive-in so Ninja watched a YouTube video on how to change a tire for a Dodge grand Caravan, just in case. 10 minutes after we left the drive-in we heard the pop as the screw came out of the tire and then the binging of our low air tire pressure gauge flashing on the dashboard. It was pitch black and we were on the highway 2 1/2 hours away from home. Thank goodness Ninja found a long driveway to pull into while we changed the tire! We let the Gwirls listen to a podcast as we quickly took off the flat and put on the donut. We were back on the road in less than 30 minutes! We all slept well that night 😊.
Day 3: The next day we got up early and as I made delicious club wraps for lunch, Ninja took the van into Kal Tire 😆. Then we hopped into the truck and we were off! We headed up the mountain almost to Merritt and took a turn off to the most stunning mountain lake I’ve ever seen! Kentucky Lake. A few of my friends had posted pictures lately and I knew that we had to go there! We did a 4 km hike around the lake before we headed over to a neighbouring lake for our picnic lunch! The hike was amazing! There wasn’t much of an incline and the views were absolutely stunning! Kentucky Lake has white clay and crystal clear blue green water! So pretty! We even managed to pick up a few geocaches along the way! After lunch at Alleyne Lake we headed back to Kentucky Lake for a swim. The Girls absolutely loved playing in the clay! There was a floating dock not too far out so all the kids enjoyed playing on it and jumping off. Their squeals of delight echoed across the beautiful water. As the sun started to set we decided to drive home and hit our beach for some ice cream and mini donuts for dinner! I love evening strolls on the beach during the golden hour! It was the perfect way to end a pretty perfect day ❤️ (Minus my horrible cramps 😩).
Day 4: On Saturday the Girls checked off another bucketlist item by having a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa’s! They had been asking for this one for the past 6 months but due to COVID we have been extra careful. Before they left HBear helped me pick out my clothes. When I went down to get my shoes out of the closet I found a sweet note from her. She was encouraging me to have a great day even though my tummy wasn’t feeling well. It was so kind 💕. While the Girls enjoyed the pool, homemade hamburgers, and Disney movies, Ninja and I had the day to ourselves! We went to The Cannery Backyard the minute it opened to stay away from the crowds and enjoyed a fresh tomato and feta salad, Pad Thai and 2 deliciously cold beers! After our quick snack we headed over to the beach. The last time Ninja and I went to the beach together alone was when we were here visiting for Ninja’s 32nd birthday 😳😂. We enjoyed a drink on the beach (it’s legal now) and a quick dip in the lake. After a nice afternoon in the sun we got changed and headed to Cawston for a truly amazing dinner at Row Fourteen. Row Fourteen is a farm to table restaurant ON the farm! We chose the Harvest Dinner which is a meal that is completely made up by the Chef as we went along. We ended up having 7 incredible courses! We had fresh baked whole wheat sourdough bread with onion ash butter, a peach and tomato salad, bush beans with a walnut xo with apple, corn on the cob with romesco sauce and rojo bianco, beet root with berries and hazelnuts, a skirt steak with a garlic scape salsa verde and we finished with a homemade sweet tomato tart with honey and in house made crème fraîche! Oh. My. God. I am so happy that we were adventurous and let them feed us because that was one of the best meals I’ve ever had!
Day 5: By this point we are all pretty tired LOL we took it easy in the morning had a bit of a sleep in and laid in bed and did some reading. When we finally got moving we headed down to the beach so the Girls could get another item checked off the bucketlist, henna tattoos! After a quick swim and the tattoos we headed up to one of our favourite spots, Chute Lake Lodge! We met Dad, J, and her mom up there for J’s Mom’s birthday! We had a delicious dinner and then she opened presents and we sang happy birthday with a big plate of cupcakes! Another awesome day, another beautiful sunset, and another full ♥️.
Day 6: Our final day. It’s SBean said that we managed to save the best for last! We did something crazy, we drove all the way out to Chilliwack! When I made the plan I forgot that it was the end of the long weekend and every person and their dog would be on the Connector/Coquihalla heading back to Vancouver after a long weekend spent in the Okanogan Valley. Duh! It was pretty harrowing driving out to Chilliwack! People were driving crazy and we almost saw an RV run a little hatchback off the side of the mountain! Thank goodness Ninja is a good driver and we made it there safely! Where did we make it safely to you ask? The Chilliwack Sunflower Festival! I had always wanted to see the Sunflower Festival but never thought about actually driving that far to do so LOL I am so happy that we did! It was stunning! An InstaMommy’s dream LOL the girls giggled and ran through the rows upon rows of gorgeous flowers marvelling at all of the colours! My Mom would have loved it 💛. Due to COVID they limit how many people are allowed in so we had to buy tickets ahead of time. We didn’t know how long we would be there but we were hoping that we could get tickets to a nearby corn maze afterwards. When we were done at the Sunflower Festival we were devastated to find out that the corn maze was sold out 😩. We decided to drive over and see if they would have any walk up tickets just in case, I’m so happy we did because… They did! The Chilliwack Corn Maze is amazing! They have so many fun activities to participate in! They also had 2 mazes that were so much fun to get through! The maze was in the shape of this year’s theme, the World Together. There were famous quotes at different posts throughout the maze that would help you find your way and I could really tell that the Girls had learned something from all the books that we have given them over the past few months because they knew the Malala quote from a Rosa Parks quote with no problems! We picked up some famous Chilliwack corn, had root beer floats, and even took a hayride! The drive home was way better and it is such a beautiful drive! We even stopped at a gas station that had a fountain of candy LOL Ninja let the Girls pick out a small bag each and they thought that was the perfect cherry on top of the bestest staycation ever!
It definitely wasn’t a typical summer holiday that’s for sure but we made the best of it and tried not to let COVID ruin our fun. I know that this BC vacation will live in my memory forever. All the smiles, giggles, and amazing adventures will, in the long run, be the snapshots that my mind will recall when I think of the Summer of 2020 ♥️.
Check out How Was Your Week, Honey? Ep.188: COVID Chic HERE This week we discussed the first half of our summer staycation. Topics: Karen’s golf ball, Labour Day, Shuswap Falls, fears, the river, Small Axe, Starlight Drive-In, flat tire, Kentucky Lake, Sponge Bob & the Tricky Dance.
Chicken Salad with Grapes
Adapted from This Delicious House
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup greek yogurt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 chicken breasts, chopped into small bite sized pieces. (you can use rotisserie chicken)
2 celery stalks, diced
1 cup grapes, quartered
1 small apple, diced
1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
4 buns
In a large bowl whisk together mayo, greek yogurt, lemon juice, dijon mustard, salt, paprika, and pepper.
1/2 package linguine noodles, cooked
1/2 bag of coleslaw
1/2 bag spinach
1 red bell pepper, sliced thin
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced thin
1/2 bag bean sprouts
cilantro, up to 1 bunch, chopped
3 green onions, sliced
1 cucumber, sliced
1/2 cup cashews
1 lime, juiced
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons ginger, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Jalapeno, chopped
cilantro, chopped
Make salad: Mix first 11 ingredients together.
