Lake Okanagan Resort is built into a mountain side, and its been kept pretty natural. There are beautiful views no matter where you look and flowers everywhere. Claire loved all the 'flowery gardens' that were around. Everything was so green, I was surprised the region is actually semi-arid, but it is. Every day was sunny, hot and dry, perfect for growing fruit, which the area is known for. Its actually where Sun-Rype products come from. The weather was quite a change from the completely saturated and cooler East Coast. Anyway, you can get around the resort by car, but the roads have to wind around so much because of the steep hills, that you save a lot of time by walking. The actual distance from the beach to our Chalet wasn't much, but it was almost completely stairs, and at noon, in the hot sun, it was quite a trip. Most of us had to stop for breaks along the way.
And when you weren't walking up or down the stairs, there was plenty else to do. I played my first ever nine holes of golf, and did pretty well, if I do say so myself. I can compete with Mike if you count only putts. There was also a Golf Tournament that was classic Wild West, complete with cheating.
There was tennis, and you could chase down your opponent with your racket to try to fix the match. Obviously, there are different rules for sports in Canada.
On the lake there were three water trampolines, water skiing and tubing. There were also nightly games of ball hockey on the basketball courts. Everyone was very active, and Mike and I commented a few times on how incredible it was that nobody got hurt.
The trip itself was a long one, but Claire did very well. By the time this picture was taken, we had been going for about 15 hours. I was feeling pretty tired, but Claire was doing her "I'm in Ca-Na-Da" dance. She was fired up, to say the least. On the way home it was the same story. I was almost falling asleep by the time we reached Boston at 11:30pm while Claire was running around in circles for the joy of hearing her shoes click on the tiled floor.
We really had a great time. It was so nice to see everyone again. Coming home exhausted from all the fun is the best kind of exhausted. I remember four years ago I heard rumors of the reunion being in Western Canada for 2006, but I didn't hear anything this year for 2010. Did anybody else? I'm already looking forward to it. By the way, click on the picture below to see my Kelowna Flickr set.
7 comments:
Hey Sheila,
Thanks for the post. Wasn't that SO MUCH FUN! We stayed until Wednesday and continued to have a great time. Yes, there's talk of another Whip Reunion in Grand Bend in the next few years! So mark your calendars. I expect it will be around the July 4th weekend again. We have Claire's kitty that I'll put in a box and send her way. Loved seeing you guys. Come to Seattle anytime.
Annie
I'm starting the Hawaii rumor. Don't we have any relatives from there?!
What? The family reunion is going to be in Hawaii in four years? I think I heard that somewhere else, too. Really, I did.
Which island is Grand Bend on??
That was an awesome trip. Great to see you guys!
My favorite part of the trip was when John Travolta and Olivia Newton John sang the first paragraph of your post:
What a trip. We had a blast.
Lots of sun, family and laughs.
Of course they were singing about our family reunion. I had a few other offers, but who beats John Travolta and Olivia Newton John? Nobody, that's who. So I let them sing the song I wrote...about the reunion.
p.s. are you serious about the part that the first paragraph is in a song? I should totally be selling the rights to every one of my posts to famous singers and actors.
Sheila and Mike - Your new posts and pics are great. Kelowna was a true blast. What a fantastic spot and your pictures capture much of the beauty we saw.
Keep sending pics of the house as you progress and settle in. By the way, what ever happened with coming up with a switch for the fluorescent lights we put in? It warms my heart to have you picking up on the remodeling progress right where we left off. It's that old "teach a person to fish" kind of thing . . .
Sheila, I'm also happy to hear your comment about the next three years being so much fun! For many of us it might become a pressure packed ordeal to be survived. But you two have always had the attitude that life is today. Some of the rest of us could take a lesson from this.
Love to you all,
Dad
Hawaii? Four years? On the little known Hawiian island of Grand Bend? I'm there.
Post a Comment