Friday, August 09, 2013

Friday's Fave Five #244


Hi everyone!  I'm back from a wonderful holiday with my family and though tired and trying to get back into work mode, I am glad to be back at FFF!  I have to apologize for the link not going up last week.  I was a good girl and had the FFF already to autopost and for some reason only known to who knows, I apparently put it to post on August 30.   A fact I did not discover until I came home and sat down to read everyone's FFFs.  So a big apology.  I will have to double and triple check the next time.   So moving on to this week.

1.  Family vacation.  I am sooo grateful that our "kids", young adults really, are still willing to go on vacation with their parents.  I love having them and look forward to it every year.  I know one of these fine years one of them will be the first to jump ship and not come but for now, I enjoy every minute of having them along.


2.  Enjoying the familiar and the new.  The last few years we've headed to the Okanagan valley each year.  There is so much to do there.  Each year we try to do some favorite things and eat a favorite restaurants and each year we try to find something new.  This year was no exception.  We found a local sushi/Asian restaurant that we really enjoyed, I tried Pad Thai for the first time and it was delicious.  And we gave the suspension bridges at Kelowna Mountain a try.  This I heard about at my gym from someone who heard about it second hand.  It's quite the project-in-progress, going on 10 years now.  It will eventually be the home to vineyards, a PGA worthy golf course, ski hill, mountain bike park, hiking trails, amphi-theatre and those 4 awesome suspension bridges.  (One of those being the longest in North America).  All with a spectacular view of Kelowna and Okanagon Lake.


You can see the start of the some of the ice wine vineyards underneath the longest suspension bridge in this pic with my lovely Oldest Daughter.  You can also see the posts for the ski lift chairs.  Anyway, it was a lot of fun and I'm sure it's going to be something else when it is all finished.

3.  Beach time.  Once again we drove about 45 minutes through orchards to one of our favorite beaches in the valley at Summerland, Sun-Oka Beach.  It's perfect for all of us.  It's got a great beach for the sand lovers and swimmers of us, lots of grass and trees for shade with concession stand and picnic tables all over for those of us who don't like beaching it and a short walk around the bend is a dog beach for the pooch.  


We wanted to try other beaches right in Kelowna, there are at least half a dozen or more right in the city which we've never tried but the weather wasn't co-operating with good beach days.  So we found other fun instead.

4.  A safe trip there and back.  The trip is about 10 - 12 hours in the car depending on the route one takes and whether we are on our way there moseying along in vacation mode or tired and just wanting to get home on our way back.  There are several mountain passes through the Rocky Mountains we must go through and some very, very busy sections of highway.  I am very grateful that it was a safe trip all around.

5.  Fresh fruit.  As always lots of good eating from all the wonderful fruits grown in the orchards in this area of Canada.  We ate some of the sweetest, darkest and biggest cherries we've ever had this year.  So good.  The plums were also some of the best we've had and the peaches were good too.  I wish we had room to bring scads of it back but we don't so we get our fill while we are there.

There were many more favorites from the week, but sadly, I must now move on from our vacation.  I need to get my head into work mode and I tell ya, it's been tough this week.  And when I downloaded the pics so I could post some of them, I just wanted to be back there.  But they were my favorites from last week so I toughed it out.  ;v)

What were your favorites?  




15 comments:

Gattina said...

Looks like you had wonderful holidays in a very beautiful place ! I am back from holidays too and have returned to normal life. 12 h drive is long ! Especially when you return home, lol !

nikkipolani said...

My goodness, what a view! Your vacation looks lovely with sunshine and fun food and family along. I can certainly see why you are having a hard time getting back.

Sarah said...

My first time joining in your meme. I love your photos, the place just looks spectacularly beautiful.

It is hard to come back from a holiday and back to earth, work and reality with a bump! LOL

Faith said...

oh Susanne!! your vacation sounds heavenly....my husband still talks highly of his short time in Banff National Park which is also in your area I believe....he really wants to get me out to BC area....and too funny but I also wrote about our vacation (and experienced the same thing when doing the photos...i wanna go BACK!!!!) AND I wrote about fresh farm produce. Great minds think alike :) Enjoy the weekend and good luck with getting back to work mode.

Barbara H. said...

One of my sons has the same Captain America t-shirt yours does!

Sounds like a wonderful vacation. I love mixing some old, familiar activities with some new ones. It's so nice the whole family can still come to them.

I'm not a Thai food fan, but my husband loves pad Thai noodles. Unfortunately the Asian restaurant that served his favorite has closed, so he has been on a search for a new source.

Laura@OutnumberedMom said...

Looks like a wonderful vacation -- and how nice to have your "grown up kids" along!! Always glad for safe travel, too.

Mmm, fresh fruit -- love it. I missed connecting with you all last week. I had big news, but I've posted about it again. Have a great week ahead!

ellen b. said...

Wow! What wonderful photos of your vacation time. That's a beautiful area to visit. Have a good weekend...

Snowbird said...

It is lovely that your kids, however grown up they are, still holiday with you. Wow, that bridge looks awesome, and the beaches beautiful. It is so hard getting back into work mode after a wonderful break isn't it. I hope it gets easier for you.xxxx

Hazel said...

What fine, loving children you have, and a great family vacation. Sometimes I forget how far and wide Thai cuisine has reached. Glad you liked pad thai :)

Heather said...

I still wrote my post and published it,just wasn't able to link up. So glad you had a great time with your family!

It looks like you visited some beautiful places last week. And what beautiful children!!

I love fruit too! Glad to have you back Susanne!

Lynette said...

Great pictures, great vacation. No worries about not posting. I've been eating more fruit too. Forgot how tasty summer fruit is.

Ann said...

The fruit sounds wonderful!!

Brenda said...

Wow, that looks like such a beautiful place that you vacationed at! How fun!

I love Pad Thai, its hard for me to order anything else at a Thai restaraunt, except the pumpkin curry, I really like that too :)

Mom24 said...

It all sounds absolutely fabulous. I'm sure it was over way too soon. Hope you're feeling back in the swing of things.

Kathie said...

Such a lovely family time! And a beautiful place. Roger and I were just talking about how we'd love to visit BC someday!