Since Jeff had lots of vacation time and we couldn't leave Canada, we decided to do one big trip this summer to Vancouver Island for 2 weeks! Jeff and I had never been there and he agreed to let me plan the whole thing. I became consumed in the "Road Trippers" app on my phone and finding all of the fun places to stop along the way. One of my favorite things to do is plan, so I was in heaven and so excited to make it happen! It was funny because Jeff hates planning and even knowing plans in advance, so he told me to tell him nothing and just keep it a surprise for him. I did just that...although it was hard because I kept wanting to tell him all the ideas I had! Anyways, when the day came to leave, Jeff got a cough. When he gets a cough, it sounds like he's hacking up a lung. We were booked at lots of hotels and weren't sure they'd let Jeff in with a cough and all of the covid protocols. I was kind of devastated when Jeff decided to stay home and get a covid test, but I knew it was what he had to do. I was so excited about this trip that I decided to start it without him! Call me crazy, because I'm pretty sure I was!!
The first part of the trip, though, was joining my sister Tamara's family in Fairmont for 2 nights, so I figured maybe after that Jeff could join us and at least I'd have some support from them in the beginning. I packed everything up and almost cried as I left without Jeff, but the kids were so excited so I held it together for them! Banff was about half way to Fairmont so we stopped there for an hour or two. I had packed a lunch so we just picnicked and played at Central Park, and by the river.
Afterwards we drove the rest of the way to Fairmont. The drive went really well, Leo napped most of the second half, and the kids were great. I couldn't have asked for better! We stayed at a different place than Tamara's family, which was a bummer, but after we checked in and unloaded our stuff, we headed over to Tamara's. They were so nice about sharing their food with us! Every meal we ended up eating there with them because they had grocery shopped and had a full kitchen. So at the end, I paid them back, but it was nice to not have to eat out so much or plan meals!! That evening we visited a waterfall thing that comes from the hotsprings and creates pools that you can sit in. It was honestly such a cool place! A little rocky and rough to step on, so not the easiest for the little kids, but with lots of help we had lots of fun there.
The next day we hiked Hoodoo Trail, which is a nice and short beautiful trail. Mason carried Leo, which was heavenly, and we all enjoyed it! Afterwards Scarlett came with us to our hotel to swim in our waterpark. The hotel I stayed at was called Mountain View Suites, and it had a big pool with a waterslide and hottubs. I wasn't actually supposed to let anyone else in (covid rules..), but I snuck Scarlett in just to have a little extra help! It was great fun until Leo decided he wanted to do the waterslide by himself and then stop himself in the middle of the slide, leave everyone else wondering where he went, and a lineup of people trying to go down. He sure wants to be independent! That night we ate dinner at Tamara's and then played games until way past the kids bedtime. The kids had such a blast with their cousins! Luckily our hotel was only 2 minutes away so driving was never far, and the kids were worn out and went to sleep pretty decently. I learned that Leo doesn't really fit in a play pen anymore so he ended up sleeping in my bed with me.
The next day we went rafting down the river. First, we went to Home Depot to buy some things to float on, and I purchased a pretty decent boat that I thought my kids would be stable enough in. Tamara and Lee bought some floaties that weren't so stable, but worked well enough for their kids. They also had a paddle board that they took down too. It was a pretty windy river, but lots of fun!
After that I needed to continue on my journey if I was going to make it all the hotels I booked, so I headed on to Revelstoke.
Now a little bit of real talk...I am so so grateful for how well Tamara and her family treated us and our kids. They really took care of us and seemed to have a lot of fun too. I felt kind of bad to put my kids on them a bit, but they were so gracious about it! Our kids really do enjoy each other. Bentley and Scarlett have the best time, and Deacon is obsessed with Griffin. Everyone thinks Leo is pretty cute too! With all of that in mind, I also kind of had a pit in my stomach the whole time missing Jeff and worrying about doing things on my own, like checking in and out of hotels, getting Leo to sleep, not getting lost, etc. It would have been a whole lot more fun with Jeff, but we made it through and made some good memories!
Thank goodness for GPS because I had never been very far into BC, and here I was with my kids fully trusting me to know where we're going! Driving to Revelstoke was also not too bad. We stopped in Golden to get some food, gas, and slushies. Then we continued on and stopped at the Giant Cedars Boardwalk Trail for a little hike. It was just perfect for my kids! It was easy to find, the trees were stunning, the boardwalk made it fun and easy for everyone, and we actually ended up doing it twice. I don't trust hiking with Leo since he's not a fan of the backpack, so this was one that he could do and get some energy out! Then we continued on to Revelstoke. We checked into our hotel and ordered Skip the Dish for dinner, because all I felt like doing was staying in one place with my kids.
At this point Jeff had gotten the covid test and was waiting on a result. However, he had decided to drive the next morning no matter what, in hopes he would get the negative result along the way. I was just so excited for him to join us and the kids were missing him lots and very anxious to see him! We bought the Trolls World Tour movie in the hotel that night and had a coloring/movie night.
In the morning, we ate breakfast from the grab bags they provided, and then checked out and headed to the Enchanted Forest. It was only a half hour drive away. I was super excited about this one and the kids were very curious about it as well! Of course we wished Jeff was there, but we were excited knowing that he had started driving and was getting closer to us! The Enchanted Forest was very cute, but I think I made the expectations a little too high for the kids because they seemed a little bit disappointed. They still had a great time though, spotting all the fairy tale creatures and exploring all their houses! The 3 little pigs houses and the big bad wolf were so fun. There was also a very tall tree house to climb, and many of the houses had little slides coming out or things to do and see inside. They also gave us some duck and fish food to feed to them in the ponds they had. We brought a picnic lunch there and had a great time! I even let them buy a souvenir on the way out.
Afterwards we continued driving and tried to find places to stop so that Jeff could catch up, but I had nothing else to do and nowhere to go, so I just drove. We had to make it to Kelowna for our hotel that night. We stopped at Fruit World and got out for a break. It's next to Dutchman's Dairy, which has ice cream and yummy chocolate milk. There's also cows and other animals to check out. We grabbed some peaches and raspberries and just sat at a picnic table eating fruit, and then walked around for a while, took a bathroom break, and continued on our trip. We started getting hungry and needed gas so we stopped at a gas station in Vernon and I got some pizza and meatballs for the kids. Real classy, I know. Then we headed on the Kelowna, checked into our hotel, ordered Skip the Dish again, and waited for Jeff to arrive. We were beyond excited when he finally showed up!!!! He stopped to do a business meeting on the road, so it seemed to take forever, and we even got our swimsuits on and were on our way to the pool when he arrived. We were so excited!!!! We swam in the pool and hottub that night, and were so glad to be together. And for the record, his negative covid test result did come, so we were all thrilled about that too!
I have to say that I felt really blessed the whole time I was on my own. I had the easiest hotels to check into, where my room was almost right by the van. I also felt like I had some guidance in where to stop and how well the kids did. I was constantly praying that everything would be okay and it was more than okay! I felt like I wasn't alone.
Kelowna was one of our favorite places! We rented a boat and spent most of the day on the Okanagan. We swam, I skied, the kids tubed, Jeff had fun driving around, and afterwards we even went parasailing. A guide took us out on a boat with a few other people, all wearing masks, and we took turns each going. Bentley and I went together, and Deacon went with Jeff. I still can't believe Bentley and Deacon both did it! I was so nervous for them, but they were so brave and ended up loving it and wanting to go again. There were also so many yummy food places in downtown Kelowna. We got the kids pizza and Jeff and I loved the poke bowl restaurant, and then we had some moo licks ice cream. There was a splash park right by the marina as well, so we ended the day there. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we didn't really want to leave, but the kids were exhausted and we had to make the drive to Vancouver for that night.
After dropping Jeff's truck off in what looked like a spot that it wouldn't get towed so that we could travel in just one vehicle, we made it to Vancouver and checked into the Pan Pacific hotel. It was a very pretty hotel and the next morning we swam in the rooftop pool, overlooking the ocean! It was magical. We forgot to bring the kids lifejackets from the van so they were learning to swim without them and it was actually a lot of fun. The hot tub was really nice too, and we had the place to ourselves a lot of the time. Afterwards we got cleaned and packed up and took the ferry to Victoria. The ferry ride was a first for me and it was pretty fun for the kids to see, although we were encouraged to stay in our vehicle because of covid so we only spent a little bit of time up by the balcony looking out, where Deacon spotted lots of "shark fins." We took the ferry from the Tsawwassen Vancouver terminal to Swartz Bay Victoria, and everything went smoothly.
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