Diggin' in the dirt!

Sometime around the end of September, I decided it was getting chilly enough and my plants on our front porch had all died, so I needed to clean it all up. As I was collecting the dead plants and throwing them away, I noticed that Boone found himself a little play area. He spent almost an hour digging into the dirt in one of my larger pots! I've ended up leaving it out on the porch, and once in awhile we will go out and play in the dirt for a bit. It's fun to see the mind of a little boy developing and learning lots of new things!

Starting to dig and already making a big mess. You can see my huge bag of dead plants to the right. 

It was such a beautiful day outside. I'm glad we got a chance to get out and enjoy it.

Probably not the most baby-proof thing to play with, but we had fun! Too bad the weather as of today is VERY snowy! Our dirt digging days may be over and we might be switching to strictly snow. We will see!

Fire Station Open House

A few weeks ago, we saw on a sign near our house that it was Fire Prevention Week and that our local fire station was going to have an open house. Jeff and I decided we should take Boone to the open house, because we figured "that was what families with little kiddos did." So, Saturday afternoon, we packed up and walked down to the fire station. One thing we love about where we live is that it is a such a walkable community. Within a short walk, or run, we can get to the local grocery store, a pharmacy, several restaurants and pubs, a coffee shop, a post office and a bank. It's pretty awesome!

Anyways, Boone wasn't really old enough to appreciate everything about the open house, but we did have fun checking out the trucks. Boone crawled all over them, Jeff examined them and I took pictures of them both!

Boone and Jeff meeting the fire house dog, Honey!

She seemed to be a pretty sweet dog!

Checking out the inside of the truck!

Maybe a future firefighter.

Orange cones = expensive baby toys!

He was having a lot of fun!

One last climb around the truck before we leave!

The second part of our trip to Kelowna

On Saturday, we woke up and it was raining, so we were a bit bummed because the forecast said rain all day. We had heard good things about the Kelowna Farmers Market, so we decided to at least head over there and check it out since it was just sprinkling! It was a big market with lots of fresh produce and meats and cheeses! I love farmers markets, so it was fun to see theirs! 

A little rainy, but fun to walk around and check out!

I would have LOVED to buy some flowers, but traveling back to 

Alberta with them would have been tricky!

After we checked out the farmers market, it started to brighten up and the rain started to clear out! Our friend's mom suggested checking out Knox Mountain for some neat views of the city! She was totally right. It was a beautiful place!

Okanagan Lake

The trusty hiking backpack strikes again!

A view of the city from the top of Knox Mountain

Robertson, Party of 3

After we finished our little hiking trip, we stumbled upon a super cool antique shop with lots of fun, vintage finds. Too bad I was too busy oogling over all the cool things and didn't take any pictures. Oh well... After a quick picnic lunch, we went to check out an organic vineyard, Summerhill Winery.

There was a wedding at the vineyard that day! Quite a view for the wedding.

Mission Hill Winery. It's like the country club of of vineyards.

We took another tour! It was actually really neat and we learned a lot.

They had canning jars of different veggies for sale in their store and they stored them in the wine cellar.

An outdoor ampitheatre for concerts and festivals. They said it would seat 900 people.

After a bunch of tours and driving around, we were ready for a low key night in. We hung out at our condo and watched some college football and packed up for an early morning trip back home. 

We almost tried to pay the condo building so that we could take this side table with us. Boone loved pushing it all around the condo every chance he got!

He loved it!

Sunday morning we headed out of Kelowna at 4 am. Although it's freaking early, we got a good jump start on the drive before Boone woke up! We stopped in Revelstoke to stretch our legs and get a little breakfast.

On our breakfast break... ignore the parking lot, but the view in the back is pretty nice!

On our way through Yoho National Park, we realized we were going to be driving right by Takakkaw Falls, which is the second tallest falls in North America. So, we decided to stop and take it in. It was super foggy, so we were a bit worried that the fog would be low enough that we wouldn't get to actually see the falls, but luckily, we were wrong!

The hairpin turns on the way to the falls.

Crossing the bridge!

Photo op!

Getting closer! The pictures don't do it justice, but the falls were SO tall!

Climbing out onto the rocks!

The water is spewing out from the top! It looked so powerful, but so far away!

Glad we decided to take a little detour and see the falls!

It was such a great trip! So glad we took the time to head to Kelowna and take in all the beauty in British Columbia. Have I mentioned that you all should book a trip to Canada! It is a beautiful place!

Heading to the Okanagan Valley and hanging out the first two days!

Ever since we moved to Calgary, people have been telling us that we had to check out Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley. Kelowna is in British Columbia and has a bit more temperate climate than Calgary does. The climate, combined with the landscape of a large lake, makes it a good place to grow produce, so the area is full of orchards and wineries.

The drive to Kelowna is about 7 hours, so we decided to get up and leave our house around 4 am so we could get a few hours under our belt before Boone woke up. I took the first shift, so I drove in darkness out of Calgary, through Banff and Yoho National Parks before the boys woke up. The drive through the wilderness into British Columbia is so beautiful. And at times you feel like you are the only ones for miles and miles because it is so secluded.

Once we got to Kelowna and got settled in, we decided to head downtown and check out the downtown boardwalk and lake. It was SO beautiful and a great day to enjoy outside.

Here's some pictures of our first couple hours in Kelowna:

Lots of boats at the Kelowna Yacht Club

A seaplane. We saw them land several times while we were downtown.

We took a nice walk on the boardwalk...

And then Jeff took Boone in the stroller and decided to chase the ducks.

Boone played on the Ogopogo monster statue. Ogopogo is supposedly a monster that lives in Okanagan Lake that has been seen by First Nation people since the 19th century. We unfortunately missed out on any sightings of the actual monster...

The guys hanging out downtown. Don't judge us, but Boone is still in his pajama shirt... oh well, we traveled 7 hours!

Our first glimpse of the many, many vineyards.

On Friday morning, we decided to go pear picking at a local orchard. Boone loved it and the weather was great!

                                       

The fruit stand at the front of the orchard.

Jeff taste-testing the fruit.

Boone getting in on the tasting.

Boone was soaking up all the time with Jeff!

After we were done at the orchard, we took a drive to north of Kelowna to a town called Winfield. We found out from a friend that there was a kangaroo farm there! How cool is that? Actual kangaroos, and the only admission fee was a $5 donation, so super cheap. Basically, the "farm" is a house and large front and backyard that houses tons of animals. Most of the animals run free and are very tame and friendly, but if act up or try to run away, then there is a "bad kids" corner. Boone loves our cats, so I knew he would be all about seeing the animals at the farm. 

Boone checking out his first kangaroo

The animals were so tame. Didn't even bat an eyelash when Boone would pet them!

How cute!

Boone wasn't sure what to do about the bird on my left shoulder!

We loved these pygmy goats... 

we are going to try and convince Grandpa and Grandma Robertson to get one!

This emu was all fun and games until he saw my button on my sleeve and tried to pluck it into his mouth!

After the kangaroo farm, we went back to where we were staying and took a bit of a break. Boone snuck in a small nap and then we went to a winery tour to check out one of the nicer wineries in the area. It was neat to see how they produce the wine and send it all over Canada.

Quail's Gate Winery

Boone was so quiet during the whole tour!

Barrels of wine

What a view!

Love these two guys!

We met another couple with a small baby while we were checking out the grounds at the winery and we exchanged picture taking skills. It's not easy to get a picture of all three of us, especially while we are on trips!

After we ate dinner downtown, we decided to play at a local park and enjoy downtown a bit more.

And these pictures are just from our first 48 hours there... we tried to fit in so much! More to come soon!