Cabin Fever

To continue on after the Vernon trip.... We dropped Adam off at the airport to fly home to work. The girls and I then hopped in the truck with my Mum and headed up to Williams Lake. We had a VERY busy week. I helped my Mum make the decision to get her camping trailer out and bring it to Green Lake for the long weekend. I spent a good portion of the day cleaning the whole trailer out for her, while she organized all the things that a person needs for a weekend of camping. The girls had a great time playing in the trailer and spent a lot of time clambering up the stairs and into the trailer where they pretended to be "mother and daughter"...a favourite game of theirs.

We did manage to go out for a lovely tea/lunch one afternoon. It was a last minute decision so the tea house was full, meaning we had to take a table outside. It was quite windy, but the sun was HOT, so we worked on our tans while eating lunch! Nothing like multi-tasking!

Calli remembered how much she enjoyed the "Bubble gum" tea and ordered herself a pot of it accompanied by a tuna sandwich. The tea, of course, comes with a small side plate of gum balls....

Marin chose not to partake in the actual "eating" part of lunch. She sat in the high chair and snacked on some crackers, but turned up her nose at the beautiful, plump, red strawberry that Granny was holding out to her. She's a carb junkie!!


We eventually got all the bits and pieces together for the trailer before we headed off to Green Lake. My Mum pretty much mastered backing the trailer out of her housing complex and we tied up a few loose ends and bought a few minor things for the maintenance of the trailer. I have to say, I was extremely proud of my Mum for having the courage to face all the ins and outs and overwhelming emotions that come along with this particular trailer. My Dad and Mum spent countless days/weeks/months in the trailer together and she only used it once since he died. Even I get emotional walking up the step into it...smelling the familiar smell, seeing the shelves that he built and remembering....everything. She has kept his old fishing rod and Tilly hat intact, where he left it. I love that there will always be that part of him there.

The sweet Springdale trailer, my Mum and the girls and the cabin.

We arrived early and waited for everyone else to show up. There was a perfect ring of grass on the driveway which we used as a Faerie Circle to dance in. The girls each holding their wind-mills, we danced and sang whiled we waited. A few hours later, the cars started rolling in. The girls were pretty tired from all the running around they'd done and Great Grandpa read them a bed-time story before they headed off to sleep.


After the girls were in bed, (Calli in the trailer with Granny and Marin in the play-pen in the Squirrel House) we sat around the campfire telling stories and having a few laughs before climbing into our own beds for the night.

The mornings were a little chilly, but warmed up VERY quickly as the day progressed. Marin enjoyed her Cheerios on the deck and had to keep warding off the 4 family dogs who were out there as well.



Luckily for the dogs, Marin didn't always finish all her cereal. This is Koda enjoying the leftovers!



Grandma found this little car at a "garage sale" and thought it would be a great thing to have at the cabin! The girls spent a lot of time in it driving around on the deck. Marin discovered she could get going pretty quick while sitting in the car, by pushing herself backwards in circles! Her face was pure joy!



All together there were 16 of us there for the long weekend and we had a really nice visit. Calli and Marin loved hanging out with more of their family! I am pretty sure Calli caught everyone up on whats been going on in our lives over the last little while. She is a real social butterfly!



Calli put in a good shift roasting hotdogs for lunch one afternoon. I think Marin was grateful that she didn't have to do it herself!



She was quite happy eating it though. I got a kick out of Marin's hotdog eating style. She ate from one end, but because her mouth isn't as large as a hotdog in a bun, she couldn't get good bites out of it and ended up "smushing" it against her face trying to get a bite of the dog. Eventually, she gave up and turned the whole thing around and started on the other end! Smart thinking!



Uncle Don was showing Calli how to juggle, but Calli already believes she can do it!! Here she is showing her Grandpa and Uncle Don her big skill! Her method involved a lot of loud jumping and throwing the balls up in the air as high as she could get them. I think they were very impressed!



Someone found a water gun and Marin quickly took control of it. She couldn't hold it the right way up, so walked around with it held upside down while "faying" everyone! She is a mischievous little girl this one! Look at that grin!



There is no running water at the cabin, so we used this big bowl to "spot wash" the girls and also to wash our hair. Marin thought it looked pretty neat how Daddy was pouring water on Mommy's head and getting all the shampoo out, so she decided she'd give herself a little shampoo....but she didn't get the bending over part and ended up soaked!!



"Water all gone!!" she said.



The walk to the lake is only a few minutes from the cabin. Calli loved that we were able to take all the dogs down there with us.



The view from the shore was spectacular!



We were shocked by all the beetle kill on the trees. It was so obvious and sad to see all the red trees inter-mingled with the green ones.



We went on a tour of a Buffalo Farm. If you are ever in the 70 Mile/Green Lake area, you should definitely spend the $5 and go for a tour. Hans, our tour guide and owner of the ranch was such an informative and interesting person. He truly loves what he does and it shows. We all loaded up onto a trailer and he drove us out into the middle of the buffalo herd, told us some bits and pieces about the buffalo and then let us ask him questions. It was fascinating!! The large buffalo on the left side of the picture is named Ear Muff. He is apparently the most photographed buffalo around!! He and Hans have a very deep connection. Ear Muff responds to the sound of Hans' voice and will come out to see him in the field when he hears him.



Here is everyone except for Great Grandpa, who stayed back at the cabin (too hot in an open wagon) and me (I took the pic...)



We really enjoyed our long weekend in the Cariboo. It was nice to be with our family again and to listen to stories and share them as well. The weather wasn't quite hot enough for swimming, although a few souls braved the cold water (my kids included). The Cariboo is a fantastic setting for photos and I am always happy to go back and see what I can see.



This is the view of Vancouver from our hotel room on our last night in BC. The sky was beautiful and it reinforced in my soul, that a large part of me is still in BC....