the weekend, in images....

 It's Friday night. Whoot Whoot!

 Our tree was loaded with doves eating the berries. It was a beautiful sight to wake up to. We sang a lot of "When the Doves Cry" upon seeing them. I'd say harmonizing is not one of our top ten qualities. 

 My sweet girl catching some morning sun. Whiskers are kind of crazy.

 Chickadee dee dee. That's the best I could come up with for this photo. 

 Infusing the park with pink. I just love these little faces.

 Beautiful Autumn sun at Campbell Valley Park.

 This field was full of beautiful giant spider webs. I was so into photographing them that I temporarily forgot that their owners were lurking about. Then I felt itchy and ran away.

 An amazing spread put on by our dear friends. Sunday night potlucks are the best. 

 Men being manly, sitting fireside sipping their brews. I kind of wish they had said, "I am Canadian." It would have worked well in this moment. 

 The little gals having their own dinner party.

Because dessert always should be served by candlelight. It's worthy of it. Everytime. xoxo

Pender Island

 We arrived on Pender late Friday night,  had a wine fuelled catch up and laughs while playing Cards Against Humanity.  In our haze, we woke up to this blueberry french toast feast, created by Faye. We ate a little too well on this trip (think stretchy pant shopping required). I think each meal had a round of Boursin cheese & crackers between sittings. I'm pretty sure if the fine makers of Boursin saw our trip, they would have sponsored it , considering how much we tossed back. Even they would have said, "Whoa, pace yourselves ladies."

 Pender Island Farmer's Market

A picturesque coffee break at Hope Bay 

 Janet and I hiked up Mt. Norman, with this spectacular pay off.

 Lyne and Care brought their kayaks and paddled to Mayne Island

 The view from the deck. I mean, seriously. Did I mention some of the ladies saw two pods of killer whales swim by?

 Whiskey marinated salmon. Hello deliciousness!

Night time stroll to Thieves Bay. 

Lyne's amazing German Chocolate cake for Care's birthday. All weekend we cut mini pieces off this cake, because unless it is served on a plate, cake doesn't have any calories. Fact.

 Karen & Diane's delicious breakie spread. My belly said, Bring. it. on.

The perfect spot for a latte: Poet's Cove. 

 Some of the gals walking on Brookes Point. Most likely laughing at something I said. 

 A gorgeous walk along the Brookes Point bluffs. 

 My contribution to the steady parade of meals. 

Setting sail on BC Ferries back home. Goodbye beautiful Pender Island & free time. xo

Whistler!

 Within 5 minutes of our arrival. 

 They walked through the village together like this. A mountain biker sporting dreadlocks shouted, "yo, that's the cutest thing everrrr!!" Pretty unexpected.

 Hang time with the family. 

oh, it's on

 While my hubby sped down the mountain's more extreme runs on a downhill bike, I sported this rad ride with my gal on the Valley Trail. Pretty much the same coolness factor. A gorgeous day for riding.

 I kept looking at this view thinking, does it get any better than this?

 My friend Care, catching a view of Green Lake.

Amazing soft landing. So, now I guess we swim to shore?

 We spent a lot of time at the bumpy slide. A Mega Hit. Nothing says getting away from it all like a vacation playground.

 I asked them their favourite part of the trip and they all said it was playing together.

 The day before, this park was thumping with a giant beer garden. My hubby and I looked through the fence as people listened to music, drank beer and high fived....we silently let tears roll down our cheeks and then we convinced ourselves that they were just jealous that they weren't having a rad time at the playground. We high fived as well, but it seemed ill placed.

Snack break on route home. Say Cheese! 

It was a wonderful getaway with the family. Unfortunately, my mom was sick the whole trip, stuck in her hotel room. The timing was rough, but it was still pretty amazing for us all to be on the same floor of a hotel, popping in for visits and sharing meals. It's pretty awesome to be able to say, "we're going to hit the park for a bit, but let's meet up in an hour for a swim.....or let's all stroll through the village in an hour for dinner." Whistler is the perfect spot because once you're there, the car is out of sight the whole weekend and there is so much to do, right at your doorstep. Do you take vacations with your folks?

xoxo

Happy Friday!!!

Happy Friday Friends!!! What's on your line up this weekend? We're having a little mini adventure with my family, which I am so incredibly stoked for. I hope you're able to carve out some time for whatever makes you happiest. If someone gave you one single day for yourself to fill, what would the perfect day look like to you? I think I'd love to sleep in a bit, anytime past 5:30 feels luxurious. I'd brew up a giant mug of delicious coffee and enjoy a little bit of reading the news before the house woke up. I'd have a leisurely paced morning with my hubby and gal, savour a big breakfast, sneak out for a sunny run on the beach, join my family to explore somewhere we've never been or go on a beautiful hike and have dinner and vino with friends. What would your day look like? Now try to infuse some of that into your weekend. xoxo Here's a little comedy break for your weekend, I give you, the hilarious, Tom Papa. Check out his stand up on Netflix too, it's worth a watch.
xoxo

Happy Friday!!

Hello friends! What have you got lined up for your weekend? We're both nursing colds, I'm working this weekend and we're starting potty training. So, yay. As I write this, my husband, dog and cat are all snoring at varying degrees of volume. Oh Friday night is alive and well in our house. It's funny because last weekend we had a big date night, went out with 18 friends to a baseball game and were out until 1 a.m afterwords.....and tonight I did a Frozen puzzle 6 times and my dog threw up wet wipes on me. It's all a balancing act friends.
The photos above were from a little fair we went to at Burnaby Village Museum. It was fantastic - everything was free. They had old timey games, free carousel rides (which she went bananas for, and so did I, let's be honest)...and a fascinating old fashioned town set up. We went through a tiny one room home that a family used to live in (third photo from the top). All of their meals were cooked on that mammoth of a stove, and they would all sleep in the loft above. We've gotten so soft in today's world, constantly whining about our square footage and ordering take out because we are simply too tired to cook. I'm pretty sure that the people who lived in the one room home used to have to find their own kindling to chop, just to get their stoves warmed up....and while the stove was warming up, they'd be milking the cows to make their own butter...then heading out in the farm fields killing some animal to eat....and then, they'd start dinner.  And some days I feel like the two minutes I wait for my oatmeal to cook in the microwave feels like forever. I'll pull it out after a minute and a half, not quite cooked because, come on already!!!  Yes, we've gotten soft.
I hope you have fun exploring new places this weekend!! xoxo