This was Leo's first flight, so we weren't really sure what to expect. However, given our experiences with Max and Leo's recent swing into happy baby territory, we were pretty optimistic. Sure enough, both kids were pretty good on the flight from Ottawa to Vancouver, although I don't seem to remember Max sleeping. Oh yeah, that's right, he got through the layover and everything and then crashed on the short hop to Kelowna.
Landing in Kelowna always blows me away. After spending so much time in eastern Ontario with its trees and flatness, seeing the combination of farmland and sharp elevation changes is always stunning. Also, on a trip where I'll be heading further west, it's a reminder that I'm about to see some mountains and soon. I haven't figured out if I love mountains or ocean more...hmm...but I digress.
After making a brief food stop, both kids slept well through most of the road trip from Kelowna to Grand Forks. After getting about 80% of the way there, Max woke up and started asking to get out and saying that he wanted to go to Grandpa's farm (aside from the time he asked to get out of the plane about 6 hours earlier, somewhere over the prairies, this was the first "are we there yet" we've ever gotten from Max. It was kind of cute, but a foreshadowing of what was to come).
When we arrived, Max's mood flipped from moody/whiny to ecstatic/manic almost instantly. He wanted to see and feed animals ASAP! Never mind the pleasantries... After he had confirmed that the animals were all still there, we got to settle down.
Over the length of our stay, Max was a very good helper on the farm, doing everything from feeding the horses, donkeys and birds to collecting eggs, harrowing the riding ring and shoveling poop. Check it out:
Leo also liked looking at all of the animals and romping around with the dogs. It was kind of surprising how much dog Leo would actually tolerate, considering Max was so wary of them, right from the get-go. For example:
On our third full day in town, we all packed up and drove down to Colville, Washington to see the sights. The drive was absolutely spectacular. It was a cute little town that reminded me of Whitehorse. We stopped off at a crazy antique store with a wide variety of things under its roof, including a functional old-time barber shop. Then, Max was ushered to the local toy store, where Grandma Karan bought him a set of Bob the Builder toys that remain some of his favourite playthings. We grabbed lunch at Stephanie's, an amazing little restaurant with a huge seafood menu, and then wrapped up the visit with a Wal-Mart run. Grampa stocked up on sugar cereals and Grandma Karan picked out some adorable outfits and beach towels for the boys. Holly got a few snacks for the road that you can only find in the States so she was a happy camper. We even passed a KFC on the way out that was advertising the Double Down but the boys were asleep in the car so we couldn't stop for a photo.
One really funny thing about our run across the border was that Max thought that Washington was actually Washing Things so he kept looking for places to wash things. We tried to find a laundromat for him but to no avail.
We also got to check out the town of Grand Forks: shopping at the Dollar Store, grabbing some grub at the A&W, organic cheese shopping at Jerseyland Dairy, hanging out at the awesome playground by the campground, getting groceries at Extra Foods and even squeezing in a little thrift store shopping for Holly.
One of the highlights of our visit was Max getting the opportunity to ride a horse!! Although Sparky was referred to as a pony, he certainly wasn't as small as the ponies I have seen at fairs and such. Sparky was definitely a big 'un. Here is a picture (and hopefully a video) of Max saddled up on his ride.
Here are a few photo ops the kids had with both rancheros:
And lastly, a couple of random pictures:
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