Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Julie enlisted my help for Halloween cookies again this year and I was happy to work on them as I am not currently working so it was a fun project to do. This year I added the Bride of Frankenstein and the One Eyed One Horned Flying Purple People Eater (and made the Ghosts smaller).

Kona and I drove out to Abbotsford on our own as Brian had to keep working for a few days before joining us (Tag stayed with him).

I got to hang out with Julie, Cali and Sophie and prepare Halloween treats and carve pumpkins, so fun!

We stayed with Mom and Elliott this time and the dogs all had so much fun, it was even more crazy when Brian arrived with Tag (3 big dogs running around the house!)

Poor tormented Kona... the recycling truck freaked her out so she needed to hide in the basement and was scared to go out on the lawn for the next couple days.

Halloween Night

Dad and Jeanie hosted a Halloween dinner for all us trick or treaters ... it was a fun time for all!

Bad Puppy...

Oh boy... someone got bored while I was at work... (should be easy to fix but yikes!!)

Thanksgiving

Dad and Jeanie asked Brian, me and the puppies out for thanksgiving so we made the drive down to the lower mainland for a quick visit. It was great to see everyone!! Here are a few pictures from the trip!

Mom & Max on a hike at Stave Lake

Me with Kona and Max

Tag patiently (??) waiting for Jeanie to share some turkey scraps

Once everyone had left Dad and Jeanie's after a wonderful dinner, both our dogs crashed...

Lilah's Grandpa Tim gave her a tripod for her camera... she was very excited to show me how she used it

Me on the wrong side of the camera!! Lilah is doing great with her hobby!

Trip around the Lake and a hike at Fintry

Since Brian is off in Guelph and me and the puppies were left on our own, we decided to go for a drive and see where we ended up! I felt like just checking things out and getting the dogs a walk or swim in some where. We ended up driving through Kelowna, Winfield, Oyama, drove around Predator Ridge (swanky!) thru Vernon and then back down Westside. Yes, I drove by our old cabin... still makes me sad, I miss it so much. As we were driving south on Westside, I noticed there was a hiking sign for Fintry... weirdly enough, to my knowledge, I have never been there before but drove past it for years! So, we stopped! Tag, Kona and I all hiked up this steep mountain until I saw enough bear poop that I thought we should turn around. Here are a few pictures I took on our way up!

Once we got back to the bottom, there were signs saying there was a waterfall to see... so I figured, might as well go check that out and get some water for the dogs. Turns out, it was stairs all the way to the first view point and then it goes all the way up to the top of the falls. I guess that is where the hike I just took the dogs on ended up. Since we already did a huge hike, I figured we went far enough up the stairs where we were!!

That's a long way down....

Think we can do it?

Don't think we have a choice!!

Haha... they made it just fine... kind of scary for me holding their leashes though... it was steep and you can't even see the bottom from this point!! Anyhow, we had a lot of fun doing our drive around the Okanagan lake... both the dogs crashed in the car once were done and early to bed. Its only too bad Brian wasn't with us!!!

A drive through the Okanagan

I wanted to go pick apples because there are so many amazing apple orchards around... as it turns out, you can't pick them because there is a special way to pick them so you don't ruin the crop for the next year... so, Brian and I went for a drive to Okanagan Falls to a farm I thought might be cool to check out!!

Along our drive up this huge mountain in Okanagan falls provincial park, we found this little bright green lake called, wait for it... "Green Lake" (how many of those exist!?) and stopped to let the dogs go for a swim.

Kona's first swim!

Puppy's first trip to the Beach!

In case I haven't mentioned it.... we named our puppy Kona (much better than Angie don't you think??) I thought it was time to take her to the beach and check out the water for the first time... wow did she love it!

Who's been digging?!

Oh boy... need I say more?

Fire

We were on our way to Aunt Bettina and Uncle Donald's for dinner when we came across smoke, and a lot of it. As everyone now knows, north Peachland was on fire. We cancelled our dinner plans and headed back to the house. There was winds like I have never experienced before... I think I heard they were 100mph. Brian and I started packing, what else was there to do? We loaded up the truck with anything important, clothing, etc and waited. I have never been faced with anything like this before and it was scary. It was a sleepless night waking up to the smells of campfire coming through the window, although, familiar... it was not a happy smell. When I got up for work in the morning, I wasn't sure if I would be able to get there, but the highway was clear. It was so sad to drive through and see the bright orange burning embers along the side of the highway and up the mountain.

Ultimately, we were lucky and didn't get evacuated, but the fire was only a few kilometers from the house. Thank you to everyone who called, texted, emailed... Honestly, I didn't expect the out pour of concern from everyone... family, cousins, friends, old and new co-workers. Thank you to all.

Pictures below are what I took when we were out driving around trying to assess what to do.