After dropping off our bags at our lovely little flat, filling our fridge with groceries, having some lunch, and a taking a family nap, we headed out to explore our home for the next week… Heidelberg. There’s no doubt that we absolutely love it here. We were here for Christmas 2013, we came back last Christmas, and this time around we figured we’d break up our long trip home to Canada’s west coast and spend some time seeing the city in the summertime. Grae spent most of our walk pushing her face into flowers and soaking in their smell, filling her pockets with rocks and leaves, watching bees work, and collecting clover. She’s just so thrilled to be surrounded by nature. It’s going to be a good week.
Growing up, we spent a lot of time out on the lake. My dad barefooted, my mom slalomed, and my brother and I loved to tube, kneeboard, and spend time ‘swimming’ in the middle of the lake. I can’t count the number of times Gary and I cocooned ourselves in dry towels and spent the bumpy ride back to the marina tucked right under the dash after a long day of sunshine, wind, and water. Oh, the days… Some of my favourite childhood memories, without a doubt.
Well today, we got to begin creating those same with our own little ones. After wanting one for many, many years, my brother finally bought himself a boat a few days ago. A beautiful one. A big wakeboard boat with a great sound system and room for plenty of munchkins and friends. And though the weather forecast looked terrible last night, we decided to stick with our original plan of heading to Slyvan Lake for the weekend and I’m so glad we did. We spent our afternoon and evening on the water soaking in the sunshine, blue skies, and fresh air {yay for inaccurate weather reports!} and paused only for a moment to pick up some dinner from shore.
The highlight of the day? My very cautious, very sensitive water-loving little lady went tubing for her very first time ever. I was a wee bit surprised when Uncle Gary asked who would like to try tubing and Miss G immediately responded with a loud, ‘ME!!’, but after hearing about the possible outcomes and watching her cousins try it first, she was still raring to go, so she did. And she loved it too. She loved it so much, in fact, that she spent a good part of her time behind the boat singing ‘Let it Go’, complete with the dramatic arm movements. Hah! The day ended with a very proud Captain Grae taking us home for a very late bedtime, but it was absolutely worth the tired grumpiness that will undoubtedly ensue tomorrow morning.
Here’s our day in {a ridiculous number of} photos…
