Deroche

The past week end we've been at Deroche for a family reunion

we left Friday evening and got back at noon today

Here we are on Friday, all packed and ready to go

Dad put Peter through the net

Pete was a little scared at first, but you can see the smile on his face

so I think it was fun

We were waiting and waiting for Brandon to come from the bus

he was gonna use our car to drive up there since his car is in Vernon

Ethan and I had walked to the bus stop twice looking for the bus, but we didn't see him.

Ethan asked me to go a third time, but I said I'd stay behind. Matt went with Ethan and they got there just as Brandon was getting off.

So here's Matthew running to tell us the "good news"

Eth and Brandon

All ready to go

(I think the flash was a little bright)

so patient

Train bridge in Mission

We had rented a cabin at Deroche, it was small, but it comfortably slept us all

This owl and a chicken they had, were very disturbing when you are trying to sleep and they "stare" at you.

Dad thinks they're there to keep the mice at bay

this was our heating supply, although we did have a backup heater (off to the right)

Saturday:

Our front door

Daisies!!!!

All the flowers (and there's tons of them) got watered just before I went out to take pictures

I love the water droplets gracing the leaves! 

I walked around with Matthew and Peter while taking pictures

don't ask 

There's this awesome rope swing there

you start at the top of the hill and then push off....

and go flying 30+ feet above ground as the ground gets steeper 

It's lots of fun, but Dad and Mom are a little unsure about us going on it and Mom freaked out when I told her that Nadia loves it

Here's the tree house

Matt and Pete going down Jacob's Ladder

I was down at the bottom, by the road taking pictures

I turned around and......

"Hey boys, look, a bear!!"

"AH!!!!"

"No, no, no, let me get some pictures"

(I'm such a bad example, because you're always told not to stop for pictures and just leave)

(double click picture, so it's bigger)

This picture is taken from the safety of the top of the stairs

We saw later that it was a Momma with two cubs

Dad ran at it yelling and throwing stones, and they retreated back into the woods

after that we took a walk in the forest, a little unsure at first

because the bears were there less than an hour ago

But one of the dogs living at Deroche tagged along with us

which was nice, because the dogs jobs are to warn people of bears and cougars

I think Matthew or Ethan told us the Dog's name was London

so for our whole walk we called him that

"London, get out of the water!"

"London, wait up!"

And he always listened to us.

Good dog.

Anyway, after the walk we found out that London's name really is Lynden

I said get outa the water

The Maple Cabin which we slept in

I took wayyyyyy to many flower pictures

The inside of the cabin

(We're eating lunch)

So that's the living room/dinning room area

the picture is taken from the loft which is just a room with a ladder

The kitchen

and under the loft is a bedroom and bathroom

After lunch Ethan, Dad, Matthew, and I went on a hike up the mountain.

Last time we came here as a family we tried hiking up it, but we went the wrong way or something so we ended up hanging on a cliff edge and we just gave up.

Anyway, we had a clearing in mind that we could see from the cabin area, so we 'blindly' hiked (more like bushwhacked) in that direction.

After an hour or so we reached a clearing and could see the property down below. We weren't exactly sure if it was the same clearing or not, so we tied a gold sparkly balloon we found to a tree so that when we got back we could look for the balloon and know how far up we got.

More on that later.

In the afternoon we went on a killer slip and slide, well I don't think any one died from it, but it was pretty awesome. You can go so fast on the thing! I've got some pictures later

Sunday:

We went to the URC in Matsqui, and then to Dad and Mom's friends the VDB's for lunch.

In the evening we had a potluck dinner and a bunch more people came for that because not all of them could stay over the weekend.

We had campfires every night, but the Sunday night fire was the best, I think so any way

Monday:

Monday was our last day there

 Dad and Mom had to clean out the cabin

So I took Nadia for a walk and the boys played on the rope swing and playground

(double click on the picture to enlarge)

Black arrow: Where we wanted to go and thought we were

Red arrow: Where we really were

Blue arrow: Balloon

The valley

Nadia and Ash

Nadia and Soph

these ones remind me of candy canes

here's the slip and slide

it's really heavy plastic, draped over a ditch and bolted into the ground 

at the bottom is a large tarp pool to slow you down and don't rip into the trees

Don't you wish your bath room door knob looked like this?

well ours did

Dogs got another squirrel up a tree

And that's it!!!!

School is starting tomorrow (AHHHH!!!!!!!)

so I should go get all my stuff together

seeya

☺