The Little Langemann Family: 300 and counting! Vacation Pt 1

I saw on my blogger dashboard the other day that I had 299 posts. So, I thought #300 deserved honourable mention. :o) Haha! So glad I have this way of sharing little bits of our life with those we love.

Following is the first installment of pictures from our family vacation to BC. We spent a weekend in Kamloops for a cousin's wedding, then traveled to Vancouver to visit family and see a few sights. We left before breakfast on a Friday morning, and returned the following Thursday evening, just before pm turned to am. :o) The girls did soooo good with all the driving, (thank You, Lord!) Joy had one litttle melt down 90 minutes into our trip (yikes - it did have me a bit concerned for the many hours of travel that would follow) and then one more little meltdown 1 hr before we were home the last day. Other than that, she did really good, and Hopey, of course, loves travelling, so she was no problem! The funny thing was, I was so happily exhausted from all the travel myself, that I actually fell asleep while trying to calm Joy down as we neared Spruce Grove. I remember putting my chair back so I could rub her feet and hold her hand (which usually soothe her) and then I remember waking up and she was still crying. Soon thereafter I saw a sign that said "Spruce Grove, 6km." I asked Josh if what I thought I saw was true, and right after that Joy fell fast asleep for the night. What a little squirt!!! Thankfully, she made a quick and easy transfer to her bed and slept soundly till I woke her up at 9:15 the following morning!

Okay. Pictures!

First picnic lunch of our vacation, just into Mount Robson Park. Bibs sure look dumb over hoodies, but boy - do they ever help when the girls are feeding themselves yogurt!

Hello, cutie pie.

Hopey talked and talked about throwing rocks in some water, and though there was a shortage of rocks around, they both enjoyed walking down to the water with Daddy and tossing debris in while I cleaned up the picnic.
Right after this we got in the van, planning to stop at the Visitors Center which was about 20 minutes ahead, to use the facilites. Well, what we didn't know was that we were driving right into a construction zone - two culverts being replaced, and landed in stopped traffic for 2 whole hours!!! Joy fell asleep for her afternoon nap just before I saw the backed up traffic on the road, and I immediately thought "good!" She napped for an hour, then was up. Eventually, I took turns walking the girls up and down the side of the road, counting cars, naming vehicles, talking to others out stretching, etc.
It being Canada Day long weekend made for a very long line of cars headed for the mountains, just like we were. I counted the cars heading the other way once we were finally through, and it only number around 135. Josh thought our side was probably at least double that! Needless to say, the 20 minute drive to the Visitor Center seemed very long to me, and I "bumped" into another pregnant Momma at the restrooms who commented "I've never been so glad to see a restroom in all my life!" Yep. Gotta love it. :o) (Sorry if that's too much detail for some of you readers. I had to choose to laugh about the situation, so thought I might as well share it!)

We stayed at Dave and Amy Peters place in Kamloops (Dave is Josh's cousin.) Hope had no trouble at all playing with their three boys and their toys, though I think she kinda liked Keefer, the 5 year old, the best. :o) She had one set of frightened tears over a duck that walked on a push-stick, but other than that she was good.

She loved the car track, and was quite concerned when one piece of track popped out of place when she was playing with it on her own once.

So great to see my cousin, Cassandra, marry the man she waited almost 30 years for - Jordan. This was the first wedding of a cousin I was able to attend, and I enjoyed the family occasion to the full.

As did Joy. I think she noticed the table had a table cloth on it, and that Mommy and Daddy weren't being so picky about her banging her utensils on it as they are at home.

So she had fun, made some noise, and we breathed grateful sighs to be seated at the back of the dining hall!

Now, it is possible they had a little too much juice that night, but with Granny and Papa and Daddy to fetch it for them, it was of course the only thing they wanted to drink. Oh yeah - but Hope did want tea when Mom and I went for a hot drink later.

So special to hang out with my folks there. :o)

Josh was such a sweetie, and watched after the busy Joy-Belle almost all evening so I could visit with my parents and brothers.

Hope, and her second cousin, Alex, playing with Uncle Luke's iphone, under Uncle Avery's supervision! Hope told me "Mommy - I want to go over there and play wiff Uncle Avery and the boy with the orange shirt!" (she just couldn't remember his name!)