We had a quiet last couple of days in Kelowna. We did the pool, went back to Peachland and watched Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters.
We had an uneventful flight home (with the exception of an aggressive flight from Toronto to Ottawa because we left late). No one threw up on the plane, and since the kids weren’t sitting together, no fighting!
We have stocked the wine racks, bought some groceries, have started laundry and just need to go get the dog!
We had a good trip, but It’s good to be home!
We didn’t get a chance to visit Dirty Laundry Vineyards during our wine tour, so Scott and I snuck out while Grammy and Madison took the boys to H2O (an indoor pool and waterpark).
Dirty Laundry has some nice wines and a risqué marking scheme!
Bead/Charm: an iron
Today we decided to visit Carmelis Alpine Goat Farm. They have really tasty goat cheese and ice cream!
Uncle Steve, Aunt Alana and the girls took our boys to Scandia today for go karting, games, etc, so myself and Scott had the afternoon off to do some winery touring! We always drive out to our favourite winery (Blasted Church) which is the furthest away and then head back to West Kelowna stopping at other wineries on the way.
Something that a local business women has started since our last trip to Kelowna, is the “Bead Trail”. Basically, at various wineries and stores, you can buy a bead to add to a bracelet (which you can get either at the store or at various Visitor Centres). Each bead tells a story about the business. I thought it was really cool and since I like beads, I decided to buy beads/charms at each winery we visited. Check out the website: http://www.beadtrails.com
Blasted Church:
Blasted Church has really awesome labels and a really cute back story about people using dynamite to loosen the nails in a church that was being dismantled and moved. We discovered this winery several trips ago and we always visit! The first time we visited, I feel in love with their ice wine but they stopped making it a few years ago. Scott and Stef discovered “Dam Flood” on one of our visits. It’s since been renamed “The Big Bang”. Don’t worry Stef, we picked up a couple of bottles.
Website: http://blastedchurch.com/
Bead/Charm: A grenade! 🙂
We saw a few (very friendly) deer on our drive from Blasted Church to the Wild Goose Vineyards.
Tangled Vines:
I liked the name of this winery, but it the store wasn’t very impressive and neither were the wines. I sampled a couple but didn’t really enjoy them.
Website: http://www.tangledvineswinery.com/
Wild Goose Vineyards:
Wild Goose Vineyards has an amazing new building (which for some stupid reason, I forgot to take a picture of!). The last time we visited, it was like a little one room building but now it’s really nice with a patio area and a bell tower! I tried 3 white wines here and I have to say I enjoyed all three. I tried their “Mystic River Pinot Blanc”, their “Mystic River Pinot Gris” and their “Autumn Gold”. WOW! We’ll definitely be back here next year.
Website: http://wildgoosewinery.com/
Bead/Charm: You guessed it, a Goose!
Stag’s Hollow:
Stag’s Hollow was the 4th winery we visited. We sampled a few wines, my favourite was the Tragically Vidal!
Website: http://www.stagshollowwinery.com/
Bead/Charm: A deer with a skull and cross bones on it (not sure what the significance of that is!)
Noble Ridge:
Noble Ridge was really pretty with a waterfall built in the middle of the parking lot. It had some nice wines and the owners are supporting Alberta Flood victims by donating $1 from the purchase of each bottle of “Mingle”. I didn’t really enjoy the Mingle but their Pinot Grigio was pretty good.
Website: http://www.nobleridge.com/
Bead/Charm: A crown
I thought this sign was pretty cool!!!
Therapy:
It’s funny how our favourites change from visit to visit. Blasted Church was our favourite for a couple of visits, but last time, we were really impressed with the Therapy Wines. Therapy was REALLY busy because their was a bus of people sampling, so we skipped the samples and just bought some of the wine we enjoyed during our last visit. So since we didn’t technically sample today, I’d have to say my favourite wines were from Wild Goose.
Therapy is a pretty cool winery. All the wine names are a play on Freudian principles. Our 2 favourites are “Freudian Sip” and “Pink Freud”. They also had really funny wine bags! (see below).
Website: http://therapyvineyards.com/
Elephant Island:
Elephant Island is a cute little winery that make only fruit wines. They wines are really interesting like the “Cherry” and the “Cassis”.
Website: http://www.elephantislandwine.com/
Bead/Charm: An elephant, of course!
3 Mile:
3 Mile Estate Winery had a nice building and includes and art gallery, so we dropped in. The wines were okay, and the art, was, well different.
Website: http://www.3milewinery.com/
Bead/Charm: A three
Ruby Blues:
We didn’t actually go into Ruby Blues. They were originally called Ruby Tuesdays, but I think they got sued, so now they are Ruby Blues. The painting on the building is pretty cool (maybe the women who as the gallery at 3 Mile did it). Anyway, I had to take a photo of the “Hippy Van” as my kids call it. The winery was really busy (a busy), so we decided to move on. http://www.rubyblueswinery.ca/
Misconduct:
Unfortunately, the winery had nothing to do with hockey, so we were a little disappointed. I think it takes it’s name from the prohibition era judging by the memorabilia inside. They do however, have a restaurant called the Kitchen on site which serves Portuguese Tapis with a Mexican flair… we really wished we had gotten there sooner so that we could have had lunch!
Website: http://www.misconductwineco.com/home
Bead/Charm: A gramophone
My charm bracelet:
I bought some spacer beads as well to give it some colour. I’m hoping to get a few more before we go!
Beads in order: Blasted Church (grenade), spacer, Noble Ridge (crown), spacer, Stag’s Hollow (deer), spacer, 3 Mile (3), spacer, Wild Goose (goose), spacer, Elephant Island (elephant), spacer, and Misconduct (gramophone)!
After mini golf, we had a yummy lunch at Bliss Bakery in Peachland. They have really awesome bread, desserts and cookies! And their wraps, paninis, and sandwiches are good too!
After eats, we headed to the beach! Here’s Carter getting his mask on.
Connor and Carson jumping off the dock together.
Peachland has a rope, a zip line over the water and 2 diving boards. Here’s Carter going off the BIG diving board:
Carson going off the BIG diving board:
Carson having a good time!
Panorama!
Connor (post rope swing):
Tonight we celebrated Bill and Wanda (Grammy and Grampy)’s 50th Wedding Anniversary, Carter’s birthday and Uncle Steve’s birthday!
Raspberry Mango Sorbet cake from Sandrine’s. Yummy!
Uncle Steve and the boys!
50th Anniversary wishes from Stephen Harper (Prime Minister of Canada) and David Johnston (Governor General of Canada)!
Early birthday celebration for Carter, 10 years old this year!
We made Grammy cry tonight. We took a picture of the kids in the same place/setting as a picture we took in the Summer of 2007.
Then: (Madison, Carter, Maya, Carson and Connor)
And Now:
Grammy took the boys to see Smurfs 2 while myself, Scott and Craig saw The Wolverine.
The Wolverine was good, different from Pacific Rim, and it had Hugh Jackman, so what’s not to like!
The movie poster was also pretty cool!
We’ve been taking a few days off, just hanging out at the house and the pool (with a trip to outdoor laser tag for the boys).
It was also critter sighting time, 2 deer, lots of quails and a Mommy raccoon with 4 youngsters!
Tonight, we left the kids with Grammy and Grampy and went out to Joey’s for supper. It was delicious!
Here’s what we had for dessert:
Italian Lemon Donuts:
Chocolate Molten Lava Cake:
After our wonderful meal, we took a drive to see the area across the lake from Grammy and Grampy’s house that was caught in the wildfires a few years ago. We also caught this pretty sunset.
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