Thursday, September 01, 2011

Penticton With Family

One of the things I really appreciate about my family is that once a year, almost always in the summer, we all go on a trip together for 2-3 days. Everyone. The entire family.

This year's edition of the trip had to be modified somewhat.  Ralph obviously couldn't come along.  Tanis and Jason didn't come either: they stayed behind, keeping Ralph company.  The rest of us went to Penticton.

We enjoyed ourselves very much, but there's no doubt that this year's trip had a sad feel to it. It's just not the same, knowing that one of your loved ones is back at home, stuck in a hospital bed. Still, we must press on. We must not be dragged down into cynicism.

With that in mind, here are a few notes on our trip over the past few days (Aug. 29-31).
* weather was so-so: cloudy and windy
* because of the cold wind, the canal shut down: not enough people, very disappointing
* as always, mom and dad "did" the food: dad the bbq, mom the rest
* I spent some valuable time with the boys - Dylan, Terence, and Neal: watching LOTR 2 until the wee hours of the morning
* I also did a fair bit of reading: Flannery O'Connor, The Violent Bear it Away.  Come to think of it, lots of others were reading too: Terence, Karin, Neal, even Priscila!
* an unlikely highlight of the trip was a 15-minute walk with Terence to pick up a bottle of wine: I need to get to know him; I've ignored him for too long
* ice cream with the kids: yummy!
* it's so good to have Ted and family around, but something's up with him: he doesn't seem the same

Here are some pictures I took on our trip:

















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