Osoyoos, Canada

Osoyoos, Canada is a little vacation world that boasts beautiful scenery and pleasant pool and lakeside experiences for tourists. It's a tourist town and while it is popular among Canadians, its treasures are unfamiliar to Americans. Five minutes from the U.S. border, a desert lake surrounded by mountainous hills, it's Canada's best kept secret.

Our hotel was way down there, right along the water's edge.

This is the place were our good friends finally tied the knot 2.5 years ago and, lucky for us, they invited us to join them on their vacation this labor day weekend. We headed up on Thursday and returned Monday evening. The kids, who have been unusually testy lately, did surprisingly well on the seven hour long car ride up and back. (It was only supposed to be six hours, but thanks to some accidents and traffic, we spend an hour each way parked on the freeway or moving at a snails pace on the highway).

Enjoying our hour long "pit stop" on the way up:

Our friends do not have kids and have absolutely no plans to change that. I was a little concerned that my rowdy family would ruin their otherwise quiet vacation. Luckily, the kids kept their melt downs to a minimum and I'm pretty sure we all had fun :)

Ryan was surprisingly accommodating at bed time. He slept anywhere that I tucked him in. One night he slept on couch cushions on the living room floor. One time he slept on the pull out couch with Jacob. And one time they both slept on couch cushions in our bedroom closet. I laid both kids down, kissed them goodnight, and they just drifted off to sleep. It was incredibly amazing. I totally lucked out when it comes to low-maintenance kids at bedtime. Part of me thinks that they are low maintenance because I have always kept their bedtime routines short. They know that when the light goes off, they have to stay in bed. I don't act like bedtime is a big deal and so they don't treat it like a big deal.

By the end of our four night vacation, we had a daily routine down which primarily involved lounging by the pool and hot tub, ordering poolside drinks, and eating food. In addition to that, I got in a daily 5-6 mile run each morning! We stopped by the grocery store our first night and stocked up on groceries. I cooked our first dinner meal (soy sauce and Italian dressing grilled chicken with oven-roasted veggies) in addition to from-scratch pancakes the next morning, and a french toast feast on our last morning. We also made plenty of BP&J sandwiches (my absolute favorite- I could eat them anytime).

We went to a horse track and I got to show off my horse racing prowess. I even came away with a whopping 70 cent profit. Ryan loved watching the horses, Jacob loved watching the races, but the time in between posts was pretty much a nightmare as the kids were hot and restless.

So we decided to stick by the pool the rest of the day. Walking to the pool became a game. Jacob would run ahead of us down the long, winding hotel hallway with a blow-up floaty around his waste and Ryan would shriek and run after Jacob, his lower body rocking from side to side as his little legs pumped out from underneath him, his belly puffed out, and his two arms dangling behind him. He looked very much like a penguin trying to run on ice.

Ryan lost his banana chip.

I prefer to stay pool side. I don't like to be cold. Even for a millisecond.

Jacob was a water bunny and practiced his favorite activity: jumping into the deep end on his floaty. He can swim but only when he is completely under water. He hasn't figured out how to swim with his head above the surface yet. Which is totally odd, but whatever makes him happy.

We also found an awesome lakefront park that we all enjoyed (even the grown-ups). No one can judge you when you are on vacation. That's the rule.

Heart melt:

On our last night, we visited a small amusement park to celebrate Jacob's birthday. Even the big kids had fun riding the go-karts. The celebration was clearly a success by the gigantic smile that was frozen across Jacob's face.

Our last morning in Osoyoos was Jacob's actual birthday. During my morning run, I stopped at a grocery store and picked up bread and candles and ran three miles back with these items tucked under my arm. This was not my favorite run in recent memory but it was worth it to see Jacob's face when I presented him with a glowing plate of french toast.

My gregarious, testy, intelligent, protective, creative little man is five years old. Although he tests me to the ends of my limits, he brings so much enthusiasm and spice to our family. He is an elephant-sized personality in a little boy's body. And he is so proud to tell every stranger he meets that he is now FIVE.

As I mentioned, our friends do not have kids but it is so fun to watch them enjoy the pleasures of "foster" parenthood as they play with our kids. They are so good with our kids and have developed a great relationship with them. We are so lucky to have these awesome people in our lives and in our kids' lives.