Short But Very Sweet

This past weekend, Keith and I took off to Harrison Hot Springs Resort.  If you can believe it, I had a gift certificate sitting in my drawer for TWO years with enough money on it for a two night stay.  We had just been waiting for the perfect time to use it. 
Oh it was divine to just do what we liked, when we liked and not have to think about anyone else for two days.  We ate plenty, relaxed, soaked in the mineral pools, saw a movie, shopped a bit and then repeated that exercise.  We had wanted to walk around the lake and village but the weather was terrible each day.  Driving rain, wind gusts and bone-chilling temps kept us inside.  Just getting in and out of the pools in that weather was painful enough!
We enjoyed trying out three new restaurants this weekend as well.  We ate at 'Kitami' which is a Japanese restaurant in the village.  Very delicious teriyaki beef and tempura!  The next evening we checked out 'The Crazy Fish Bistro' and had an excellent meal.  I had cajun snapper and Keith had a seafood pasta...both so tasty.  On our way home we had a late lunch in town at 'Original Joe's'.  Really good portions and good eats there as well!  We ate so well that there was never room for dessert...this is tragic.
We also did a little bit of shopping.  We had driven into Mission for a matinee and then I wanted to check out 'Urban Planet'.  What a great store at first glance.  I loaded up on oodles of clothes with pretty good prices...could not wait to try it all on.  After SQUEEZING into the first sweater I knew this was not the store for me.  Their size large is like a small at most other stores.  I could not spot an XL for the life of me so that wasn't even an option.  It was disappointing but now I never need to go back there!  I'll leave it to the tweens and teens.
The pools were fantastic at the resort.  The first night the adult pool was SO crowded.  I'd never seen it like that!  So many languages too....there must have been many international guests.  The hotel must have been at full capacity for the weekend. The second night the pool was much less crowded but it was raining and raining hard.  So we sat in the hot mineral pool with icy rain pelting down on our heads and shoulders.  After a while it became quite refreshing and we ended up spending two hours there.
And where were the boys, you ask?
My mom had offered to take them for us and they had a great time too!
They went swimming (where Chad jumped off the high dive for the first time!), stained and varnished Nate's night table, put out the bird feeders and seed, visited Grandap at the Menno Home, watched a movie, shopped for their Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes and from what I hear they ate my parents out of house and home.

 The wind was so strong I could barely keep my eyes open.  Hence the pained, squinty look.

There is still some color on the mountains....but not for long.

The boys always get a little something after we've been away.  Chocolate covered marshmallows were a hit.

Thank you Mom and Dad for taking the kids.  It let us really relax and we didn't have to worry about them one bit while we were gone.