Since we have already been in Iceland for five days and are behind on posting – this entry has to be short and sweet, just like our time at home. After six months in Latin America, we decided it was time for a short break in Vancouver before continuing our trip through Europe and Asia.  We booked 35 days at home and they flew by. While there were plenty of things we didn’t get the chance to do or the people we didn’t get the chance to see; we had a wonderful month at home. Besides plenty of family dinners (July is full of birthdays!), relaxing, and getting ready to travel again; we spent a weekend on Nelson Island, went sailing and white water rafting and went to Whistler.

One of our first night’s back in Vancouver we were treated to a beautiful full moon over a clear Mount Baker

Enjoying time in the pool.

All of the flowers were in full bloom with the heat bringing an early summer for us.

My moms house had a perfect view of the Canada Day fireworks so we set up our tripod to test out photographing them.

One of our first weekends back, we went with my cousin Michelle and her boyfriend, John, with my aunt to her cabin on Nelson Island. We had a lovely first day kayaking, paddle boarding and relaxing. On Sunday morning, I woke up (under our mosquito net outside on the deck) covered in ash. That was the night the smoke (and ash) rolled in from the forest fires near by and covered Vancouver in a haze. It was an eery site from Nelson Island seeing the ocean painted black and the orange sky with the sun barely peeking through.

On the boat ride over

Afternoon kayak

Boys flipping off the dock.

The ocean was filled with these! (large jellyfish)

Sunday morning – the black line on the small island is residue from the ash after the tide fell. The sky is orange and the sun is barely shining through (at around 11 AM).

I’ve missed sailing over the past few years and barely ever get the chance to go out on the water. Luckily, my cousin figured out that RVYC has a program where anyone can join in and take out the Martin 242’s Thursday evenings. She got me to join her one week, and the next I took Dan and Dan out for a sail.

Seals tanning on the docks.

Rigging up the sailboat

Dan Seidel captaining the boat (his first time sailing!)

Our last weekend at home we headed up to Whistler with a group of friends. We planned on staying two nights but unfortunately the highway back to Vancouver was scheduled to be closed all Sunday morning for the iron man race when we needed to be back so we only stayed one night.

Dan and Dan catching up over beers.

And of course, we went white water rafting which we already posted about here.

For more photos, check out our Vancouver and Nelson Island Flickr albums.