Busy times, 2 concerts and Christmas decorating. Nov 24 - 30

Christmas decorating is done. Good thing we started early, as it took 2 weeks. lol Here are a few pictures. lol

A long range view from the loft. Yes,we have a lot of villages. lol

 

Here is a short video of the train villages.

Village #1

Village #2 and #3

We have had a busy week and weekend.

Thursday we picked up Warren and Deb from across the lake, for our lunch at the Cook and Butcher in Cowichan Bay. At least it wasn't raining. A great visit and we stayed for a beverage at their house on the return. Neat to have a view of our house from a different perspective, as they live directly across from us.

Friday, for Kristi's BD present, we took her to dinner and then to the Paul Brandt and Terri Clark concert at the Cowichan Performing Arts. Terri is the only Canadian Female to be inducted in the Grand Ole Opry. Paul is the most downloaded Canadian Male artist. It was fabulous.

Kristi drove herself home and we went back to the lake. Tomorrow is another big day.

Saturday we had an unexpected message to meetup with our long-time friends, Janice and Gary, for lunch in Nanaimo before Christmas. We were going up there anyways today, but managed to get out of the house early for a lunch at the Driftwood Chinese Buffet. It's great seeing them and catching up. It's been a couple of years.

Next up, a quick run up to Parksville to the Railyard Game Stop. Just in case they have the new track Ray wants. Nope, oh well. Back to Jason and Kristi's for 3:30 pm. They wwere busy all day getting a tree for Kristi's office from Gogo's tree farm. Amelia is a big help apparently! 

Here is a picture of the "finished" product that she helped mommy with on Sunday.

Amelia also has been busy helping Daddy in his shop.

Tonight, we all went out for dinner at the MGM Diner before Kristi, Jason and I attend the Celtic Tenors with the Vancouver Island Symphony. Wow what a great performance. Ray stayed home to put Amelia to bed. If he had realized the symphony was also playing he would have attended too.

Kristi and Jason go to the MGM fairly frequently. The owner Helen, loves when the kids come in. Here she is, getting Amelia to help make her strawberry milkshake. They are awesome there, and great food, her daughter Trisha is the chef.

Of course she has to sit next to her Papa so she can get "tickled" lol.

Ray took Amelia home and the three of us carried onto the concert. 

Jason booked the tickets and we ended 3 rows up from the stage. With his bright blazer he got picked out by one of the tenors lol. They had him stand up and face the crowd with his "Christmas Spirit". The funny thing is Jason only does this for Kristi, as he is more "bah humbug!" When that came out, everyone laughed. Later on near the end of the performance, Jason was caught actually singing a carol lol, also pointed out to the audience. 

Sunday morning we were all up early, but first morning cuddles. Olaf trying for the "Papa Cookies".

We were out the door by 9:15. Both families having a busy day. We headed towards Duncan and went to Walmart first for baking supplies before turning around and heading back to the Cowichan Exhibition grounds to see their craft fair. Came home empty handed again. :) Quite a few things I already purchased over the past 7 years. I did however pick up a couple things at the concert last night as there was a pop up Celtic ceramics studio display.

Back on Highway 18 to the VI Motorsport Circuit. They are having an open house today and we were curious as we have driven by the place for 8 years lol. Liam, our salesman who sold us our current car, got his dream job there so we wanted to support him.  They were driving people around the track, but very slowly in one of the 34 cars they run. We didn't bother. They are more of an event place now. They cater functions by the Villa Eyrie Resort, owned by the same people.

Back home by 12:30. What a busy 24 hours!

Ray's first Winter Puzzle.

A visit with Laurel and Garrett, Kat and Stella come to Kristi's - November 18 - 23

More decorating happening at the house. We have a couple more days and hopefully we should be finished. We bought a new display for the upper catwalk above the front foyer this year. We had to go to Nanaimo to pick up a couple of the pieces as they were not in stock in Duncan. Once everything is finished I'll post pictures of the decorations all lighted.

Since we were in Nanaimo, we did a shop at Costco. Have to get our Christmas goodies. :) Ray took me out for lunch at the Longwood Brew Pub before returning home. We used to go to Longwood several times a year when we lived in Nanaimo. Always great beer and good food.

A pink sunrise Thursday morning. Sure looks wintery!

 Ray was outside finishing putting up the lights in the garden as it's a dry day.

Our friend Laurel is back from Austrailia for a few months. So we managed to set up a lunch date meeting in Mill Bay at Bridgeman's Bistro. We headed out at 10:30 am to meet up. We were a little early, so Ray went around taking some photos. What a beautiful day.

Apparently if the people decorate their boats with lights for Christmas, they get free hydro for the month of December. This person took it to the next level lol.

A great meet up. Too soon it was time for Laurel to catch the ferry back to Brentwood Bay and we headed back to the lake. She will be coming up from Sidney to our house for a couple of nights before Christmas, so we will be able to visit longer as long as the roads are good.

The old saying pink sky in the morning was correct. By the time we got home it's sprinkling with rain.

Friday was a quiet day here. Saturday we headed up early to Nanaimo to Kristi and Jason's. Our son Garrett, and his family Kat and Stella, arrived last night. So we'll spend the day and overnight to visit with them all. The cousins, Amelia and Stella had a great time together.

We arrived at 9am and after lots of hugs, we decided that since the weather is so iffy, we would all go to the bowling alley with the girls. They really enjoyed it. Ray and I watched. :)

They also had an arcade area.

Next up McDonalds for lunch.

After lunch, we decided to go to Kristi's office and have a look at all her renovations. Great signs Jason!

He has more work to do as he's adding driftwood sailboats to the picture.

Today Santa came to Country Club Mall, so we decided to take a chance and get Santa pictures with the whole family. A great surprise. Amelia kept saying it was the "real Santa" as he had a real beard. lol

Whispering to Santa what they want for Christmas.

Back to the house for a couple of hours before heading out to Driftwood Chinese Buffet for dinner. A good thing we were there for 5:30 pm and the girls were fading after 2 days of being busy.

Sunday morning after morning coffee, Kristi and the girls made scones.

After breakfast, we left at 10 and headed to the Beban Park Christmas Market for a swing through before heading back to the lake. Not too much that interested us. Ray was tired after all the lifting of the girls. They stuck to him like glue, so time to have kick back day.

Painted oyster shells.