Kyle's Kottage

Tuesday, 28 July 2026

Happy Birthday to me! July 19 - 27th

Sunday is only 21C, but boy did it heat up Monday and Tuesday .... 34C (93F). Hot even down at the dock. Definitely swimming days.

Tuesday, we headed out at 9:30 to Duncan, pedicure time. After that,we set out to Shawnigan Lakehouse for lunch. We were meeting up with our friend Laurel, who we haven't seen since last fall. She winters in Sydney Austrailia.

Lunch was fabulous and they have great mocktails for Ray. Although they have a patio, with it being so hot we opted for the airconditioning and a great view of the lake.

After a 2 hour visit, Laurel headed for the Kinsol Tressle for a walk. She'd never seen the trestle before. We headed back to Duncan for some grocery shopping, before heading back to the lake. Ray's been struggling the past few weeks with tremendous sciatica pain causing his legs to hurt when walking, so we didn't go with Laurel to the trestle.

Once back home and everything unpacked, I swam in the lake by 3 pm. :) Ray being a "salamander", after growing up in Kelowna, only went in once briefly to just get wet lol. I swam 3 times before we came back up to the house at 5. It was HOT! Even wet I sat in the shade. No sun for me!

Wednesday, time for some chores in the morning. I made a batch of tomato sauce with all my ripened tomatoes and green peppers. Of course, never ending laundry too. Ray mowed the lawn. The afternoon spent down on the dock.

Thursday I decided to make a Seafood Paella for Ray with some of my tomato sauce.

Ray finished up his puzzle to put it away before company comes tomorrow. This puzzle is 2000 pieces and it didn't fit on his puzzle table, it had to go as we needed the space for dinner.

Friday, my birthday weekend began. My cousin Gord and his wife Susana arrived about noon as did Jason and Amelia. Fortunately the weather today's good as the rest of the weekend's forecast is cooler and rainy. We managed some "dock time".

Amelia spent a couple of hours in the water between swimming, playing on a kayak and playing with the sand on our beach. Jason's busy installing more screws into the gazebo ceiling so the panels cannot blow off this winter. He also screwed down some loose boards on the dock. I'm in charge of keeping a close eye on Amelia. At least she can swim well enough now that I don't have to be in the water too.

Playing in the sand on our beach.

Using Mike and Debra's solo kayak. She did great.

I returned to the house by 3 pm ,and with Jason's help, we got the 2 large chickens on the rotisserie for dinner. Sides didn't take too long, as I had made a layered salad earlier in the day. Kristi finallly arrived at 6 pm as it's OR all day. Dinner time!

Amelia helping Susana shuck corn for dinner.

My awesome cleanup crew. I never touched a dish after cooking. :)

Gord entertained Amelia while the others were busy.

Saturday morning Ray took Gordie, Susana and Kristi for a drive to the Kinsol Trestle while Jason and I prepped for dinner. Tonight is smoked pork prime rib with bacon on my Traeger. Amelia had a quiet afternoon self playing. Dinner turned out great.

Kristi and Susana walked to the bottom to take this picture.

Feeling loved. I received a few birthday gifts. Kristi and Jason got me a lovely new tank top to wear with my white pants. Lovely, thank you.

Once Ray and crew got back from their outing it's crafting time for Kristi, Jason and Amelia. Amelia wrapped them up in a box for me to unwrap for my birthday. So cute.

Pat came over with a lovely plant.

and flowers from Gord and Susana.

Ray got me another pottery bowl to match my set ... a replacement for one he broke several months ago. lol

Happy Birthday to me! I may have made my own cake. :)

After dinner Jason headed back to Nanaimo as he has his Hema couse to go to. A Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) course teaches historical sword fighting and combat using old manuscripts. Popular beginner weapons include the longsword, rapier, and dagger.

Sunday morning, Gordie gets a lesson from Amelia how to make blueberry pancakes from scratch. lol No more box mix for Susana.

Sunday after breakfast Kristi and Amelia headed out about 11:30, back to Nanaimo. Thanks for changing all the beds etc. Kristi. The rest of us had a quiet day, as it's raining. Lots of "armchair travelling" through You Tube videos. lol

Monday morning after coffee and left over dessert for breakfast, Gord and Susana headed out to catch their ferry back to Coquitlam. What a great birthday weekend in spite of the weather! The rest of the day I just did laundry and Ray took me out for lunch at Jake's.

Monday, 20 July 2026

Jason, Krist and Amelia here with friends July 13 -18

Quiet beginning to the week before Kristi and family arrived Thursday afternoon at 4:30. Kristi's friend Theo and her boys are camping at Lakeview next door. As it's raining off and on today, I made everyone dinner, hamburgers and fixin's. Theo and kids left at 7:30 and Amelia went to bed. Quiet evening for the rest of us. Kristi went to bed early too as she was on call the day before and is short on sleep. We did have a bit of a sunset though.

Had lunch at Jake's and look at the mass of tubes for the river. Truck load after truck load while we were sitting on their patio eating lunch.

I have two motion sensors on the dock ramp that come on at dusk until dawn. The sensor is set to a dog barking aggressively. Apparently it works. Jason noticed a deer come into our yard, set off the motion detector and the deer jumped from one side of the yard to the other in one leap and took off! I am going to get another one for the front of our house as a deer has started nibbling on my geraniums.

Friday the weather was still pretty cloudy all day. Kristi and family went over to the campsite for breakfast with Theo and crew. After that, the group went to the park. Kristi then went for a run with the two dogs.

Amelia, Nicolas and Alexandros

After lunch Amelia and Nicolas were determined to go swimming! Theo went in for a quick dip too. Burrrr.

Of course you can't keep Olaf from the water, or Amelia! It helps to have a full length wet suit.

Alex and Jason went into the hot tub instead. :)

After a bunch of fun, Theo and the boys went back to the campsite. I cooked a sirloin tip roast on my Traeger smoker. Boy did it turn out great, a perfect medium rare. Amelia didn't eat much as she's so tired after not sleeping well last night and lots of entertainment today.

Saturday morning I cooked a big breakfast for our crew.

As you can tell, it is not warm out!

Amelia wanted to take this picture of usadmiring her latest magna tile creation. :)

As this is their last day they here, it's time for water skiing and tubing. At least the weather is a bit better. Sure is windy though. Jason and Kristi manned the boat for the adventure. Ray headed into Duncan to visit the C Forestry Museumfor their an antique truck show. Pictures at the bottom of this post.

Theo went into the water to guide her boys on how to ski. She skied first though with only one false start. First time for her in 20 years.

Next up it's Nicolas's turn. He took several times before he made it up!

Next is Alex. He only had one false start and then he's off. Amazing as it's his first time. He actually skied for at least 20 minutes. Theo fortunately was wearing Kristi's skin suit or she would have froze being in the water so long.

After everyone was done, they all came into the house to warm up and have lunch before going tubing.

Jason drove them in the tube for about an hour! They frequently changed out who went in the tube. Amelia really loved it. Kristi said that on one turn, Amelia flew up a foot in the air off the tube!

After that more swimming. I bought a new mask for Amelia to wear. Compared to last year she shows no fear!

Warm up after tubing ... Amelia had a warm bath as she is too little for the hot tub.

The FIFA Bronze game is on, so once everyone changed we put the game on. Alex plays soccer and both Kristi and Theo enjoy watching soccer. Amelia made a "feast" for everyone to snack on. Fresh fruit and lots and lots of chips.

Nicolas and Amelia got bored, so they went upstairs into the loft to play with lego. Jason has no interest in soccer, so he went downstairs watching TV. We watched the game with the others.

Jason's awesome as he changed and washed all the bedding and towels, so it's ready for next weekend. We have my cousin Gordie and his wife Susanna coming as well as Kristi and family for my birthday.

Once the game ended, Theo and family went back to their campsite to pack up. Kristi and crew followed shortly after as they're having dinner at the campsite. With dinner out of the way, Theo and boys finished packing and Kristi and Jason loaded everything into the truck here at the house and by 6:00 pm everyone headed back home.

We headed back down to the dock for a bit. Still a bit windy.