Stormy weather ... and first Laurel comes to visit then Steve and Dianne - Dec 15 - 21

Monday and another quiet day in the rain. The lake is up, but not too bad. It's really windy though. June, from next door, called us just as we were coming home from lunch out. The lid to our wood deck box by the gazebo on the dock, blew right off and is hanging in the water!!!! Fortunately the box is bolted to the dock. The lid's attached with a well screwed in piano hinge on one side and hasps locked with carabiners on the other. Somehow the wind got underneath and tore out the hasps, and the air hinges and ripped all the piano hinge except for about 1foot.  Wow! At least we were able to retrieve the lid, so Ray doesn't have to make another one.

The lake isn't too high earlier in the week.

Since then, we've had 3 more "atmospheric rivers of rain, and more rain. The lake is more than full now. Everyone's ramp to their dock is either flat or the ramp is higher at the dock and some the ramp is under water.

You can see the piling closest is even with the ramp now.

With the rising of the lake, this huge log/stump is floating out front. We have our fingers crossed it doesn't get blown over here.

Over the next few days I watched the level slowly climb. That big stump did indeed come to see us. Ray helped Mike next door get it off his beach. Mike had waders to get onto Darryl's dock to push it off. These stumps get lodged under docks, damaging them.

The snow line is getting closer.

Wednesday, our friend Laurel came for a 2 night stay. Even though the weather is crappy, we enjoyed the visit. Lots of wine and laughs.

Thursday morning I made a quick run into Duncan to pick up some prime rib on special at Superstore. When I got back Ray took us out for breakfast at the Riverside Cafe.

Afternoon spent working on Ray's puzzle. Laurel brought him 3 more as a gift and I received a beautiful azalea to plant next spring in my garden.

The lake is up even further as of Thursday, slowly climbing up our stairs. Fortunately with it turning to snow on the mountains, not as much water is flowing into the lake.

Friday morning we'd arranged for the local daycare to bring the "littles" to see the Christmas Villages. What a hoot. They were enthralled. Shortbread and juice boxes while colouring topped it off.

The kids faces are blurred purposely. Here they come in the bus.

They stayed for half an hour and then back on the bus. This is their last day of daycare before the holidays.

After sweeping up the cookie crumbs and using lysol wipes to wipe everything down so the rest of us don't get any germs for Christmas, we were ready for our next batch of company tomorrow. :)

Ray took me to lunch at Jake's and we even had a big snow squall come through. It didn't stick though.

Saturday afternoon, Steve and Dianne arrived for their overnight stay before heading to their Christmas Festivities in Victoria and Coquitlam. Great visit. I invited Pat and Darryl over for dinner as well. Smoke ribs, my Holiday Baked Beans and a shaved brussel salad. Lots of wine was drank lol Maybe a little too much for some (me!)

Ray turned on the Bryan Adams A Great Big Christmas Jam that we taped. Great music.

We all went to bed by 10 pm. Another great evening.

Sunday, pretty quiet day. I'm a little under the weather ... probably from the wine. :) More rain all day. Glad we have so many Christmas lights to turn on to cheer us up. Now to get ready for our Christmas with the kids. Jason and Amelia arrive on the 23rd, and Kristi and Jason's parents and his friend Aaron, arrive on the 24th. Time to get my menu finalized.

Happy Birthday Kristi! Christmas Train ride with Amelia. Dec 12-14

Happy Birthday Kristi. This is a picture from last June in Kamloops with her "mini me". On Kristi's BD weekend, Ray and I take Amelia. This will be the 3rd year in a row.

On Friday morning we met up with Kristi, Jason and Amelia at the Haida Way Restaurant in Chemainus for Kristi's birthday breakfast. Later we brought Amelia and Olaf to the lake, so that they can have their "adults only" weekend.

We had a busy few days. Everytime Amelia stays with us, I'm amazed at how much her vocabulary has grown and her understanding of things around her. We stopped at Country Grocer and bought her a tray of fruit, her favourite.

She is into puzzles, just like Grandpa. First though, she had to put away Grandpa's finished puzzle. She loves breaking them up.

I'd bought her several board puzzles over the past year or so.This one we bought last Christmas but she wasn't old enough to be able to do it. Not this year, she's able to find lots of pieces.

Ta Da!

Amelia and I put up her little Christmas Tree.

After a bunch of running around the house and walking Olaf, it's dinner time. Amelia made a face on her plate with her food. She chose sausages for dinner. She has her glow in the dark tatoos I gave her 2 weeks ago. lol

After ice cream for dessert, it's time to get ready for bed. Of course Olaf invited himself!

Although she's in bed for 7:30, it's 8:15 pm before she finally fell asleep. I've been fighting a cold that she gave Ray last weekend and I got from him a couple of days later. I went to bed at 8:45 pm once I was sure she was out. She woke me up at 1:30 am from a bad dream. I gave her some water and tucked her back in and she slept the rest of the night. Unfortunately for me, I couldn't go back to sleep right away, so had a very restless night, in part from Ray's snoring lol, I usually wear earplugs but couldn't with Amelia here.

She got up at 6:15 am which is pretty good. A quiet hour while she watches her tablet and eats her "first breakfast". 

After breakfast, pancakes that she helps me with, it/s time for her bath. She loves playing in the upstairs bathroom clawfoot tub, where I have her bath toys. Those tatoos are really tough, still didn't wash off.

After walking Olaf, we decided to go into Duncan to the toy store to get a couple of Christmas puzzles for Amelia and Grandpa. She had this one done in 15 minutes! Fortunately the other one took a day with all of us working on it. Amelia is really excited about Christmas at our house this year.

More building projects.

Game time with Grandma.

Later in the afternoon we headed back to Duncan as we have tickets for the Christmas Train at 4 pm. Amelia enjoyed the Halloween one, so I purchased tickets for this one too. It wasn't quite dark yet when we left on the train, but Amelia doesn't really like the dark so it worked out well. When we finished our ride it was darker so she could see the lights better. We were so fortunate, the days of rain took a break for our train ride.

Getting there early for the first ride at 4 pm worked out. After we lined up 15 minutes before departure we were near the front of the line. By the time we left, there;s a huge lineup of people and no parking left in the lot.

The Christmas Express from the water. (google)

Here we go ... toot, toot!

After our ride we walked around to see the train getting ready for the next ride.

Next walking through the outdoor exhibits.

Now for the inside exhibits.

A big Christmas Village display.

A nutcracker display.

After an hour, it was time to go for dinner across the street for Chinese Food. One of Amelia's favourite foods.

Back home for 6:30 with just enough time for ice cream and sprinkles for dessert. Pj's, teeth, 3 stories and off to bed. Tonight she slept all the way through, so I did too.

Sunday, more puzzles and playtime. Jason and Kristi picked her up at 1:45 pm heading out to a Christmas concert. Busy weekend for Miss Amelia. We had a great time.