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.

Ray's Birthday and Jason and Amelia come to visit - Nov 12 - 17th.

Quiet week with dreary weather. We spent most of our time getting the villages set up, in preparation for Amelia to come on Saturday. Her job is to populate them with all the little pieces and people. Ray redesigned where everything is to be put this year, so that took a couple of days to figure everything out. This village has the carnival this year. We bought a few more pieces for it this year, so that had to be figured out as well. When the house is fully decorated, I will take some pictures and video it later in the month.

I had my hair and pedicure appointment this week, so we ran into Duncan. We ate lunch at OJ's. Ray'd scheduled me for a wine tasting at Alderlea later in the afternoon. Their limited editions have just been bottled and ready for sale. 

Definitely fall in the vineyard now.

This years medal winners.

Being Ray's birthday tomorrow, we also picked up some fresh mussels and a crab for dinner tonight on the way back home as seafood is not Jason's or Amelias choice for dinner.

This is Birthday Dinner #4 for Ray's 10 days of birthday. :)

Jason and Amelia arrived at 10:30 Saturday morning, let the decorating begin. Jason did the ladder work putting up the lights on the beams so Ray didn't have to. Amelia and Papa were busy putting all the people and small things into the 3 villages. It took them about an hour and a half. Amelia's a great help.

Ta Da! Jason even has the Santa head up above the fireplace.

Amelia did a great job with placement of people this year. A couple of years from now she'll be able to do the whole display lol.

I made ham and twice baked potatoes with honey ginger carrots for Ray's actual birthday dinner. Amelia had tater tots. lol

Mike and Debra, next door, asked to come over so their granddaughter Hazel could see the villages after we ate. They brought their son and their friends, Bonnie and Rich with them. They stayed for an hour or so, more wine was drank and they really liked the shot of my special tequila (Addictivo). lol

Kitchen Party. Ray, Mike with Hazel, Jason, Bonnie, Debra and Josh.

Amelia had Rich come play with her. She also took Mike by the hand, and took him upstairs to show off her room and all her stuffies. She really has taken a liking to him, always talking with him if she sees him in his yard. Unusual as she normally plays shy. He even got a hug goodbye.

At 7:30, Amelia said she wanted to go to bed and the rest of the crew headed back next door. They still needed to have their dinner which Mike had on his Traeger. lol

No cake tonight for Amelia, so we had it before they went home Sunday morning. First up though is taking Olaf for his morning walk. Amelia rode her bike. 

After the bike ride, we had our breakfast, ham and eggs. Then it was tidy up time. She is really good about putting hers and Olaf's toys away. Jason even has her make her bed. Jason brought the Christmas Tree box upstairs by dolly so the tree is ready to go up when I get to it.

At 10am "I'm hungry" Amelia said ..... cake time! Of course Olaf is right there in case something drops. lol. I sent some ham and cake home for Kristi as she was working at the hospital.

Happy Birthday Papa!

By 10:30 they were on their way back to Nanaimo. Thanks a bunch for all your help Jason and Amelia.

The rest of Sunday, we put up a few more decorations, then Ray had a nap. Amelia wore him out with all the tickling games and chase. A lot of lifting is involved and she's 47 pounds now. 

He watched the Grey Cup later in the afternoon, Saskatchewan won! I usually make game day appetizers for Ray for Grey Cup and the Super Bowl, but I am afraid not this  year. I made a quick dinner instead. One of my frozen beef wellington's I had made earlier with mushroom gravy. He had no complaints. :)

Monday morning we worked on some more decorating. Ray got his trains running, and put up the strings of Christmas lights on the village houses.  I did the counter and unpacked some more items to find a place for.

Inside, we still have the garland and lights for the upstairs railings, the front door garland and lights and finish off the larger items on the catwalk upstairs. Ray has the house lights up on the outside, but needs to get the lights into the garden and trees. We also have the blow ups to go on the back sundeck with railing lights. A few more days of decorating, I think. lol

At 11:30 am we went out to lunch at Jake's for seniors day. I'm "on strike" from all the birthday dinners I've made for Ray the past 10 days. lol

Ray's non-alcoholic wine got delivered from Summerland, BC. Hopefully it is a good as they say, it costs the same as real wine. :) They have an interesting story. Happy to support a small BC Business.

Friends First.

In 2020, Taylor and Tyler were
living in Chris’ basement. Taylor was doing cidery work and Tyler was winding down his Okanagan winery. With a baby on the way and the alcohol lifestyle in the rearview mirror, there was still a piece missing between them and the
launch of Canada’s first non-alcoholic winery.

Enter Chris. While working as a scientist for Agriculture Canada, he had helped Tyler to build TH Wines. Chris was in on the first non-alc conversations, but his hard
work began when the challenge emerged: Is it possible to create a non-alcoholic wine from premium grapes without adding sugar or artificial sweeteners?

After many, many trials they
launched ONES in 2022. With hundreds of thousands of bottles sold since then, it’s safe to say the answer is YES: you can stop drinking wine and find a clean alternative with no sugar or artificial sweeteners.

Rapid growth has kept the trio (and their families) on their toes. Though they all wear many hats, Taylor is the Community Builder, Chris is the Navigator, and Tyler is the Winemaker.

Ray's first order.