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.

Ray's pictures of the Antique Trucks:

1918 Logging Truck

Ray worked for MacMillan Bloedel at one time

Mini Truck

An old Jeep turned into a fire truck

A demonstration of loading logs on a rail car with a steam donkey

Now we have a few days to get some stuff done and restock my larder before we have a full house next weekend.

Happy Anniversary to us ... 49 years. July 1 - 12

Happy Canada Day!

Another salmon delivery so Ray filleting again. This batch of 5 to be frozen for winter.

Thursday for our anniversary, Ray took me out for breakfast to the Riverside Cafe and then we had Sushi for dinner. Although weather is crappy, cloudy and rained for most of the day, we had a nice day.

Friday, the rain quit so we decided to head  to Nanaimo for a bit of shopping and then ate lunch at Carlos O'Bryan's on Nanaimo's boat harbour. They make great mocktails for Ray.

Look at the size of that piece of fish!

Back home by 1:30 pm. There's quite a bit of sunshine in Nanaimo, but back to clouds at the lake when we got home. 

Otherwise a quiet week.

Tuesday, our landscaper Agata came to tame our hedge. This year it grew probably 2 feet taller and 2 feet or more wider on both sides. What a job. They started at 10 am and other than a lunch break, they didn't finish until 8 pm. They had a whole trailer load of debris to take away.

Before:

These pictures are after. I can see the lake over top of the hedge again, sitting in our chairs. Agata did a fabulous job.

Agata also took out a laurel on our neighbour side of the hedge. It will take a year or so for the stalks to green up again. Currently there is a bit of a hole, but you can see by the dirt how much more garden they will have now for flowering shrubs. 

Wednesday Ray had a doctor's appointment in Nanaimo and I stayed home and puttered. 

Thursday Amelia was dropped off  here at 10:30 am for a weekend with us as her parents are attending a wedding in Victoria. Unfortunately the weather for the weekend was cool and windy so no swimming, but we found other things to do. Ray had an eye exam appointment and found out a "secondary cataract"  returned to his left eye and will require another surgery.

Definitely an old style wedding. Kristi and Jason look fabulous with the top hat and fascinator.

Thursday we watched Amelia ride her new bike. Jason had the bike modified so Amelia didn't have to bend her left leg as much and swapped the rear brake to her left hand which has a bit longer fingers.

Ray also had some puzzle time with her and we played games while I was making the spaghetti sauce for dinner.

We took a short drive to the library to get some books for bedtime stories and then walked over to the duck pond for some playtime.

Friday morning for Amelia's second breakfast, we made blueberry pancakes. She is getting really good measuring out everything and making the batter. After dish cleanup, we went on a trip into Duncan to pick up some crafting supplies and a few other errands. For lunch we stopped at McDonalds as they have a great play area that Amelia enjoys. There were other kids there and joined them too this time, so she had a great time. Exercise for her and we didn't have to participate. lol

Once we were back home it was time for crafting. I think we did a pretty good job since crafting is definitely not in my wheelhouse lol. Good thing for Mr. Google.

..

Amelia decided to make a train, we all had to board, including her doll lol. We all took turns driving.

Saturday after breakfast and our morning routine, we decided to drive to Cowichan Bay and take Amelia to the Maritime Museum. She really enjoyed it, especially pretending to pilot the big ship in huge waves showing on the video screen. The weather is much nicer compared to the clouds at the lake.

Several houseboats in the harbour.

Amelia, with Grandpa's help, made a sailboat.

Very old outboard motors on display.

Next up Chinese Food for lunch. Amelia's favourite. We tried out the new to us restaurant next door to the museum. It's good and we'll definitely eat there again. There were enough left-overs for dinner.

On the way home we stopped at the Old Farm Market for a few things ... there's also ice cream involved! Theyhave an old tractor display in front of the market, so Ray and Amelia checkedthem out while I shopped.

Once we got back home, Amelia painted her sailboat that she made at the museum.

OK. Time to chill. Grandma and Grandpa are tired lol I gave her a bath at 4 pm so she's all clean to go home tomorrow and her hair had time to dry before bedtime.

Sunday morning, we ate left over pancakes for breakfast. After getting dressed, Amelia made her bed and we picked up all the toys and put them back upstairs. Great help Amelia!. Kristi and Jason were running behind so we decided to make blueberry muffins to take up some time. They turned out delicious. 

Jason and Kristi arrived just before 11 am, ate a muffin, packed up all her stuff including borrowing our bike rack for Amelia's bike. Their truck bed is full of wedding stuff to return for their friends. By 11:15 the house is quiet again!

Ray took me out for lunch to the Riverside Pub and then we came back home. I had a nap!