April 2014

 

April News - 2014-04-11 08:28

 Another gorgeous day on the beach in front of the motorhome yesterday. Ray's physio is going well and he has finally turned the corner getting stronger every day. We leave for Vancouver on the 22nd. Can't wait to get on the road again after being at Weir's Beach for 7 months. Ray is getting very sick of this place!

An 18 horse powwow. 

April 14th - Sunny, warm beautiful day.

 It was a wonderful day at Weir's Beach yesterday. Felt like summer. Lots of people out enjoying the weather. Views out our front room window! Lucky to be us! The countdown has begun for leaving ... yeah.

Lots of sun worshipers.

Freya's favourite thing...chasing the chuckit.

April 19th - Our final week at Weir's Beach

 

It's been a pretty full week saying goodbye to all of our friends, our new ones in Victoria back from Arizona and our long-time friends in Nanaimo. Lots of eating out! :) Monday we had lunch with our good friends Karen and Wayne back from Arizona and dinner with Monte and Llona from Port Alberni as they were on their way for a three week holiday down south. Tuesday was spent visiting Bill and Elke in Qualicum Bay, lunch with Ryan, Paul and his mom in Parksville and dinner with Gary, Janice, Sue and John at the Longwood Inn in Nanaimo. With me doing all of the driving Ray was not too bad pain wise as he just reclined in the passenger seat for the day.

Wednesday lunch I spent with the girls from my Aquafit class at the Four Mile Pub celebrating Easter.  On Wednesday evening we were treated to a performance of an artist named Tenille. She is a 20 year old singer from Grand Prairie that was nominated this past year for the CCMA female vocalist of the year, the youngest female artist ever to be nominated. We had about 40 people come out to hear her.  What an awesome voice!

Thursday morning Ray had his last physio appointment until he comes back on May 12th. The therapists Debra and Sara are amazing.  Ray is doing much better than he was, but will have to continue with therapy for the rest of his life to maintain mobility. His right leg weakness is somewhat stronger but Debra says it will take 18 months to 3 years before he has completely retrained muscles to help support him. He will never be 100% but at least he will be able to walk.

Thursday night we had dinner at the Four Mile Pub with Malc and Kathy, also just back from Arizona. 

The spring flowers were absolutely stunning around this pub. Definitely cheery after the greys of winter.

Friday we ended up with unexpected guests for dinner, Doug and Carol, friends we spent most Saturday nights with at the Saturday social all winter. Ray and Doug treated us all to some guitar playing and singing around our campfire. Quite a few of the campers stopped by on their walks to listen too.

What a beautiful evening. It was a great way to end our stay here for the past seven months. The next couple of days will be spent readying the coach for travel over to the mainland.

April 29th - Goodbye Barbeque

Last night Doug, Carol, Ray and I hosted a barbeque for some of the people we met here at Weirs over the winter. Everyone enjoyed the hamburgers and smokies, with lots of people bringing vegan. We were lucky that the rain held off, the wind slacked and we enjoyed a balmy 12 degrees. After dinner Ray and Doug entertained us with guitar playing and singing for an hour until Ray's back could not take anymore. I "the packhorse" shuffled all the chairs, table and food back to the coach. Today will be spent stowing all the stuff and making ready to leave tomorrow morning. With Ray's back, we spread the pack up over a couple of days, hence the goodbye barbeque on Sunday instead of Monday. Here are a few pictures of the event. The new owners have really put a great deal of effort in cleaning everything up.

                                                    A lovely area to have a get together in the courtyard. 

Carol talking to Carol

Johann the new owner of Weir's talking with Luc

Shane, one of the longtime employees with his wife Suzanne 

Luc and Dianne's daughter Danielle and grandson Remy 

The musician chefs, Ray and Doug

Julianna and her son Sam, the manager. 

April 22nd - Camping at Traveland RV in Langley.

Camping at Traveland RV in Langley for one night then off to Dad and Betty's. No problems catching the ferry. We saved $40 by unhooking the car and going separately. Who knew! The coach should be in the RV hospital for 1 1/2 weeks to 2 weeks and then off we go!

Lex Tiffin of Tiffin Motorhomes came through and our DS slide floor and stairwell leak is all being fixed under warranty Wahoo! They definitely back their product even if we are in Canada and bought the coach in the US.

Here are some pictures of our RV site and the beautiful flowers and grass on the street behind the dealership. Even rabbits for Freya to chase.  You can still find some country in the city!

There we are on the right all tucked in for the night with water and power.

We found a way to sneek out!

Freya paradise right down to the rabbits!

Quite a selection of used! including a couple of Tiffins

Spring is here, look at all of the blossoms. 

It will seem strange to not sleep in our own bed for the next 2 weeks. We have full-timed in our coach for over a year since February 2012.

April 25th - Lunch with Mom on Burnaby Mountain

 Yesterday I visited Dad in the morning at Peace Arch Hospital. Poor guy is going backwards instead of forward.  He was up walking with his walker last week twice a day and then his left knee got inflamed and it's back to bed for him. They are running a ton of tests to find out why but we still do not have any answers yet. He has been in the hospital for 2 months and it has been a a month since his bypass surgery in his groin on the left side.

Ray and I picked up his mom and went to Burnaby Mountain for lunch at the Horizon Restaurant. I went there several months ago with Ray's mom and Garrett when I came over to visit Dad when he first was admitted to hospital. What a meal. It has to be one of my top three ever! :)  The clouds parted enough that we were able to get some pictures of Vancouver areas.

No...Ray has not gained any weight he just thrust out his stomach to crouch over his mom!

Ironworkers Memorial Bridge and in the distance the Lions Gate Bridge

Looking across at North Vancouver

Looking over Burrard Inlet

The maze to get out if you have a disability not that I do... just wanted the photo!

Giving Freya some exercise. 

Today we visited Brae Island Campground in Fort Langley and booked in for two weeks so after the motorhome is returned to us next week we have a home base. I did the driving today as Ray's back is really sore from the past 2 days, so he can't even go to the hospital to visit Dad. The housekeeper was cleaning Dad and Betty's house this morning so we felt that it would be better to stay out of the way until 1pm. So needing lunch we checked out a local brew pub called the Big Ridge Brewing Co. They also run a pub in Yaletown located downtown Vancouver that we visited many years ago and a location in Whistler, as well. Ray ordered a Lager and I a Red Ale.  Ray ordered the fish tacos and the fish and chips for me.  The food is spot on, the beer perfect and the service excellent.