Surrey, April 26 - 29th

Wednesday we left Squamish  at 9 to miss the rush hour traffic and arrived home by 10:30.  I went up to Dad's to check on him and get their grocery list.  While I was gone Ray went to the pool for a hot tub. Got back to the coach by about 3 and we sat out and enjoyed the afternoon sunshine for an hour.

Thursday was my big shopping trip and I was gone for 4 hours. Ray took a drive to White Rock to take some pictures.

Someone made an art picture in the sand.

The famous "White Rock" which the town is named after.

Dad and Betty used to take us to dinner at this Greek Restaurant.  The owners will reopen... eventually.

Friday I went to Dad's for a visit and Ray went to the pool. After running a few errands for Dad we came back home to the coach for a couple of hours before heading out to Coquitlam to meet up with my cousin, Gord and his wife Suzanna for Sushi. We had a great meal at Gord's favorite Sushi Restaurant and then we all went up to Gord's parents, my aunt and uncle  Ken and Norma, for a short visit. By 7:15, My cousin Pam came over for a quick hello before going to pick up her daughter. Ray was done with his back spasming so it was time to come back home, especially since Kristi was arriving from Nanaimo to spend the night with us. Always great to see our lovely daughter. Of course Freya loves to have her favorite "bed partner" as well. As usual Ray and I forgot to take pictures so here are some facebook ones of our family.

Here is Gord's picture of Suzanna and him taken last summer in Tucson.



My Aunt and Uncle, Ken and Norma



My Cousin, Pam. Fishing is one of her most favorite things!



Saturday, Kristi and I went up to Dad's for a short visit before we all went to Burnaby to meet up with Ray's sister and brother-in-law, Judy and Milt, who came up from Tacoma to visit Mum for the day. We all went out for lunch at White Spot and then went our separate ways while Milt and Judy went back to Mum's.

Lovely to see you all. Mum said it was the best surprise ever to have us all together.

Visiting with Garrett and Kat in Squamish

Sunday, April 22, I spent the afternoon and evening up at Dad's and cooked a prime rib dinner for him, Ray and I. It turned out wonderful. Dad actually ate quite a bit which was nice to see. Ray left after dinner and I stayed until John, Dad's fill-in caregiver, came back from his day off at 8:30 pm.

Monday after a leisurely morning, Ray and I left for Squamish avoiding the rush hour traffic through Vancouver. The morning turned out unexpectely sunny so we made a few stops before arriving at Garrett and Kat's at 2:30 pm.

After driving for an hour or so it was time to stop and stretch so we decided to stop at Porteau Cove. We'd not actually been in to check out the campsite for years, since we lived in Squamish over 30 years ago and scuba dove there with the Squamish Dive Club. They have upgraded it with 30 amp power to all of the sites so no generators. There are only about 4 sites on the water that would fit us if you could actually get one. Checked out their reservation site and they are fully booked other than a day or two here and there for the rest of the summer. Such a beautful location.

Back in the car we continued towards Squamish and stopped at Shannon Falls. With all of the rain the falls were spectacular. Ray was kicking himself that he did not bring all of his lenses to get better pictures.

Stawamus Chief peaking through the blossoms.

Ray took several videos that I put together of the falls.

Garrett was working from home today so we wanted to arrive later and decided to stop for lunch at Howe Sound Brewing. They had great beer and great food.

Pulled Pork, Carmalized onion and walnut Pizza.

The Howe Sound Brewing Company is a large pub, a good size restaurant and is also a pet friendly hotel.

Off to Garrett and Kats. Garrett took Ray for a drive to the spit so he was able to take some more pictures of the Stawamus Chief. There is sure a lot of snow up on those mountains! 

I made pork ribs in my Instant Pot for dinner and Garrett finished them on his barbeque with my homemade barbecue sauce. It was a hit. Kat was home early from work and we spent a wonderful evening catching up.

Tuesday, Garrett went into work and Kat stayed home to visit with us. We had arranged to go to lunch at some friends of ours, Delle Booth and Chris Jenkins. We have known Delle since Garrett was in pre-school with her daughter over 30 years ago. Thanks for the great visit and wonderful lunch Delle.

I forgot to take a picture but here is one of their pictures from Facebook when they visited the Sea to Sky Gondola.

Back at Garrett and Kat's. Kat tried the Instant Pot making chicken legs. Yumm. It was great seeing you both.  Kat loves to bake and Ray loves to eat fresh baking.  She surprised Ray with homemade Pirate Cookies.  Later, Ray let slip his love of cream pies.... so for desert baked a Banana Cream Pie. (Thanks so much Kat, from Ray)

Nanaimo, Dr's Appointment April 18 - 22

Tuesday morning we were on the 10:15 ferry to Nanaimo from Tsawwassen. Both of us were scheduled for our annual checkups Wednesday morning. The ferry was on time and we met up with Jason at 12:30 to get the house key and then went to Original Joe's for a quick lunch as we had not eaten anything except for a muffin before boarding the ferry. I ordered tempura shrimp and Ray some Mahi Mahi tacos. Yumm.

(You will notice the pictures are not as good as usual ... I was using my new cell phone!)

Much better than a burger on the ferry!

Back to Kristi's to wait for their washer repair guy to come as Jason had an appointment at the hospital. Kristi was on call at the hospital so we saw her for 1/2 hour before we left to meet up with our long-time friends Janice and Gary for dinner. (Forgot to get a picture ... too busy gabbing!) They drove us into Parksville for fish and chips to the British Bobby Restaurant. Awesome visit and great food. Thanks guys.

(pictures from google)

Wednesday we had our physicals and test results ... everyone is great for another year of travel, yeah. Ray and I treated ourselves to sushi at our favorite restaurant and then made a run into our storage locker in Parksville to pick up a life jacket.

Celebration lunch ... no more doctor appointments until September

So Good!!!!

Kristi was at the hospital all night and briefly came home to change to go to her office for office hours today until 3pm. She sure works hard. We spent the evening together. (Again everyone was in and out so no pictures.) Kristi did make a lovely stir fried chicken dinner with rice for us. Thanks Kristi. Jason was busy packing up for his four day fishing trip.

Thursday morning everyone was up early. Jason to leave on his fishing trip, Kristi was in Surgery this morning so we left and caught the 7:45am ferry back to Tsawwassen.

Our son-in-law Jason, kindly gave me a fly-rod that he built to use with my new inflatable kayak. Should be a blast this summer. Of course on the way home we had to stop at the new Bass Pro Shop at Twawwassen Mills and purchase a reel to go with the rod. What an enormous store.

Back home by noon. Lucky for us, Dianne is cooking dinner for us tonight! With the sun out we all enjoyed an hour sitting outside in our site as we get the sun. At 5 we went back to Steve and Dianne's and had delicous Chicken Cordon Blue. Thanks Di.



Friday, we stopped in at Dad's, I visited while Ray went for a hot tub and then we did a little shopping together. Ray was bagged and in pain so he dropped me back at Dad's to get Larny's car so I could continue grocery shopping while he went home to have a lie down in bed. Once I got back from shopping we spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the sunshine in our loungers. 18 C. was very nice. In honour of the sun, I barbequed chicken legs for dinner with tinfoil veggies. Love my Napoleon Barbecue, it never flares up cooking chicken. It was done perfectly.



Saturday we went into Burnaby and visited with Ray's mom. She really wanted to get out for Chinese food so off we went to the Burnaby Palace to try out authentic Peking Duck. When the plate arrived it only had the duck crispy skin with a little meat attached ???? We did not realize that you get that as a first course with little pancakes and the second course is with the rest of the duck stir fried that you put into fresh iceburg lettuce. Wow, it was great but we definitely ended up taking home left overs. Mum, Ray and I waddled out of the restaurant, drove mum the short distance home and arrived back at the coach by 1:30. I walked the dog as Ray was toast again unfortunately. The rest of the grey afternoon we spent watching TV.

Oh Oh!  Picture with her mouth full!

Peking Duck First Course

Peking Duck Second Course

We had had war wonton soup and shrimp spring rolls before all of this and had also ordered House Special Seafood Chow Mein. We had no idea that the Peking Duck Dish was so big! I do not have to cook dinner now!