The Colibabas come to visit ... my sister from another mister!

Monday was a write-off day. Poured rain the whole time. Spent most of my day tidying up from our company and laundry. I did manage to spend an hour or so on the deck with the heaters on and fire table just to get some fresh air.

Tuesday, off to Nanaimo for appointments for Ray and I. We did a Costco run and picked up some more zero gravity chairs.  On the way back home we stopped in with Jason to see his new tile job. It looks wonderful. Back home shortly after noon and met up with our gardener's to get the three rhodo's dug into the garden and get the back lawn seeded with more grass seed. Everything's coming together. I puttered around with a few odds and ends and we spent a little time sitting in our "garden room" behind the motorhome in the sun.

Wednesday woke to sunny skies. A great day for Dianne and Steve to visit. I spent the morning getting ready prepping for dinner ... barbequed turkey. They arrived around 2pm. Yeah ... so nice to see them in person after a year.

It was a beautiful afternoon so we had a campfire as it was too windy to sit on the dock.

At 4 the sun went behind a cloud and the wind kicked up so me moved to the sundeck and turned on the heaters.

Dinner turned out great, turkey with all the fixin's. Ray put away the food and Steve and Dianne did the dishes. Thanks a bunch guys.

Thanks for doing the dishes guys.

After dinner we watched a movie and everyone was kind of in a "turkey coma", including Freya. lol

Off to bed at 10pm.

Friday all of us were up by 6:30 am having coffee. Foggy out first thing this morning but within a couple of hours turned out to be a beautiful sunny morning. Breakfast was "monkey bread".

Steve helped Ray move his wood storage in the basement in preparation for making a new shelving system under our furnace to give him more space for his saws.

Dianne and Steve took us out for lunch at Jake's at the Lake, our favourite watering hole. Most of the rest of the day was moving between seating areas depending on the wind. We sat on the dock, the deck and on the front driveway intermittently. Steve tried a little fishing on the dock and did have one on but lost it. lol

This parking lot was covered up to the stairs in water in December.

Lunch at Jake's at the Lake

After lunch the gang jumped into the hot tub. Dianne was very appreciative as her knees are killing her.

Oh that is hot! says Dianne. lol

Next up was relaxing on the dock.

Dinner was a piece of cake ... leftovers in the microwave ... finishing off the evening on the deck under the heaters. With all of the fresh air, we all went to bed at 9 pm. Ray and I watched a little TV and then it was lights out.

Steve's picture of our sunset at the lake.

Friday morning we were all up again at 6:30 am to a beautiful sunny morning. A little breezy out though, but not as cool as yesterday. 8C at 7:30 am instead of 3C. After our leisurely morning coffee, I made us breakfast ... french toast and bacon. Once my Kitchen Angel, Dianne, had the dishes done and I had our turkey sandwiches made, we were off on our adventure to Kissinger Lake.

Steve and Dianne have camped down at the other end of Lake Cowichan for years before they chose to take their life on the road. We intended to check out the forest service camping spots down the lake but they were all locked up and not open yet. The road is now paved quite a ways past Youbou before it turns to gravel. It is a working hauling road, so we did encounter a few loaded logging trucks. Not much room to move out of the way.

Kissinger Lake is a pretty rustic camping spot and will fit units the size of ours or Steve and Dianne's (away from the water in the group sites), if you put up with the more than 10 miles of gravel road. Good place for kids to learn to fish though. There is a camp host there. This electric only fishing lake is stocked in April and November with 10 inch plus trout. This is one of our son-in-law Jason's favourite fishing spots.

After taking a few pictures we decided to go back home via the other side of the lake. Back on the road we stopped at the Heather Campsite at the end of Lake Cowichan for lunch. Lots of memories here for Steve and Dianne as they camped here with their boys. This also has a camp host and looks like it just opened recently. Another rustic camping spot under a heavy treed canopy.

Steve tried a little shore casting with his fishing rod but no luck. A great place to sit and enjoy the view eating our lunch.

Back on the road down the other side of the lake. Quite a few forest campsites, but they are all locked up at the moment. We stopped at a viewpoint that used have a great view of Youbou (according to Steve) but the trees have grown too tall since he was last here, to get the "expansive view".

Once back home it was time to get our Prime Rib dinner prepared as we we're having Pat and Darryl (our neighbours) over for dinner, so my old besties can meet my new besties. lol Once the beast was on the barbecue, we sat on the sundeck under the heaters chillin.

Darryl and Pat came over about 5 pm. Steve and Dianne found that they have some mutual friends with them, ... small world. At six I served the beast with scalloped potatoes and yorkshire puddings. I think dinner was a success. Lots of laughs and lots of wine drank.

Pat and Darryl went home about 8pm and the rest of us were in bed with lights out by 9:30 pm. Another awesome day.

Saturday morning we were all up again by 6:30 am. Sunny and windy out, in fact there are ferry cancellations. A sad day for me as my "sister" is leaving today. We had a great time catching up with both of them and look forward to their next visit in May. The boat will be in the water so Ray and Steve can actually fish from the boat. Ray and I are sure glad that the weather has been great for their visit.