RV Friends arrive.

Monday as I had said previously we had 2 painters doing, we hope, the last of the painting on the house. A lot of high ladder work.

The front of the house looks awesome with the new cream garage doors and changing the shakes to cream from dark brown. This is what it looked like before our renos, concrete etc.

At the end of the day the painting was finally done.Yeah!

Monday at noon since the weather was so great finally, I called Dianne to see if they wanted to come up a day early and go for a boat ride before we take it out of the water for the season. The kids had all left and cleaned their way out of the basement. I had lots of leftovers to serve for dinner so did not have to cook. They were supposed to arrive tomorrow anyways ... sure they said. lol

They arrived around 4:30 pm and after beverages in hand we took off for a boat cruise down the lake. A beautiful afternoon with minimal wind. Dianne had not been in our boat yet. Steve took a bunch of pictures.

How lovely is this?

Back around 5:30 pm we had our beans and rib dinner. Still great on day 2. lol The rest of the evening we sat on the sundeck with the firetable on until dusk when we called it a night at 9pm. We were quite tired after days of company.

Tuesday morning sunny and warm. We all started the day as usual with coffee, computers or tablets. Eventually we had breakfast and once Dianne and Steve did the dishes (thanks a bunch guys) it was time to get the boat out of the water for the season.

Normally it would stay in until mid-September, but with the lack of rainfall this summer and our lake being so low, the papermill in Crofton is set to begin pumping water out of the lake into the river to ensure ,their water supply for operations. The lake could drop up to 20" which would make taking the boat out at the boat ramp very difficult so we decided to get it out before pump begins later this week.

Once loaded on the trailer we parked it in the driveway. Steve helped Ray wash it and then it was put back into the garage for the season. Dianne and Steve went for a short kayak ride. I  had to dump Dianne out of the kayak once she was done as our beach is virtually non-existent with the low water and I did not want her to hurt her knee in the muck. We all spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the dock swimming with Dianne and I floating in the water loungers. A fabulous afternoon even though it was cloudy it felt pretty warm. We managed to have Dianne and Steve experience all of our summer "water activities" in a day and a half before the rain tomorrow. Lol

Helping Dianne get in to not hurt her knee.

Ray the "stinker" getting us wet in our floaties!

Steve the guy who never naps ... Busted!!!

Thanks for the Margarita Ray!  He's starting to call himself Cabana Boy! lol

Around 4:30 pm we came up to the deck as it started to get too windy to stay down at the dock.

On the menu tonight Chinese Bbq pork tenderloin and fried rice. After dinner back on to the sundeck until 9 pm again and then bedtime. Dianne is really struggling with her knee that she will have surgery on shortly, so going up the stairs to their bedroom and down to the dock repeatedly, I think she is exhausted and ready for bed early just to get off of it.

Wednesday morning we woke up to rain as predicted. Unfortunately it is forecasted to be rainy until later this afternoon. Dave and Leslie from Chateau Roche, arrived by 11:30 am in time for lunch, chicken wings, fried rice and Dianne's caesar salad.  Thanks to the cleanup crew for dishes etc.

Steve and Dianne

Leslie "cheers".

Clean up Crew, Steve, Dave, Dianne and Leslie

Margaret in the middle.

Hiding from the rain.

The rain stayed misting until late in the afternoon but we managed to stay all cozy under the gazebo with the firetable and heaters on.  Steve arranged all the seating so we could all fit, we just had to remind Dave to duck. lol as the centre of the gazebo has a lower part that only very tall people could hit. What a great group of people, lots of laughs.

For dinner I put prime rib on the rotisserie and made yorkshire pudding for Steve...  and apparently for Dave and oh oh Leslie (where's the gravy). Lots of kitchen help with the other fixin's and again a great kitchen cleanup crew. We all sat down at the dock watching the sun go down and then back up to the deck for the rest of the evening. Everyone to bed shortly after 10am.

Steve is telling me to stop for the picture but yorkies are very heat sensitive .... so he caught me in motion.

Dinner is served.

More beverages ... you can see the clock that is now 9:50 pm. lol With the firetable and radiant heaters no one really cared about the rain.

Margaret.

Thursday had some marine cloud to start, but by 10 am the sun broke through. I made the boys Monkey Bread for breakfast and Dianne and Leslie ate their scrambled eggs and bacon. (Keto diets). Dianne and Leslie did look longingly at my creation though. lol

Charge!

 Not much left after the boys got at this.

The painter came this morning for the final touch ups and payment. We are officially done all of the landscaping, outside renovations and inside renovations. It was a long haul since we moved in May 2018. When we come back from our winter holiday we won't know what to do with ourselves. lol

After breakfast we sat outside out on the deck. It still was a little breezy down at the dock. For lunch we were treated to lunch at Jake's on the Lake by Les and Dave. Thanks a bunch guys.

Dave and Leslie

Before coming back we took a short drive to the park to view the tubers in the river.

Back home by 2pm, the rest of the afternoon we spent down on the dock swimming, kayaking etc. A beautiful warm afternoon. Pat, my next door neighbour, came over for a visit to meet everyone. Dianne and Les had a hot tub after swimming, Leslie's back was really sore and of course Dianne's knee. The group stayed down on the dock to almost 6 pm it was so nice, before coming back up to the house. We could not have planned better weather for their visit.

Leslie

Steve

Dave

Toodles!

Dianne and Leslie

Dave in the water. Freya making sure he's OK.

Everyone is so full from lunch that dinner is just leftovers with everyone microwaving their plates. We did have a birthday cake for Steve as his birthday is on Saturday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVE! (I'm sure you enjoyed our singing, lol)

Back out onto the sundeck until 10 pm. Lots of laughs with "stories". A great day.

Friday morning we woke up to rain. Glad it didn't rain yesterday. For breakfast I made Eggs Benedict and once everyone finished the clean up crew worked their magic again cleaning up my kitchen.  Thanks once again guys. Dianne and Leslie changed their beds and brought down all their laundry. Now the rooms are ready for the next bunch of company. lol Ray headed out first for an appointment in Nanaimo and the rest shortly after. By 9:30am I was on my own with only the laundry ... The rain had stopped for pack up though.We all had a fabulous time. Thanks a bunch to our guests for taking care of all the dishes, it certainly made entertaining easy. See you all down the road in Arizona this winter.