Kristi and Jason's vacation at the lake and my birthday.

Friday, another lovely day. Kristi and Jason's friends with their 2 little boys arrived at noon. Let the adventure begin. Ray and I kept our distance due to Covid, but were able to sit outside and get to meet them. Kristi invited them to stay last January when we were away, so they saw the inside of our house anyways. With Kristi and Jason's trailer in the driveway for them as accommodation it would work well for the visit.

Lunch at the dock. Ray coming back after fueling up the boat.

The boys moved the picnic table up to the back lawn so they could use it for their meals outside. Then they carried the new deck boxes to the dock for Ray. Thanks a bunch guys. Now Ray will have to secure them to the dock and finish putting on the hardware such as hinges, handles and hasp locks.

Jason took the crew out for a boat ride. Just like a car ride the two little boys came back sound asleep. lol The dogs watching them leave. The next day they did not want to go for a boat ride because they knew they would fall asleep.

Throwing rocks, the boys favourite pass time.

The lake is still quite high for this time of year, usually we have about 5 feet of beach.

Our bathing beauty, Kristi. She had me take this picture as there was a comment in a medical journal or report that female doctors should not be seen in bikini's, as it's unprofessional. Well you can imagine the criticism on that comment. All the female doctors are posting pictures of themselves in bikini's for defiance. The comment has now been apologized for. Of course Kristi being so fair immediately put on her cover-up clothes so she doesn't burn after the picture. lol

Kristi and I went for a kayak ride while everyone was still in the trailer. Gorgeous morning on the water.

 

Kristi and Jason practicing ....

Dogs staying out of the sun.

Jason took their crew out for another boat ride and this little guy loved driving the boat.

The weather this weekend was spectacular. Lots of dock time watching all the boats go back and forth. Saturday night they even had a band playing on the dock at the other end of Point Ideal Drive. Unfortunately we could not hear it from here as our neighbours had their own music and many people over at their house. :(

Ray headed into town this morning to surprise me with fixin's for my birthday dinner tomorrow. Fresh crab and scallops. I decided to cook it tonight while it was still fresh. Yumm. Kristi and Jason will cook us steak and fixin's tomorrow for my birthday and set us up at a separate table as we are keeping our distance from their guests.

Aprons to keep the crab juice off our clothes. lol

Sunday, July 26th My birthday.

A lovely day on the water. In the morning, Ray worked on his deck boxes securing them to the dock with Jason's help. I had laundry to do, so was busy in the house.

Their friends were kept busy with the boys playing on our beach. They spent all afternoon chucking rocks into the water. It certainly was a warm day, topping out at 29 C. Hot up at the house but nice and cool with a breeze on the dock. In fact, so breezy the wind actually tipped over my full glass of beer! First time that has happened. :)

Jason and I took Kristi and her friend out on the inflatable for a ride while the boys and their dad had a nap. Lots of other boats towing people as well. A very busy day on the lake. At one point Kristi's hat flew off so we had to stop and retrieve it. Kristi had told us to go slow but that did not last very long ... speed up ... speed up! So we did and watched them bounce along over the waves. :)

Off we go.

For my birthday Jason and Kristi made us dinner with their friends ... at a distance. :) Delicious steak.

Chef Jason

We sat out under the patio for some time with Jason and Kristi and their friends until dusk. A lovely day. Thanks a bunch for cooking us dinner guys. Much appreciated.

Monday, July 27th

Today everyone leaves and goes home. It will seem quiet around here. lol Kristi and Jason will be back later this week and here for the long weekend. More fun to be had. It was nice to know that the suite downstairs functions well for them, as this is the first time it has really been used for cooking etc. So glad we put in a tub shower combination in the bathroom as the boys had great baths. :)

Such a nice morning that Ray and I sat outside on the deck having our coffee and watching the fish rise on the calm lake. Gorgeous.

Kristi's company did not leave until after feeding their boys lunch so by 1 pm Kyles Kottage was back to the quiet we have come to know. lol A very hot day 33 C in town and Ray and I spent the day down at the dock. It was unusually hot, as there was not a whisper of wind. I put buckets of water onto the dock to help cool the wood down and Ray and I ended up swimming several times just to stay cool. So did Freya.

We heard a big crash and noticed that the guys gazebo with his gangway fell into the lake. It came off it's support last February with our high water and he did not fix it. He was down south I think and came back July 1st ... Still didn't have anyone come so down it went! the whole walkway to the gazebo is also all crippled up.

That was a busy four days ... mostly for Kristi and Jason. Now we have a few days to ourselves and then they will be back for the long weekend. Fun times.

July 16 to 23 ....Kristi and Jason here for their holidays.

Thursday morning we were treated to a beautiful sunrise so Ray grabbed his camera.

The rest of the day ended up cloudy and breezy so an inside day. Not to Freya's liking. lol Friday morning same deal.... clouds and wind. Fortunately the clouds disappeared for the afternoon and we were able to get outside. Beautiful evening so we sat down at the dock for an hour.

Friday afternoon I think summer weather finally began. Forecast for the next two weeks is quite warm. Yeah. This deer was waiting for me to leave the gate open to come into the strata ... no go deer! Damn things have eaten the tops of all my Gladiolas and New Guinea Impatients.

Saturday another gorgeous day. Today was our annual strata meeting and Ray and I "attended" remotely with Zoom. With everyone opening up their "bubbles" with lots of friends and family we decided not to take the chance, especially with Jason and Kristi coming for their holidays. One couple just returned the day before the meeting after touring through Calgary and Kelowna, two of our most recently hit Covid areas.  All of us have been so careful not to contract Covid with Kristi having to work in the hospital it did not seem worth it to risk ourselves.

The temps got up to 27 C today, so it was definitely a dock day and swimming day in the afternoon. We did not come up to the house until 5pm. Lots of activity on the lake today with the first real warm weekend this summer.

In the wee hours of Sunday morning Ray went down to the dock to see if he could get a picture of the comet Neowise. All he got was Venus... no tail showing for a comet.

Sunday, another gorgeous day and the infamous third strike. My dishwasher quit working and has an error code. Googled it and it has a plugged drain. I will deal with it tomorrow and see if I cannot fix it myself before calling a repair guy. 

Kristi went to Squamish for the weekend to visit with Stella, Kat and Garrett. Stella is sure growing.

Drunk'in milk baby smile. lol

Family Pic 

Monday was a scorcher at 32C feeling like 35C. Ray and I did our own thing in the morning including me prepping dinner, beef wellington, and then spent the afternoon swimming and sitting down at the dock. It's so hot I have to water my herb garden 3 times a day. 

Managed to watch 2 YouTube videos regarding the dishwasher and managed to fix it. If it does not drain again it will be the pump which I will need someone in to fix. Also the fridge repairman guy is finally coming Thursday to fix my ice maker ... only been waiting since June 25th!

Tuesday, Kristi and Jason arrived just after noon. We spent a few hours catching up sitting down on the dock until it got too breezy and then up on the deck until 5, when we parted ways. I had leftovers for us to eat and they made their own dinner downstairs. It will be nice to see how all the kitchen appliances work downstairs as this is really the first time someone was downstairs long enough to cook. :)

We woke up to clouds and some fog. Very breezy today but the sun finally came out around 11 am. Freya is thrilled to have her "pack" here. We hardly see her. lol Kristi came with me on my morning walk. It was nice to have company. I made pizza for lunch.

Delicious but ended up in a funky shape. lol

All of us sat on the dock for awhile until the wind became too brisk, so up onto the lawn we went. Here is Jason trying to get the dogs to cooperate getting their picture taken. lol

Ah Success!

Ta Da!

Got out the ladder golf game and played for an hour or so. I actually won 2 games! Kristi took off at 2pm to meet up with a friend for a visit. They went on a walk to maintain social distancing.

Kristi and Jason cooked us dinner, a grilled pineapple salad and marinated chicken thighs. Delicious. Thanks a bunch guys.

Thursday, again breezy and foggy skies. Ray and I left for Nanaimo at 8:15 am for our doctor's appointments. Jason headed out  before us to run into Port Alberni to pick up the new kicker motor we purchased and will split the cost so both Ray and Jason can use it through the year.  He also had to pick up his trailer to bring it down for the weekend for their friends to stay in when they arrive tomorrow. Social Distancing ...  Kristi got to stay home by herself and have some "me time". 

Yes the driveway is a little full. :)

Back home at lunch we sat down at the dock for a bit. Zeus attracted some ladies to come and see our dogs. lol

The rest of the afternoon, I stayed up on the deck as it was quite breezy down at the water but Ray persevered for a couple of hours. He did call it quits when his hat blew off his head into the water. lol Jason arrived back at about 2:30 pm with his trailer so I guided him into the driveway. He set it all up ready for the guests tomorrow. I stayed close to the house as the fridge repair guys was supposed to arrive sometime between 1 pm and 5 pm. Kristi wandered between upstairs and downstairs for most of the afternoon.

The fridge repair guy finally showed up at 6:15 pm! As I suspected, the ice maker control had to be replaced. Something to do with a mister not working and the mechanism to dump the ice was not stopping in the correct position. Both issues combined made the ice maker work very intermittently. Fortunately he had ordered the replacement part before coming to see me. Good thing it's on warranty, he didn't leave until 7:15 pm and then had to drive all the way back to Victoria. I sat well away from him at the dining table to keep a safe distance and had the patio doors open. Ray hid in the bedroom and Kristi and Jason stayed downstairs. Once he left I sanitized my counter and fridge with sanitary wipes so we are all "clean" from Covid.

Alex from Arrtech Appliance Repair.

Definitely lots of wires after pulling out the ice maker component. Yes the orange thing is the water filter. lol

We had dinner just before he arrived thankfully. Otherwise a quiet evening. Looks pretty grey outside.

Another day gone and another week has passed by again! Wow the summer is moving along quick.

Kristi and Jason come for dinner and Joane Mahon comes to visit!

The weather this past week has not been the greatest, cloudy and windy. When the sun did come out, Ray and I were quick to take advantage of it sitting out of the wind in the yard. 

Ray spent the week working on our deck boxes while I puttered inside and outside with my gardens. 

Another new recipe tried on the Traeger, Pork Tenderloin with Apricot glaze and grilled pineapple. Yumm. Love this smoker.

Saturday, July 11th, Kristi and Jason are coming for dinner and spending the night. Tomorrow they will head off golfing and we will dog sit for them. :) Pork prime rib on the smoker this time with apple wood pellets.

Kristi and Jason with the grand puppies arrived shortly before 5 pm. We had a great evening and watched a movie.

 

Freya thrilled to have her "pack" here again.

Saturday morning we tried to sit down at the dock for awhile but the cold breeze scared us away after a while and we moved back up to the lawn.

At 11:30 Kristi and Jason headed out to golf for the day. We kept the doggo's until later when they picked them back up for the way back to Nanaimo. It was a great sunny day but very windy.

Monday morning was beautifully sunny with no wind. 

Lakeview Park was quite busy with people on the beach but they do seem to be physically distancing. 

The "Kalamity Kyle's curse" strikes again. Ray went to pick up some more wood for his deck box project and when he closed the hatchback he cracked the front window of the car. I think we will be buying a utility trailer soon. :)

Tuesday another lovely day. Joane arrived at 7 pm and after we had some seafood corn chowder we spent the rest of the evening out on the deck. Glad she got to see it before it was disassembled for painting tomorrow. She came bearing dinner for Tuesday night, lots of wine and a fabulous hostess gift, a tea towel featuring Dr. Henry.

Thanks a bunch Joane.

Wednesday morning, Eggs Benedict for breakfast.  

 

Our painters, Mona and Andrew arrived at 8 am to give our fir posts and gazebo another coat of stain to protect it. The underside of the gazebo had never been stained so it definitely needed it. We also had our patio doors done again as they take most of the winter weather.

Everything covered in plastic as Andrew sanded all of the parts of the gazebo he was going to work on.

Mona

It was such a lovely day it was no trouble staying down on the dock for the day out of the painter's way.  Ray took Joane for a boat ride while I waited for the UPS driver to come with my long awaited package for parts for our motorhome door mechanism ... ordered it mid-June!

Off they go ....

See the little "kicker" motor?

Back home ... after a wonderful boat ride, they told me that they had a bit of a disaster happen??? The little motor's mount to the boat cracked off and the motor was left in 100 feet plus of water by Youbou!. Yikes .. that's strike two of the Kalamity Kyles, I wonder what will be next? 

That little motor was my dad's years ago. It had not been used for years before we put it in storage for 5 years and then gave it to Jason for his little boat. He just recently brought it down for us to try for trolling on our boat so it really does not owe us anything. We will purchase a bit bigger motor and split the cost with Jason.

I had a bit of a lunch waiting for them on the dock when they returned.

Freya loves her Auntie Jojo.

After a whole day down on the water we came up for dinner that Joane had brought. Crab cakes and a cold Thai noodle salad. Delicious. Thanks Jojo. Lots of great conversation and laughs, it was great to catch up. So thankful the weather cooperated for her visit as so far this summer has been a bust.

Wednesday morning, Mona and Andrew arrived at 6 am to paint today. After brunch, Joane headed home to West Vancouver while Mona and Andrew finished up their painting for this summer. The gazebo will need "part 2" of the stain hopefully this fall. Ray and I spent the afternoon down on the dock in the shade. The temp came up to 28 C this afternoon with very little wind, a stellar day.

And that brings us up to date for the past 10 days.