Good times at the lake, August 11 to 16

 Monday, Ray headed out the door to go to Duncan to have the windshield replaced in the car ... he cracked it carrying lumber. We have ordered an aluminum utility trailer now to carry the wood needed for his projects. lol  Also tired of all the sawdust in our car. :)

They had a courtesy car for him to use so he decided to take a walk through Somenos Marsh. This walk is located right beside the highway as you drive south into Duncan. Ray has driven past it hundreds of times while working in Duncan and never stopped. Here are some pictures of what we have been missing. lol There was not any birds to view (lots to hear) today though.

Ray was home by 10:30 am.  They ordered the wrong windshield, so now he has an appointment for next week. After chores around the yard, we sat down at the dock for a bit but it got too windy. Received a message from Robyn late in the afternoon, asking if she could come over with Amalia. Of course!!! So back down to the dock we went. lol Amalia sporting her new to her water wings. They really did not stay on very long as she was not impressed. :) After an hour of playing in the water they went home at around 5:15 pm.

Tuesday woke to  very cloudy skies. The sun did not manage to come out until around 11 am. Our gardener arrived in the morning to take a bunch of branches away that Ray had pruned from some of the trees in the yard and do some weeding.

Around 1:30 pm the fridge guy came and changed out the fan for the icemaker. This is the last possible fix for this fridge! (stay tuned) So if this doesn't work then I should get a whole new fridge! We shall see. :)

It was pretty breezy today and not that warm but we managed to sit outside close to our hedge for awhile and finally moved to the front of the house in the shade to get out of the wind. Our garden makes for a nice view too. :) My perennials have grown huge this year. Another great day at the lake.

Wednesday was my shopping day in Duncan. I was out the door by 7:45 am and back home by 11 am. It is nice that Walmart has mask wear mandatory now. Wish all the stores would do this.

The rest of the day after finishing up our daily chores was spent in our favourite place, down on the dock. 

Mother Goose and her ducklings. lol

Thursday, out the door early for doctor's appointments in Nanaimo and then up to Coombs to pick up our new aluminum utility trailer ... so Ray's wood stays out of my car! lol

I suggested to Ray that since we are in Coombs, we should check out the Walker Bay dingy's at Industrial Marine just up the road from the trailer place. We went and had a look at their small boats and decided that we would pick up the 8' one that would fit in the trailer. This will allow Ray to fish all winter when the big boat is put in the garage for the winter. He could also take this little boat to Kissinger Lake where there is great trout fishing.

After purchasing the trailer and getting insurance we decided to have a bite to eat at the Treehouse Restaurant and Bakery located in the same complex as the trailer shop. They had some picnic tables well spaced on their patio so we had lunch. Our first restaurant meal in 5 months with Covid. Great fish and chips.

Next up buying the dinghy. One happy guy!

Kyle's Kart. Yup the dingy fits perfectly. 

I drove back home towing the trailer. It is hardly noticeable that I was towing anything. Hugs the road well. A rather long day for Ray, but we accomplished what we had hoped. The rest of the afternoon we spent down on the dock enjoying the day.

Friday, haircut day ... YEAH. I have been waiting to get into my hairdresser for months and had to get someone else to cut it in June before getting into see her yesterday.

I did not get back home until 1:30 pm so time to sit down at the dock as it was really warm at 27C. Darryl our neighbour out trying paddleboarding for the first time. lol Stayed down on the dock until 5 pm when Freya vocally told us it was her dinner time. :)

For dinner it was barbecued hamburgers. We sat out on our new little bistro table I purchased from Wayfair. It all folds up to a small rectangle out of the way when not used.

2 chairs and folding table.

Kristi texted me and they are coming tomorrow for two nights and will be here in the morning to enjoy a lake day. Yeah.

Little Stella is 3 months old today. What a smiley little girl. Growing like a "weed". Apparently she is a pretty happy baby.

Our little "frog" is getting so big.

Ray spent the morning fixing the sundeck tiles. The original install was done pretty shoddy with not enough support under the porcelain tiles so some of them rock. He had ordered more supports and is gradually working through the tiles and fixing the ones as necessary. Not a great job for him on his hands and knees but he does a little bit here and there.

I did my chores, and prepped a salad for dinner and put the prime rib into some marinade ready for the rotisserie later in the afternoon.

The gang arrived by 11:30 am and we all headed down to the dock to enjoy the day. It got up to 31 C by late afternoon. The breeze on the lake kept us pretty cool though. Only Kristi opted to go for a swim. The dogs just chilled after getting them all wet.

At 5 we all came back up to the house and by 5:30 were sitting down for dinner. It was too hot to be on the sundeck until after dinner. A great day.

Sunday was a cooker! The boys went out fishing early. Jason styling in his fishing outfit. lol

Off they go!

Unfortunately they were unsuccessful but it was a beautiful morning.

Once the boys were back and after breakfast we all went down to the dock for the day. Kristi made the suggestion that we pack a lunch and go for a slow boat tour on the lake so that is what we did. Captain Kristi driving as she was the "DD". lol

Everyone jumped in off the boat except Jason!

After an hour or so it was back to the dock for the rest of the afternoon. Hot enough that Jason went in for a swim for the first time in 3 summers!

Freya using Zeus as a pillow.

Then we introduced Jason to the floaty! He likes it! He must have stayed in it for an hour.

This guy's weekend did not end well getting towed into the marina! We see at least one or two every weekend. Sometimes it's a houseboat that is towed. :) The people on the lake seem really good about helping out though.

We came up to the house for dinner at 5:30 pm and noticed some clouds in the sky ...

Dinner was hamburgers on the BBQ and salad. Too hot to eat anything substantial.

After everyone cleaned up and did the dishes, Jason retired downstairs for an online meeting, Ray sat inside and enjoyed the A/C and Kristi and I with the dogs, sat down at our beach with our feet in the water. It was still so warm outside.

We all got woken up at 9:30 (yes we all went to bed at 9 except Jason! lol) with an incredible lightning show and some thunder. Wow. Of course Kristi's dog Athena not impressed and neither was Freya. Fortunately more lightning than "booms". Ray and Kristi tried to get pictures but they were not as great as the one's our neighbours daughter took that I copied from Facebook.

Pretty incredible. We could hear people at Lakeside Park next door hooting over the display. Apparently this event caused 6 fires in the Nanaimo area, most in heavily forested areas. The one in the town outskirts was put out by the fire department. The rest of them will be checked out tomorrow.

With this came about a 10 minute downpour that was totally unexpected so all the chair cushions got a little damp. 

A fabulous weekend with the kids.