May 11 - 31 Lake Days and visits with Jason and Kristi.

Well it started out feeling like summer then Wednesday came. lol Rained overnight and into the morning. The rest of the day was mostly cloudy but warm. We spent the afternoon sitting on the deck watching the work being done on the other side of the lake from us. Certainly noisy when the compactor went up and down. The amount of dirt they have removed from this building site is amazing. They took down a good portion of the hillside.

Thursday was another stellar day. Ray helped me potting up my planters in the backyard and then we sat down at the dock for a couple of hours and had our lunch. We saw some fish rising so Ray used the fishing rod to cast and actually caught a fish! First one from the dock ever.

Friday was a stellar day. The kids called yesterday that they would like to come down for lunch in between Amelia's eating and sleeping times for Friday. :) It was sure nice to see them here at the lake. Kristi and I managed a short kayak paddle before it was feeding time again. lol Grandpa and Daddy stayed on the dock waiting for us.

One happy Grandpa! Our Lake Baby

All of us on the dock.

Sticking my tongue out at Grandpa. lol

The wind came up so back up onto the sundeck for "wiggle time". 

Once she was fed again ... we managed to get her to sleep that we could have lunch. I purchased a playpen to use upstairs when they visit. Makes it much easier than holding her all the time. 

A great 5 hour visit. Maybe next time they will overnight. :) Amelia is sleeping better at night allowing Jason and Kristi more sleep now which certainly is a blessing for them. Ray and I set up a crib downstairs so we are ready.

Saturday, another lovely sunny warm day. Ray spent a couple of hours working on my irrigation system for the planters in the front of the house, while I did my usual kitchen chores and made breakfast. I also had some baby laundry to do. lol The rest of the day we spent on the dock and on our sundeck when the wind came up. A glorious day.

Sunday we dumped some potting soil on the bare spots on the lawn and reseeded. The gravel/sand mixture that was put down by our gardener would not stay wet so after two weeks still no grass. Ray and I decided to deal with it ourselves. I did my inside chores and Ray worked some more on the irrigation for the front planters. It will be nice once that is done so I don't have to water them by hand, 3 times a day when it is hot out. The front of the house is a cooker in the late afternoon.

Monday, we woke to very cloudy skies. The wind is up and the temps seem much colder than the 14C is says. Inside stuff today. The kids came down for a visit to escape their house as their cleaner was coming to do a "big clean" so they needed to get out of the house. I was asked to provide breakfast of blueberry pancakes and bacon. lol Lunch was also on their list. They arrived with dogs in tow at 9:15 am.

Unfortunately Ray had some spasming in his back so we all joined him in bed for a bit so he didn't feel left out. lol Kristi and Jason's idea. :)

Unfortunately Amelia had a meltdown so on came her favourite song, You Are My Sunshine. lol We all sing it now. :)

Once she had been fed and settled they hit the road back to Nanaimo around 4 pm. The rain held off all day until they went to leave so not such a bad day after all. A great visit.

Tuesday after an early morning drizzle the clouds lightened up. I headed to Duncan for my weekly shopping trip and Ray puttered around at home. It remained pretty windy all day but got worse around 3 pm with white caps on the lake. Too cold to stay outside. 

Today our granddaughter Stella turns one years old. Here are some pictures. Kristi and I bought her the bike.

I received my fresh prawn order so we had a fabulous prawn feast for dinner.

Divided into two batches so I can have it again tomorrow. lol

Wednesday woke to sunshine but still cool and breezy. While I do inside chores, Ray continued to work on the irrigation system in the front of house. With the left over prawns from last night it was pasta with prawns tonight. Delicious.

Thursday woke to sunshine finally. The weather is supposed to get warm again which will be nice for our reseeded grass areas to start growing. All the planters are doing well but could use some sunshine too. Today Ray and I moved the motorhome to get our boat out of the garage. We are having someone come and detail it tomorrow as it's way too hard for Ray to wax the boat anymore. 

Ray went to have a hot tub, this morning and of course without his glasses ... and he is quite blind without them. Freya was sniffing something and he thought it was a frog. Turned out to be a bat crawling along the concrete pad. Ray put Freya in the basement and scooped up the bat with a shovel and put it onto the rocks on the beach below the bat house we have installed. After closer inspection it must have been roosting under our back stairs and when the sprinklers came on to water our reseeded lawn, the water hit it and it fell down! We figured this out as there was bat poop on the picnic table under the stairs. Fortunately Freya's vaccinations are up to date with rabies. lol It was facing down anyways so I imagine she would have been fine . Wow so done with bats!

Friday a bit of a high cloud/fog start but by 7 am it was clearing off. Still quite cool at 6C and breezy. Our Bimini we had ordered 6 weeks ago was finally discovered !!! It had been sitting at Monti's Marine since April 30th and they kept saying it has not come yet. Needless to say after Ray made many phone calls back and forth to Lund head office to only find out that it has been here for the past 3 weeks did not make a "happy camper". He went and picked it up and we will have our local boat tech install it next week. Not a great day. Too cool to sit down at the dock very long as the wind was up. Did not stop kids being towed by boats though for the start of the May long weekend.

Friday, May 21, my Uncle Ken turns 90 years old. Wow. His son, Gord and wife Susana took them out for brunch at the Hart House in Burnaby on their patio. Happy Birthday Uncle Ken.

Saturday, started out foggy but soon cleared off. Ray managed to go out fishing for an hour before the wind came up. Had one bite and that was it. He struggled with considerable pain in the afternoon so spent quite a bit of time laying down, poor guy.

Heard from my RV tech that my new toilet for the half bath is finally in!!!!! We have been trying to get a replacement since last October. He will pick it up next week and then we can get it installed. We will be ready then for our first RV trip in over a year since we came back from the USA!

Ray managed a few pictures of a glorious sunset last night. Unusual for us. These three pictures taken every few minutes.

Sunday, most of the day was breezy and cloudy. Not the best for boating activities for people enjoying a long weekend. I decided to get the Traeger Smoker fired up and made a rack of beef ribs for the first time. Of course tons of left overs for dinner tomorrow. Good thing as it's supposed to be a rainy day.

Started out looking like this.

Picture from Google

5 hours later Yummm.

Definitely a "do again". 

Monday woke up to the forecasted rain. More of a drizzle. Cooking day for me. I made a batch of hamburger soup. Some for us, but mostly for Jason as he is having oral surgery in July and will need a supply of soft things to eat for a few weeks.

Tuesday wasn't too bad. Still mostly an inside day with the clouds and wind. Wednesday we took a quick trip to Nanaimo for Ray to return some things at Harbour Chandler and we managed a couple hours visit with Kristi, Jason and Amelia..

Selfie, I'm concentrating to make sure I don't drop the phone on the sleeping baby! lol

A great visit and were back home by 1 pm. The predicted rains started at 4 pm. My front iris's are doing great this year.

Thursday woke to rain, rain, rain. Oh well the forests and gardens need the moisture. Definitely an inside day so laundry it is ... lol

Made Ray his favourite breakfast, french toast and bacon. Freya totally disgusted we are not outside decided to hunker down on her mat outside the front door and watch the rain fall. :)

Managed a walk in the park with Ray in between showers. The wild roses are blooming and are very fragrant.

Friday morning the rain has finally quit but it's still breezy and the clouds start to dissipate. Ray's plan is to hook up the utility trailer and go get some more lumber for projects. lol Mine is to finish laundry and hopefully by afternoon we can get back to enjoying our yard sitting outside.

Saturday a fabulous sunny day. Ray managed to get out fishing for a bit. 

Looking towards the marina.

House on the end of Otter Point. We see the other side of this house on our deck.

You can just see our gazebo on our sundeck on the far right.

After an hour he was back and we puttered a bit in the yard. He got so warm and dirty from playing in the garden he decided to actually go jump in the lake! First time this year. He sure did not stay in the water very long. lol

Out of the water!

Since the weather was so lovely I decided to fire up my Traeger and it was pork ribs on the menu tonight. I also had a pork hock to use up so homemade beans in the InstantPot. They are so easy to make using the pressure cooker. Accompanied by cast iron cornbread. Yumm. Certainly made for an easy dinner as the appliances did all the work!

While everything was cooking we were able to sit down on the dock for an hour enjoying watching all the boat activity on the lake. By 3:30 it was too breezy to day down on the dock so we sat up on the deck while I watched our dinner being cooked. :)

Another lovely day on the lake.

Sunday woke up to clouds ... what happened to all the sun that was forecasted! From nothing but sun for a week we might have a shower today! Update more than a shower. Ray and I hurriedly put the covers back on the deck furniture. 

It finally cleared somewhat about 1 pm and we managed to spend some time down at the dock and on our sundeck while I barbecued a chicken.

Monday, May 31st. Wow May is done!

A very warm, cloudy, humid day. The kids came down for lunch to spend some time with us. The sun did manage to break through by the afternoon. 

Jason came to do some ladder work for us with another spot we noticed that needed caulking. I kept Amelia amused while Kristi held the ladder and Jason climbed it. A tough spot as there is very little room between the gazebo roof and the house. 

I kept Amelia amused in the playpen as she likes to wiggle now and not be held too much  now that she is 4 1/2 months old.

We have her all set up so they don't have to bring a ton of stuff when they come to visit.

After they all came back in, it was time to finish off making our lunch, Navajo tacos.  I had made the beef and the Mexican rice with pico de gallo earlier in the morning before they came so it was only frying the dough left to do. Amelia nicely fell asleep so the kids were able to eat at the same time. :)

So that's the last three weeks. It sure went by quickly.