Happy Birthday Kristi and Amelia gets her cast off. Dec 12 - 22

Kristi and Jason's Christmas Picture 2021. Amelia's first Christmas.

Sunday, we woke up to a skiff of snow. We're back to Kristi's today for her birthday. Jason is taking her out for dinner with some friends, so baby duty again. Depending on the weather, we probably will stay overnight again.

It really started snowing at 8am and continued with heavy flakes until 10 am. Looking at the DriveBC webcams the snow is isolated to Lake Cowichan and Highway 18. There is no snow on the way to Nanaimo at first but then it really started coming down. We decided to get moving and left at 9 am. We experienced a slow drive out of the valley as even though the plow went by in the other direction, the highway instantly covered again. I took it slow and once we got down off the hill the roads were clear and wet but easy drive to Nanaimo.

Jason made Kristi Eggs Benedict for her birthday brunch as it's what she asked for. Delicious. Amelia loves hollandaise sauce. For Kristi's birthday we got her another lantern for her collection. Amelia is fascinated by the movement and light.

After breakfast Kristi opened her present from Jason with help from Amelia.

Jason got Kristi a really good gardening shovel to help her cut through tree roots that get into her garden. Amelia thought the handle was tasty. lol

Next up surprise birthday cake. Yum. Way to go Jason, you certainly made it a special day for Kristi.

Afternoon cookie snack with Grandpa.

The kids headed out at 5 pm for their dinner date with a few friends to celebrate Kristi's birthday. Amelia got fed and then it was our turn to sit and eat. She is really good sitting there watching us. Her new thing today is she has learned to wave Hi! She even said the word 3 times and waved earlier in the afternoon. Changing every day.

After bath, teeth brushed, and bottle Amelia went to bed with a few tears, but soon fell asleep. We had a good night. Kristi and Jason came home by 8:30. After a short visit everyone was in bed by 9:30.

Monday morning after checking the drive cams and temperatures, we headed back home at 8:15 am. There's more snow possibly coming in the afternoon so we wanted to get moving before it possibly happened. Otherwise a quiet day at the lake.

Tuesday it's cold at -1C. Glad we are not driving anywhere today as the wet roads will be slippery. A very pretty morning though.

Ray took me out for the fish and chip special at Jake's at the Lake for lunch. We went just after opening so very few people there, just the way we like it. :)

Wednesday, I roasted turkey legs with veggies this morning for 90 minutes and then boiled it all to make turkey stock from it and finally the Turkey Gravy for Christmas that I will froze until next week. Being that it takes me a total of 5 hours to make I like to get it out of the way as I plan to cook the Christmas turkey on the rotisserie on the barbecue, so won't have the drippings for gravy. Other than some chores, that was our day.

Thursday, Amelia went to Victoria to get her cast cut off. Apparently she was a trooper and only had a mini meltdown. Tired and napping on the way home.

First time seeing her legs for 3 months.

Daddy watching carefully, see the hand on the left bottom corner. lol

 I spent the morning making cookies, cranberry sauce etc. to get ahead for next week. We took a walk over to the park for a walk. The sun os actually out so we decided to have a campfire in the back yard before the rain begins again tomorrow.

We never get tired of this view.

Ray decided to play with his camera, taking pictures of the lights in the house. His pictures sure look better than mine with my phone. lol Of course he also has a wide angle lens.

Friday off to Duncan at 8:30 am to do a final grocery shop for any staples before Christmas and my pedicure. :) Back home before noon.

We invited Pat and Darryl, our neighbours, over for drinks and a quick dinner. Pat brought over some lovely smoked salmon spread for an appetizer while Darryl brought champagne he says goes best with smoked salmon. Lovely to catch up with them since their 5 weeks in Mexico. Of course Ray served them margarita's after the champagne was gone. lol

Cheers!

With unexpected company I took out some frozen chili I made for just such an occasion and through together a salad.

While they were here, we received an email from the neighbour Mike, whose house is between Pat and ours. There was a large cougar just on the road on the other side of Pat's house. Mike chased it with the truck and it took off up to the next neighbours yard. Wow ... glad we were not walking at dusk. I have noticed a lot more deer and rabbit droppings in our back yard this year, maybe it is chasing the game. This was just 15 minutes before Pat and Darryl walked over to our house. Yikes!

Last year, the second week of November, I saw a big cougar in the neighbours yard on the other side of us. I wonder if it is the same cat? He stayed sunning himself for about 30 minutes.

Saturday morning we woke to rain but it snowed about an inch overnight. More snow in the forecast this week so we might have a white Christmas. It was so miserable outside, We opted for a pajama day. lol  After watching a Christmas movie I baked a batch of shortbread to deliver to our neighbours with their Christmas cards, which we changed out of our PJ's for. Fortunately by early afternoon it cleared and we even got a few glimpses of sunshine.

Received another email from another neighbour. That damn cougar is under her front porch purring if you can believe it. Hopefully she called conservation to deal with it. It's obviously not afraid of humans to stay so close. Three years ago, just down the road a young boy was grabbed by a cougar but the mother fought it off.

Sunday, spent the day on some chores I put off, like cleaning the fridge etc. Otherwise a quiet day.

Monday got an "emergency phone call" from Kristi. Jason had his Moderna booster yesterday and was ill all night with fever, chills and body aches. His left arm was really sore so he had a hard time holding Amelia . As Kristi was on call this morning for 24 hours starting at 8 am, she asked us to come up and look after Amelia so Jason could rest. Parents to the rescue! :) 45 minutes later we were on the road. 

I spent the morning entertaining Amelia until her nap for an hour, made Jason breakfast etc. and generally helped out with dishes etc. Ray headed into town for a little shopping. When Amelia went down for her afternoon nap at 2 pm Jason was feeling a little better so we came back home. It is so nice that Amelia is comfortable with us and does not cry when mommy leaves and then daddy leaves for a nap and it's just us. 

The upcoming forecast is for some snow, how much yet to be determined. Hopefully this does not impact Christmas driving too much for the kids and Jason's parents.

Tuesday I spent morning firming up my Christmas menu and doing a quick shop at Country Grocer. I also made a big batch of French Onion Soup in the Instant Pot. A great quick meal over the holidays. Everyone that knows me, expects great food and I do a lot of stuff in advance so I can enjoy my family instead of busy in the kitchen for 3 days. :) and of course Amelia will be here so Grandma needs to be organized.

We are to get a big freezing rain storm tonight so hopefully we don't lose power. A great start on the first day of winter. :)

Wednesday, it poured and I mean poured all day. It did manage to melt all the remaining snow so all of the icy patches are gone in time for the next snowfall tomorrow night. :) Not much happened today.