The heatwave continues and Kristi and Amelia come for the weekend. July 27 - July 31st.

Wednesday morning the last of our company, Steve and Dianne, packed up and headed out to their next destination up island to visit some other friends. Hopefully a little cooler for them in the Bowser area. We spent the day relaxing after all our company. The house seems much more quiet. lol Another blistering hot day spent mostly down on our dock and in the water.

Thursday and Friday a repeat of Wednesday. The weather has been over 33C feeling like 40C since Monday and not cooling off at night either. So thankful for our A/C in the house and the lake to jump into to make life bearable. With it being so hot we did not do very much. Friday night we went over to Deb and Mike's dock for a quick visit watching the sun set. The sun coming peaking through the trees on the top of Bald Mountain. Gorgeous.

Saturday morning, Kristi arrived with Amelia for a couple of days. Great fun. To keep her cool, Kristi put her in the lake a bit but her most favourite thing was the galvanized ice bucket that she fit in perfectly. We set up a shade tent in the back yard and that's where we all sat intermittently jumping in the lake to cool off.

Our lake baby.

Tired her out playing in the water and then it was a 3 hour nap lol. After she woke up and ate some lunch, it was back into the water this time in the tub. :)

Once baby was in bed for the night, we went down to the dock thinking it would be cool but ended back up in the yard in the shade ... too hot.

Amelia slept well so mommy did too.  Up at 6:30 am and after her bottle, reading books cuddling with mommy.

Sunday morning after Amelia ate her first breakfast we took her out for her first boat ride before it got too warm. She was taking it all in ... not too sure for the first bit but seemed to enjoy it. Safe in mommy's arms with her lobster.

Once back home it was time for blueberry pancakes. Playtime going up the stairs with mommy and investigating lol

More time in the yard after her short nap and back into the tub.  She loved it and must have stayed in the bucket for an hour or more.

We bribed Amelia with some ice cream so Kristi could pack up her stuff and get ready to go home by 4:30 pm. Since she only napped 90 minutes instead of 3 hours, Kristi hopes she sleeps another hour on the way home. It worked.

Kristi, Amelia and Zeus were on the road by 4:15pm with a cooled SUV. We started it 15 minutes earlier to cool it down as it was blistering hot in her car.

We went back down to the dock until 5:30 swimming and enjoying the day. These guys came cruising by. Very industrious. lol All sorts of boats and crafts this weekend with it being SunFest here at Laketown Ranch. Estimated people attending the 4 day music festival is 40,000 people! I only went into the grocery store before 9 am to miss all the people. Ray came through in the afternoon after going to Duncan and couldn't believe the tubes in the river, nor the traffic in town.

For a cool $15,000 you can get an electric surfboard. If they are good I saw this guy actually come right out of the water surfing on the fin for quite a long way before he fell off. lol

Wasn't that a Party! Deb's 65th Birthday July 20 - July 26

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we were quite busy getting all the stuff bought for the party on Saturday. We also brought the motorhome back from servicing, so it's available as accommodations Saturday night as well.

WARNING TONS OF PICTURES. DID NOT WANT TO LEAVE ANYONE OUT. These are from everyone's phones lol

Friday morning Kristi, Jason and Amelia arrived followed by my cousin Gord and his wife Susana at 4 pm. It's been 3 years since seeing Gord, so it sure is nice to have a visit and they got to meet Amelia before the rest of the people arrived tomorrow.

Friday dinner is Pork Prime Rib on the Traeger. A great evening. 

Gord, me, Susana and Kristi's dog Zeus.

Susana really feels the cool easily. We all get a chuckle with her all bundled up. lol

Amelia helping with the dishes. :)

Saturday morning after the tents were set up on the lawn, Ray took everyone out for a short boat ride while Kristi and I stayed home with Amelia.

Birthday greetings from my other granddaughter Stella in Squamish.

We sure lucked out with the weather. A beautiful day and not too hot for everyone to enjoy my day.

Before the party

With the new breakwater it's a bit trickier getting the boat into the dock. Ray is giving Jason pointers so he can take people out later for a boat ride.

At noon, Gord and Jason went to Duncan to pick up the trays of food from Thrifty's that Ray had ordered. Wow their food turned out really good. Definitely would order from them again. Susana, Dianne and Kristi got everything else ready with plates, cutlery etc.

At 1 pm our good friends Steve and Dianne arrived and we got them settled into their room before the festivities. At 1:30 more people started to arrive as well as Elvira, my housekeeper. I hired her to handle the food so Ray and Kristi could enjoy my party as well. I had a fabulous time. Everyone else seemed to as well. It was very "chill". The food went over well, not to mention the beer and wine. lol I invited all our neighbours here as well, so I think the final number of guests was 24 not including us. We had 11 people overnight besides us. The house was full. Theo and her boys joined Kristi, Jason and Amelia downstairs and upstairs Steve and Dianne and my cousin Gord and Susana. Our good friend Laurel stayed out in the motorhome. No more room at Kyle's Kottage!

The best part of all the shade tents was they were easy to move around the yard to stay in the shade. Everyone kind of migrated to the side of the yard where I was. :) Also that was where there was more shade as the afternoon wore on.

L to R, Steve, neighbours, Darryl and Pat and June and Roy.

My cousin Gord

Jason with Kristi's best friend Theo

Ray's cousin Brian, with Theo's parents Ivo and Sara and Jason.

Susana and Gord with Dianne and Steve with Zeus.

Neighours Roy and Mike.

Neighbours June, Debra and Debra's mom Lolly

Kristi's best friend Theo and her two boys, as well as Theo's parents, Ivo and Sara came to my party. The boys really enjoyed swimming and playing in the lake all afternoon.

Theo's parents, Ivo and Sara from Victoria with Ray's cousin Brian behind them.

Theo's boys Nicholas and Alexandros

Obviously caught Laurel talking. lol

My beautiful cake that Kristi ordered.

Apparently this was "take 2" lol Kristi came out singing and I was no where to be found ... I was down in the lake with the baby. :)

Amelia with her Godmother Theo.

Our good friends Jim and Mary from Nanaimo

I received a lot of wine to keep me stocked. 

As you can see I was spoiled with gifts. The rose bush beside me was also a gift from Roy and June next door.

A puzzle from Ivo and Sara. We gave them one from Christmas to do that took forever so they returned the favour. lol

Amelia helping with the unwrapping.

Cutie in her dress for my party.

Laurel writing down who gave what for me :) Also Sara, Ivo and Brian.

Hi Aunty Dianne, do you have a treat?

Ray spoiled me with some gold loop earrings.

My cousin Gord and Susana

The party ended at 7 as planned so the rest of us headed back up onto the deck for the evening. Above Dianne in her gorgeous dress. I never made it inside to change into mine lol

Our little Mexican sweetheart gets cold easily lol The rest of us were warm.

  

Sunday morning everyone had fruit and pastries left over from the party for breakfast. Certainly made it easy for me lol Another beautiful day. Jason, Gord and Steve helped take down all the tents in the back yard before Gord and Susana left to catch their ferry home out of Sidney.

Theo's boys were back in the lake. Mike, next door offered to take them out on his amazing wave boat for a tube ride. Kristi and Jason went as well and I looked after Amelia. Nicolas said it was the first time he saw his mom have fun as an adult! 

Thanks a million Mike!

Lunch consisted of more leftovers from the party. We had tons of food left over. Once the crew was fed, Theo and the boys headed back to Victoria as well as Kristi and Jason with Amelia to Nanaimo. The house quieted after the exodus of guests. Steve and Dianne are staying with us until Wednesday morning so they would be here for my actual birthday on Tuesday. Dianne is my "kitchen angel" lol She was cleaning up behind me for their whole stay with Steve drying. What a gift in itself. Thanks a bunch.

Everyone in their bathing suits and down to the dock for rest of the afternoon. Dinner is leftovers again. We ate wings, meatballs, ribs as well as veggie, fruit and pastries. 

With all the sunshine and fresh air, Ray, Steve and Dianne all went to bed at 9pm ... I wasn't quite ready and just wanted to relax so went down to the dock and caught this beautiful sunset.

Mike and Debra saw me down there and told me to come over next door for a glass of wine ... which I did lol. Came home at 11 to a very quiet house minus the snores. :)

Monday was another gorgeous day and much warmer than Saturday or Sunday. I fired up the Traeger again for my ribs and made a pot of baked beans first thing after making Monkey bread for Steve for breakfast. lol I invited Mike and Deb next door for dinner as well as a thank you for taking our guests out for the time of their life. :) Mike and Debra are always cooking for a crowd next door. It's nice that they got to be first in line for the food for a change. 

Monday morning, Steve and Ray headed out to do some fishing in the narrows. Steve managed a small one and Ray caught a Lamprey eel. Nothing too much lol. Back home early, we all spent the rest of the day down at the dock.

Tuesday the boys headed out again down to Shaw Creek at the other end of the lake. The water is flat calm today. Ray got one 16" rainbow trout, otherwise the fish were not interested lol even though they could see them.

Tuesday, Happy Birthday to me! We all headed out at 11:30 to go to the Lion Rampant Pub in Maple Bay. A wonderful lunch. 

After a quick tour of the Maple Bay Marina and docks, it was back to Lake Cowichan. We stopped at the old train bridge over the river so we could see all the tubers before heading home. A lot more water in the river this year compared to last year.

Back home we all got changed and into the water with our margaritas by 1:30 pm lol The temperature a balmy 36C and feeling like 40C. Sure glad it wasn't that hot on my birthday.

Tonight's dinner was more leftovers ... ribs and beans. :) After a day in the sun we all opted to stay inside with the A/C. Way too hot on the sundeck and dock.

Wednesday morning before Steve and Dianne left, Steve flew his drone to take a picture of the house from the sky. It is deceiving in that the houses really look scrunched together but it does not feel like it from the ground they way that we all live with our yards all staggered from the house beside you which gives quite a bit of privacy.

I had a fabulous week of birthday excitement. So fortunate that the weather cooperated. Thanks to all that helped out. I was a very lucky girl.