Visitors Arrive ...

Ian had gone upstairs to get the fan for Daigen ...
we had it stored in the closet of his bedroom ...
not only did he find the fan ... but ... his "Flying Thunder" game ...
that he received as a birthday gift in 1992 ...
He was so excited to set it up and show Daigen ...
Daigen thought it was pretty cool ...
to fly the Helicopter ... !!!!
(I think that Ian will finally take this toy back to his home ... !!)

 

Oma and Kurt came out for a visit ...
to spend some time with Daigen and Nixon ...
Ian and Kendall were on their way to town ...
so we were left in charge ...
Oma was excited to give Nixon a bottle ...
happiness all around ... !!!
 

We all went outside for a swim in the pool ...
Oma & Kurt sat out under the umbrella ...
just in time to see Grandpa perform ...
trying to climb up on Dino ... he was so proud of himself when he actually made it ...
then he thought he would sit back and relax ...
oh dear ...
where is Grandpa ... ???
Round one belongs to Dino .... !!!!

 

Friends gathering in the pool to cool off ...

Ian creating a water spout with the Noodles attached to the water jet ...

spraying anyone getting close to him ...

Daigen taking a few minutes to grab a quick snack ...

before heading back into the water ...

playing with Grandpa and the Bubble gun ... !!!

We have had so much fun ... cooling down ... from the welcomed heatwave ... !!!

Time To Bake ...

 

I had gathered all the ingredients to bake a "Crazy Cake" with Daigen ...
that was before he had fallen asleep ...
so after he had woken up ...
Daigen added the ingredients into the pan ...
we proceeded to mix everything together ...
popped it into the oven and let it bake ...
 

Once the cake had cooled ...

Daigen helped to make the icing as well ...

the best part for him was to lick the frosting off the beaters ...

and put sprinkles on the cake ...

a tasty treat for dessert ...

after we had dinner ... !!!

Grandma Day ...

 

Fooling around on July 23 ... just before it was time to get ready for bed ...
holding Nixon between my legs ... and making sure that he does not topple over ...
while I smother Daigen with kisses ...
he is so funny because when I stop munching on him ...
lifting my head ...
his little hand will reach up and pull my head down ...
towards his neck area ...
he actually moves his head to the side for me to attack him ...
love the giggles and laughter ...
 

Daigen loves to play on the piano ...
 and then grandma comes in and interrupts his little tune ...
that he is plunking out on the keys ...
This was the morning that everyone was heading into town ...
except Grandma and the children ...
as soon as everyone had gone ...
Nixon had fallen asleep ...
and Daigen had found Claire's video of her playing with bubbles on Youtube ...
Claire is the Granddaughter of my dear friend Dagmar ...
(I had not shown Daigen this video ... funny how connected our friendship is ... for him to find her )
He played this video over and over ... fast forwarding and rewinding it ...
hours of entertainment ...

 

Nixon had woken up from his nap ...
I placed him on the sheet on the carpet to play ...
Daigen had been working on this wooden puzzle ...
Nixon had rolled his way over to it ...
and started to take it apart ...
thought he was "Mr. Big Shot "
quite pleased with himself ...

 

Later in the afternoon ...

Nixon had gone down for another nap ...

I was already to spend some one on one time with Daigen ...

in the meantime he had been watching a few videos ...

grabbed his blanket ...

and had fallen fast asleep on the living room floor ...

Both the boys slept for 3 hours ...

they were exhausted from travelling ...

and playing around in the pool ...

 I had a bit of time to sit down and enjoy a a cup of coffee ... !!!

Let's Go Play ...

 

It was a beautiful day to go for a walk ...
Daigen headed out on his bike ...
it takes a little more effort to peddle on the gravel ...
just a few feet from the driveway ...
Daigen decided to stop and check out the daisies ...
.
 

He was picking off one petal at a time ... 

"she loves me ...she loves me not ..."

Kendall and I were laughing so hard ...

all we wanted to do was go for a walk ...

Finally we started traveling down the road ...

with Daigen abandoning his bike ...

and running to catch us ....

When we were on our way back ...

Daigen sat on his bike ...

with a big smile on his face ...

as Grandma and mommy pushed him back to the house ...

 

Once we were back at the house ...

Daigen and I went to the play area ...

chillin' out on the swings ...

sliding and keeping a close eye on Grandma ...

thru the  scope ...

Going To Grandma & Grandpa's ...

 

It had been quite a while since this family came for a visit ...
they arrived during our power outage ...
we managed so well as they live out in the country ...
and experience hydro outages ...
Daigen was really excited to go for a quad ride with mommy ...
then having Grandma's and his iPad ...
Daigen loves watching grandma singing in the choir video ...

 

Hooray ... it was warm enough to jump in the pool and play with Dino ...

 

Family having fun in the pool ...

Grandpa has the boiler fired up so that Nixon will be able to enjoy the water ...

for now just hanging out on the deck ...

Decks Is Back On ...

July 20,  2012
 

Holidays over ....
time to get back to work ...
putting this backyard back together again ...
It was so hot during this time ...
having to be completely covered up ...
due to the swarms of mosquitoes ...
eating us up ....

 

Once again the Trusty Tractor ...

comes in handy to complete the big jobs ...

I was the operator ...

as Mike guided the deck into position ...

A job well done ...

without any complications ... !!!!

Guess I'll have to get the stain out now and cover the boards ...

as we are not quite ready to put on new decking yet ... !!!

Stopping For A Visit ...

Sunday,  July 15, 2012
 

Spending the night with the Roberts family in Qualicum Beach ...
before flying back home the next day ...
it just happened that Nathan and his family were there visiting also ...
quite a house full and lots of fun ....

 

Early morning ...
Arden glued to Craig's side ...
so thrilled to be playing with his iPod ...
Craig being so patient in showing her how to play games ...
Jacob & Maren ...
were kind enough to give up their bedroom for Mike & I ...
they pitched the tent up on the deck ...
Jacob wanted to sleep under the stars ... but Maren wasn't going for it ...
Apparently during the night ...
Maren had woken up and was wet ...
due to the rain that was coming down ...
because somebody didn't attach the tent fly...

 

The group looking at holiday pictures ...

of Jake and Maren's trip to the East Coast ...

It was great to see everyone ...

even if it was only for one night ...

Temporary Power ...

This is what we lived with for approximately 4 1/2 days ...

due to a power outage from a massive destructive storm ...

that blew thru on Friday, July 20, 2012...

We were fortunate to have our refrigerators, freezers, water, for the duration ...

with no other damage done ...

Our Power was finally restored this morning ...

This is a quote from the Cranbrook Daily Townsmen :

 "At about 6:15 p.m. on Friday, July 20, a brief but destructive windstorm downed seemingly hundreds of trees, crushing cars, collapsing roofs and pulling down power lines. There are unconfirmed reports that winds reached 106 kilometres an hour.

 at the peak of its aftermath, power was out to 20,000 properties in Cranbrook, Kimberley and surrounding areas.

By Sunday afternoon, BC Hydro was on its third day of non-stop work to restore power to 3,800 properties that were still experiencing an outage."

In The Deep Freeze ...

 

We spent the evening on the 14th of July ...
cutting and packaging the fish ...

Then took them to the Island West Fishing Resort ...

to the walk-in freezer ...

for the night ...

 

On the morning of the  15th ...
Mike and Ron picked up the frozen fish ...
to be boxed up for us to go home ....
we headed out in the early afternoon ...
to go and visit friends in Qualicum Beach ...
an urgent call to them ...
asking them if they had room for all the boxes ...
Rob & Cindy ...
were able to find freezer space for the night ...
as we were flying out on Monday morning ...

 

I had made arrangements with our neighbours at home ...

for our fish to be stored in their freezers ...

until we could pick up our new freezer the next day ...

here is the new upright freezer ... with 120lbs of fish  ...

less a couple that we had given to our neighbours ...

WOW ... I think we will be eating fish for quite a long time ... !!!!

THAT'S A WHOLE LOT OF FISH ... !!!

Big Ones Landed ...

July 14, 2012

 

Today we headed north towards Long Beach ...
and 12 miles from harbour ...
along a sandy bank ...
trolling with the down riggers bouncing on the ocean floor ...
this is where Mike caught his 44 lb Halibut ...
Ron decided to use the harpoon on it as it was so big ...
it took both of them to haul it into the boat ...
WHAT A CATCH ... !!!!


 

As soon as we took care of Mike's Halibut ...
I had one on the line ...
it took me a while to bring it in ...
at one point it almost pulled me over ...
Ron brought this fish in with the gaff ...
My Halibut ended up weighing 38lbs ...
heading back towards Ucluelet ... catching another Halibut ...
and a few more Salmon ...
Perfect last day being out on the ocean ...
catching fish ...
 

The guys took the fish to the cleaning station ...

as I started to clean things up on the boat ...

We then headed back to where we were staying to cut and wrap up our fish ...

Taking them to the resort to be placed in the walk-in freezer ... !!

We enjoyed a quiet dinner ... baked potatoes ... salad ... corn ... & barbecued steak ... 

after our work was done ... !!

Rough Waters ...

Friday,  July 13, 2012
 

Even though it was Friday the 13th ...
we ventured out early in the morning ...
once again into the heavy fog ...
the winds picked up as we headed out of the harbour ...
we travelled out into the open rough water ... 25 miles out ... felt the queasiness in my stomach ...
figured with the anti-nausea patch I should be ok ...
when we reached our destination ... along the sand bank ... the perfect spot to jig for Halibut ...
we put our lines into the water ... hitting the bottom ...
sitting there as we trolled ...
I had asked Ron for a couple ginger capsules ...
I went into the cabin to get my water to take them and that was it for me ...
I never made it back out onto the deck ...
I was sea-sick ... I ended up falling asleep ... trying to stay still ...
as the guys continued to fish ...
as the boat rocked and bucked between 15 to 20 foot swells ...
at one point Mike said the waves were above the height of the boat ...
they said the fishing was great ... every time they put their lines out ...
one of the two would catch a fish ...
even managed to get a Halibut ... and another Spring Salmon ...
I was so grateful to see the blue sky and calm waters as we approached the harbour  ...
It sure was nasty out there on the ocean ... !!!!

After the fish were cleaned and filleted ...

we decided to go out for dinner ...

needless to say ... I was a little leery on putting anything into my mouth ...

We went on the Canadian Princess Ship ...

to one of the restaurants aboard ...  

the guys had a lovely dinner ...  I chose to have a bowl of soup and toast ... !!!

We then walked around the ship ... and saw the fishing boats docked in the harbour ...

watching the setting sun ... !!

The Canadian Princess Ship 

in 1979 was towed to Ucluelet Harbour 

where it now operates as a floating hotel

and fishing resort ...

Click here to read about the History ...

Gone Fishing ....

July 11 & 12,  2012
We received a phone call from our friend Ron on Sunday ...
he called to ask if we would like to come out to the Island and go fishing ...
the perfect opportunity for us as he had had a fishing trip cancellation ...
of course we accepted
we were in the middle of laying the heating lines for the shop ...
so we said we needed a couple days to complete this job ...
we booked our flights and headed out on Wednesday morning ...
exhausted ... !!!!
 

We landed in Comox ...
rented a car and drove to Ucluelet ...
and arrived late in the afternoon ...
Ron was waiting for us ...
to head out for a few hours of fishing ...
it had been foggy for a few days ...
but that didn't stop Ron from getting us out there ...
to catch some fish ....
Mike caught this 24lb Spring Salmon ...
one of the largest catch of the day ...
out of all the fishermen ...
we also caught few smaller ones ... some keepers ... some we released ...
we were delighted with our daily catch ...

 

This was Day 2 ...
another foggy day going out ...
seeing the sunshine ...
returning into the harbour ...
 

Heading to the cleaning station ...

with my two Coho Salmon ...

Mike scaled them ...

and Ron filleted them ...

we caught a couple Mackerels ... small Cohos' and a Yellow Eyed Rock Fish ...

which were all released back into the ocean ...

Family Together ...

Spending time together on Vancouver Island ...
with friends ...
having a great time seeing the sights ...
Jacob took this picture ...
and forwarded onto me ...
Thank you ...!!!

Growing In The Yard ...

 

Agaricus is a mushroom that contains genes for both edible and poisonous species ...
there are over 300 member in this family  ...
the Button mushroom is of the edible ones ...

I was surprised to see this growing in our yard ...