July 24, 2023- Boy it’s been more then a year since I updated, we don’t do as much as when we lived in Alaska.
I’m not sure what to add for my update. Covid seems to be less, as everything is back up and running. Which is nice, but still like to wash my hand often, good cleaning habits help, to keep germs in general at bay.
I will be right back, need to read my last blog, to see where, I need to start sharing with you….😎
Okay, ready to update…lol
So DH just got his 6th Covid vaccination, since his cancer he doesn’t want to be sick, so this will help keep him from catching Covid again. We both caught Covid just after Christmas. We both had mild symptoms, but we both don’t enjoy being sick.
So I’ll update a bit, as I see there’s lots to add. We went and picked up our daughter a University in May 2022. All her stuff didn’t fix in the car, and had to donate a few things at the donation bins…😎
DD worked a few jobs over summer, and decided after a few years, University wasn’t for her, and decided to apply for the Canadian Military, like her Dad and brother. This seemed to take awhile for things in this department to kick in. She worked her summer job, and then got a job at our ski hill (notice I said hill, we don’t have mountains here). Doing this job she really enjoyed working with all the tools….😎 Helps to do different jobs when deciding what you will do for your career …...
DS is enjoying his time in the Royal Canadian Navy, living in Victoria with his GF and their dog. They live in the military housing as it’s so expensive to buy in Victoria. We wish we had not sold our house in Sooke, back in 2012 when we moved to Alaska, we could have retired and moved back to the Island, but more about that later.
July 2022-we spent the weekend camping at my Sister’s (K) trailer, for Canada Day weekend, the 3 of us, and my sister and her kids, her hubby had to work.
Adventure Camping we did in the rain, but it did clear up for the celebration, Christmas in July parade. We had a few rain down pours and thunder and lightening.
Our gas in July 2022 was $1.65, and this year July 2023 our gas is $1.39 so it’s not to bad, I guess. BC’s gas is much higher at almost $2……☹️
DD and I went to the air show, DH had to work at his works display, it was a warm day, and we enjoyed another Cold Lake Airshow, they are every 2 years here. It’s not a yearly event.
In Aug 2023 DH and I drove out to BC, to visit our family on Vancouver Island. DD had to stay home and work, as she was on a job contract, and had to stay and work. We drove DH’s BMW, well he drove the whole way and back, so you know he’s feeling better. We toured some old stomping grounds of my DH, on our way to the Island. We went to Princeton, he spend some time there at Glider Summer Camp. It doesn’t seem to be running summer camps, any more.
We spent the afternoon with my cousin and her family, it’s been awhile, definitely long over do. We then went to our friends, just down the road, in our old stomping grounds of Maple Ridge. We spent the evening with our friends, having our regular Chinese Food dinner. It’s our tradition now….😎
With us driving we didn’t get to spend enough time with friend and family, before heading to the island. We got up early and heading for the ferry terminal. Heading to our Son’s house, and getting to meet and hang out with his girlfriend and dog for the first time in real life.
We had ordered new tires for Hubby's car, to be sent to Costco, so of course the tires were delayed, so we spent an extra day in Victoria, before heading up island. We did a few walks around and visited and ate out at a few different restaurants.
On the way up Island DH and I stopped and did the Malahat Skywalk, it was really cool, and the views are amazing.
Family dinners are always better at the cabin/lake, when you are with family and friends. We had a dinner with our family and friends, and of course swimming. It as a warm time of year and swimming helps to cool you off, but the lake gets lake ich from the goose poop, so you have to have a shower and towel off, if you have sensitive skin. We took a dinner party picture, to save the moment in time. There was 30 ish of us. We also took some family pictures, it’s not always that we are all together any more.
The next day, my sister (L) had a tea party for us all at her house. It was lots of fun, she took the kids with here to help her with all her plans. They helped with setting up the tables, adding tea cups and all the table settings and decorations, then helped make the sandwiches, some guests brought goodies/ bake goods.
That night we stopped for seafood…..Oysters and clams, to bring to my parents cabin. When your on the coast you have seafood, not in Alberta. This is my hubby’s rule….yum. He loves Oysters cooked on the BBQ.
My Sister(K) and kids headed out early for home back in Alberta. Later in the morning DH and DS and his girlfriend and her cousin went hiking early to beat the heat. After leaving my parents cabin my grand dog and I started heading slowly up island, stopping to visit a few friends along the way.
It was another really hot day, so heading up to my sisters (L), I got a call to say they had finished hiking so I said meet up at my Sisters (L) house, she’s been working on her house, up grading, it was a long reno. She wanted to show us, what she’s been doing.
After our visit, I ended up taking the girls and dog in our car, it has air conditioning and my son’s cars air wasn’t working, so I stopped and got a cooked chicken and Caesar salad and a tuxedo cake at Costco for dinner.
DS stayed over, and heading back to Victoria the next morning leaving early to beat the heat. DH and I spend some time with his Dad/ my father in law. We went to visit the gravesite to see where DHs Moms memorial was, and to check in with other family/ancestors buried at the grave.
We went out for dinner at Joeys Only ….okay not called that any more, but we went for fish and chips. Mom and Dad stopped in to say Hi, as we were leaving the next morning for home, via the Powell River way….so we did the circle route, our first time going that way, stopping by Mollys reach, it rained so wasn’t the most beautiful of drives but was nice to see the different route home. We took a few days to get home, with our age, we aren’t fans of driving at night, so stopped a few times. But finally made it home.
August- we saw Northern lights and the sweet peas bloomed, I’m looking through my pictures, and that about it for August….lol
September- we celebrated our DD’s 20th Birthday, how can she be this old already….lol My gardens looked amazing, looks like I had a sun flower, but not sure if it ever had seeds.
October 2022 -we enjoyed a fire, we don’t have fires in our fire pit like we thought we would, but I guess there’s lots of heat in the summer and lots of snow in the winter. We had thanksgiving at home, just the 3 of us.
We got our new couch, we bought our mattress a few years ago and love it, so I saw on TV about a company, that ships couches right to your house, so 3 or 4 big boxes showed up, DH and DD put the couches together, and so we had to get rid of the old couch, my idea was to take apart the old couch, wrong idea, but it is what it is.
I of course have been crocheting and made crocheted popcorn for my Christmas tree, and will add red berries to the garland. To use for years to come.
By Nov 2, 2022 we had snow, I think it may have snowed the day after Halloween, but didn’t take a picture, so it didn’t happen right…lol
Looks like I took some walks in the snow, to find frozen things to take pictures of, then I made shortbread, we love Shortbread in our family, and I made many batches…😎 My Mom likes the whipped shortbread, but I prefer the traditional type. My sister (L) always makes it early, and says it tastes better, seasoned. 🤷♀️ I think it tastes good either way to me…lol
DD started dating her boyfriend, he’s also in the military, so looks like I’m surrounded by the military…😎
We went on a cruise with our friends, our cruise family, we have been on many cruises with them. We cruised the Harmony of the seas on this cruise, it was the biggest cruise ship we had sailed on. It was beautiful, it was an amazing time, DH is working on making a travel page, so stay tuned for that, I will post when we are up and running our channel. The last few days, hubby got sick, and it really knocked him down, he took a Covid test but never tested + so was a bad cold/flu.
Dec 2022- we went for hubbys cancer check up and things are all good. I spent my time, baking and doing Christmas cards, walking in the winter land. Family also loves the Ginger Crinkle cookies, I make many batches of these cookies. I have the recipe over on my recipe page, that can be found on the side menu (Pages) of this page.
We had my cousin K and hubby over for dinner, I think it was Christmas Eve, we had a fondue, I made crocheted gnomes for us all, there was DD and boyfriend, cousin K and Hubby and the two of us. We also brought out the Raclette, to check out.
We spent New Years at home, as we were removing from Covid.
Jan 2023- we went for a skate at the base skating rink, well I didn’t and DHs skate blade was broken, so he didn’t skate either. DD skated and helped her boyfriend learn to skate. It was a beautiful day, with mild temps and even the sun came out to play.
I discovered I’m allergic to Tide with Oxy, I got big welts/ hives. So I gave that detergent to DD’s boyfriend to take to work (Firefighters need free stuff right..lol) take my allergy meds and I was all better the next day.
Cousin K, DD and I (and DD’s boyfriend sometimes…😎) started to do craft nights on Wednesday nights. Then I joined a crochet group on Mondays at our library, and then joined Wednesday nights a knit and purl group, also at the library. So we had to change our craft night, but we only did like 4 or so nights but we enjoyed getting to know each other again and crafting at the same time. It’s been a few years, they are a military family as well so we don’t get to the same posting often, but they moved here, when Covid and Cancer happened for us.
During this last few months DD got to do her Aptitude test for the military, in Edmonton, then her Medical in CL and then got an offer, and had her joining ceremony in Edmonton. We just happen to have a doctor appointment the day before, so could be with her for her signing, her boyfriend and Dad went to ceremony, she was only able to have two people, still Covid rules, and a small room for ceremony. So I went and got her passport, as it was in the same building and she needed a new Adult passport. Killing two birds with one stone. I didn’t take too long, so got back in time for the pictures after ceremony. We are so happy and proud of our kids, joining the military family, and serving our country. There’s up and down with the military, but I have enjoyed my time being a military spouse. We have been to many parts of the county and have met so many amazing friends.
March 2023- DD headed for Basic training, a few weeks/days in and she cut all her hair off, it was so much easier for basic. She did her 10 weeks, I think that‘s how long it was, and was sent to Borden, Ont for training, and she’s still there now. Doing her courses, before moving on to her first posting. She’s screening to come back to our town.
March 30th 2023- DH and I took a trip back to BC, we got a great deal on our flights, so got to spend Easter with family. We rented a car also, a better price then the year before and planned to go down to Victoria, but our DS and GF and GD came up to visit us.
We toured around our old stomping grounds as we didn’t have time the last time we visited. Went by our old houses, and just checked out changes around town. We played Cinch with family (a card game our family and friends play) on one of our trips we went to the stairs, at the spit and did a few laps, up and down. We did a few hikes and found some GeoCaches. We haven’t geo cached in a few years.
We (when I say we I mean DH, with the help of my sister (L) and her BF) and the Zip zip … metal grinder, thing. Changed the dripping kitchen tap at my FIL’s house. Because the tap was rusted on, we couldn’t get the old taps off the sink, but with the zip zip, it vibrated and cut the tap off quick, noisy but quick.
So while DH with assistant FIL put the sink back together, a bunch of us went to the Easter Bunny Hop, it was a nice day, with family. When we got back there was another problem, with the sink, the sink was leaking, but after closer investigation, Sister (L) and BF said we just needed a new (basket???) forget the name, but we went to Home Depot and picked one up. So an hour job, ended up being a few days…but now we know how to fix it….and FIL has a new tap.
My Sister (L) and BF invited us up for dinner one night with my mom and dad and brother and kids.
Then we went down to my parents cabin, and had a Thanksgiving fest with family. We colored Easter eggs, made pies, made breaded Oysters like Auntie Kate used to make. Had a big fire, some one went swimming……she fell in head first, so she was cold, but after the change of clothes she warmed by the fire.
Later, my Dad lit a lighted lantern, it went up, it went up so high then came back down, there was no wind.
The next day we decided we needed a new geo cache at the dinosaur hike, so we decided how we wanted the geo cache to look, we wanted it to be in a dinosaur , so Dad hollowed out a hole, and made a wine cork stopper, then we added paper to sign. And then off we went to hide the cache. It was pouring rain, but hid it and attached it to the stump, with a chain. Then we did the loop of the hike/walk. My dad has made a big dinosaur on the hike too with wood.
The next day DS and GF and GD went home. So we (DH, Dad and I) decided to check on our other Geo cache we have at the lake, so we went down, to check it out, it was a bit wet, but found the cache, safe and sound.
The next day Mom, Dad DH and I took a drive/trip to Port Alberni, we stopped in Coombs to see the goats on the roof, then had lunch in Port Alberni at the water front, then stopped at the cathedral grove on the way back, did a walk around the forest park.
That night Dad had bought a ROKR Airplane control tower 3D puzzle when we were at Coombs, so DH and my Dad worked on putting it together. It’s a lot harder then they thought it would be.
My Mom has been having chemo for a few years, and has now changed to a different chemo, because she is having some side affects, with her fingers and toes, they are numb and tingly, like they are asleep. So she can’t do big adventures, but she’s happy to sit and read her book, and rest.
April 12, 2023 we head back up to FIL’s house, it’s his 91st bday. We leave the next day flying back to Edmonton. We had to stay over a night in Edmonton, so DH found a store with the ROKR 3D puzzles, so he picked up a guitar and amp.
Back at home I started a few seeds, wanted to start more, but we had another trip planned and had know one to water my plants. April 28th some seedlings are growing.
May 2023- we took our trip to Montreal/Ont for DD’s Basic training ceremony. We stayed with our friends, did a few tours, and went to DDs Graduation of Military Basic training. We stayed at the base, her BF came for the ceremony and our friends joined us too. We all went out for dinner to celebrate, and BF went home early AM and we went home on the night flight. Staying over in Edmonton and then headed home the next day. DD drove with a friend, she meet at basic, her friends parents live in Ottawa, so they stopped for a night before making their way to Borden, Ont.
June and July we didn’t do much, went for a doctor check up in Edmonton, and just watering and watching my gardens grow.
July 1st we walked down to our celebrations Canada Day celebrations, we watched the parade, and a few of the different performers. Then headed to my sister (K)’s cabin, my other sister (L) surprised us, they told us to bring warm clothiers, but we had already left. Because my sister didn’t bring warm enough clothes…lol we brought the rain, seems like we bring the rain every time we go….lol but it was nice on Monday, we helped put their boat holder together, and their friend helped to move it out to the warf. We came home Tuesday after lunch.
Oh ya forgot to mention, DD and BF got engaged July 16th 2023- and she said YES wedding in a few years.
Well that’s about it for now, this took about 3 hours to write out, I have to update more often….lol we are enjoying raspberries, and looking at my plants grow. Our Mountain Ash tree is looked dead, hopefully this is just a seasonal thing. But wanted to add a note about my tree. Because time is flying by and I need to remember life events.
Thanks for reading about our crazy life….🌻😎🌻
