Graham and the grandkids are coming over today. We are taking it easy in the morning and we'll save energy for when they get here. We got some free firewood blocks a couple weeks ago so when
Graham, Katelyn and Rylan waiting for pieces to split
It's a really warm day and it didn't take long before we said we had enough wood splitting. We are so close to the lake and we rarely go to the beach but the kids have swim suits and are all about going to the beach!! We'll load up in Grahams truck because he has the kids seats in there.
G and Rylan
And Katelyn on the other side
There are closer pics of Dave and G but nobody needs that lol.
We stayed for a little while but the water was really cold. The kids played with some other boys on a foam mat that is anchored in the water. They had a ton o' fun but it wasn't long before they were looking for a towel with their teeth chattering! Time for ice cream!! Nothing like ice cream when you're freezing but they managed alright ;) We drove back to the rig and built a small fire to roast some hot dogs.
We look similar don't we?
Summer is great right?? The beach, ice cream, hot dogs, beer, well of course the kids didn't have beer, but you get what I mean right ? Around 5:00 it was time for the gang to head home to Ft. Sask. Leslie and I just relaxed for the rest of the evening. Kids play us out. :)
Beautiful evening on the 8th green!
One more quick thing. I got a text from my buddy Scott Woodford pretty late at night. He is in Chicago at a blues club owned by Buddy Guy (legendary blues guitarist) coincidently the place is called Legends. Leslie and I went with Scott and Kayla to a Buddy Guy concert in Edmonton a few years ago, absolutely unbelievable concert that we all really liked. Scott lives for music, he plays many styles of guitar and goes to probably 12 - 14 concerts per year all over the world. Anyway it was after 11 and I was getting tired but Scott sent me a pic that made me so jealous....
Scott with the man himself!! Buddy Guy was at his own bar!
July 6
We started our day with a run/walk. Just down the road from us in the RV park was a really nice picnic table with a for sale sign on it. I told Les to have a look at it and see if she likes it. Her birthday is in a couple days and it's a nice table. Score! We met up with the owner later in the afternoon and bought the table. He even helped us load and unload the table at our place, great deal! We went to Evansburg for a few groceries to be ready for a birthday lunch for Leslie tomorrow. There's a few people coming out to help celebrate so we are cleaning up and getting things ready today.
July 7
It's party day! We invited everyone over for noon so we can have a nice easy morning. We have been so busy lately that Leslie had to mostly put together her own party. I know I suck but I helped as much as possible.... and I saw the table first. Sorry Les. You are the best, baby! Happy 39th birthday again! Ryan and Ashtyn arrived first and then Graham and Brittany with the kids (2 visits this week!) then Sam and after a phone call to get the right directions, Leslie's sister, Lorin, found us. She checked out phase 2 first, we are in phase 3. Lol
Ryan & Ashtyn and the kiddos
Brittany, me and Graham
I fired up the barbecue and grilled burgers and hot dogs and Les and the girls made salads to go with. It was really good and we tried out the new table.
Lots of room!
Portable table is the kids table now.
I had texted Ryan earlier to pickup a cake in Edmonton on his way out. Not fancy but at least there was cake. Hmm forgot candles, improvise with a tea light.
Happy Birthday Leslie!!
The cake was really good and we all enjoyed a slice. Now with full stomachs we get to just enjoy the company for a little while. The weather forced us inside a couple times for short spells. The wind was crazy and then it would rain for 10 minutes and then nice again. Welcome to Alberta.
Graham, Britt and the kids were the first to go I think, followed by Lorin. Thanks for coming guys on short notice! Sam, Ryan and Ashtyn stayed a while longer and we played Yahtzee on the table outside. I'm not a huge fan of games but we played a couple rounds and had lots of laughs anyway. Leslie won one game and Ryan won the other, Leslie got 2 Yahtzees in one game so the birthday girl luck was good. They headed back to Edmonton in the early evening and Les and I relaxed in the rig. Not my best effort for Leslie's birthday but great to enjoy it with family like we did. We were a little closer this year at least, not 3 hours away.
Ryan, Leslie, Lorin & Sam
July 8
Okay today is actually Leslie's birthday! Similar to last year we are going to cheer on Ailsa at a race. She seems to plan races on her birthday lol! We were up early for the race start in Stony Plain. We met Ailsa at Allan Beach Resort. She's doing an Olympic Triathlon. The distances are 1.5k swim/ 40km bike and 10k run. She's doing this as a warmup for Whistler triathlon at the end of July.
Swim start
Like a school of fish.
On the bike for 40k
Easy 10k run, doing the jellyfish lol !
Ailsa had a great race, nowhere near as gruelling as Western States, and she had a big smile on her face at the finish. First female across the finish!
There's a happy racer. Time on the clock is for full Tri...not the Olympic Tri
After the race we met at Canadian Brewhouse in Spruce Grove for a post race burger and beer. It's kind of tradition to do post race and as support crew it's where we shine ! Ailsa got Leslie a real nice birthday present.... Purdys dark chocolates and a nice bottle of red wine. Always a favourite, thanks Champ!
Mmmmm dark chocolates :)
We just drove home and relaxed for the rest of the day. What a great weekend, enjoying time with family and friends. That's what we thought retirement would bring. Happy!
July 9
We have an 8 a.m. appointment for the truck in Stony Plain today. Lomax diagnosed a problem we've been having with the rear differential and it should be warranty work so Stony Plain Dodge it is. We went for breakfast at the Uptown Grill in Stony. It was really good and we were the only people there? Like having staff of our own. Surprising because the food is great, a little early maybe. Leslie is toying with selling the Mustang and getting a more fuel efficient, smaller SUV. We were driving past Grove Hyundai so we stopped in to look around. We have time to kill before I get a call about my truck. We looked at a few used vehicles with a sales guy named Bob and thanked him for showing us around. We were having one last look at a Lexus SUV when all of a sudden I hear a gasp out of Leslie and then a "holy $#@&" and she was standing with one foot off the ground beside the only wet, muddy spot in our vicinity. She was looking at the Lexus and slipped in the mud in her flip flops. When the one foot slid she slammed the toes of her other foot into the pavement to regain her balance. Ouch that has to hurt! Umm let's go sit in the car.
Yeah that's broken.... oww
My truck took way longer than expected and cost more than I hoped. The clunking sound in the rear diff has been heard in other trucks but Chrysler insisted on a rear diff service ($217.00) first and then drive it for at least 2000k before they try anything else. Gee thanks. They did repair my marker lights under warranty and I got new fuel filters which I forgot to have done at Lomax. We grabbed some groceries at Super Store, Leslie limping on the broke toe, and I washed her car at the awesome car wash behind Super Store. Time to go home, this has been an expensive day :(
July 10
We started our day with a walk/run, Leslie is taking Margaret and going easy on her toe. It's really purple and swollen. I'm trying to go easy on my right calf but still get in some jogging miles before my 10k on Saturday. I need to know my leg will hold up. I did 4.7 km and as I was jogging back down the park road, I saw the gravel truck at the gate. I had ordered 10 yards of gravel yesterday which was expected between 9 and noon and here he is! EGT gravel is not far from us and the driver split the load into 3 piles exactly where I asked him to put it.
Looks like 3 piles but right where we need it.
Our cement guy agreed to send his skid steer back to spread out the gravel but we want to take some to the back and sides with the wheel barrow. We like a good workout. It ended up we spread almost half of it by hand. Les is limping still and now we can add sore muscles all over from shovelling/raking gravel. Time for a beer and a good supper. Lorin had brought us a big bag of fresh garden basil, mint and Kale that she is growing. Leslie had googled a recipe for pesto earlier today. So she made fresh pesto sauce with all fresh ingredients and we boiled some gluten free pasta and fried shrimp in garlic butter. OMG was it good. I thought we would have leftovers but we ate it all. Yumm
So delicious and look at the presentation!
Of course after a big meal like that we just parked in a chair and watched TV. Oh and we may have had a couple Purdys chocolates for dessert. Don't want them to go bad! That was a big pile of gravel so maybe a little easier tomorrow. We'll see.
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