Friday, June 2 to Tuesday, June 6, 2023 (North Saanich, BC and Puntledge RV Campground, Courtenay, BC)

The weekend we had been looking forward to has arrived! Friday (June 2) morning we had the car packed up and were on the road by 9:00. After a stop in Courtenay to take the car through the carwash we were on the Inland Highway heading south to Sidney. Both Steve and I had appointments to have our eyes checked...mine was at 12:40 and with our ETA 12:20, I was a little concerned. You never know if you're going to run into traffic backups, but we had no problem and arrived early.

We weren't finished until just before 2:00, so walked across the street for a late bite to eat before going to Rob and Angie's. We'd heard good things about the 900 Degree Bistro, so wanted to give it a try. It had a much bigger menu than just pizza, which surprised us. The pizza we shared was very tasty but was rather plain with just pepperoni...mind you, the pizza menu offered "a selection of thin-crust wood-fired pizzas with a focus on unique gourmet ingredients" so Steve chose pepperoni figuring it would be the safest since we had no idea what most of the other ingredients were. I'm more adventurous but Steve is not a fan of thin crust pizza, preferring pizzas with the thicker crust and lots of toppings...i.e. Silly Al's Pizza or Boston Pizza.

The colourful courtyard next to the restaurant...

After a quick stop at the liquor store, we headed over to Rob and Angie's place and got settled in before everyone got home.

Conner had track and field day today and did very well...here he is showing off his ribbons. He broke the distance record for the longest long-jump for his age group...well done Conner!

Rob grilled burgers for dinner and then just before 8:00 the rest of the family arrived. Chris, Angela and Isaac had taken the 6:00 ferry from Vancouver. Grampa, Isaac and Bryce...

Rob, Conner, Angie getting a hug from Isaac, Steve and Bryce...

Chris, Bryce (hamming it up), Rob and Conner...

We had a wonderful evening sitting on the deck catching up and enjoying the propane fire. I think a little wine was also consumed, LOL!

In the early hours of June 3, 1983, after going into labour late in the day before, I gave birth to our first-born...a son, who we named after Steve's brother who passed away in a scuba diving accident the year before.

And here we are now...Saturday (June 3, 2023), 40 years later! With our family together to help Rob celebrate his birthday! Of course, as soon as he got up, it was time to open gifts. We had gotten him a set of 4 personalized beer mugs. He recently started brewing his own beer so we thought it was fitting (good idea Steve!) 

Chris and Angela had gotten him a bottle of Tequila and shot glasses from their recent trip to Mexico...

And Angie got him a bottle of Rum, along with some wine and champagne...seems to be a theme happening!

The boys gave dad a medal and crowned him King for a day!

Back to the beer that Rob is brewing...he has set up an old refrigerator for his carbonated kegs and ran tubes to the door... 

...with taps installed on the door exterior. He's still learning but is off to a good start as we all enjoyed his first two brews...

Just after 10:00 Angela and I went into Sidney to pick up a few groceries and a DQ Blizzard birthday cake. We got home to an empty house...Angie had gone for a hair appointment and the rest had headed to the ball field to watch Bryce play. Angela and I put our purchases away and joined them at the ball park. Bryce up to bat...

Bryce pitching...

While Bryce's game is on, Rob and Conner take a break to play catch...Isaac and Chris joined them...

Back home, Angela went for a nap (don't think she slept well last night with Isaac moving around so much) and the rest of us went out to hike the trails in the neighbourhood...and of course, have a pinecone fight against the birthday boy!

After that bit of exercise, it was happy hour time! I was hoping the engraving would show up more with a dark beer in it...

Chris and Rob having a shot of Tequila...

Silly Steve...

Angie and Angela made the most delicious Shrimp Appetizer!

The kids having their dinner (the grown-ups are having a special meal a little later)...

And, of course, family pictures were taken...lots of pictures!

Love this picture of Chris photo-bombing the picture I was taking of Rob and Angie...

Bros Chris and Rob...

Here I am sandwiched between 2 beautiful Angelas...

Three generations!

For some reason, pictures were not taken of the fabulous steak, roast potatoes and Caesar salad dinner we had! But afterwards, it was birthday cake time...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ROB! Such a great picture 💖

Sunday (June 4) morning Rob and Angie cooked us another big breakfast. Afterwards Isaac wanted to go out "exploring" in the yard. Here is Isaac trying out the obstacle course Rob has set up for the boys...

The robins in the yard were squawking like crazy and Rob finally figured out why...a Barred Owl was up in one of he trees. Good shot capturing it, Chris!

With big hugs, Steve and I said goodbye to everyone at about noon. Chris and Angela's ferry isn't until 5:00 p.m., so they had a few hours yet to relax with Rob, Angie and the boys. It had been such a fabulous weekend! We haven't all been together like that since 2019, but I think now that we have made Courtenay our "home-base" we may have more opportunity for family gatherings like that.

We stopped in Cowichan Bay to visit our friends, Jim and Nan. Although we forgot to take any pictures, we enjoyed about an hour catching up with them before we continue home.

Monday (June 5) and Tuesday (June 6) were not very exciting...I ran some errands and picked up groceries while Steve worked on picture editing. We also posted the quads for sale and re-posted the truck ads with a reduced price. So that along with daily walks and blog updating pretty well kept us busy.