RV Friends, A Surprise, and Some Knowledge.

The past seven days have again offered up a lot of busyness.  We had a full week.  And a good one it was!

RV Friends - Hector, Diane and Chico - were visiting from Vancouver Island

We were well aware that Hector and Diane (along with Chico, their Portuguese Water Dog) would be our guests for a few days, this past week.  The reason was two fold.  The primary reason was to attend a special birthday surprise party for another of our RV friends, that was held this past Friday evening.

The other reason why they traveled in the motor home was to show it, and possibly sell it, to a Langley based couple who had been shopping for a high end motor home.

Enjoying some chat time on the deck

Ginette, Easton and Brie - who have met Hector, Diane and Chico before - dropped by for a visit.  And the grand kids got to spend some quality time with Chico.  And Chico did not disappoint.  That wonderful Portuguese Water Dog was a good attraction for the little ones.

Easton and Brie got to pat Chico a lot.

Lots of fun with Chico

This past winter and early spring, Hector and Diane - long time RVers - made the decision to sell their beautiful Travel Supreme RV coach for a more permanent Palm Springs and area snow-birding living arrangement.   As arduous a decision as it was, once their minds were made up, they advertised their coach for sale.  Amongst other interested buyers, a Langley, BC based couple (with plans to full time) traveled to Hector and Diane's home near Nanaimo, BC (on Vancouver Island) and took a serious look at the Travel Supreme.  Their desire to purchase it was quite strong. 

Wanting to take a second look at the coach - and with Hector and Diane coming over to our Langley home for the surprise party - they drove their coach onto a BC Ferries ship and showed up at our home.  The interested buyers live about 15 minutes from our home.

Hector and I in our formal sitting room waiting for the potential RV buyers to arrive.

The RV shoppers - a lovely couple that are soon to retire -  came by, took a solid second look in and around the Travel Supreme, asked a slew of questions and confirmed that they would return the next day for a final look and a potential offer.

Jeanette poses with Hector.

Long time readers may recall that Hector had very long hair these past two winters.  That was evident in many of our blogging photos. I can now tell you why he chose to grow it.  That was a gift for present and future cancer victims.  He grew his hair long to donate it to wig makers who make real human hair wigs for cancer survivors.  His hair is short again.....and he is most happy about that.

Enjoying the really hot weather in the shade of our back yard deck.

A hike in the Aldergrove Park forest.

While Hector was busy with the potential new owners of his coach, Diane joined Jeanette, me, Ginette and our two grand kids and dog, Chico for a hike in the thick forest nearby.  It was a nice respite from the high heat.  

While hiking, Hector called our cell to inform us that the couple had made a formal offer and that Hector had agreed to their price.  The Travel Supreme motor coach was sold.  It was a sad moment for Hector and Diane but they had resolved to move in a new direction with their winter snow-birding adventures. 

SURPRISE PARTY:
Friday evening had the four of us drive about 30 minutes east and into the Fraser Valley to attend a surprise 75th birthday party for another RVer we met and have become fast friends with.   Trena had long planned a surprise party for her husband, Lucky.  As it turned out, he had no clue about the party till he arrived at the lovely Yarrow Community Centre, tree canopied park where a very nice group of friends had gathered on a beautiful summer evening.  While approaching the party area, we all began singing 'Happy Birthday'.  Lucky was completely surprised to see so many friends out for this celebration.  

Not big on formalities, Lucky sure was thrilled to see Hector, Diane, Jeanette and me.  Having met over five years ago at the Seven Feathers RV Resort in southern Oregon, we connected and have stayed in touch ever since.  What fun!

L-R  Hector, Diane, Lucky and Jeanette

It was nice to also know so many other party attendees.  Over the past several years, we have had occasion to meet some of Lucky and Trena's friends, here at home and down south in southern California.  

Trena (R) is chatting up her sister (L)

Although busy greeting all party goers, Lucky did get to our table.

Sharing some good laughter

Lucky and Trena's three daughters (colluders in organizing the surprise party)

Jeanette managed to capture this lovely Daddy / daughters (and one grand daughter) photo

The catered outdoor dinner was so well organized and the food was great.  Enjoying the festivities outdoors was about as perfect as it gets. 

Lucky and Trena

Trena with middle daughter, Cathy.

The birthday party setting

The birthday cake included a photo of Lucky''s older Harley Davidson motorcycle.

A long time and avid motorcyclist, Trena had the motorcycle theme - with an icing inscribed photo of Lucky on his older Harley Davidson motorcycle - on the cake   Several motorcyclists (us included) were in attendance at this surprise party. Several family members were present too. And we got to meet most of them.

A little birthday cheer before cutting the cake.

Back at our Langley home, Hector was meeting with the new motor coach buyers to complete some paper work on Saturday morning.  Once done, we drove to our daughter and her husband's home.  They had offered to store the motor home on their large (and deep) driveway at their home in Langley City till the new purchasers can secure some RV storage.

Easton looks on as Hector back the motor home on the driveway.

Backed in and locked up.

Once the Travel Supreme was parked and secured, we enjoyed a visit with Trevor, Ginette, Easton and Brie before returning to our home.

Diane has a last look before we left our daughter's home.

By mid-afternoon, Saturday, we drove Hector, Diane and Chico from Langley to Tsawwassen, near the BC Ferries terminal, where Hector's son lives.  Although we had not planned on spending several hours there, Sean (Hector's son) and his friend (Beverley) - once back from their bicycle ride and along with Hector and Diane - insisted on ordering in Chinese food and wanted us to stay for dinner.  We did  just that.  And we sure enjoyed our visit, the chat, the food and companionship.  Jeanette and I left well after 9:00 pm to return home.

A beautiful view from Sean's deck looking out towards Boundary Bay on the BC coast.

Hector and I enjoying the view

Hector, Diane and Chico were to take the BC Ferries back to Nanaimo on Sunday morning.  Sean was going to drop them off at the passenger area.

I will quite likely see Hector, Diane and Chico very soon.  The Sockeye salmon are running on the west coast of Vancouver Island and I have been invited to go fishing for a few days.  And I look forward to that.  As of this writing, I plan to motorcycle out to Nanaimo - on the Island - this Thursday, July 2nd -  following our July 1st Canada Day holiday.  More on the fishing trip when I next blog.

Sunday morning had me riding off to Tim's House of Knowledge - better known as our Sunday morning 'Open Mic' session at Tim Horton's coffee shop - where we learn and share so much wisdom.  LOL.

And that covers things from here for now.  Thank you for dropping in.

Party, Party, Party......! Oh,....and Some Visitors Too.

The slug line above is descriptive of the past seven days of activities around us.   

First and foremost, I celebrated a birthday, last Monday, June 15th and Jeanette had organized a nice little gathering of local friends to come by and help me to celebrate  another year on this side of the grass (so to speak).

Early Monday afternoon gathering at our home

Our friends arrived by early afternoon and we bared the heat of day outdoors till the sun and heat got the best of us and we moved indoors.   It was one hot, hot day this past June 15th.

L-R  Mariette, Jeanette, Brie with mom Ginette, Gwen, Leila and Ione

It was a nice gathering of friends we have known and have socialized with for several decades.  Good fun.

L-R  Steve, Leila, me and Easton

Our friends, Steve and Leila also celebrated birthdays within a few days of my own celebration so Jeanette prepared a nice cake with individual candles for us to collectively blow out.

Grandkids:  Brie and Easton wanted to help blow out the candles.  How nice!

By late afternoon our friends had left back for their respective homes and we hung out with Ginette and our grand kids for a bit before they too headed back for their home.

Wednesday at the Abbotsford Airport to collect Jeanette's two sisters.

Deb (from Calgary) and Darlene (who flew from Edmonton); Alberta based sisters arrived at the airport near our home and Jeanette was there to greet them.  They were visiting with us till today (Monday). 

Ginette met up with Deb and Darlene at our home within an hour of their arrival. Along with Jeanette, they all scooted off to a local farm market and restaurant for a girls' only lunch.

Thursday morning departure for a three sisters overnight at Harrison Hot Springs Resort.

Colourful..........

Planned well in advance, Jeanette had organized a fun overnight at Harrison Hot Springs Resort.  So off they drove, early on Thursday morning.  From the photos and texts that I received while they were away, it was evident they were not lacking for activities.

The three amigas:  Darlene, Deb and Jeanette  (and Jeanette is the older sister) 

Deb and Darlene standing at Rowena's Inn, Harrison Mills, BC.  The Harrison River can be seen in the distance behind them.

A lunch stop at Rowena's Inn on the River on the way to the resort at Harrison Hot Springs.

Jeanette on the hike.  It sure looks like a jungle trail, doesn't it?

Darlene leads Deb along the arduous lakeside hike.

Hiking, dining, eating, socializing, catching up and enjoying all that the spa facility offered up was a testament to their smiles when they got back to our home, late afternoon the very next day.

A lakeside break during their hike.

Deb and Darlene hold up a fallen cedar tree.

Readying to head for the spa facilities

Sharing in their bracelet exchange.....

Ready for dinner at the resort restaurant.

Meeting the Sasquatch at Harrison Hot Springs

Another party took place last Saturday afternoon.  Our long time friends were gathering family and friends to celebrate the arrival of baby Loic - a healthy 8+ lbs baby boy.  It was a wonderful opportunity to meet the new baby and to spend some precious time catching up with friends.

A perfectly calm and sunny day for an outdoor, baby oriented barbecue.

Brie and Easton were there with their folks too.  The mom (Nicole) who delivered the beautiful baby boy is one of Ginette's best friends.  

Here I am holding Brie while chatting with Lioc's maternal grand mother, Aline.  Aline and her late husband Garry were our very, very close friends in White Rock for well over 30 years.  We have always kept in close contact since their retirement move to their Okanagan Valley home of Peachland.  Garry recently passed away from Lou Gehrig's Disease.

What a fun time we had meeting up with folks we have known for a long time.

L-R  Baby Loic with family friend, Leila and his maternal grandmother, Aline.

.....and the very proud parents, Nicole and Trevor.

Nicole and our daughter Ginette, as mentioned earlier, are long time best friends.  Nicole's husband, Trevor is a long time friend of our son in law, Trevor.  Quite the connection. The brand new parents seemed completely at ease with the seven day old baby.

We took leave once the group photo was taken.

Back at our home, Darlene and Deb filled us in on their three hour jaunt around our neighbourhood.  Walking around gave them a better appreciation of our location.  We found them sunning and enjoying refreshments on our back yard deck.

A Sunday morning ride to our planned breakfast spot in Fort Langley

Darlene had not been on a motorcycle for many years and was keen to ride to Fort Langley while Jeanette and Deb drove our Nissan there.  I had planned to ride the motorcycle because, once our breakfast was over with, the sisters had planned to spend some time shopping and walking the streets of Fort Langley.  Darlene loved the motorcycle ride.

Breakfast at Beatniks - the restaurant.

Traispsing around the museum in Fort Langley.

Hanging out.....

By mid-afternoon, the sisters were back home and minutes later, Trevor, Ginette, Easton and Brie arrived for yet another party celebration; this one focused on Father's Day.  Trevor is a dad - as am I - so we fired up the barbecue and enjoyed a lovely afternoon and early evening outdoors.

Brie knows where to find the ripe strawberries in our garden.

Easton is showing aunt Deb some nice flowers.

The sun room was a popular place where the little grand kids like to hang out and play.

By 7:00 pm, our dinner was over with and, before long, Ginette, Trevor and the grand kids were ready to head back for home.

One cannot beat the benefits of routine for little ones and shortly after 7:00 pm, Ginette and Trevor were ready to get their kids back home and put to bed at their regular time.

L-R  Deb, Darlene and Jeanette - The three sisters.......having loads of fun.

Taken while at Harrison Hot Springs Resort, this photo is a pretty fair description of the fun these sisters have when they get together.

With the sisters heading back to their respective Alberta homes today (Monday), routine returns to our home for only one day before we enjoy a Tuesday evening dinner with a very good friend and again on Thursday when we look forward to receiving some great friends for a couple of days.  More on that in seven days.

Thanks for dropping in.