Early Christmas with Prairie Family

Prairie family arrived in Maple Bay on a foggy west coast day.   Some travel plans were thwarted when the float planes were grounded in Vancouver, which caused a one hour  door to door trip to turn into a twelve hour adventure by car, skytrain, an almost float plane trip that taxied out into the harbor for take off before being called back in due to fog,  then a bus to the ferry and finally a drive into Maple Bay from Nanaimo.   Better safe than sorry!!   FOG- IT’S EVIL…  I’ll be looking into helijet for these winter trips.

We took the gang to Butchard Gardens on a warm winter night with only an occasional drizzle.    It was a treat to spend time in such a magical setting and a highlight for my oldest sibling Harry who has spent several years on staff and loved showing us around.

Again the fog was dangerously hovering over the Malahat on the drive home.  As we cautiously drove along  my  second oldest brother Rudy commented that “it would be really nice to find a straight road with no trees.”  At this point I  started pondering the trips I’ve made on black ice on those straight roads and -30 when you step outside your vehicle.  I started to like the fog again.

We finally got Herb and Rose up on a float plane out of Maple Bay for a quick trip to Ganges and back when the sky cleared on Sunday.   We’re sipping coffee in the float home when Herb spots the plane that has just landed.  He said,”I wanna get on that plane,” so a phone call later and away they went.

In the afternoon we were treated to tea and treats at our family friend’s Linda and Dirk.  We grew up with Linda on neighboring farms on the prairies.  It’s always a fun walk down memory lane when we catch up with them and  some of the sibs had not been to previous reunions so there was lots of ground to cover.

As we made out way back to the marina we spotted the “Carols Afloat” from the Maple Bay Yacht Club.  It was a calm clear and warm night out and it gets really “Christmassy” watching and hearing the decorated boats playing favorites and calling out “Merry Christmas” to all as they cruise past.

Back at the float home Chef Kelly was preparing an amazing dinner –  Paella – with chicken, chorizo sausage, prawns, mussels on a bed of rice, all flavored deliciously and enjoyed by all.  THANK YOU KELLY AND JEN!!!   Kelly was back in the morning to cook  a frittata and pancakes for us.  I’m sooooo happy we met those many years ago on our motorbikes!

 

It was awesome to have my prairie family here with my west coast family.  Thank you all for coming.  We had a very enjoyable time.

 

Left to right – back row: Harry, Dirk & Linda, Kelly, Harold, Jennifer, Irene.

Left to right – front row: Herb & Rose, Barry, me, Rudy

“Family is Family” by Kasey Musgraves is my favorite song to play after a family reunion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6p5mfBHZuE

Next stop, Christmas with my kiddos, can’t wait!!