Furever After fun!

Saturday night we joined another group of friends to attend a fundraiser for Furever After, an organization that rescues small dogs and finds homes for them. Larry and Michele check out Michele's winnings (there were prizes, gift bags and a silent auction!

Barry and Linda from Nanaimo were at our table, also owners of rescue dogs.......then Ray and son Scott, and Ray is the proud owner of a rescue dog,.....and Miki and Terri, and Ter and Lar now have TWO rescue dogs............Michele and Bill so far have no dogs, as Bill is allergic....while mother and son Jason enjoy a moment after an amazing buffet dinner. Seems like all we did all weekend was eat.....!!!!! .

Farewell lunches!

Friday Maggie and Ingrid hosted a fabulous lunch with our Parksville pals, and I am sure we all left there 5 pounds heavier.....wow! Great food, great friends - see you in May (except for Maggie and Ingrid who are coming to visit us in PM)!!



Sunday Helen and Rick drove all the way up from Victoria just to take us out for a goodbye lunch at the Beach Club!! It was so great to see everyone before we leave and we will miss them during the winter months.

Nanoose Bay

Did a little drive about this morning at Nanoose Bay. This beach is within walking distance of the mall, where we also had an amazing lunch at the Elevate restaurant!










Lovely small stone beach area, with beautiful views of the bay.








Another beach access at Nanoose.....very private and nice. Can't wait to get back and go for a picnic down here.








As you get higher on Nanoose Hill, the views get even more spectacular. It really is a very pretty area, and only 10 minutes from Parksville.

Dear friends......

Heather and Georgette came over on Monday, picked us up and we all went off to Coombs for lunch at Goats on the Roof. Dear friends from so many years ago in Nelson, and we are all so glad to be in the same hood now on the west coast.






Today we went to Pacific Shores and spent time with 2 other dear friends, Sharon and Jenny, who are staying there for a week.




We started out in the big hot tubs surrounded by rocks.....




Then moved to the point, where the hot tub is right on the beach, with lovely views.








Jenny and Sharon in the Point hot tub. What an amazing year they have had, and journey they are on. We will miss them but look forward to seeing them when we get home.

Halloween in Parksville

Masks donned, we handed out candies to one group of kids and then headed off to dinner at Terri and Larry's.......

Yikes.........who is that masked woman, anyway...................?????

Stopped by Ingrid and Maggie's to see these lovely 2 witches scaring their own neighbourhood kids..................

Then Lar had his head lamp on so he could see to barbeque outside and Ter cooked up a wonderful dish of cabbage, potatoes, onions and black beans.

Guess it took 2 of them to check the temp on the stove...!

But it was all worth it in the end - an amazing dinner with sweet potatoes, the cabbage dish and fabulous salmon. Thanks you two - it was a wonderful evening!!

Good bye, darlings!

Got to spend a couple of hours with Jutta, Vanessa and Jonah today at the Esquimalt Lagoon.

Then it was into their halloween costumes and off to a party at Jonah's tai kwon do school!

Ninja boy and cat girl!!!!

Andrew joined us so we 3 adults got to go have an adult dinner at Columbo's while the kids partied.

Finally, it was time to say good bye.....oh, dear!!! We will miss our family so much over the next few months. Thank goodness they are coming down in March to visit!!!!!

cat walking....

A visit to Sheila and Anne's, and each kid got to walk a cat.....these 2 beauties came from Thailand and are wonderful friendly cats who love to walk on their leashes.
Vanessa has Misha......

And Jonah has Ursula...................

Back to Gwen and Robin's we had a big family dinner, watched a movie and had a jammy party.

Kids loved watching all the birds at the feeders - including a greedy squirrel. Next morning it was up early, off to German school for Vanessa and off to his Oma's for Jonah. Great day with our darlings!