Visitors galore - what a great weekend

Conditions at 5:00 am: 18' and clear
Expected later: 24' and a mix of sun and cloud - perfect swimming weather

Meagan and Riley watching the dogs play

It was a wonderful weekend but a very busy one. As reported before I was really happy to be able to play host to Lianne and Kevin, Riley and Meagan. They were a little late in arriving on Saturday afternoon (it's that hour time difference that throws people off all the time!) but arrive they did. I had forgotten to ask if the kids had any allergies to dogs or anything so you can imagine my surprise when they arrived and a Cocker Spaniel jumped out of the truck. We never expected that Cooper would have a new friend visiting as well. We had a lovely time. We finished supper then went for a drive so I could share the sights of my area with them. First we went down the road to the Spirit Spring - I take everyone there because it's such a neat sight. From there we made our way cross country to our local beach. We didn't swim or anything but we went for a long walk and we had the two dogs with us who had a great time exploring. Because it was after supper there was hardly anyone there. When we left there, we took the scenic route home and went over to our other property to see the fields of sunflowers blooming over there. After coffee and dessert at my house it was all too soon time for them the leave. We even managed to attempt a group shot using the tripod and the delayed shot on my camera. They were planning to leave on Sunday so hopefully they will have a safe trip back to Ontario. It was so great to see them and the kids really liked it here so hopefully, they will come back again sometime. Next time bring your grandma and grandpa with you!

We hadn't done the dishes after supper so that was a great thing as it gave me something to do till time for my next guests to arrive - James and Greg were arriving at 12:15. The flight was a little delayed so it was 12:30 when they got in and by the time we got back here and got to bed, it was about 1:20 in the morning. Not to worry, it's three hours till we had to get up to take Greg to the airport for the early morning flight. I felt badly leaving him there in case he didn't get on, but fortunately at the last minute someone didn't show up and he got home. I meanwhile, went back home and was back in bed by 5:30 (James had stayed home in bed, with his trusty guard dog by his side). It was another short sleep as Meghan (1) arrived at 7:30 to do our Macarons  but it was enough. We got everything out that we needed but unfortunately somewhere along the way I had used all the icing sugar and didn't have ANY.  Fortunately Brenda was coming over so she brought some but it wasn't enough, so she went over to the Irving and picked up some for us. Saved once again! So we continued on with our cookies after Brenda left for church and by the tine she got back we were just finished. They can't be filled until they are completely cool but they cool off pretty quickly. They may not have been perfect but they turned out pretty darn good. There's a couple of things we'll do differently another time but for the most part we were pretty pleased with them. We filled some with a cream cheese frosting and some with Dulche de Leche (caramel) that Patti brought me back from Argentina.  All in all, we deemed the exercise to be a success. They are actually not that difficult to make but they are very rich so they would be good for a special occasion. (James really liked them and decided that every day could be a special ocassion with those around).

When we were finished, Brenda and Caitlin came over and brought some home made rolls and muffins and Meghan had brought a jar of her home made strawberry rhubarb jam and we enjoyed that with our rolls and muffins and coffee. What a great way to spend a Sunday morning.

Because it promised to be a warm day, we decided it might be a good beach day. James and I were just about to work at moving some wood around when Brenda called to inform us that they were getting ready to go earlier rather than later so we also packed up our stuff and headed out to join them.

What a great afternoon. We sat in the sun, some of us swam and some of us build structures in the sand. James, Caitlin and another little boy, that Brenda knows who was also at the beach spent a lot of time building an airplane in the sand. It turned out pretty good and had three seats in it. After Joey, the little boy left, Meghan and Caitlin buried James in the sand. He thought it was great fun and totally relaxing. Eventually it was time to leave and we decided to go the Vernon River to try out a little place Brenda had read about in the paper. They have a wood fired oven for making pizza so we ordered two pizzas and some fries. The pizzas were delicious and the fries were wonderful. I would definitely go back. I was tellling Lloyd about it last night and hopefully it will still be open when he comes in September.
After picking up some macarons and dropping them off at Van Gaals for them to enjoy, we came back homes, watched a bit of TV and then called it a night. I think James would have liked to stay outside for a while longer but I was very tired so after baths, we each headed to our respective rooms with our books and said good night.