What was I thinking?!

 

This is Side Bay.

It's remote. Two hours of rough road from Port Alice.

The fellow Jeeper we met on Sunday invited us to join him and a few others to a group Jeep run and camp out.  On the beach.  

I asked if Cheese could make it.  He's asking.  The camping is arranged through a 4x4 association.  

We said we would go but we'll most likely be car camping.  Which we haven't done yet.

I have collected what we would need fpr survival but in my mind it was for one night.  Three on a beach with strangers is a whole different story.

In 8 months I will be 60.  I don't know that this is really the direction we should be headed in.  I mean this is not mildly uncomfortable.  It will be very uncomfortable.

No heat source.  Not solar.  No comfy folding couch.  No kitchen. Crawling out of Oscar through the night to use my camp potty.  Where would we even put our potty bags?!  There are no services out there.  At all.  Carry in.  Carry out.

So in the wee hours of the night the excitement of a new adventure has definitely turned into pure chaos and fear in my head.  

I want Cheese.  My security rv.  Haha.  I'm thinking Cheese should be lifted, with better tires and springs so he could make it anywhere.  While the other campers rough it, I could be lounging in there all cozy with heat and tea and running water and solar power and ice and movies.  

In other news.  I've had two days of meetings with the boys and Jia's schools.  Eric got to miss it.  I'm way over stimulated.  

Knocking things off the to do list one by one.  Luk and I are mostly packed for Disneyland.  The Falcon is mostly ready for camping on Friday.  Just need a meal plan and to shop.  I'm way overthinking my shoes for DL.  Packing super light.  I KNOW that runners are best for that much walking but it's going to be hot so I want sandals. And shoes for Luk.  His orthotic leg braces are hot, knee high socks and giant runners to accommodate them.  Plus all of his supplies.  There are a lot of details to moving Luk with limited packing space on a plane.  

I need my brain to shut down for a few hours.   

Oh,oh, and ya, same Jeep guy invited us to do the Rubicon trail with him in Sept.  I saw the gleem in Eric's eyes.  I think we can safely say Eric and Oscar will likely go.  It's not on my dream wish list of adventures but I do love Lake Tahoe. 22 miles of serious 4x4 trail.  Then there was talk of Moab at Easter.  Oy.  I did go online and register Oscar and make a profile.  Perhaps we'll score a ticket?  These trails require Oscar to have stupid big tires.  I'll need a bigger stool to get in.  Sigh.

Definitely not the path I saw our life taking. Remember two years ago when Oscar was just my fun, super cool convertible?

Yesterday I ordered Eric a new compressor and air hoses so when he airs up Oscar he can do all four tires at the same time.  Right now he does one at a time and other Jeepers are faster.  Father's day taken care of ;)  I just went now and ordered a Jeep tire garbage carrier.  It's a thing.  Usually common for cleaning up trails and cool spots from the inconsiderate yahoos that litter in the wilds but might be helpful for our potty bags.  Good lord.  I also ordered a fold out table with storage bags for Onyx's tailgate door.  That's fun.

Off to attempt sleep again.

Tugwell Lake

 

Today's adventure brought to you by a trip to Tugwell Lake.

Magical places when you have to work hard to get there and then have the whole place to yourselves.

We met Ben in Sooke and he led the way.  The drive was a bit technical and a tad challenging but nothing crazy.  

This is Biggie.  A Chi/Xolo x from Mexico.  He is 2 and was having the most adorable zommies.

Proof I was there :)

We were nice and cool all day.  We're home now and it's quite hot upstairs.  I think we hit 33 here.

What the F?

 Very loud explosion.  Shook windows. Woke me up.  Eric came up and asked if it was me. ?  Then he went out to investigate.  The new neighbors across the street were saying a bomb was thrown at their house.  A white sedan sped off.  Lots of smoke.  No damage or fire.  Police and fire dept are there now.  What the actual fuc$?! 

Stuck

 

We went in at hill60, made it to several dead ends and an incredible view of Lake Cowichan then carried on and shockingly made it to the Chemainus River and popped out behind the industrial park in Chemainus.  Who knew?!  

Our river spot was amazing.  A bit of a hike in.  Eric had to help me.  We had a sandy beach to ourselves, lots of shade and the water looked deep enough to swim in.  

This isn't a great picture.  There is a gulley behind Oscar.  Back tires on one side, front tires on upside.  I asked if the back end was going to drop?  Or if we'd be able to drive up and over.  Nope.  We totally high centered.  We were very, very stuck.  All four tires off the ground.

You just know that Eric was thrilled to get to try his winch out.  It worked fabulously.

Scouting ahead.  

Another dead end.

Another dead end.

Holey Cow!  Overlooking Lake Cowichan.  

Another dead end.

Getting ready.  Bit by bit.

Luk says no way to ears.  

Whales

 

Neice Avery's baby shower.

Very fancy and decadent.

It rained sooo hard the two days before so it was amazing to be out celebrating in a garden party with perfect weather.

After the shower we zoomed back out to the campsite to celebrate our 33rd anniversary.  I sooo over did the weekend that we ate our dumplings and I crawled into bed at 7:30.  Haha.  Eric watched a couple movies.  

Not quite the celebration we had planned.

Gordon Bay was awesome.

Whales survived his chrysalis stage.

And he hatched today.

Tomorrow Kai gets to release him.  It's been very exciting.

Eric has taken a job helping a friend.

It's meant our schedule is a bit tighter.  Or, a lot more for me.  It's only been three days.  We haven't found our groove yet.  

School is winding down.  

The calendar is full of last days.  The boys are tired.  Lots of naps after school.  We are ready for those lazy summer days.

Luk got his surgery date.  July 25.  So, of course I promptly planned a Disney trip for the week before.  Mom, Jia, Luk and I leave on the 16th.  It's so exciting.  We're camping the weekend before we leave so packing is underway.

Variety club is no longer helping families with housing while at Children's based on income.  The BC Government cut their funding.  Such an odd thing to cut.  22% of the kids at Children's are from the island.  So, I needed to find a hotel in Vancouver last minute.  That was evil.  The prices are soooo high, especially last minute.  We did get a room at Easter Seal House.  They used to be $25.  $90 now.  That is significantly less than the hotels though.  I was told our room would have air conditioning but that hasn't worked in the past.  We shall see.  Luk and I might be in the car trying to cool down in the middle of the night.

Gordon Bay

 

Pedicures with Mom and Poppy.

Poppy is such a good girl.

It was a busy few days around here and we still managed to get ourselves packed and out to Gordon Bay.  Phew.  

Booking four months in advance has flaws.

It wasn't a great start here.  The people behind us are way over quota for people and there are a dozenish screaming kids and they are running their generator non stop.  Very unpleasant neighbors.  Sigh.  It happens occasionally.  It rained so hard through the night that a lot of people bailed and there are lots of empty sites.  I suggested to Eric he could move us if he likes.

I've come home with Luk.  I was planning to come home to stay with Jia because Fei is on night shift.  However Luk is behind on a project that is overdue by two weeks so he needed to come home and get to the homework AND his supplies that were moved to the Alaska trip were not put back in the trailer.  Shockingly, this is the 3rd time we've had to get him home from camping because of no supplies.  I will from now on and forever be grilling him about supplies and he hates me questioning him.  Consequences.

Luk sent me this.  They had a substitute on Friday ;)

We got some exploring in before the heavy rain hit.

Learning to skip rocks.

The sloth way of throwing rocks.

We made it to the cute little market by the park and the pie lady was there.  We had a big lunch out so I told Kai we could eat the pie for dinner.  He was pretty excited about getting pie for dinner.

Eric and Kai are on their own at the campsite tonight.  They're having hotdogs for snack.  It's a good Kai day.

Eric is home tomorrow with the boys while Mom, Lili, Fei and I go to Avery's baby shower.  I sure hope the rain stops for the garden party!  Then Lili and Fei are staying here with the kids while Eric and I head back to the campsite on our own to celebrate 33 years of marriage.  

Fei Got In!!

Lots of whooping here!

Such exciting news.  We're obviously so proud.  170plus applications, 14 seats and our girl GOT ONE.  She just got the notification this afternoon.

Lots of plans to make.  Fun stuff.  

First thoughts are that living in Victoria will make things easier and also keeping the smallest line possible at work so she can keep her senority and benefits.