Hangin' with my bros!

Had an awesome trip to Kelowna first week of August to see some old friends and their families and to meet some new friends as well. As luck would have it I got to see the entire Keesey clan (well the ones I know, anyway!) Greg, Jackie, Suzanne, her husband Mark and their two kids Jack and Claire; Scott, Jennie, and their two kids Sabine and Liam. Very nice to see them all again, albeit a short visit. Will possibly get to see Suzy and Mark in Hong Kong which is where they currently reside, as it would be a stop along the way on my trip to Vietnam next spring. Bonus was that I got to spend an afternoon and evening with Scott, Jennie, and their kids on Scotty W's boat in Kelowna on Thursday. We had a really nice day on the water then a really nice dinner and evening at Dominika and Kasha's new place with more water time apre dinner at their pool. (Kasha loves to swim!) Ahhhh....What great memories of hitting the water with Keese and Wesol, it was so sweet to hang with my old bros again!! Lots of laughs and stories were exchanged, plans have been made, and I'm really stoked to see the gang next March in Vietnam (and sooner of course!) 

'Seasons come and go but good friends always remain constant' :) 

Valet service at the marina!

The Scott's

Jennie and the kids just after launch

The Keesey family

Brother Scotty!

Scotty K. and Liam out for a swim

Sabine out for a swim with her dad

Scott and Jennie enjoying the water

Keesey, railslide

Setting up switch

Charging!

There was method to his madness

Ahhhh.....

Wesol dusting off the cobwebs

Pulling out for the setup

BOOM! Wesol air



He was going for it!



Kimmer pushing the limits of his flexibility!

KaBOOM! Down

Tres amigos :)

Scotty and his lovely 'bride to be' Dominika

Jacob out for a knee surf

He's pretty darn good on that wakesurf!

Jacob's mom Tracey. She is the sister-in-law of my new friend Mark who you will see in the photos to come

Tracy showing how its done!

Kim, Mark's girlfriend, surfing

'The boat'. Mark and his bro Chris own this boat together. Mark keeps the boat in Calgary as his bro and family live in Hong Kong

The boat is a SVFARA, a very high-end wakeboard, wakesurf boat. What a beautiful setup for spending some time on the water!

Geared up, coolered up, ready to rock!

Kimmer putting aside the aches from yesterdays session!

A little bigger than anticipated

KaBOOM!

Get back here you handle you!!

Scotty hangin' loose on the wakesurf

Loving it!

Mark, the master wakesurfer!

Laying down some style

Mark having some fun with Jacob on the wakesurf. Jacob had no idea what Mark had in store until he said 'hit it'!

Mark's brother Chris on the slippery board

Chris showing some class on the wakesurf

Well it was a fantastic week with some great people!  Very nice to meet Mark, Kim, and Mark's family Chris, Tracy, and their two boys. Hoping to hook up with Mark in Calgary after I'm back from Estonia and spend a little more time behind the boat; sure missing those days of spending my summers on the water! Ciao for now.....



Mom and Jim's roofing project

Jim, Jay, and I put in a long day on Tuesday to finish up the roofing project that has lasted a LONG 26 days! I will most definitely admit that I showed up for the glory shift of finishing the last shingle, but a lot of sweat and man/woman hours went in to completing the difficult job of stripping the roof, sheeting, and insulating in preparation for what was actually the easiest part of the job, laying the shingles! All of these jobs were carried out by a collage of friends and family who willingly chipped in as a small token of payment for the endless contributions Jim and Gloria make to everyone elses lives outside of their own.

After Jay, my step brother, and Jim got the difficult, steeper sections done the day before, the remaining 3 pitches were our task for the day. Now I wouldn't say we are a roofing 'dream team', but with our collective knowledge and strong work ethic, we were a pretty confident and efficient team! With weather threating to shut us down most of the day, Jay talked us into forging on at 4 O'clock to finish the last pitch.

Are we ever glad we did! Shortly after finishing the upper ridge cap the rains came and we got down just in time. The next morning Jim and I headed back up in the rain to finish the final ridge cap above the kitchen. Mom came up on the lift and snapped a few pictures to commemorate the completion of the job with the last shingle being placed. So....26 days later, roof is complete! Well, almost. Jim's sattelite still needs to be installed which is probably the most important part of the job!

Finishing the upper roof



The master in action

The second master/motivator

The garbage/cleanup master

Nearing completion

Group shot

Exhausted but happy to be nearing the end

Father and son in their element

Putting on the upper ridge cap. Man was it humid!!

Haven't worked this hard in months....or was that years....??!!

The invaluable lift

Mom coming up for finally inspection and photo op

The final shingle!!

Beauty and the lift



Fishing trip to Big Sandy

  Had a really nice time fishing with my cousin Ian and my aunt and uncle Judy and Dan on the weekend.  We went to a lake called Big Sandy, Ian's favourite fishing hole, and auntie Judy's late father Jess' favourite spot as well.

The weather was quite wet at the start of the trip, and the ground remained quite wet for the duration of our 2 day stay. It made for some very high humidity especially in the camper!

Most of the fishing in Big Sandy is for Northern Pike (AKA Jackfish) but there are other species as well such as Walleye (AKA Pickerel). We were after the Pike because of the fun fight they typical put out after biting your hook. And...they didn't disappoint and we were able to land about 8 pike with about the same being released because of their smaller size.

All-in-all a very enjoyable fishing trip albeit a tiny bit too short especially for cousin Ian who LOVES fishing! Looking forward to another outing in the future.

Cousin Ian getting ready to fish

Ian giving our catch a little touch up with the hammer before filleting

Ian with the mornings catch

Uncle Dannie doing one of the things he does best, fixing small engines!

Auntie Judy tending to the fire duties

Fixing and story telling; fun!

Enjoying the beautiful day

Auntie hadn't had a bite yet!

Cousin Ian in his element. Can you tell by the smile?!!

Ian checking the fish in 'live well'

Just relaxing!

Our smudge fire was a welcome contribution to fighting the mosquitos

Big Sandy Resort

One of the resort cabins

Glen (resort manager) giving fish filleting lessons

Part of todays catch ready to be filleted



Bumble bee at work pollinating



Saskatoon berries

A native master at work

Well.....the fish tasted good, the company was delightful, and Cornelious ....well we don't really know what became of Cornelious....?