Upon return from S.E. Asia, we pulled together a busy end of year time,
including seeing family, pal visits, lots of days (13:-) with Luca &
Francis Sandoz; and the transition away from commercial property
ownership.
We arrived home November 29 and were immediately that evening in a meeting about transitioning the commercial property ownership, a process that
continued intermittently to January 15, with a hiatus from December 24
to 29.
November 30 to December 2 Yolanda created 250 gingerbread and icing for
the annual VDDS kids party and Bob put up the outdoor x-mas lights. We
then went to PoCo to visit brother Rick & Family and to Tofino to
spend some pre-Chistmas time with sister Janis. It was a pair of
relaxing visits and included a family winter light walk in both PoCo and
Tofino.
December 10 to 17 (as well as other December and January dates),
Yolanda helped with the Harbeck/Sandoz boys Luca and Francis as their
Belgian nanny was home for Christmas, dad Daniel was in Vancouver for a
few days, and mom Andrea went to O.K. Falls to visit Kitty Grandma from
December 14-17. We had nice dinners out with niece Lia, niece and nephew
Yvonne & Carl, neighbour family The Dasons, and pals The Attwells
and The Adams. We were generously hosted for dinners at neighbour family
The Filans, at brother Mike&Sue's for Christmas dinner with their
family, at sister Sonia&Tim's for Christmas Eve (as well, we
presented a Random Ravioli night at Sonia&Tim's in January), at Aunt
Margret's with brother Ivo&Sara, and with pals Jim&Diane at
their place.
We were honoured to host pals at our house, including The
Adams, brother Rick and family December 27-30, the Harbeck/Sandoz family
January 1 for brunch, and pal Louise and Mike January 7 for dinner and
including Frances Reid, who is back for the January to April 2019 UVic
term. Yolanda had two fun Museum days, first with Emery Filan and again
with Francis Sandoz and Frances Reid for "The Story of the Earth" IMAX
3-D, an Australian production. We had some "us" time here and there,
including tea at Abkazi Gardens (a gift from the Harbeck/Sandoz family),
x-mas tree decorating, present wrapping, card writing, our annual
December 24 "Santa run" to 13 homes, and a nice New Year's Day canoe
paddle at Oak Bay. December 31 Bob and Jonathan Adams did a day trip to
Reifel Bird Sanctuary and Yolanda spent the morning at coffee with Stacy
Adams and worked on more administrative processes in preparation for
being away January 18 to April 26, 2019.
By January 17, we finished administrative pre-prep, Christmas stowing, and trip packing to take us through to the end of April.
Housemates Frances and Katy took us to the airport for our January 18
departure flight, arriving January 20 in Melbourne, Australia.
