We are Getting the Hang of Things

Well we have been home for a month now.  Its been a busy month getting everything in order.  One of the things we noticed last summer was that with increased customer traffic, we need to keep more supplies on hand.  Everything from non perishable food to all of the cups and paper trays and napkins and lots of stuff.  We like to stock lots of ice cream and so we have a couple extra freezers for that. Our little shack was not made to hold a lot of supplies and the shed we moved in a year ago is full to the brim because it is my fixit shack as well.  I can't even get in the door anymore.  So it was time to add on to the back of the shack.  A lean to 8 ft wide by 30 ft long will help us out a lot.  Here is what it looked like out back last week.

The Summer is Starting

We are slowly getting CJ's ready for full production.  The new stainless steel backsplash is now installed.  This should impress the health inspector.  She loves stainless steel stuff!!  The trick now is to keep it all shiny like it is now.

We are Open!!

WHERE ARE WE?           Rivers Provincial Park, Rivers Manitoba

NEXT DESTINATION?    Mexico this Fall?  Fingers Crossed

This post will be the start of a new schedule for posting blogs.  Last summer I didn't blog at all but I have decided that this year I will try to do one a week and just touch on some of the highlights.  So this post covers from last Wednesday to Wednesday.  Enjoy!

Our first day of business at CJ's was on Friday May 10th. We had a busy few days getting all the ice cream and supplies in place.  We have to watch the weather as well because that will affect how many people come.  This weekend there were 3 campsites reserved and one walk in came, so a total of 4.  A lot of our business comes from town as well and every time the sun poked out, more people came.  The temperatures were between 9C and 12C most of the weekend so everyone still needed a jacket.  The spot that CJ's is in has lots of tree protection, so even if it is windy, it can be quite pleasant at our picnic tables.  We love seeing all of our friends and of course new people as well.  Here is our real estate agent who helped us sell our house which resulted in us full timing, and she is also responsible for selling us CJ's which we has kept us busy for the last 3 years selling ice cream.  Lynne Miller and her family consisting of husband Mike, and daughters Laney and Libby  have become great friends of ours.  They like to come down on Sundays and have supper at CJ's.  Sorry bout the picture which only shows half of Mike and none of Libby!!!  But it does show the food!!

Good News

WHERE ARE WE?           Rivers Provincial Park, Rivers Manitoba

NEXT DESTINATION?    Mexico this Fall?  Fingers Crossed

I am happy to report that our Brother in Law, Chuck, has had successful heart surgery and is ready to go.  He received 2 stents and they tell him he will make a full recovery.  That is great news for someone as young as him.  He has lots of life left yet!!  Get well soon Chuck!!

Between the parks maintenance staff and Sue and I we have been getting ready for a busy season.  The Rivers Provincial Park is a popular little spot for lots of people in the summer.  We were just calculating and the park is only open for 4 months of the year.  That means all the fishing and swimming and tanning and laying on the beach has to be done in that time frame so we had better be ready for them to arrive.  One of the problems parks people have is that the frost has not come out of the ground yet and the sewer and water lines are still frozen in spots.  When they freeze, sometimes the pipes break or come apart at the joints.  Then they have to get the backhoe in to dig them up.

Scary news!!

WHERE ARE WE?           Rivers Provincial Park, Rivers Manitoba

NEXT DESTINATION?    Mexico this Fall?  Fingers Crossed

We had a bit of excitement this morning but it turned out ok.  Apparently because we went to bed early last night and Sue normally has the sound turned off on her phone, we missed her sister trying to get hold of us last night.   When Sue and I finally checked our texts this morning there was one there from Sheri for Sue to call her sister right away!  Now that is never a good feeling when you get that message and your mind races trying to figure out what has happened.  Well apparently Chuck, who is Sues sisters husband (did you follow that?) had a heart attack last night and was in hospital awaiting surgery and probably a stent.   He was doing ok now and resting but his blood was too thick for them to operate or something like that so they put him on blood thinners for a while.  Its always scary when it involves the heart and blockages and blood thinners.  Chuck is only 49 years old and fit as a fiddle so it can happen to anyone!!  We wish him a speedy recovery.  I think maybe he has always envied me and my heart attack and all the attention I got!!!  Its tough being the big brother in law!!!

Let the Fun Begin!!

WHERE ARE WE?           Rivers Provincial Park, Rivers Manitoba

   

NEXT DESTINATION?    Mexico this Fall?  Fingers Crossed

Well it is time to start our summer at CJ's.  We have been dragging our heels while waiting for it to warm up a bit.  It wasn't exactly warm out today but we will run out of time if we don't get started.  Our son Derek showed up in the morning so him and I went to town to get Karalee's truck out of storage.  It has been sitting at Pat and Harold's shop for the winter.   Hooked the battery up and vroom!  It started right up.  We drove it down to the shack ready to haul some stuff for us.

Pill with a V

WHERE ARE WE?           Rivers Provincial Park, Rivers Manitoba   

NEXT DESTINATION?    Mexico this Fall?  Fingers Crossed

It is nice to be home and part of home is lots of family coming to visit.  We need to get busy cleaning up the Ice Cream shop but it is going to be quite chilly for a couple days so we will just wait it out.  Kaitlyn and Greg, Grace and Max spent the day with us and it gets quite messy having the kids around.  This is one of the times when our Ponderosa is not big enough.  In our house we had a play room, but now the playroom is the living room.

Houston, The Ponderosa has Landed

WHERE ARE WE?           Rivers Provincial Park, Rivers Manitoba   

NEXT DESTINATION?    Mexico this Fall?  Fingers Crossed

After spending the night in Moose Jaw Saskatchewan, we had about a 5 hour drive to make it back to Rivers Provincial Park where we will spend the summer selling Ice Cream.  We spent a little time in Walmart in Moose Jaw getting some supplies, because we depleted our stocks when we were at Sheri's.  Then we were off down the last leg of our journey.

Homeward Bound

WHERE ARE WE?           Walmart in Moose Jaw Saskatchewan    

NEXT DESTINATION?    Rivers Provincial Park, Rivers Manitoba tomorrow

Well our time with our Western kids has come to an end.  What a great time we had here.  It is always nice to spend some time with family after being away for so long.  It is also nice to head to where our roots are, and that is what we are going to do today and tomorrow.  It is 1200 kilometers from Bentley to Rivers so we will not be doing it all in one day.  We do try to get 800 kilometers under our belts the first day.  At the end of the day we had travelled 867 kms.

The Rose

WHERE ARE WE?           Bentley Alberta, CANADA eh!     

NEXT DESTINATION?    Rivers Provincial Park, Rivers Manitoba on Saturday

We often wonder what our kids are made of and sometimes we dont get to see them in their true light when they are younger and living under our roof.  We have had all of our kids do things and act in ways that make us wonder what they are thinking at the time.  Now as they get older they tend to figure out life and what is really important.  When they get to that point we know we have done a good job.  We are glad that we stayed strong as parents and ended up with the kids we have today.  They all make us so dog gone proud!!  We don't always like to remember some of the not so pleasant events in our lives, but this story today is about one of those moments.

Bentley Museum

Because we are visiting our kids and just doing whatever we feel like, sometimes a blog is not part of our day.  I like to have a record of what we do each day so I have to post a few blogs in a row just so I can refer back to them at a later date.   Hope you still enjoy reading them even though they are a few days behind sometimes

We have been enjoying our time here and soon it will be time to head east again.  The weather has been less than enjoyable but the company has been the best!  This morning Sheri and I decided to go down and check out the local Museum.  It is a small one but I always figure that you find out a lot about a community by knowing the history.  The museum is partly in a restored farm style house which brings back a lot of memories for me.  I was born and raised on a small family farm and remember my grandparents living in a house much like this, with much the same furnishings.  Boy am I ever old!!!