After Olympia Pete and I visited Pat and Betty, from SV Ile Flottante, at their home in Shelton. They treated us to a wonderful dinner followed up with their favorite dessert, Ile Flottante. Then it was off to Mill Creek to spend 2 days with my brother Andy and his wife Linda. Brother Matt, brother-in-law Walt, and Walt's sister Susie joined us for an early Christmas dinner. The next day I watched the Seahawks for the first time this season. They were courteous enough to win. Our whirlwind tour of the Puget Sound region then took us to Enumclaw to visit my close friend James, his wife Becky, and their daughters Jennifer and Katie. We got to attend Katie's chorale concert at Enumclaw High School. Top notch performance, you would never guess it was high school. Pete and I were both very impressed.
About a week later Becky, Jennifer, Katie, and a close family friend were involved in a serious car accident. After a day of skiing at Crystal Mountain their car was struck by a very large falling tree. They will all be OK, but Becky and Jennifer sustained some very serious injuries. Pete and I wish all involved a complete recovery. It will take serious time and work - hang in there James, they will need quite a lot of your help and patience.
Pete and I had already travelled on to British Columbia to spend Christmas with Pete's family. We spent a night in Midway with his sister Monica and her husband Steve. They put on another early Christmas dinner for us with their son, his wife, and their 3 children. A couple of days later the rest of Pete's siblings, Don, Liz, Rosemary and her daughter and foster sons, and others joined us in Quesnel where we hosted another early Chistmas dinner. Pete's daughter Melanie, husband Mark and 3 children joined us later in the day. Pete and I had prepared a skating rink by shoveling the snow off part of the nearby creek (yes Virginia, creeks freeze quite solidly in central BC), some of Pete's grandchildren went skating there after dinner.
It should be noted that all this occurred before Christmas even got around to happening. The big day saw us at Melanie and Mark's house opening gifts with their 9, 6, and 4 year old children (YEAH!!! as the 6 year old said with alarming frequency). Before dinner I represented the Empire in a game of Star Wars Battleship. The 6 year old used the force against me and the dark side lost. Melanie put on a feast of turkey, stuffing, and various less important victuals. What a great Christmas. We also worked in time to visit Pete's great friends Kim and Debbie where we enjoyed a great turkey soup. Tomorrow we will go to Prince George to see Pete's son Tim, wife Leah and their children. Then it will be time to board an evening flight and begin the journey back to SV Cygnus in Ensanada Mexico. (Remember Cygnus? This is a blog about Cygnus.) Our next post may include some sailing.
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