Deception Pass!

On Thursday, the teachers had a PD day, and Friday was a holiday being Fall Break and Monday was Columbus Day or Thanksgiving in Canada, so we had a great opportunity to take Sunni (the motorhome) out on her maiden voyage with her new family! We opted to go to Deception Pass just one and a half hours away and camp at an RV park because so far we haven't been able to get the generator going. We left once Steve came home and packed the last bits and pieces and got to the park around 7:30 pm. We did go in two vehicles as the kids claimed they needed to be at their soccer game on Saturday morning and couldn't miss out!! 

The nice thing about the RV was we simply needed to plug in the power, water and sani and the rest we could sort out in the morning! 

With the wood we took along, Stefan got the fire going. He is really contemplating here...

Bacon and eggs for breakfast

We all slept well and awoke to a beautiful day and a free air show! The airbase is nearby and the pilots train for hours right above the park. And then they put on their afterburners! It was so loud we could have done with some earplugs.

Deception pass bridge in the background. It was really cold here!

Hiking to the top of the bridge

Looking down from the bridge. Lots of boats out to catch salmon. The beach right on the point is where the earlier photo was looking to the bridge

Deception Pass Bridge

Deception Pass was named by Captain Vancouver who was looking for a quiet spot to moor his ship. He thought it would be quiet here but it was very deceptive due to the turbulent water currents. He wrote 'Deceptive Pass' on his maps and it has stuck to this day.

Here you can see the turbulence 

Lunch

One big lief!

Pre-WWII remnants of a fort hidden on shore at Fort Casey

A cannon

The top of the fort level with the beach. You'd never know there was something below!

Showing the sea on the right and the fort level with the grass. You can just make out the cannon.

The ferry and a RV park right on the beach!

Having a bath in the RV

Our setup!

Shantel and a friend

A cute log building

Story time!

Hiking at Bowman Bay

Flintstone's car!

A windmill at Oak Harbour

Cute lodgings with a Dutch theme

Relaxing by the fire

On Sunday we went to the URC in Burlington about a 30 minute drive. It also happened to be the baptism of Desiree, first grandchild of Marvin and Bernice. So they, along with several other family and friends, were there as well!

 Playing with play dough and cars

Sunday afternoon with John and Veronica. A toast for Anthea's birthday!

Another story!

Jaclyn's sleeping area above the cab

A slide-out pantry

The two little girls would go to sleep on our bed and when we went to bed, we'd drop the table and transfer them. Worked very well!

Stefan got the sofa which pulled out to a bed and Jaclyn is behind the curtain up top

And our bed at the back of the RV

Fast asleep!

 And all too soon, it was time to head home! We took Chuckanut Drive which is a scenic drive along the coast and the autumn (fall!) colours were just beautiful!

We thank God for His travelling mercies and for the wonderful time we had enjoying His creation. 

We are also happy with Sunni and grateful all went well!

This week is also going to be a busy one as we hope to move three houses down. 

It is a bigger house and right next door to the farm!

Till next time!

Apple Pies!

Several weeks ago we received our order forms for apple pies. This was a fundraiser for the school and as an incentive this year, if you ordered 12 (either for yourself or along with other orders you got) you got a free pie. So Shantel went around the neighbourhood (by car as there's no one really close enough to walk to) and with her rehearsed line of "our school is selling apple pies. Would you like one? They are $8 each!!" we got 9 orders. Most people can't resist a cute sweet little 5 year old doing the asking. So along with my 7 pies I ordered for myself, we made the 12 quota and I got 8 pies for the price of 7! Ha, their little incentive worked. They had pie orders coming out of their ears. So Monday night at 7pm in the school kitchen, a bunch of about 28 ladies did their thing to make apple pies. 

Apple pies is a big thing here. First the apples need picking. So the previous Friday, a group of ladies went to a local orchard and picked heaps of apples. And then on the Monday night, there were various jobs. The apples were peeled and sliced by those fancy apple peelers (that usually work but are a nuisance when they don't!) and then other ladies would quarter the apples. The apples were then mixed with the sugar/flour/cinnamon mix and dumped into bought pies bases and then covered with the pastry top. These were then fluted (sealed) and pricked and placed in bags, sealed and boxed with a label. By 10 o'clock we had completed 320 pies!

The following day, we carried on. By 2pm we completed another 270 pies making a total of 590 pies! During the day, the completed pies were also being immediately delivered or picked up in order to ensure freezer space for those that couldn't take their pies right away.

It was really great seeing all this take place. There's a real sense of community spirit. Because the government doesn't support the school at all, every penny is raised by school fees ($850 per month per family) or through fundraising. So everyone is really involved in helping with the fundraising. Very nice to see.

The peelers and cutters 

Fluting and bagging. The buckets along the window are full of the sugar/flour/cinnamon mix

Tuesday: the pie dishes getting filled and fluted

More peelers and cutters

A finished pie which we had for dessert. Delicious!

And then on Wednesday late afternoon we had two visitors! Mr and Mrs W & A Geurts were in the area and found out where we lived and came to say hello. We visited for a while and it was really nice catching up with them.

We have a long weekend coming up, and we plan to take Sunni to Deception Pass from Thursday afternoon to Monday. More on that in the next post!

Thanks for visiting!

Lynden, patio, baking and RV

Well, another week has passed. I spoke with my brother Ken this evening for his birthday (Sunday for us) Monday in Australia and he mentioned their twins are 10 weeks old already which means we have been gone for 10 weeks as they were born the day after we left! And brother Alex who is in Ontario and is born on the same day will celebrate his birthday tomorrow.  Very weird!!

Monday and Tuesday I copped the flu so that slowed things down here a little. By Wednesday, I was starting to feel a bit more alive, and went out for a coffee with some ladies. 

Was gezelig! It was a wet and cold day!

One morning this week (when the sun was shining), Taleesha and I had some breakfast companions. A patio was being made for the west side of the house, and the concrete needed to be laid on two different  days and only when the sun was shining. So the first stage happened last week, and this week was stage 2. So early in the morning the cement track and the Faber workers were there as busy as ants spreading the concrete. It turned out really nice and we even had afternoon tea there this afternoon along with cousin John Houweling.

Early morning company!

Before

Timber edging

Great entertainment!

After

Sitting outside Sunday afternoon

Nice area to ride bikes!

I did some baking and cooking this week using Aussie recipes. The first one was an Aussie pie but puff pastry is not easily found. Apparently you can buy it but it is in bulk so you'd want to share! So I used pie crust which is rolled and you just unroll it and lay it on the baking dish. The pie did work and tasted good!

Aussie meat pie

And the second is a real Aussie beauty; the pavlova. Most people haven't heard of it except if they have had contact with an (ex) Aussie. I didn't have a big mixer just a handheld, which gets tiring after 10 minutes even when sharing the holding with Jaclyn! It turned out really nice just not very high which we thought may be due to the mixing. Thanks to the passionfruit tins couried by Jared B from his latest trip to Sydney, we all thoroughly enjoyed our pav.  We shared it with Marvin and Bernice and nothing was left!

Pavlova

In the city centre, Lynden has some beautiful murals painted on their walls. Here are just a few.

And Shantel lost her third tooth!

Here in the US, mailboxes are not outside everyone's home. They are usually all the same shape and are often grouped together with a few people living next to you or even opposite you. So if you live in a cul de sac, your mailbox will be on the main road. A separate plastic box is for any newspapers you subscribe to. And if you want to post mail, you have a little flag which you put up and you put your mail inside the letterbox. When the postal service comes past, they see the flag, take out your mail and take it back to the post office. Now that is service! Oh, and check out their mail cars! 

Three letterboxes grouped together

The little flag indicating there's mail inside

The mail cars

Thursday night we celebrated Tante Fien's 77th birthday. We met more cousins we'd never met before.

Not long to go before she heads down under to met her brother (Steve's dad).

On Saturday we spent most of the day doing little touch-ups to the RV. Steve even got on top and cleaned the roof. He said it was a bit cooler up there!

Today (Sunday) we met a couple from Ontario and attends Providence church (they came for the wedding). They even know Alex and Megan. So, being Al's birthday, they kindly agreed to take a parcel for him! Thanks guys! 

Well, I think that's this week in a nutshell. We've had rain, wind and sunshine! We are all well and looking forward to the long weekend starting Thursday where we hope to head to Deception Pass with the RV (interior photos still coming!) We hope all goes well.

Rubbish is garbage or trash.

Passionfruit and sultanas are unheard of.

And thongs are flip flops!

Thanks for visiting!