Memorial Day, Steve's Birthday, Sports Day, Volunteer's Tea, Year 8 Graduation and the Tractor Parade

Time for an update again. Time has flown by and so many things have happened. So here goes.....

On May, 25 we celebrated Memorial Day, i.e. a day off school. Our first plan was to go up Mt Baker, however, the wet weather first thing in the morning changed that. So instead, we headed down south, along with a number of other families, and ended up in Washington Park in Anacortes. We chased the sunshine and we got it! It was just beautiful. No breeze, just a relaxing afternoon/evening by the shore around a fire.

 A resident seal with only one eye is known to hang around the boat launch in the hopes of a free feed. We thought that because he only had one eye, hunting food himself would be difficult and so he scavenges off the fisherman.

Sitting around the fire having our dinner. Delicious food and good company! A great way to spend a day off!

On Thursday we celebrated Steve's birthday and so together with Mum, we made boatjes, mini pavlovas, lamingtions and chocolate cupcakes! Here is mum pressing the cookie dough into the moulds. 

And there is always someone around the lick the bowl!

On Saturday evening we had Steve's party as well as a bit of a welcome for Mum. We were outside and had a beautiful evening. Unfortunately no one thought to take photos, so you'll just have to take our word for it!

On Thursday, the 29th it was sports day. The weather was fantastic and the events well run. Lunch was hotdogs, with fruit, packet of chips and choc milk. The last event of the day was the wheel relay.

Just this past Wednesday was Volunteer's Afternoon Tea. The food and decorations was prepared by the Home Economic class and was done to perfection. We were served frozen fruit salad/slushy, scones with cream and jam, tuna horns (instead of cream horns it was tuna), sandwich fingers along with punch or tea. It was very enjoyable!

Last night was the 8th grade graduation. There was just 5 students! 4 girls and 1 boy! Since Steve is their teacher, he has been very busy putting together the powerpoint for their diploma presentation. It was held in the gym and was a very nice evening.

Saturday morning was the Tractor's parade in Lynden. The little girls and Mum went along to watch the show! There was a wonderful selection of old and new tractors, bands and kids on unicycles.

This one's for Dad. It's a Massey Harris, not a Massey Ferguson.

Can you spot Mum in the background?

Even the Minions were there!

The girls were there just to collect the candy! Oh and the toothbrush, the choc milk carton and balloons!

The weather has been glorious. And it doesn't look it will let up for the next week either!

A belated birthday dinner for Stefan at MacDonalds  (except he's not on it because he took the photo!)

The next week will be busy. Jaclyn has her Oregon trip from Monday to Wednesday. Steve and Anthea plan to go to Mt St Helens with the Year 7/8 class from Tuesday to Thursday. And on Friday is Jaclyn's graduation and the last day of school! So it will a very quiet week for us here at home!

Sunday night dinner!

Mum has been doing well. She's been visiting a number of ladies. We also went up the mountain and checked out the view of Sumas and the Fraser Valley. 

While visiting one lady, Charlotte her dog immediately jumped straight onto Mum's lap and made herself quite at home! 

We are very thankful for the time we can spend together with Mum! She is enjoying good health and enjoys being with the grandkids, doing her needlework and keeping up to date on Facebook!

Thanks for looking!

Mother's Day, a getaway and Mum's arrival!

A few Sundays ago it was Mother's Day and I was very spoilt and got breakfast in bed! Fresh flowers from the garden, cup of tea, overnight oats, a 'forget me not' plant from Shantel and lots of artwork from both girls. It was good to reflect on the roll of the mother and the positives influences they have in the family.

We have had our last bible study for the season.  On Friday Jaclyn along with the youth went to Maylong Study weekend in Vernon, BC. They arrived safely and we hope they have a good weekend and a safe trip back on Monday.

On Friday afternoon, Steve and myself went for an overnighter to Silver Lake. A good friend offered to take care of the little girls, Jaclyn was away, and Anthea and Stefan stayed home. We had dinner at Steakhouse 9 which was delicious. We then went with the RV to Silver Lake and got there around 7:30pm. We set up (which involved leveling the RV!!) and then went for a walk around the lake and the park. When we got back, we got the fire going and enjoyed a campfire. It was beautiful weather, no wind and not even cold. 

We camped in a tenting area so no power or water which was fine because we were self sufficient, but probably not quite designed for 31 ft motorhomes. We were literally camping between the trees. We just fit in!

The next morning, after a delicious breakfast of bacon and eggs, we headed off to the lake for a spot of fishing. We had taken the canoe, and hit the water! We tried different spots and different lures etc but had no success at catching anything. But it was nice just be on the water, even though it got a bit cold towards the end. We got home at around 4. It was wonderful just to be away from everything!

On Wednesday we went to Vancouver and awaited the arrival of Steve's mum! She arrived on schedule and it was wonderful to see her again and in good spirits. She'd had a good sleep on the last leg of the flight and was very excited to see us all and where we lived.

John was at the airport too!

Mother and son!

And the big cuddle all the way overseas from Oma B!

On Friday evening we had a 'welcome' evening with the Houweling relatives!

Enjoying the beautiful long evening!

Within a few days, Mum was already helping Shantel with some needlework!

Mum is relaxing well and adjusting to life here in the USA very well. The children have reacquainted with her and enjoyed all the goodies that came along over the ocean.

We are very thankful for the traveling blessings and the way it's all going. God is good!

Thanks for looking!

Birthdays, visitors and presentations!

 On the 16th and 20th of April, we celebrated two birthdays in our household. The first was Jaclyn who turned 18 years old! Congratulations Jaclyn! Just a few more weeks left and you're done with your secondary schooling! This week she also presented her senior project and that was a gigantic relief for her!

Pizza dinner at the park to celebrate!

And the second was Stefan who turned 16 years old! He also got his intermediate drivers license and is now on the road. 

So now we have three drivers in our family! Always in the back of your mind, you hope and pray they drive carefully and responsibly, and also that the other drivers on the road are also responsible, but ultimately, we need put our faith and trust in God. We remind our kids that they always need to be ready to meet their Savior should He call them home at any time.

Cornerstone Christian also held their annual grandparents day! Grandma Vreugdenhil was the kids' surrogate grandmother! She was very pleased! Here she is pictured with two other grandchildren as well as a great-grandchild!

The week following spring break, the school has a spirit week. This year the theme was space. So on Friday, they were allowed to dress-up in all things space. Here is Shantel as a space alien!

On April, 25th was Anzac Day (Australian New Zealand Army Corps) commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing. In keeping with tradition, I made a batch of Anzac biscuits.

We also had some Aussie visitors that morning, Uncle Andrew and Anke (Dad's brother). It was wonderful to catch up with them and get the latest news. And we had some good laughs about their very recent experiences they had already encountered in Canada and America. Of course, one was driving on the right hand side of the road. Uncle Andrew hadn't driven on the right since he'd been to Holland some 20 years ago. The way we remember is the "driver is in the middle of the road". However, his was "wife in the ditch"!!!

That morning was also the kids fishing derby at Silver Lake. Steve, Anthea and the two little girls got up around around 6 and headed for the lake armed with rods, lures and the desire to catch the biggest fish! They didn't have any luck fishing from the edge of the lake, so they hopped on board a boat belonging to some friends, and with in no time, the little girls both caught something! They didn't win but they were very proud of their catch and that evening, we ate them after cooking them over some burning coals in the fire pit!

These two girls are inseparable. Cassie lives on the other side of the field (our backyard) and they love playing together! Here they are painting a picture! Oh, and eating lunch at the same time!

Last week was the school's annual plant sale. A few weeks back we had a planting party where we repotted lots of plants, and here they are several weeks later, much bigger and looking very healthy. What we had to do here, was label and price each plant. Plants are quite different here so some of the plant names are quite interesting! The plant sale was held last week Friday and Saturday, and partly due to good weather, and a good variety, did very well. Just to give a bit of an idea, they raised over $4000!

The weather has been beautiful lately! The fields were ploughed, leveled and seeded for grass. No corn this year so we should have beautiful (uninterrupted) views to Abbotsford!

We were visited by a bold eagle in the front and a vulture (buzzard) in the back!

Tuesday night was Jaclyn's senior presentation. This is a major component of their Year 12 grades and must comprise a minimum of 30 hours of labour/time throughout the year. Jaclyn was a shadow project manager of her mentor, Mr R Faber, and she had to make drawings of different stages of a live client's beach house. She mainly used Autocad and met with her mentor on many occasions for advise and instructions on what she needed to do. This included internal layout, roofing, flooring and much more. She really enjoyed her project and this was very apparent in her presentation. She did an excellent job in presenting it to Ed Com, parents and a number of students.

Last Wednesday, my grandmother had her 95th birthday! What a blessing that she can still enjoy life in good health and be surrounded by her loving family. And I'm privileged to be her oldest granddaughter and also bear her initials! Happy birthday Oma!

Tonight, Jaclyn played her last volleyball game. They didn't win but they tried hard! Well done girls!

Well, that concludes the update! I hope you enjoyed reading it and having a look into our lives! 

Thanks for looking!