Party at the Paul's

It just so happened that the Paul's had a get-together on the 5th of July, and we made the trek out to Abbotsford to join the fun. It was a nice way to celebrate my 32nd (yes, I'm getting old) birthday. This year I got "old" cards for the first time - and not just one, either! Thanks for such a nice cake, even without the strawberries detussen (sp?).

Al, Margriet, Shawna & kids (Blake, Kaylie and Troy) were there to represent the Notenbomers/Horns; John, Joanne, Karen & Reuben were there for the Pauls, and we were there to make a showing for the Venemas. Reuben also had a his longtime friend Robbie over - both Reuben and Robbie were great with the kids - thanks guys! Elijah made sure to include you both in his "thank-you to Jesus" time before bed. :o) All the kids were AMAZING too- it was such a pleasant and relaxed evening. It was great to see Kaylie and Troy for the first time too.

Here are some pics (in no particular order, and without comment)- it's late and I may spruce this entry up a bit later. Nite nite!

Happy Campers

This past weekend we packed up and headed west - as far west as you can go in Canada, in fact. We spent the weekend camping out at Long Beach near Tofino. The brave souls that came with us were Uncles Shaun & Jason, Aunties Sarah & Shannon, wee Joshua, and S&S's nephew Jordan. Elijah and Davin enjoyed themselves thoroughly - Long Beach = World's Biggest Sandbox, plus the fun of having Uncle Shaun and Auntie Sarah around kept them busy. Sleeping in a tent was also a treat. We had Val on a folding cot, Davin in a playpen, and Elijah on a Thermarest in the middle. Daddy stretched out in the remaining expanse (all 18 glorious inches of it). Still, that second-hand MEC tent held us all. I bought it when we were newlyweds and I thought it was way more than we'd ever need ... now it's barely adequate. Beware, ye who consider childbearing...

We stopped off at Cathedral Grove on the way there

Davin & Elijah with Auntie Sarah

Jordan, Elijah & Uncle Shaun (finally, something even Shaun has to look up to)

Davin excited about waves

Fun with kelp - free toys wash in daily...

Val and some strange guy that was lurking around with a camera

It was always easy to find Davin back - just follow the scootch marks...

Davin is finally showing a desire to walk - I think it's so she can get into E's stuff more readily...

Fun in the driftwood

We had to resign ourselves somewhat to the pervasive sand and dirt. We did try keep the kids as clean as we could, but it would have made any Grandma cringe. We stopped off at my folk's place on the way home and left a small sandbar in the tub...