beach day!!

la la la la la la la.... beach day!!! here we are enjoying the quiet public beaches of sarnia! :)
SAM is in LOVE with this season, he LOVES being outside, feeling dirt and sand and grass and rocks . digging, banging, shoveling, and more.... it is great! Now come the lessons of things such as: rocks don't make good popsicles, etc.
castle making!
walking in the cold cold water!
mmmmmmm dinner on the porch. burgers! what a wonderful way to end the day!

a couple more photos

exploring his own territory!! :0)
and a funny thing happened yesterday during quiet play time....

Julia was up in her room for the regular quiet play time of the day, and after a while it was very very quiet upstairs. (i understand that 'quiet' play time would seem to be a normal time to be... quiet, however, you can usually hear pitter pattering of feet and plopping of toys.) I sent dave up to wake Julia, since i don't let her sleep much in the day to help her not be up late at night, and he came down with a laugh. I went up to find her, and this is what i saw.........

a silly little girl that put herself to sleep in the closet with the door almost closed!!! what a goof.

Rock Glen Conservation Area

Starting the exploration. We walked all over the boardwalk first, it led us to a lovely waterfall deep in a canyon.
down down down down...
...and up up up
resting after a long long long walk walk walk. :)

While we were down below, we explored the riverbed for fossils. They had amazing horn coral and brachiopods that we found EVERYWHERE, it was incredible how many there were. it was a great place for a little rock and shell collecting. the wind was warm, the sun bright and the atmosphere was soooooo peaceful. ah, i love peacefulness.
Picnic time!!!!!

thanks for a lovely day out everyone!! :)

A day of Work

Dad has been helping dave do a bunch of work around the house.  Here they are cleaning out the gutters. messy messy job. i don't think they had been cleaned for 20 years. ..... yikes.
and here is mom, never stopping her busy hands..... she helped a lot!!! :)

it was a very productive day! 

A DAY OF REST

This was our sunday. Julia wore her new favorite dress and smiled her best apple mouth full smile....... as she snuggled with Grandpa sunday morning after church.For lunch we all went to Oma and Opa's house for the regular sunday feast. :) and it was a delight to see the family together and karli and mark together....and adam home from school... but we sadly missed Ann because she was studying for exams. :(
Mom walking with the non-walker.
the men talking church history.
the ladies chatting about Peru and looking through photos of their recent trip there.

for the folks we left out west....

julia (the BIRTHDAY girl) in her NEW dress and matching dress for her doll!! :)
Nana and Sam on the carousel!! :)
Gramps playing 'Trouble' with Jules
At the olive garden for a late night FEAST!!!

The bday BREAKY, these pics are out of order.... but it has been a WONDERFUL day!! :)

SAMMY LOVES FOOD!

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.................. spagetti!!!!!!

birthdays and returns !!

games! prizes! sneaky babies, oh my!
eating the earth. mmmm.
blow-outs. who needs anything else for a birthday?? these were definitely the fav's.
first hug in three months.....from THE AUNTI!

Julia made up for lost time, i don't think she took a single breath between sentences, or perhaps even words as she spoke to karli.... "excuse me, aunti karli, excuse me aunti karli...."

:)
we missed you lady. so glad you are home.

TWO POSTS in a day, i really don't have time for this.... oops

We started work on our science/art/birthday projects today. Julia's little friend bday party is on saturday, and she has requested Space Adventure as the theme. Three books on the solar system, a trip to the dollar store, and a little brain activity.... and voila! we have a dining room solar system, and some canada-space-shuttle drinking cups. (minus the pointed 'lids' and other paper parts that will make it look more rocket like)
I tried to get a shot of the whole solar system, but it just looked too messy and dark in my photos. So... here is Earth, Venus and Mercury in the distance there. The central light fixture is decorated as the sun, and the planets are in the proper order in distance out from the sun. We attempted to make them all as 'proper' in size as well. So Venus and Earth are about the same size, and Jupiter is as big as the balloon would allow!! ha. no rings yet around saturn, Uranus or Neptune....but i think we did enough crafting for today. we'll figure that one out tomorrow. perhaps.

Julia's main job through all this huffing and puffing and tying and taping, was to crumple up paper and tape it to a string. these were assembled to make the asteroid belt, which separates the inner planets, from the outer ones. (that is her favorite part)
at one point i lay on the floor to get a better angle, and this is who attacked me as quickly as possible. Of course, by 'attack' i mean he scooted over and clung to my side and buried his face into my stomach, (which tickled quite a bit!) roaring in his happy-i-got-you-now kind of roar.

(roaring is really his only distinguishable animal noise at this point. although he does a pretty good high pitched kitten every once and a while)
AH AND FINALLY. my lovely bathroom. DAVE DID A WONDERFUL job on this room. and although it sounds strange, it truly is my FAVORITE room in the house. it is sooooooooooooooooo lovely at every point. :) we still have some trim to go up around the wainscotting, and it needs a good clean now that most of the messy-reno work is done. but... sigh.... i do love it.
the bathroom window.... doesn't it all just warm your heart? :) haha. i'm such a geek.

here is an even better proof of my geekiness. the other day i walked into the living room and noticed it had seen happier days, so i created a little game. "One of these things just DOESN'T belong here" - okay so i stole the title! i am such a nerd that Julia and i played this (very excitedly) until the room was completely in order again. excitedly as in, "Okay it's my turn!!!"-julia.

yep. it worked, and it was way better than feeling guilty for asking Julia to help me clean up a mess that wasn't entirely hers. (i don't want to abuse her very soft willing heart to help, she does so much around here that i don't want her to all of a sudden NOT like it!!) :)

anyway. two proofs of my geekiness. ah. time to read and rest.

g'day all!

Julia's Love of Photography

I needed some quiet, so dave arranged a date outside with the Jules. As Dave sorted the recycling, broke down boxes, and cleaned off our porch-- (in prep. for the spring and our PORCH swing!! ) Julia walked all over our yard capturing snapshots of spring. These are the unedited photo's of a rising Photographic Artist. :) after all, it is like.... number 3 on her list of 'Things to Be' (which is probably at least 20 items long at this point in her young life).




okay, so i think dave took the above one... :) he could be a rising photographic artist as well. :)teehee.

Saying G'bye

Well, our friendly reunion came to an end last night. Dave and I ventured to another country as the sun was setting, kids in tow, and Mel squashed between them in the back of our car. (yes, we are currently looking at an 'upgrade' to accommodate the new Naus!!)
Waiting for us at an obscure gas station at a random exit was our dear dear dear Amy.
Thankfully Amy met us half way to her home so that we could spend time with her, so after some 200 km we finally saw her beautiful face and were able to spend a late dinner with her and mel and the kidlets! it was such a treat to spend some leisure time with these girls!! They are the kind of friends that even after 6 or more years, picking up where we left off is as easy as pie. (thankfully we have been able to see Amy since she lives much closer to us than dear Mel!!) The lovely Bob Evans restaurant was careful not to rush us out, (it DOES take a while to catch up on life) but eventually we did have to leave! and we parted ways. sadness.

thank you mel and amy for a wonderful time of fellowship!! :)

our sleepy kids on the way home. (okay , i know Julia doesn't look sleepy, but she was and not long after this picture was snoring away! ha)

Unfortunately i must go to make breakfast here..... and there is no mel to eat it today. :( but alas it was a lovely time together, and i now we amy get to do it again one day!! (in Germany this time!!)

su

More of our weekend

i couldn't resist adding these pics. I LOVE THIS ONE'S SMILE!!! :)
They play so nicely together.... i see a future duet together.
:)

MEL COMES TO TOWN!!!

It was a rainy afternoon when Mel came to town. She accompanied us to the river, which was gray and bleak, however, nothing dampened our spirits because it had been 6 years since we'd seen each others' faces and that was better than sunshine for us!
Mel has a special gift, she is wonderful with children. Julia loves spending time with Mel, whether they are plowing a field with her horse, or reading countless stories together. (sunglasses and all..... that's my girl!)
The boy loves dear Mel as well. Usually he just points and smiles at her, but it is no ordinary smile. Sam lights up with his most adoring smile ever and then scoots over to her for a pickup. :) Here they are enjoying the sunset at the bridge, after Mel experienced a real Canadian Poutine for the first time.
AND OF COURSE, who -who should appear? But the Bonita Girl smiling from ear to ear.
yes. yes of course, this is the one - who travels, yes travels every place under the sun.


WHAT A WONDERFUL bunch of friends God has blessed us with!!!