Zoooooom! and there goes another week of the summer...

Zoom: Dave and I enjoyed our date weekend (of which i already wrote about, i know, but these are the biking pictures). We did a 20 km bike on friday, and a 30 km on saturday down a new trail - which was exhilarating! the weather was prefect, as was the company. I could spend all day, every day with Dave, and we 'd still be having fun!! :)



The day after our relaxing-no-parenting time and two of our five fell ill. So sad. Fevers, headaches, aches and pains, doctor visits, long sleepless nights, motrin, ug. Good thing we were refreshed and prepared to do battle with some nasty bugs. (glad to report:mercy/dave have recovered completely! sorry about the photo dave, i hope you don't mind, haha)



Reunion : I so greatly enjoyed spending time on the farm this weekend. "the farm": that is what i always called my Oma and Opa's place as a child. This weekend was not a family reunion with my side of the tree - no, it was Dave's Mom's side. One determined woman did an amazing timeline of the family all the way back into the 1600's!!! incredible really, the time she must have taken to do that work is unfathomable to me. Many of the relatives labored to give us all a lovely time of visiting, relaxing, good food, memories, and an education about our heritage. ***THANK YOU SO MUCH***

Heritage, lineage, family ties: a curious thing. My friend told me about a study done with second cousins ( i have not done my homework to find the source, so i'm sorry if this is not accurate). Apparently, when placed in a room full of unknown second cousins, those who are related find each other and "hit it off" so to speak. Whether due to a sense of security, familiar appearance, or... who knows, I find this fascinating. At the reunion, Dave observed how well all the children played, and something more: there was an atmosphere of companionship, they lived life by the same rules (or in adult speak: values and priorities). It was wonderful to watch. Growing up, my closest friends were my cousins, my dear sweet partners in crime and fun. :) I found delight in the children running off to explore, create, imagine and conspire together, as i was flooded with memories of my own childhood. Now my children have those memories; a farm, chickens in a barn, a dog to pet and talk to, good friends you've never met before, a kid-made-rock-shop, making money off of relatives who don't even know your name, :) haha. Good times. Here are the photos, can you tell it was a Canada Day reunion? :)