leftovers from summer

These'll have to speak for themselves - I don't have time to write! Except to say that the first ones are from Ching park with Sharon and the kids, and the ones of Corin and Faithie are from when she came over for the day when Steve and Jo were at the conference. Man, we all have cute kiddies :)

Happy Birthday, Laura!

This is a little late (Sept 17 was her birthday) but I didn't want it to go by without an official blog entry dedicated to it. We're so thankful for our oldest daughter. She's a joy and brings lots of fun and laughter to our house! As she gets older she loves to do stuff with me and boy, I'm lovin' it! We went into town together while at the cottage, shopped, ate fudge, laughed a lot and went to the Christian bookstore where I bought "A Young Woman After God's Own Heart" for her (Elizabeth George). And last night we cooked a big "first day of fall" meal and she made her first pie crust - and I had to admit it tasted better than mine :)

Family Faces & Cottagey Places

Yvetta likes to "flirt" with everyone from afar, but if you come too near, she's sure to put up a fuss! I think everyone learned that truth about her during our time together at the cottage, but Auntie Karen got smart. She made herself irresistable by getting right down on 'Vetta's level and playing blocks. Within seconds Yvetta noticed her and joined her in building :)

We read a missionary story this summer about a remarkable man (actually, an obedient man with a remarkable God!) who grew up in Bancroft and even climbed Eagles' Nest in his youth! (don't ask me how!!). When we walked along the old railway trail and came upon this house, Caleb imagined it was where Tommy had lived :)

We didn't fish as much as usual this year. Maybe it was b/c we were so grossed out by the little tub of rotting, mouldy worms we bought from the gas station!!! We did end up buying another bunch - after making sure they were actually alive - and the kids caught a few, and had lots more fun just hoping. I hope the D. family weren't too startled by the leftover worms we left in the fridge for them!!

The kids just loved the park in town - it was a very nice ending to our family walk.

Caleb was quite taken by the amazing misty mornings we enjoyed - here's one of his pictures:

Dad pushed Yvetta in an ancient stroller that we found in the storage room at the lodge. It was broken so Rich used up a bit of elbow grease finding a way to "fix" it. Personally, I think the thing is past fixing, but it did the job. By the end of the walk, however, it was sagging pretty badly and we made the most headway pulling it behind us instead of pushing it :)

Oh so fun to all eat together! What good times around the table - and around the fire at night! Who can forget lines like, "You used to be cool?" (Doug to Shana) or Rob's rendition of the Chinese man who gave them directions to "the Gut". What laughs!

We loved those swings! Even Luke got into things until we noticed the sign in the lodge which made it clear that he was too old!

Rob and Karen

Shana and Doug

Mom and Dad

The bunch of us at Eagles' Nest

We surely missed Steve and Jo and their family this year. They ended up having van trouble the day before coming up and couldn't safely drive it on the highway. We were all disappointed, but able to trust the Lord that He does all things right. In the end, Steve and Jo were able to find a more suitable van for their growing family and we thank the Lord for that!

The Cottage

Well, here's a start! I could be doing laundry or cleaning or getting my life organized so as to get a good start on school come Monday.............but those jobs are always with me. Contrarywise, the good memories from our week at the cottage will soon start to fade a little so now's the time to blog, right? But the laundry is calling me - almost audibly - so here's my compromise: just a coupla pics until I can come back and do justice.

Okay, I'll come clean. I really just wanted to be able to say I beat Karen and blogged first ;)

More to come!