Brandsma Reunion

Last weekend, 46 of the 55 Brandsma's met for a family reunion on Mayne Island. It was a wonderful weekend! There was lots of visiting, kids playing on swings and at the beach, frisbeer games, and just hangin' out together! The weather was beautiful which just helped to make it an even better time!

Rosalie took a few family pictures of us. This is about the best that we are going to get of us and our children!!!

One out of three is looking!!

Rosalie also did some crafts with the kids. (There were 16 kids there!) Kendra wore her visor hat all weekend and has her frame hanging in her room!

The places where we stayed were right on the beach of the ocean. It was a great place for the kids to play in the sand, throw rocks in the ocean and look for jellyfish on the rocks.

Sid had some kyaks that were used all weekend. The kids also had to get in on the action! Don't worry, they are only a few feet off shore and we were holding on to the rope on the end of the boat!

"You been farmin' long?"

This was Kendra's favourite thing to do there - play on the tree swing!!

Jocelyn, just lookin' cute!

We did a few hikes / walks on the weekend. Jocelyn was quite happy to come along on the backpack!

Camping at Kitsap

For a week in July, we headed out to Kitsap Memorial State Park, west of Seattle across Puget Sound, to do a week of camping. This was a beautiful little park that was very clean and quiet and perfect for our family. As we don't own a trailer and weren't crazy about tenting with 3 kids, we rented cabins. They had bunk beds, a futon, a table and a fridge. They overlooked a large open field with a park on the other side. As we were there during the week, it was not busy and we often felt like we were the only ones there. We had a fantastic week of enjoying the outdoors, seeing new places, watching our kids play and explore and relaxing by the fire.

The kids spent hours playing in the rocks at the park.

Zachary, Daniel and Owen filling up their buckets with rocks! It just never got old!

My little man!

Owen and his "mini-me", Jocelyn!

Our future traveller, with her guide book in hand!

Kevin and Owen, just chillin' with a snack and a book.

Jocelyn was a great little camper. She had mastered sitting a few weeks ago but had not figured out how to crawl yet. This meant that we could put her on a blanket with her bucket of toys and she was a happy as a clam!

Throwing rocks into the ocean.

Kendra making sand castles.

We spent an afternoon exploring the little town of Port Gamble.

Jocelyn managed to get a clover stuck to her cheek.

Just another picture of our little cutie!

A final family shot before we left.

A trip "home"

In the beginning of July, I took a little trip "home" to Smithers with the kids to celebrate my mom's birthday. (Kevin always corrects me when I say I'm going "home" when I go there because he figures that our home is 'home'. He is right, of course, but going to Smithers always still feels like returning home again!) We had a great time and the kids loved being at Grandma's house. We spent a hot afternoon at Auntie Tina and Uncle George's farm where the kids were thrilled to play with their cousins, who they hadn't seen since last summer. (Sorry Cody, I didn't get you on a picture but they had fun with you too!)

Jocelyn, just lookin' pretty cute!

For the last few days, Uncle Rich and Auntie Janelle were also there. It was great to see them and we can't wait to meet their newest family member in September!!

This was the Sunday afternoon of the big Dutch soccer game! Too bad about the outcome!

Little fish!

Kendra and Owen just completed a round of swimming lessons. This was the first time for Owen taking lessons. We weren't sure how he would do in the pool but he did great! It took a few times but once he got a little bit of confidence, he did great, jumping in on his own, putting his face in the water, etc. Kendra had had a few lessons already so she just picked up where she left off. She actually was bumped up a level half way through this session and she passed the next level too! I'm very proud of my little swimmers!!

Birthday Flowers

I read a quote yesterday at a local market that said,

"I would rather have flowers on my table than diamonds around my neck."

I'm not sure if I agree 100% with that statement but I do love having flowers in my house.

I got this bouquet from my mom, which I bought at the Nutrifoods market. I love the purples and blues!

Then my sister also surprised me with flowers! These were super long-stemmed gerbera daisies. I cut half of them down quite a bit to make this arrangement. . .

. . . and then used the rest of the gerberas, along with the purple ones (can't think of their name right now) to make another little arrangement. Nothing like fresh flowers to make your home feel cheery!!

A night out

This weekend, Kevin and I were able to get away for a day / night. John and Esther and the girls graciously agreed to have our 3 kids for the night while we enjoyed some "kidless" time. A huge thank-you to them!!! As much as we love our children, we do realize the importance of doing things together without them! We began by dropping the kids off at around 10:30 on Saturday morning. It was a beautiful day and we knew that they would have loads of fun with their cousins, riding their bikes and swimming in the pool! We then headed off to Timmy's, of course, for a late breakfast and a beverage for on the road. Our next stop was at the Capilano Suspension Bridge. This is a place that I have always wanted to go see. We also had a 2 for 1 coupon, which also helped. (And, FYI, if you are a B.C. resident, once you pay for your admission, you then have a year's membership. Now we can go back with our kids for free!)

I love heights so walking across this bridge was quite fun. I was amazed at how much it actually moved as you were going across it. Not for someone who is afraid of heights! We saw a few people holding on pretty tight!

Once across, there are many boardwalks to walk along with great view spots. They have also built a Tree Top Adventure, which is a series of mini-suspension bridges linked between the trees.

A rare semi-decent phone of the two of us. It really doesn't happen that often!

Our next stop was just up the road at the Cleveland Dam. It was a beautiful day so we walked around for a while.

Watching all that water power was pretty amazing!We then headed out for supper. If forgot to take a picture of the place but it was a pub with good food and we might have enjoyed a malted beverage or two!

We had planned to head to check into our hotel after supper and get freshened up and dressed for the Symphony. However, we were a little behind schedule and traffic was busier than we had planned for, so we ended up getting ready in our car in a parking lot! We laughed about it and thought it was a good thing neither of us were too 'high maintenance"!

This was Kevin's favourite picture of the night. Check out his reflection at the top!

We thoroughly enjoyed our 26 hour get-away. Hopefully we can do it again next year!!!

Rainy Days

The weather lately around here has been cold and wet. I know I should be used to this having lived in this area for the past 12 years but I am again ready for some sunshine. It is June today and it feels like February. Needless to say, we haven't been doing too much exciting lately so I thought I would just post a few new pictures of our little peanut! She is now 6 months old and has begun to eat solid food and is loving it!

Lately, the exersaucer is a favourite place to be for her. She spends much of her day in there and I love it too because I am able to get a few things done as well without having to hold on to her!

Hopefully the sun decides to come out sometime in June and we can start to do a few outdoor things. Actually, the kids don't really care that the weather isn't sunny. As I write, the older 2 are outside playing and searching for more snails for their 'collection'. No snail, caterpillar or slug is safe around this house!