Dan & Jenn Move Away

Dan and Jenn moved into our basement three years ago, as virtual strangers. After sharing our house with them, and many meals, they are not just tenants but good friends. It is sad to see them go, but we wish them all the best as they settle into life in Abbotsford!

The faces at the goodbye party at Crescent Park.

Saying Goodbye in the wee hours of the morning.

Bye Dan & Jenn! See you soon!

meeting Cassidy

One of my coworkers had a baby, and we had a little baby shower to celebrate. Michael was one of the first men to get in on the action and hold baby Cassidy.

Here's some shots of the rest of the guys holding Cassidy.

Another collage of some of the fun.

That really cute pink hat that Cassidy is wearing is one that I made!

another baseball game

We got to go to another baseball game this summer, this time with a bunch of my coworkers. Here I have a picture of Rudy to prove that he was in fact in Manitoba and did join us for Folklorama.

Michael made friends with some of the other staff's kids:

Just hanging out...

Camping at William Lake

Michael and I went on our first ever tent camping adventure. We borrowed a tent and gathered together a few other camping things (wiener roasting sticks, bug spray, cooler) and headed out. We joined our friends Chris & Allison for this one, which was a good thing, as they had other camping essentials such as a tarp and camp stove.

We had a pretty nice site, but lousy neighbours, who thought that camping meant bringing your boombox and sharing your music with the enitre campground.

Here's Chris & Allison's tent (with Allison making some breakfast):

Here's our tent:

Chris demonstrating that camping food can be extremely delicious, who needs McD's?

We had a little chipmunk that became a regular visitor to our site (I'm not going to say anything about why, you can probably figure it out)

Allison is a fellow knitter, so we enjoyed some time around the campfire with our sticks and wool.

Allison and I also took a trip to the International Peace Gardens. It was great.

There was so many flowers, it was awesome. I learned a lot, seeing as how this was my first year doing any sort of flower gardening.

Other random images from camping. We went for a hike and found a look out point (we did not get there by climbing up a mountain, it was a wooden structure with stairs, so different from BC)

William Lake has a beautiful lakeside, I really enjoyed this about this particular campground. There was grass, sand, trees and shade, and the water was a very pleasant temperature.

We also enjoyed a traditional camping food, foil pack dinners. They turned out reasonable well. We discovered that the way to avoid burning and sticking is to use parchment paper inside the tin foil. Awesome!

This last one is of us inside our tent. We even brought our bedtime story along! It's the Bible as a novel and we take turns reading out loud to each other.

dyeing sock yarn party

This summer I tackled something that I would probably never have done on my own, but with friends for support and encouragement, I decided to join in the fun.

It started with a cake of plain white sock yarn. Which I had to wind into a really really long hank (read: I placed one chair in my kitchen and the other in my living room and wound the yarn around the chair backs). Then a trip to the grocery store to buy lots and lots of koolaid. Then soaking said hank of yarn in vinegar water over night. Then I headed to April's place with my soggy and smelly yarn, packets of koolaid, jars & slow cooker.

Then I mixed my koolaid in the jars, set them in the slow cooker filled with water and then put the yarn in.

Then began the waiting. Until the water in the jars was clear, the dye had not all been soaked in by the yarn.

Once that was complete, I dumped everything out and rinsed the yarn in cold water. Then, I had my friends help me handle the long loop of yarn and fold it up so I could take it home.

Pretty cool, eh? Here's a few more shots from the evening:

strawberries!

Sofia came over to spend the day with me. So she helped me wash all the strawberries I had picked the previous day.

Here she is, ready to climb up and help with the washing:

And, because it's way too cute...here's a video:

What fun!

Summer Fun

This is just a few highlights from this summer. hanging out with our niece & “Winnipeg” niece. Picking berries with friends (and this year, I actually had time to wash them and deal with them right away, rather than leaving them in pails for two days and having them get all squashed and start moulding).

this is sofia, who came to spend the day with auntie Esther. We played in the garden together and she discover the piano. What fun to watch little ones play and discover new things!

This is Cate enjoying the new dress than Auntie Esther knit and gave to her for her second birthday.

toes, enough said.

it had just recently rained, so between the rows was a soggy mess that would suck my flip flops in and then when they would let go, it would make a huge slurping sound and fling muddy water everywhere!

picking berries, lots of yummy ripe berries.

and those are the highlights. i feel like i enjoyed this summer at a much more relaxes pace than usual. it was blissful.

High School Grad Reunion

So I (Michael) had my 10 Year High School Reunion this year. I was a great to see old friends and class mates. We met at a park close to the high school, MacGregor Collegiate in MacGregor, MB(for those that don't know already). We had a picnic and hung out visiting. Some people brought their kids and they ran around in the little splash park having fun. Great fun was had by all.

This is the latest edition of our high school logo. Which most of the people at the reunion didn't like. Our high school teams are the MacGregor Mustangs and our old logo was a silhouette of a wild mustang rising up on its hind legs. Some would say we are getting old and just don't like change but then we would say our logo was superior and should not be messed with. Enough said.

Oh yes time to show off. The high school track & field record board. In high school I was on most of the sport teams including soccer, volleyball, basketball, badminton, fastball and track & field. This kept me busy all year. My high school shot put record still stands.

I set it in grade 10 as a junior. I put(threw) a 9 kg shot put 14.53 meters, which was good enough to give me 1st place in the province of MB in 1997. That seems like years ago and like a different world now.

This is a banner a soccer team I was a part of won. In grade 11 my soccer team was 1st in our zone and 3 rd in the rural provincials (excluded Winnipeg schools). We had an awesome team. I was the goalie and was chosen to try out for team Manitoba which was a huge honor for me.

Volunteer Services Summer BBQ

we had a BBQ with the people from my department at work. these faces are one of the big reasons I love my job so much...they make it a lot of fun.

Brendan & Riley, the two amigos. They make me laugh every single day...can you see or imagine why?

group shot. we played some botchee ball

and to end the evening, some yummy rhubarb dessert. topped with a sparkler to celebrate my birthday!

Happy Birthday to me!

For my birthday, Michael and I both had the day off, which was awesome. So Michael planned a fabulous day, which started out at Lower Fort Garry. It is a place that recreates the history of the fur trade in Manitoba. It was great, it's been on my list of things to see now that I live in Manitoba.

Then we went for supper with our friends, and as you can see, cute little S stole the show!

The night ended off with fireworks, which Michael felt compelled to take pictures of, even though it never does them justice and most of us have seen them so we know what it looks like. All in all, a great birthday! (i don't know why it is underlining, but it sure is annoying)