Eleven months ago I went to Ontario with the five kids to spend a week at the Rathfon Inn on Lake Erie, to celebrate my parents 35th wedding anniversary. Summer is a tough time for Andy to get away so he stayed home to hold down the fort. We must have looked like the quite the zoo, me traveling alone with all these kids, car seats and hand luggage, strollers and backpacks, making a good long line thru the airport. Good thing the kids were so cute ;) We went from Lethbridge to Calgary, then on to Hamilton. It was a fantastic way to do it, highly recommend.
Once we landed in Hamilton some very special and adorable cousins were waiting for us with a beautiful handmade sign! Good way to prompt tears. Willem and Jocelyn graciously let me borrow their extra vehicle and even brought it to the airport for us. Thanks a ton, yet again.
Mom and Dad have "connections", so it was planned that we got to stay at this beautiful old Inn which was just renovated, in Port Colborne. We were spoiled to be allowed to use this place, it was fully equipped and had all the extras, a games room, pool, industrial kitchen, coffee bar, library, you name it, we had it. Thanks to GPS we found it no problem, and were thrilled to be there. I think we were the last ones to arrive, so it was basically time to let the party begin! Pizza and pop for everyone.
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| Pizza on the deck upon arrival. |
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| Uncle Richard trying to get the names correct of all the cousins ;) |
Bbq's and food were a big deal with that many people! Mountains of snacks, drinks and burgers were devoured by hungry crowds. It was amazing. Fresh air always seems to make people hungrier too. Seth has become my sole bbqer here at home since he enjoyed learning about the trade while with Uncles Ben and Ken. 💙 Thanks so much for teaching him! On the Friday evening my parents had all the Oosterhoffs down for a dinner, still for their anniversary, and it was a wonderful way to catch up with those we haven't seen in years. We sang some Canadian songs and had a campfire with the guitars - Oosterhoff classics. 😊 It felt like home.
The bedrock by the shore made for an interesting and fun access, albeit slightly dangerous, to the lake. It was quite a windy week so we didn't go in the water there for swimming, but it was better than a beach for those who wanted to fish and use the kayaks and canoes. Which, of course, was most everyone.
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| Seth and Tristan with Sydney and Norah. |
Oma, Mom, said she was not feeding everyone as we were all old enough to take care of ourselves ;) and so the kitchen was free range. Apparently that was the best idea as the kids thought that was amazing fun and a privilege. It was rare to find the kitchen empty, someone was always in there digging for the next snack or drink;) We were spoiled with lots of fresh peaches. Honestly, there is no comparison to fruit stand peaches. We all bought them from the fruit stands along the road and every basket was done before the night was gone. Memories were made and the boys still talk about those peaches. (something a prairie boy won't normally experience), as fresh fruit is scarce here.
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| ...and we thought Seth was getting tall ;) |
Another super fun thing we did was attend brother Sam's constituency bbq which was held in Vineland. It was a real treat to be able to attend and altogether made for a perfect day. Face painting for the kids, burgers and drinks for all, popcorn, a playground and pins, frisbees and flags for everyone. This was my kids first time getting their faces painted and it took a bit for Rowan and Abby to warm up to the idea. Rowan thought it was going to be permanent. And then when the party was said and done there were some tears from tired children which washed the paint right off their faces, which resulted in another cascade of tears 😆😆😆. You can imagine the cycle and mess. Baths all around.
Below I've included some less themed pictures that I love and wanted to include yet. Dad hired a photographer and got pictures done with the whole clan, which I will put in another post.
Dad also made in the following months a video for us and included some songs with catchy themes which now of course we think encapsulate the good times we had even though they actually had nothing to do with it. Abby will sing "We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun, but the wine and the song, like the seasons are all gone!" tralala.
I looked up the song and I don't think the rest of the words are very appropriate, but those few are, so I will leave it at that 😂. Time *has* come and gone, just like the wine and the song, but we have lots of memories and that will last for a long time. The children had fun making friendships and playing sun up till sun down, but us adults had just as good of a time, sharing stories from our lives that have changed so much since childhood. But all of us marvel at God's care and faithfulness, and overwhelming generosity in our lives. What blessings indeed.
