Summertime!

Summer around here begins with the warmer weather in May, and what way to celebrate but with ice cream! Have you noticed that anytime we get together, there's food to eat?

 Ice cream cones, hot dogs on salad forks,

and birthday cakes and celebrations. 

We celebrated Uncle Bob's and Aunt Mary's birthdays with a family reunion.
I thought it was

rather interesting to see all the physical changes happening to us: we're all a little grayer and a little, ahem, plumper. But we could still share great stories and lots of laughs!

Lots of hugs at family reunions, and lots of hugs when we see our little ones who live far away from us. Here Pookie-1 Anneke sneaks in a hug as she tries to attach a necklace to Opa.



 Our Sweet-Peas arrived at the end of June, and spent their first weekend in Ontario at Oma's and Opa's. Food again - can't make cookies unless the chocolate chips pass the taste test!

 If you look carefully,

you'll see 2 hummingbirds discussing the benefits of hosta nectar.

 Last week, we had our Geertsema Campout. We went to Presqu'ile Provincial Park. It's a nice park, but you have to drive everywhere. We had a site in the group camping area, which was quite nice. Level ground, but we could have had more shade. We usually take a hike or two, we did just one this time - to the Nature Centre. The next day, we drove to the Lighthouse, which is where the photo at the top of the blog was taken.

 What's camping without books? These kids love to be read to, and here they're listening to Aunt Katrina, at bedtime, reading 'Elephants Can't Dance".



We did an activity each day with the kids; the shaving cream play was a winner!

After the initial oo-yuck hesitation in touching it for the first time, they had a great time with it!

Elijah stole the show with his antics -

and Maria got her Daddy to shave!

Campfire and 'smores at the end of the day....

All in all, in spite of the wind, and the lack of water for 24 hours, and the hot sun making hot tents for napping, and a snake in the outhouse, we had a good time! It was wonderful to see our kids catch up with each other - we sure missed Michael - and our kidlets played so well together.

Even though our times together always seem so short, it was just as well we went home when we did: Thursday ended up being a rather wet day. I'm looking forward to Next Time!

On Thursday, Martin came over to clean out the car to get ready for the trek home. Maria and Nicole came with him. They played at just about everything that Oma has, and we even tried out Daddy's reinforced bubbles.

We did some colouring as well, and what's colouring time without a sheet of stickers -

Nicole stuck the whole sheet of stickers on the paper, whereas Maria used just the stickers from the outside of the sheet.

And now, I'm getting ready to go west for some time with Michael before going east for a camping trip with Martin and Emily and girls, and a wedding. We'll be home just in time for me to do the 'check-the-route' run with the school bus!

Family Time...

            Thanks to Skype and multiple computers and i-pads, we were all together for a little while on Christmas Day! Ah-h, technology!

Something to Write About...

I didn't think I had that much going on to write about in this blog lately, but when I downloaded the latest photos from my camera, there really was some busyness! 

I took the train and then the GO bus to Barrie late August to enjoy a few days with David and Stephanie and Anneke. While there, Stephanie had an introduction to the sewing machine by making a tote bag. Turned out really nice!

Anneke took ownership of Oma and really enjoyed playing around with her! She couldn't quite say Oma, and came out with "BaPa" with emphasis on the Pa whenever she called me. Yesterday, though she finally said "Oma". Does my heart good to hear that.

My aunt came for a month from Holland, along with her grandaughter Amy, and I visited on the farm a couple of times. In the above photo, I am posing with Tante Ans, Tante Netty and my cousin Mary Lyn.

We used our season's passes to Upper Canada Village several times this summer! Here the kids are posing in what, I hope, may become an annual photo at "the tree". Several photos were taken at this tree just across the bridge into the village when I was younger and visiting there with my Oma and cousins.

Little Elijah is growing - as all children do - into quite a lad. Here, he is opening one of his birthday presents.

And then it was tomato time. I put up about 70 jars of the best tomato sauce ever!

One Sunday afternoon, we had a "candy shop" in the wagons: the girls found clean containers in the recycle bin and filled them up with gravel.

Then, they applied clothespins to the extra length of cord hanging from the clothesline - this became their ice cream maker.

Back to Barrie at the end of September for Anneke's birthday - love that face as she digs into the chips!!

She had sparklers on her cake at first, but preferred candles instead!

With autumn comes the return of the school year, and I'm driving the school bus again. And each student actually says good morning every morning to me this year!

The colours of the season were beautiful and I kept thinking I needed a camera for my drives, but alas, I didn't. Of course, the colours were examined even more closely this year because I am working on a quilt called Leaf Spendour - a challenging quilt for me as a beginner quilter because it entails applique as well as machine piecing and it will be a full-size quilt! I meet with other quilters on Wednesday mornings, and this pattern is a challenge several of us are working on. It'll be interesting to see the variations!

And last but certainly not least and definitely very exciting, yesterday Kaelyn Stephanie's Grandpa and Grandma and Anneke and Opa and Oma were all there to welcome her home from the hospital. Kaelyn was born 2 weeks early on Friday, which was supposed to be Stephanie's last day of teaching. God had other plans!  She's a healthy 7lbs 10oz and we're thankful for this new little one to cherish.

Make Believe - or Not?

It was Petra's turn for a sleepover this past weekend. We had a picnic before the Sunday evening concert in the park, played Carcassonne, played with the paper dolls, had a breakfast of waffles with bananas and chocolate, coloured pictures, and, of course, did lots of pretending. At one point, we were pretending that we were going to church in the sleigh, but we had to hitch up horses, not Santa's reindeer. I informed her that if we were in Aunt Anne's home country of Finland, we would likely see reindeer pulling sleighs in the winter. Astonished, her mouth dropped open as she tried to absorb this information, and then exclaimed, " but NOT the FLYING kind!!"

"Mommy-BaPA"

I had an adventure last week: I took the train to Toronto and then the GO bus to Newmarket where David picked me up to go to Barrie. This visit to Barrie was long overdue, and because David and Stephanie are going to be busy for the rest of the month, I figured I better go Now!

The train ride was relaxing - once I got used to the rocking motion. No-one was in the seat beside me, so I could read my Kobo and eat my lunch at my leisure. But once I arrived in Toronto's Union Station it was not leisurely at all! Noise and crowds and where do I go?!? I'm glad I printed off a map from the Internet - it sure helped me get some of my bearings to find where to purchase the bus ticket and then to find the right bus gate.

The sun shone all day Wednesday , but wouldn't you know it, my time away from home had to have rain. I'm glad for the rain, but it sure was strange to find things to do indoors. We got out to do a little bit of shopping, and Thursday afternoon we went to the mall just to get some exercise and to let Anneke run around.

 Anneke treated me like I belonged to her and no-one else. I had to do her bidding, and when she didn't see me, she would call "BaPA!" (with the accent on the second syllable). We went to the Chapters book store on Friday morning, and when she didn't see me, there was a pretty loud "BaPA!!" in order to locate me.

We tried hard to get her to say Oma, but the closest we got was "Mommy-Bapa"!

When Opa arrived, she was able to say Uhpa, but I was still BaPA.

When my old White sewing machine gave up last fall, I purchased a very basic Singer machine and enjoyed it for a little bit. But then the Janome 4030 came on sale, and I purchased that one. Since the other two girls have machines, I promised this one to Stephanie last winter when she indicated an interest in learning how to sew. So it finally came to Barrie with John this past weekend. We purchased fabric and prepared it before the weekend, so that it would be ready to be sewn on Saturday. Stephanie made a purple tote bag, and I think she did a great job on it! I'm quite sure she will receive many compliments on it!

Well, all visits come to an end, and late Sunday afternoon, John and I left to go home. Anneke is used to saying farewells (her other set of grandparents come frequently), but she still gave several good hugs punctuated with waves and "bye-bye's".

Today - the house was quiet. I miss her.


Perk's at Upper Canada Village

        On Friday, a few "Perk" cousins went to Upper Canada Village. Our Tante Netty and her granddaughter, Amy, the daughter of Marjan, are in Canada this month. So MaryLynn and I thought it would be quite appropriate to expose Amy to a bit of pioneer life.

It was hot and sunny when MaryLynn and her 12 year old daughter Julia, her 9 year old niece (daughter of my cousin Christa who is MaryLynn's younger sister), 13 year old Amy, and 7 year old Naomi and I enjoyed our day's sojourn into the 1860's. 

 Above is a photo of one of my favourite places at Upper Canada: the Louck farmhouse.

Below is the view of some of the buildings on the main street from across the pond.

 I couldn't resist taking a picture of this lone hollyhock:

 And here are the four young ladies. From left to right: Naomi, Amy, Julia and Saskia.

We took this picture at the huge maple tree just inside the entrance to the village. This tree is the background to pictures taken when Oma Perk came to visit too!

 I took this picture just because it looked like it could be an interesting shot. It's of one corner of Bellamy's Flour Mill.

 While MaryLynn, Amy and I listened to some of the interesting facts of the woolen mill, these three were attempting to feed the fish in the mill pond!

 A bit more interesting when you can get up close! The cheese man is explaining the process of making cheddar cheese, but short people can't see inside the vats. Because we were the only ones in the factory at that moment, he allowed the girls to come past the chain to see what he was doing. Did you know that the colour we've come to associate with cheddar was simply to differentiate Canadian cheddar from English?

 At the Family Activity Centre, children can experience the kind of toys and learning activities that children in the 1860's had. There was also a rack of clothing for us to try! Photo op!! We did well in maintaining the serious faces of an authentic photo.

 MaryLynn and Julia

 Oma and Naomi

 The four girls maintained their serious faces for this picture, but the seriousness comes across as a bit of attitude here! I love it! From left to right: Julia, Saskia, Naomi and Amy.

Although we saw only a portion of the village, by about 2:30 we were done, and took the scow boat back to the main entrance/exit - where we got lost in the modern store. The store disappointed us in that it didn't have too much in the way of village-related souvenirs. MaryLynn and I both remember when one could get more authentic items, but it is now a typical tourist trap with very few really nice gifts.

Oh well, we finished the day with ice cream and that was a nice treat!

Geertsema Camping 2012

The Geertsema's went camping for a few short days (5) a couple of weeks ago. From near and far, we enjoyed trailering and tenting at Bonnechere. We had camped here as a young family many years ago; now it was time to try it again. We enjoyed the park very much and will likely return to camp - the beach is terrific for young children, the park is small, the sites are roomy and quite separate from each other - and we had a good time.

So where does one start when there are over 250 photos to choose from? And we still haven't added from 2 other cameras!

Martin and Michael returned from NS with several cases of local beer. We all sampled some to see which was the best - even me! (Martin and Emily and the girls had flown up previously to attend my Mom's funeral, leaving all their camping gear to be packed afterwards. They're hoping to enjoy the drive home when they're done visiting next week.) It was decided that the fruit-based beers were really nice for summer.

 Not sure who took this photo, but it looks like Stevin is saying, " yup, built well."

 Teacher David is obviously questioning something!

And all the kids enjoyed having Uncle Michael around! Here he is with Petra in the Bonnechere Caves. Was it ever nice and cool down there!

Playing with the dirt...

Dirt, dirty, dirtier! There was no escaping the dirt here! The ground on the sites is fine dirt, and I'm sure years of fine ashes is also mixed in.
Don't you just love these faces? We were thankful for a plentiful supply of water to clean them up at the end of the day!
And take a close look at Rachel: her left braid more or less intact while the her right gave up a long time ago, smudgy face and mismatched footwear. She is so loveable-huggable!

 There's lots of wildlife around, and the chipmunks here are quite brave. The children enjoyed feeding them!

While at the funeral, several Geertsema's decided it would be nice to have a mini-reunion while Martin and Michael were around, so on Saturday, Grandpa and Grandma G., Gwenda and Laurisse and girls, Mark and Tanya and kids, and Peter and one son (Phil) arrived for the day. The beach was enjoyed and several people got involved with a game of 'club' - hitting larger posts with smaller sticks. And then we ate together.

(On Sunday, we had a delightful surprise when Stephanie Triemstra joined us for the evening!)

 Sometimes children need a change of pace, and here we see the girls playing with Aunt Stephanie's play dough.

The game of club was enjoyed often. left to right: David, Michael and 'Kat'

and this little guy also enjoyed this game!

A game of horseshoes was also rung in.

 Sunday morning we had "church". Naomi told us why she chose particular verses, and then we had a children's message. Bible songs, with actions to the children's songs, and circle prayer rounded out our service.

 Time to explore with the aid of a map:

 Photo op time, but what IS Anneke pointing at?

 More photo ops...

amazing Anneke,

 cute little Elijah, (someday he'll be IN the tree!)

 and our radiant Rachel.

 The playground offers the shell of a small log cabin as a playhouse, and here Maria is preparing something for Nicole.

This little bathing beauty is our happy Lauren. This photo was taken to imitate a photo taken many years earlier of her Daddy at the same age!

Eating together is fun when you're camping. Oma seemed to have regular guests at breakfast time!

 I've been wanting a large wooden wagon with quiet-running tires for a long time, and we finally purchased one just before we came camping. It was such a handy thing that we wondered how we had done so long without it! Toting kids, chairs, games, and food, too! Here we see a prepared meal travelling to another site.

We had breakfasts and lunch separately, but took turns preparing dinners for everyone. That seemed to work out well, but for the aforementioned breakfasts... But preparing food always involves clean-up of dishes afterwards. In the photo below, we see our 2 girls with the same name: Katrina and Kathryn.

 And then there was time to relax....

Here is Oma, attempting to knit a ruffle scarf. Maria was helping: unwinding the whole ball of pink and purple yarn!

Each girl walked the length of this log before sitting on it - Anneke showed great balance!

 And last of all, we had our family photo taken.

I love my family!!