The Waiting Game

 My mom's expecting Baby Number Nine at the end of August, and every last one of us can barely wait to meet the newest addition to our family. We've all taken sides, predicted and voted over if we want the baby to be a boy or a girl, but in the end it doesn't really matter. All babies are unique in their own ways, and we can't wait to meet this one! 

Summer Afternoon

I’m sitting on a picnic bench, listening to a bird. 

The faintest sound of traffic is very faintly heard. 

It’s almost time for dinner, my stomach tells me clearly,

Although it seems like morning still, it’s really not that early.

There’s nothing else to do inside, for I’ve done all my chores,

So I am free to go and play, as long as I’m outdoors.

The dinner bell is ringing loud, the bird has flown away,

I have to go to dinner now, 

It’s been a happy day.

              

This is a poem I wrote a couple years back, on a quiet Sunday afternoon after meeting. I just thought I'd share it here for you. I have a couple other poems that I've written, 

so I might post them here sometime when I remember. 

Snapshots of Summer

Summer this year has been really beautiful. Here are a few pictures that will show you our summer so far...

We've had this swing for a couple of years now. It is really nice to be able to sit outside on the swing and listen to the birds and other nature sounds in the shade of the trees.

Working hard inside 

         I didn't realize until later that Loulou didn't have shoes on when I took this picture. :)

By the driveway, my mom has a rose garden with a rosebush for each of us kids, plus one for her and my dad. It looks really pretty in the spring and summer! This is a picture of my rose in full bloom.

The swing is also a good place to go relax and read a book when all the chores are done.

Peanut butter and jelly "sushi" rolls, with watermelon 'fish' chunks. It was really cute and really good!

This is a picture of our driveway in late afternoon. As it gets closer to sunset, the trees look even more beautiful with the sun slanting onto them. So pretty!

QB's LEGO house, complete with a full kitchen and a grand piano.

Five minutes after this picture was taken, it got dropped on the floor, and they used this picture to rebuild it.

Posing for a picture

(More likely he just wanted extra food :)

           Ricka, Butler, QB, Loulou, and Hal made sandwiches and had a little picnic in our front yard.  

Like I said earlier, summer so far has been beautiful. Us kids have a decent amount of chores and responsibilities to take care of, but we have even more free time to relax and enjoy summer while it lasts. How's your summer going? Enjoy!

West Coast Railway Heritage Park

Last Saturday, we went to spend the day as a family at the West Coast Railway Heritage Park.

We were dressed and out the door by about 8:30. We stopped along the way for breakfast, and then continued on  the hour and a half long trip to Squamish, where the park is located. Before we arrived,  we stopped at a grocery store and my parents bravely took all eight of us through the store to buy food for our picnic lunch of cold cuts, different cheeses, fruit, and more.

Most of the trip was travelling up the mountain right by the ocean, so we had a beautiful view that was extremely hard to take pictures of, since we were on the opposite side of the highway.

By the time we finally got there, it was about noon and we were starting to get hungry.

So, after exploring a bit and taking some pictures...

PC and Emma got a little carried away here..

...We settled down for a huge picnic lunch. We had so much food! After lunch, we were set free to go explore as we pleased. There were more than a dozen trains that were actually working trains years and years back. They were set up so people could go inside and see what the trains used to look like. It was so interesting!

Later, we all went on a miniature train ride, which was about 3 km long. It was cute and we had a beautiful view of a nearby river. There were so many pretty flowers and flower bushes wherever I looked!

After that, we explored some more before going into the gift shop. 

Earlier, we had gone in there to buy tickets to the mini train, and the cashier had showed us some paper bags filled with toy trains. She told us that there was a place in the train park where the little kids could play with the trains, and if they brought them back, they would get a prize. We were going to do that after the mini train ride.

So, we got the bags, and the little kids had a blast playing with the trains and train tracks.

The train bags were free, so all we had to do was take them back after we were done playing with them.

It was a super fun family adventure, and I think we all enjoyed it a lot, despite the hour and a half long drive there and back. This post is a little belated,  so I probably missed some details, but hopefully you enjoyed this!