Saturday, September 26, 2015

Fort St. John

We were really looking forward to spending sometime up north, in Fort St. John with my extended family.  We first headed over to my Uncle Delbert's farm.  It was so great to see Delbert and Debby again.  We enjoyed a lovely dinner there with my cousins as well.  Kurtis came over with his wife Priscilla and his two young daughters.   Kandace also was there for dinner and we had a wonderful time.  The kids played on the trampoline together and has lots of fun!  Curtis's daughter, Evangeline, reminded my kids of little Gracie who is one of our friend's daughters in Panama.  We were blessed to be able to stay with Delbert and Debby for a few days and had a great time catching up!





                                                                          Cousins!!!

                                              Casey was so content to sit and hold the baby.

                                                                Delbert and Debby.



During the day, my cousin Heidi, invited us to be part of her church's summer day camp.  We were able to attend the last two days of camp.  It was such a privilege to be part of such a well planned event.  We were also treated with great kindness.  The kids had a blast playing games, doing crafts and learning more about Jesus. I really enjoyed holding Heidi's new little baby girl as Heidi was busy helping out with the activities. As a final surprise for the kids, the host went up in an airplane and flew over the house dropping candy from the sky for the kids.  It was so fun to watch them scramble for the candy all over the lawn.






We then headed over to Heidi's house for a few days.  She has five children all under the 9.  They are such wonderful children and all the kids had fun playing together.  We really enjoyed visiting with Heidi and her husband Des.  They live on a farm in the country outside of Fort St. John.   We were even able to try their homemade bacon...yum!




My Uncle Oral and Aunty Eleanor live nearby Heidi and Desmond.  So we walked over to visit their farm and went saskatoon berry picking together.  It was so much fun!  The berries were big and so tasty!  They also had us over for a wonderful meal and visit.

                                            Malaya in front of a grainy at my uncle's house.

                                                                   The grain close up.


                                                                      Oral and Casey


                                                  Elenor and Heidi's son, Declan


                                                        A saskatoon berry bush.

                      The fruit of our labor.  Heidi and I made saskatoon berry syrup with them... yum!



                                                         The boys enjoying their pizza.

                                                      The girls eating their pizza.
                                   Oral, Elenor, Desmond, Heidi and Casey enjoying dinner.


          Yup, you guessed right.  They are playing in MUD!  What else do you expect on the farm?


                     We had a girl's night and my aunts and cousins came over to Heidi's for a movie and popcorn.  We watched a classic, `Seven brides for seven brothers'.  It was great, I hadn't seen that one since I was a teenager!

We also got an opportunity to go and have a great visit at Kurtis and Pricilla's house. It was a lot of fun to see their home and all of Pricilla's beautiful homeade quilts.  We also were able to meet Eliza, who was Dustin, my cousin's fiancee.   She also happens to be Pricilla's sister and was living with them for a while.  We had a wonderful time getting to know her as well.






                                                          Sweet baby Daphney!


Overall, we had a wonderful visit and loved seeing all the babies and kids, that we had never met before.  It was also very special to be back on the farm in B.C. and visit my aunts, uncles and cousins as well.   We really enjoyed the north, it is really so beautiful.  Then it was time to head to southern B.C.

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

La Glace - Where it all started

On our way up to Fort St. John we decided to drive through La Glace and show the kids some their heritage.  This is the place where my grandparents homesteaded a long time ago.  



We were also able to see the school that all my aunts, uncles, mom and I attended.  I went to that school in grade 1 & 7.  The playground has been updated, but it still has the same little hill, and field to run around in.  It is still also lined with huge pine trees and I remember playing in between them with my friends.  I also remember my uncle Kevin taking me for rides on his motorcycle on that hill when I was 7!


















My grandfather built the house that he raised their kids in and I have always loved it.  I also had the opportunity to live in that house when I was in grade 7.  It was sold when my grandmother moved to Edmonton, but it still it there and though things are a bit different it is still the same house.  



A favorite pastime of mine when we lived there, was to take my few cents and go to the corner store for some candy.  So I gave each of my children some money and off we went to buy some candy.  The store though renovated on the inside still had the same smell.  Too funny!



We then proceeded to walk finish our tour of La Glace with a walk by the ice rink. baseball diamonds, and our old house.  It was a lovely day and I really enjoyed seeing my old stomping grounds.