Symphony of Fire

Technically it's called the "Celebration of Light". But since the sponsorship change I just haven't really adopted the new title.

So Ruth and I drove up to Vancouver for the weekend, mostly to visit with Uncle Elmer and auntie Marlene. But also to hook up with Loa on Saturday night. And we also had the pleasure of having dinner with our friends Jos and Nicola in Kitsilano.



We also spent a lot of Saturday downtown. Hanging around Granville Island, waiting for Loa's phone call and trying to decide where to eat.



Scooters have been catching my attention lately. I really want one, but my pride can't deal with the fact that I would ride a scooter to work as my little sister rides a street bike. My wife also wants a husband. Long term.



Yum. One of my favorite beers.

Well, we hit the beach at 10:00pm with Loa and her brother and some of their friends. We pulled out our cameras to capture the show.



Well, after a Sunday brunch we headed back home, taking drastic measures to avoid the 2 hour line up at the border. We took 'zero' ave which literally drives along the the 54-40 line, all the way to Aldergrove crossing. There was still a half hour wait at the border, but we had coffee...

WARNING MOM!

This is not the blog update you've been waiting for! You've been warned!

I had to go to the dump this last weekend, which meant that I had to pull all the old lumber out from under the deck. Well, you can imagine what I found...spiders. Freakin huge ones. My good buddy Bill, recently loaned me his macro lens to mess with.

Big spiders...macro lens. Mom: watch out!

I feel ducky!

Uh Oh...More Kids in the Tub!

Summer continues to be very busy and as a result our blog gets a little forgotten as we are out having too much fun! I think blogging is a good wintertime activity...but it's actually not to bad an activity for a 99F day like...TODAY! We've been going outside periodically trying to keep cool by hosing our heads off with the garden hose. Mmmm I'm about ready to go out again. Anyway...we were very glad to have the Dufresne's FINALLY come for a visit. Very fun to hang out with them all. I'm not sure that three children get wombs a fluttering the same way babies do...but they sure do make life exciting! If you think your life is dull invite a couple of kids over and the action doesn't stop! They too are especially cute in the tub. Apparently
Rylan isn't into soaking as much as his sisters Cherish and Olivia are. Typical boy:)



For those of you who haven't seen Alita in awhile...she remains her beautiful self. It is so fun to see her as a such a caring and loving mom, just like her mom was. It makes me sad that Rhonda isn't around to enjoy it all. Speaking of moms, the Dufrense's trip to Seattle was a pit stop on the way to Vancouver to celebrate the birth of Alita's nephew born at home on the fourth of July. Tenaisa I think that makes you a full blooded American now! Congratulations!



Olivia looking especially cute...



Rylan enjoying the patio door;)



The kids even enjoyed the back yard...the had lots of fun doing somersaults and rolling down the hill. I thought our yard was kind of lame for kids but I was glad when I saw that they found lots of ways to enjoy it. Oh to be like a child again and see the good side of everything...I guess that is in some way why Jesus yearns for us to be like children.



This last shot is of our good friend Charles. He owns Ace Window Cleaning and did a SPECTACULAR job cleaning our windows before our company arrived. They look great and we highly recommend him. Thanks Charles!

The people across the table

That's the theme for this post. Last weekend, Ruth and I went home to Salmon Arm for the weekend and as is with most of life, the trip was punctuated by meals with some of our favorite people. It started before we even got home. David and Kathryn Fields are living in Kamloops (Ruth's old college town). We stopped and spent the night with them and had lunch at Boston Pizza the next day. David and Ruth and I grew up together in Salmon Arm. David was my best man at our wedding and I was his two weeks later.



Thanks for hosting us with your busy schedule guys! Please come visit soon.



From Boston Pizza we drove downtown to meet Tanya and Dan. Tanya was an old classmate of Ruth's in Kamloops. They both graduated from the Nursing program at the same time. Tanya was also a guest at our wedding where she rededicated her life to Jesus. What an awesome thing! That was all I really wanted for our wedding (besides taking Ruth home) was to be an example and hopefully have our love for each other point back to God. That may or may not have been the reason that Tanya decided to turn towards Christ that day, but I'll praise God regardless. Dan and Tanya married last summer and Ruth and I were there.



It was great to see you guys! We're praying for you both!



Later that night we had dinner at my parents place with Uncle Rick and Aunty Anita and my parents. Rick and Anita are involved in WEC International which is an organization that sends out missionaries and church planting teams around the world. They currently reside in Manitoba so I don't get to see them often.



Now there's a pair of opposite expressions! Good to see you guys!



Ah yes..one final meal on Sunday at Minos Greek restaurant. Likely one of the best places to eat in Salmon Arm. And with who else but our parents. Unfortunately you can't see my Mom sitting to my right. But then again the theme is 'across the table', not 'to your right'. But I'm about to break that rule in a minute anyway. Yum good food! I consider souvlaki and a garlic potato to be calories well spent. Not that I care about calories.



"I'm sorry what was that?"

Until next time, here are a few random pictures from the weekend, including a carriage ride with my Aunty Loise and Uncle Tim's tourist service. Thanks!

Time

There are few things nicer than watching a sunset with people you like. We recently went down to Edmonds beach with Mark and Jen and Josh and Brenda to watch one of God's silent symphony for the eyes. It was beautiful.



I haven't posted in a while. These pictures are from the fourth of July parade in Bothell and recent baseball game at Safeco field. I've been really busy lately and it's wearing me out a little. I feel like my list of things to do is getting longer and longer every week. I've felt like the days have been short before, I mean, everyone feels like that sometimes. But it really honestly seems like they're getting shorter and shorter. There's not enough hours in the day to get everything done.



And yet at times like these the sun seems to sink so slowly behind the olympics. Why is it that if I decided to stare down the sun from the minute it rose to the minute it set it would be the longest day of my life, but if I disregard it and carry on it sets behind my back.



I've always held the theory that the day you are born is the longest day of your life because you have nothing to compare it to. It is the longest unit of measurement. Each day that passes speeds up like your rolling downhill. 40 isn't really 'over the hill'. All of life is downhill.



It's good to use the brakes when you can.


Ok, the Bothell parade. I want to write about it and compare and contrast it to Canadian parades and events, but I'm too sleepy. So here...



I want to to write about the fireworks at the Kirkland waterfront for the fourth, and how the city of Kirkland royaly screwd it up but I'm too sleepy. So here...



Better than the fireworks. Trust me.

Finally..baseball. Thanks for the tickets Stuart!




Crack!




Oh ya... Baseball is the other thing that makes time pass slowly. I want to write about that but I'm too sleepy.