Tuesday 31 January 2012

Raising kids is like flying a kite with no wind

Remember trying to fly a kite on a day with no wind?  Good exersize for sure.  Raising kids has some similarities.  Here Kendra and I are running down the road "of life" pulling our cute little devices behind us at the end of a string.  They bump along behind us showing no indication of flying.  Eventually we get it off the ground and flying but then there is danger all around - power lines, trees and it is a scary moment.  Than with just a bit more height they catch a gust of wind and they are on the way.  We are feeding out string as fast as we can and then we run out of string.  Do we try to hang on or is it time to let go?  We have trained our kids to fly and we want them to soar to greatness but we don't want to let go!  I say I will be able to but I don't know for sure.  Kendra is definately going to have a hard time letting go.  Sometimes she talks like she just wants to" hang the kites" from the ceiling in the house where they are safe.  We will have no choice but to let them go and enjoy the times they return to tell us of their adventures in life and to recount the adventures we had as a family.

Monday 30 January 2012

The girls with Duffy the Disney bear - Disneyland - California


The girls deciding what to eat first after their lunch at Ariel's Grotto:)  Very amazing lunch!

Little Mermaid ride - Timmy, Matthias, Josh, Zoe and Brian

Timmy with his favorite character
Matthias at a Bugs Life show

Timmy with the cars display(Pretty exciting for him!) - They are working on a cars theme area
Parade time!


Brian and Timmy - the two headed monster.  Waiting for the 'World of Color' show to start

Zac enjoying a turkey leg before the show
Jon is trying to keep Zoe warm while they watch the show.  Another incredible show!
Lego Land - California
A couple of amazing creations made out of lego!!!!


 Brian and Timmy having lots of fun, racing down some slides
 Timmy did not like this "baby ride" !!!  Can you tell? :)
 Brian's turn to try and fit down a little slide:)
Having fun squirting mommy, standing on the side, taking pictures
Timmy, cousin Haven, and Zoe on the log ride

Maria and Auntie Jackie on the log ride
A Volvo made entirely out of lego!  Pretty impressive!

The cutest baby dinosaur ever!!!!!

Zac and Maria getting a little wet:)

Timmy and a bionicle

Our family getting our picture done with our wonderful orange shirts that my Aunty Brenda gave us for Christmas!  We got tons of comments on how cool our shirts are!  Brian here now with a comment - I am very, very proud that all of my children are proud to wear their t-shirts.  There are so many children, especially teenagers, who are "embarrassed" to be associated with the rest of their family but we are a family!

Here we are in front of Legoland showing the backs of our shirts:) They say 1 of 9, 2 of 9, 3 of 9, etc....

It was a fun day at legoland on the 27th!  The best part was getting to meet up with Auntie Jackie and Haven and Bronson.  Great rides, great weather, great exploring, ....  Wonderful and educational day!  So sad to say bye to family at the end of the day though!  Hope to see them again some year soon!!!!

Thursday 26 January 2012










The first picture is of our very carsick Timmy.  He made a lot of laundry throwing up a few times, on himself, his siblings, and anything else around him.  Thankfully he seems a bit better now.  We tried to have a slow day today so he could recover.  There is a couple more traveling pictures. 
Josh and Matthias spent the morning finding us a beautiful, sweet traveling pet.  We really miss our Wilson, Daniel and many cats!  The new little lizard had beautiful blue, grey and yellow markings!
Once we got settled into our hotel at disney we spent the afternoon swimming:)  It must be a slow time for them.  We almost had the pool and hot tub to our self.  We shared it with a Jewish family.  It was great meeting them and talking with them!
A couple of cute blondy Maria stories:
-"Mom, can I have some of your water cause one of my brothers probably played a mean trick on me and filled my water bottle with swimming pool water!" says Maria.  I guess she doesn't like the city water either!  We are so blessed with great water at home!  We miss our water already.
-"Look Zoe!  I have a cold heater by my bed!"  I guess she hasn't experienced air conditioning indoors, in Canada.














These are our Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam pictures.  Brian will write a comment on these later.