Of Cake, Trampoline, Goats and Cousins

Anna turned two on Tuesday and we all headed down there for the day.

Cake faces.

The trampoline was a popular spot for the kids - big and small - though it didn't always work to have both on at the same time:)

Jeremy showing some of his moves.

These goats were part of the treasure hunt and followed the kids back to the party. They were met with mixed emotions . . .

Timmy loves dogs and this one was no exception!

Trouble.

Can't have an outing at Aunt Kate's without a good game of penny hockey.

And beautiful Saige.

Port Burwell

Life continues with busy times, but we did have a little vacation with my side of the family from August 6-11th. I say little because it felt extremely short! The best way to describe this particular vacation was probably wet and busy. Wet is pretty self-explanatory, and busy need only be explained by the fact that there were seven kids aged two and under - in the rain. But of course no vacation is a total failure. We did have sun and we did have fellowship and lots of time together, so really it was a nice time. I started off with sunny day pictures since that is how the vacation began. Friday was a nice warm and sunny, breezy day (thought not HOT) but it was a good beach day.

Richard on his watercraft.

Jonathan and Piet

Kade, Piet, and Ken

The three terrible two-ers;)Kate and Anna

Anna

Kylie and Summer. If a picture is worth a thouand words, this picture does the job. It captures rather well the relationship these girls share. They get along famously most of the time and love eachother dearly, but Kylie is a tease and is often found "borrowing" a toy or taking back something that may belong to her, but that she really doesn't need - except that it will likely get a reaction from whomever she is robbing. The loudest and strongest willed wins! (and they both have lots of that in them!) Quite amusing to watch.

And obviously best of buds once again.

Bathtime at the campsite - Meika and Anna.

Kylie and Tim enjoying a ride.

Ken and Landon

Kade

Summer and Kylie

And because the weather forecast said RAIN, we thought it might be best to put up a tarp, so that we would have at least a small area to hang out and keep dry. Here is the tarp committee doing some preliminary planning.

. . . work in progress

. . . getting some height

And then it was Saturday and along came the RAIN! Which in most of our opinions put a damper on things, but in the minds of the kids just made a new adventure.

Our campsite after the first set of showers.

Fun in the puddles - Summer!

Who says rain is not fun?!

And drying things out a bit. Several tents had puddles in them:(

Richard and Hunter

Potty training - Summer has things mastered and is rather confused by the fact that Kylie is on the potty with her diaper still on! (It was a case of 'whatever she does, I'm doing too')

And Anna had to take a turn too - gotta love the facial expressions going on here.

More than one rainy afternoon resulted in a game of monopoly. This was the kids taking a turn . . . .

. . . with a bit of adult help -or a lot - or was it a complete takeover?

Anna after her nap on a very humid afternoon. Gotta love those curls!

Landon with his two favorite camp toys - the ball and the dumptruck.

Tim and Landon

Summer

Storytime

Kade

Mom and Hunter

Mel and Tim

Saige

And since I wanted to leave things off on a bright note . . .

Kevin turns Eight

Kevin celebrated his 8th birthday this past Sunday. His birthday always happens at some point during our family camping trip with my side of the family. I personally don't love it - but he seems to think its great! I find it hard to celebrate it as a birthday and not just as another fun day, but Kevin just figures the camping is another one of his gifts. And since his birthday is supposed to be about him and he's happy - I'm good with that too.

This is the one and only picture I have of any birthday going ons - and that is thanks only to my mom. We didn't do cake this year either, but we didn't skip out on the presents - that just may have been pushing it too far . . .

And now for a few thoughts about this dear and oldest son of mine. Kevin is and always has been a boy with lots of energy - on the go all the time. (except when it comes time to unload everything from camping - all of the sudden his energy is drained!) He is generally a very hard worker, although lately he is definitely having moments bordering on laziness. But when he puts his mind to a task - you can be sure it will get done and that it will get done well! Kevin is an athlete. He loves sports and does well at them. He is also fairly competitive - though the competitiveness generally shows itself more at home and less on the playing field - I suppose there is good and bad in that . . . Kevin if full of attitude personality lately too! I'm not sure if that's just a growing up and getting older thing or what, but we are working on nipping that in the bud! Kevin is a very good brother to both Kade and Kylie. He is protective and helpful to them and me. I can usually trust Kevin to keep an eye on things for me if I am busy elsewhere. But my absolute favorite thing about Kevin and the one that gives me hope on a trying day, is Kevin's heart for the LORD. Kevin loves the Bible. His favorite subject in school is Bible. He soaks it up and remembers more than I do often. He is a quick memorizer as well. We have just finished going through the Kings of Israel and Judah. Kevin will recall details about a certain king that I have no idea about. So I will flip back a few pages to check, and he is almost always right. We also finished memorizing the names of all the kings (with the help of Jamie Soles) and Kevin mastered that quickest of all of us too. Kevin loves King Josiah - because it is his middle name and because Josiah was just eight years old when he became king. Our prayer for Kevin is that he may live a life like King Josiah as it says in 2 Kings 22 vs 1,2

"Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign . . .And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left."

2 Kings 23: 25

" And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him."

We gave Kevin his own Bible this year for his birthday and he was quite excited to get it as he had been wanting one for a while. In it we wrote something along the lines of, "We hope that this will be your longest lasting, yet most used gift and that you will treasure it and read it every day." So on the way to church, I thought I'd ask Kevin which of his gifts he liked the best. He responded that he liked his laptop (a vtech thing I picked up second hand), and the k'nex. Jonathan decided to prompt him a little, mentionning something about a book I think, to which Kevin responded, "Oh yah!!! I forgot all about the Hardy Boy books . . . !!!" Ahem. After a chuckle and another hint, he did get it right. But he has been eagerly reading it and I do believe that he will treasure it.

So that is a glimpse into our Kevin. We love him dearly and are thankful to God for this son of ours. We pray that he will continue to grow in God's grace and ways and that his life will be a testimony whereever he goes. We love you Kevin!!