Road trip to Canada

 My poor lonely blog - it's time for some updates! We have been gone on another road trip, this time to Calgary, Alberta to visit my husband's relatives.  That is always a delight!  The ride starts out fairly uneventful as we head west across North Dakota and the east part of Montana - this is pretty much the view out of our windshield for the first part of the trip.  We improved upon this view, as you will see in further blog updates.

 

We timed our visit with Thanksgiving, which, in Canada, is celebrated the 2nd Monday in October.  Having lived in Canada for a few years (many years ago), I think October is a great time for Thanksgiving as opposed to the end of November. 

 



 The real reason for this trip is to capture these smiles.  My husband and 5 of his siblings (one brother was unable to attend and 2 sisters have passed away.)  I feel very blessed to have married into this family - with a deep faith and trust in our Saviour.  What a blessing.

 

 I love having time to get together with some of my many fabulous nieces and talk and laugh!

 

 The next generation is growing up too fast!! These would be great-nephews and great-nieces.  Some of them, certainly not all of them.  Oh no, there are more..

 

 Then the next night we gathered to play silly games.  I love this picture because it shows everyone laughing.  We did a lot of it that evening especially! One niece appropriately and lovingly called this "stupid Berge tricks"...

 

One of the classic Berge games that have been a part of this growing up years of this family include the chair/toothpick game.

 



Every generation enjoys giving it a try.

 



The object is to not touch the ground ... and to pick up that teeny toothpick (see it there?) with your mouth and get back onto the chair... without falling, of course.

 



Age was no factor!! 

 

 Some strength games followed along with handstands and other silly stuff.

 

Another important evening was when the brothers gathered together to make the wonderful Norwegian meal known as "kumpe" (pronounced kumpa) (It goes by other names as well; klubb or potato dumplings, etc.)

 

If you grow up on this, you love it.  Otherwise, you have to develop a taste for it.  Basically it is grounded raw potatoes formed into a ball around a little salt pork and boiled.  Likely it was developed during the hard times in Europe and Scandinavia where potatoes were more plentiful then other food items. 

 

 The ladies let the men do their magic in the kitchen while we had some creative fun making little mini-vegetables out of marzipan.  It was fun and I had never done it before! 

 

Don't they look cute?  Is there something ironic about the fact that we were taking a very sweet, sugary substance and shaping it into the shape of vegetables?? 

 

Here's a nice view of the beautiful city of Calgary.  We took a hike one day and saw this wonderful vista.  And we have seen a long distance view of Calgary at night that would take your breath away.  It's a wonderful town with wonderful people. 

After Calgary we did some more vacationing... pictures of that coming soon...



Hot air balloons

We had a wonderful, blue sky day at a park in St. Louis while we enjoyed watching the hot air balloon race.  We were most fortunate that the wind blew the balloons right over the park that we chose!

 

It was a picturesque park, with ponds and fountains too, making the picture opportunities great.

 

Sometimes it felt like the balloons were coming right down over us!

 

 

Oh, I wonder what it would be like to go on a hot air balloon ride? 

Cheshire Inn

 Two weeks ago we enjoyed this English-themed hotel in St. Louis while visiting with our son and his family.  It was a lovely hotel, as you can see here.

 

 I had made an error in our booking date and they were so gracious as to accommodate us and not charge us for the error - they had expected us one night prior to when we actually arrived!  Phew!

 

It was kind of funny though, when we checked in (on a Saturday late afternoon) most of the other guests were quite handsomely dressed.  We felt very underdressed in our jeans and I was anxious to get out of the foyer and into our room.   I suspect that many of those guests were coming from or going to a wedding, actually.  However, the next morning, Sunday, we dressed for church and then came into the foyer to enjoy the continental breakfast.  We had a good laugh when we noticed that WE were the ones dressed handsomely and everyone else had on their jeans.  None-the-less, it was a great place to stay and we hope to stay there again. 

Baptism day

 One week ago today we were blessed to be in attendance at the baptism of our newest grandchild.

 

 He has five adoring (and adorable) siblings that will become his best friends in the coming years.

 

 The baptism gown was worn by all three of our sons and now 6 of our grandsons.

 

Nothing like a sleeping baby.

So precious.  We are so thankful. 

More sweet baby pictures...

A New Grandson!

Pleased to announce the safe arrival of our 13th grandchild!  Born on the 7th, weighing 7 lbs 7 oz.  I guess his lucky number should be 7! 

Thankful, so thankful to God for this healthy grandson.  

Boston the builder

Do you remember the children's character "Bob the builder"?  Well, that prompted the title of this blog..  this little grandson was very focused on a new project his daddy was designing.

 

 Daniel drilled holes in the wood rods, just right for children to create whatever their mind could design.

 And Boston just was intent on using the tools...

 

 He was quite adept at fine motor control too.

 

 I just love his concentration... and the screwdrivers in his other hand.

 

 Determination will go a long way in his future.



Oh goodness, he is so cute.  Just saying...



In memory of

 This is a hard blog post to write since I most often share brief comments and pictures that are of grandchildren, food, birds...  all little happy things.  But with my blog being so quiet the month of August, I wanted to share a picture of my dear brother-in-law Brian, who lost his battle with cancer earlier this month.  He was my brother-in-law for almost 50 years. He was called a "gentle giant" by his Doctor, who admired Brian's positive attitude during the years that he gamely faced cancer and the treatments that came along with the battle.  When the news came that Brian was on hospice, we prepared for the drive east and it was not long before we got the call that brought us sorrow.  So a good part of the last 2 weeks we were with family, which is the place one wants to be, and amidst our sorrow and tears were stories and, yes, even laughter.  Brian had some of the funniest expressions for things and people and we laughed at the memories of those "brian-ism" words.   He was laid to rest in a military cemetery complete with the gun salutes and the touching playing of taps. 

Blessed be his memory.

 

Here is a picture of my precious, courageous sister and me. 



Josiah's big catch

 We just returned from a fun three days at our local Bible camp for "family camp" which is a great way to enjoy family,  the beautiful outdoors, some enriching spiritual time and friends.  Oh, and did I mention fishing?  That was a highlight for lots of our little grandsons and their friends.  As I was walking around with my camera, this handsome grandson was happy to offer a smile ... and right after that smile this happened.......

 

 a northern pike!  He caught his first northern!

 

 Everyone was excited and big brother and cousin had to help get the fish landed..

 

 There was no small amount of celebration and "yeah!!" and "congratulations" offered to the proud fisherman!!

 

 Before Mr. Northern was returned to the waters, he was carried around a bit to be shown off..

 

 I'm not so sure the northern liked this part, but the very excited little fisherman sure did...

 

 Cousins offered advice.

 

And after a few final looks, the fish was happily released to his home. 

Phew.

 



Sweetness at 3

 A three year old really understands when it is their birthday!  And this little miss was one excited little granddaughter because it was HER birthday celebration!

 

 The theme was "Belle" from Beauty and the Beast and her momma had made an adorable cake and cupcakes!

 

 Some of the gifts included a "crown" and "wand"..

 

 Since I have been busy in the sewing room lately, I made this cute little dress for her.

 

 Here are some cookies I made too.  Belle's fancy dress is yellow.

 

 I found cute fabric that had Belle and Cinderella on it so I made her a pillowcase.  Very easy!

 

 Our little princess.

 

Celebrating with some of her cousins; some from her mom's siblings and some from her dad's siblings.

 

Summer parties are the way to go!

You Rock

Nothing like a good compliment to make you feel great.