A Conglomeration Of Cousins

What a wonderful assembly we had over the weekend. The Martin cousins, their families and Grandma and Grandad, all found the time to converge on the house for a laugh filled few hours. It had been several years since they had seen each other, and for some, big and small, it was the first meeting.
Brian and Allison joined us from their home in Seattle. Joel, Nicole and little Bly came over. Paul and Simon came along too. Sheelagh and Janelle put together a feed of lasagna, sweetly finished off by Grandma's eye popping combination of blueberry cheesecake, blackberry crumble and a spice chocolate cake.
Brian and Allison were also taking part in a murder mystery party and entertained us with their prize winning costumes.
A highlight for me was a round of golf with Liam and Dorian at a local course.

Well, he's here. The wandering lad from Scotland has come over for a time with fam. We are certainly enjoying having Liam, Janelle, the girls and Dorian all together for a wee while. Dorian arrived on thursday the 19th in Seattle and will be here for 2 weeks. It's been great. We have had daily outings and general, "hanging out" and loved every minute. Here are some pics.

Today we chose the neighbourhood of Kerrisdale to explore. This was going to be our new outdoor kitchen, complete with pizza oven as seen on the left, until I tried to lift the lid of the barbie. It came in at 12000 lbs. Pricewise that was 1 dollar per pound. Had to cancel our order, our banker wasn't strong enough to lift it.
It's our new favourite place to live. there's a bakery for each day of the week.
It's getting grayer and warmer the next few days we think.

We had a great day at a park on the ocean close to Van airport. Walked about 8 km in sunshine and a cool breeze. Adrian and Jackie are gone and we're on our own. Aching legs will make it a quiet night.

Today we take over! Adrian and Jackie are leaving!!! So, a 4 bedroom house in Ladner, what are my offers? Believe me , I'll be open to offers. I need to get this thing done in 5 weeks. Talk to me folks. Here's your chance to get into the real estate market. Don't lose out.

Time on the west coast

On Friday we got ourselves together and hit the road for the coast. As my Mom used to say, "We looked like a bunch of Gypsies." Trunk and back seat full of stuff for Dorian and Grandma and even a little for us. The highways were kind to us. The trip flowed past beautiful scenery and we arrived in relativly short order.
We will be here for about 5 weeks, spending time with Grandma and Grandad and keeping an eye on Adrian's house as they tour New Zealand. We eagerly await the arrival of ALL of our kids and will enjoy seeing Dorian see Ngila and Beatrix. I plan on puttering in Jackie's garden and we hope to spend some time in beautiful Vancouver.