| So here is the most amazing letter I think I have ever written. Keep the responses coming. We love to hear from all our Ohana. What's next??? Only God knows and only Time will tell. In the mean time: What an adventure life is!
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| Within days of our arrival in Canada, Richard and I were out in the orchard picking the most delicious plums around. We washed and dehydrated them for days! |
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| Here we are pouring blended Plums to make Fruit Leather. It turned out really good. Happy Eating Little Brother! |
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| Inspecting the Grand Prix when we first bought it. Richard lent us the tools we needed to travel with. Thank You Big Brother! |
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| No more need for all these old work clothes of Jackie's; I know: let's make a rag box for the garage! John laughed! Good talking when you're working! |
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| Kaylee's Birthday Party: Oma, JoAnne, Richard, Kaylee, Janine, with Becky and Carol seated in front. Even Esther was there on the I-Phone! |
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| The Birthday Girl and Her Dad. |
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| The father of a righteous man has great joy ... Proverbs 23:24 |
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| Kaylee chooses her gift from her GrandMa (Laura) Blanchard and Great-GrandMa (Mildred) Grant - Many Thanks to Suzanne for sending it. |
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| Bellingham, WA; A good nights rest at a hotel and a stop at Trader Joe's for some supplies, saw us headed over to Mount Vernon. Our good YWAM buddies, Gord & Jen gave us their own bed and introduced us to our two month old YWAM GrandSon, Lucas. Blessed be the name of the LORD! He's a cutie! Oh, sweet fellowship and great walks! |
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| The HoneyMoon Suite in Dean and Kathaleen's garage. :-) |
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| ~Monday at Day Island Yacht Club; We posted the "for sale" sign on John's boathouse; now we wait! All in God's timing! ~Liz and Bill had us over to catch up and share some interesting conversation. ~What would a visit to Tacoma be without a stop in to see Edith? She regaled us with some good stories and some home preserves. Yumm! |
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| An interesting sculpture we saw in Bellevue, WA. One of the most expensive places to do business on the West Coast! |
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| Canada's Best & Favorite City - Vancouver! Jackie's Best and Favorite Daughter - Laura! We met up with Laura and she showed us a heart breaking look at the homeless on W. Hastings St., the place she works, their new home, and a very nice eating establishment on W. Broadway called NAAM. |
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| At home in Kona, Hawaii, in our very own kitchen! Back from the market, ready to blend up a green drink! |
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| Unpacking our suitcases after two amazing and wonderful months of travel and visiting. THANK YOU, to one and all, for allowing us to visit you, for your hospitality and for supporting us in our adventures as we dedicate ourselves to service in the Kingdom of The King. |
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| Shawn, James & David Kennedy – Roofers! Our first day, September 1st, we spent with my cousin, Diane, who picked us up and took us to visit Lise, her sister, and family. We discovered “Road Construction” in Quebec. Enough said! The boys were roofing that day. |
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| Lise, Alexandra, Jackie, Ashley & Diane – While the men were on the roof, we females spent some time bonding around the first GrandDaughter. |
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| Later, after a very good pizza, Rene and John bonded (without very many words) around their Bonne Feu. |
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| Jackie and Diane spent some quality time relaxing by the fire. All too soon we put our borrowed wheels in gear and headed back home to Mike and Lisa’s. Oh! The stars! |
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| Sunday the 2nd found members of all four Marie & Edouard Blanchard families sharing an afternoon, re-acquainting ourselves, and telling stories. Uncle Bern and Aunt Lorraine welcomed us with open arms into their home: Famous French Canadian Hospitality and lots of Duff. How does Neil do that Panorama thing with his camera??? |
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| Neil and GrandPa – Neil looks like he isn’t believing GrandPa’s SDV. (Story of Dubious Veracity) ….. Or maybe he’s being lectured on the finer points of wearing a tie? ….. Or maybe they are plotting on how to kill the invading wasps? |
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| Finally a restful day! Laundry and visiting with Mike and Lisa. Next day, we drove out to visit Dad (Larry Blanchard) in Hudson. We met his bridge partner, Heather, and walked over to the Restaurant Sauve to sample some real Quebecois Poutine. We took the scenic route home across the Oka-Hudson Ferry (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UoKv8QhKeg), visited a roadside fruit stand for fresh tomatoes and apples and stopped at La Marmite du Terroir - an Apple Orchard’s Roadside stand where we sampled Spruce Beer! We also stopped at l’Abbaye d’Oka (Monastery) (http://www.abbayevalnotredame.ca/sejour-monastere/index.aspx) to buy some Original Oka Cheese. Yummm! But still not as powerfully odoriferous as it used to be! |
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| Wednesday found us taking our first of three trips up to Vars, Ontario to visit my Isodynamic Practioner, Martin Skody. Ahhh…! Maybe we convinced him to come to Kona as a Mission Builder for a few months??? My friend, Heide, from way back in College, had us over for supper. We enjoyed and are so thankful for … Lasagna and cheesecake with rhubarb sauce, a new roof rack on Heide’s car, admiring the new solar array on her roof and generally having a lovely visit. It was a treat that Olivia was home to share the time with us too. |
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| Heide and Jackie – Long Time Friends! |
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| Next day we took care of a cooling system problem on the car. A lovely Greek dinner at Marathon Restaurant with our hosts, Mike & Lisa ended the day well. A restful relaxing time! Friday, the 7th, we headed over to Terrebonne to visit Suzanne and help prepare for her Big 50th Birthday Party. John and I chopped vegetables and we spent the day laughing and talking with my precious baby sister. |
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| Sunday the 9th, we were invited for a special time. Uncle Charlie (who is 92!) regaled us with a few old time songs on the piano; asked us to solve the stick puzzle he always carries in his pocket to enchant the children and he listened with great interest to our stories of farming and living in Hawaii. Danielle & Pierre + Catherine served a wonderful brunch whose most intriguing item was the eggs scrambled in maple syrup. We are taking a few cans of Maple Syrup home with us and you can be sure we will be calling Danielle to find out how she makes that delicious treat. More catching up with family news and renewing family ties! |
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| No trip to Montreal would be complete without an afternoon with Jackie’s son, Neil. John was introduced to Neil’s apartment (Mom, Mike and Lisa worked on it a few years ago). We Fixed a Thing or Two and then … |
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| … went to the famous (http://www.schwartzsdeli.com/index_eng.html) on St-Laurent St. Who put that creamerie across the street anyway?!?! Yumm! |
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| Neil took us on a wild walk over to Mount Royal Park. We experienced the wild and crazy TamTam players and dancers, an “unknown monument” photo opportunity and some strange looking people. |
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| There’s a long story here … Janette's stone got delivered all the way from Port Alberni into Neil’s hand. Odd! He did not remember it! You’ll need to ask Janette the details; we do start some crazy traditions in this family! By the Way; Who has “The Board”??? |
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| September 10th; Suzanne’s actual birthday. In this family, September birthdays get celebrated more than once! Here, Suzanne and Dad are determining who gets to blow out the pink candles and whom the blue candles. Note to Zak (Dad’s grandson in Saskatoon) … Did you get your birthday card we made that day? |
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| Another trip up to Vars and a “let’s explore” wander over to the #50 highway through Mirabel and down through St-Eustache. All too soon, it's time to head back to Calgary. Here is a view of a September 12th Sunrise over La Riviere des Milles-Iles and a close look at “the Zipper meridian mover” (well, I might of missed it!) on the way to PE Trudeau Airport. |
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| Don & Audrey |
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| We think we might like to hike the West Coast Trail together someday! |
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| The Revelstoke Dam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revelstoke_Dam): We wandered around here for about 1/2 hour marveling at Man's creative genius and how we reflect the Creator's Creative Genius! |
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| The Summit Monument (http://cdnrail.railfan.net/RogersPass/RogersPasstext.htm): We (well actually one of us - it was raining + cold!) got out of the car to stretch and read the new (to me!) signs here. So much history! |
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| The Spiral Tunnels (http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/bc/yoho/natcul/natcul12.aspx): If you look closely enough you will see the locomotive coming out the tunnel in the middle and the back of the train going by behind the Fire Weed flowers. I've stopped here many times but have never seen that! The train is going in three directions at once! |
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| The Golf Ball Hunters showing off their Haul! Doug & Anna Marie housed us and treated us like Royalty. What fun we had! |
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| Monday was so much fun! This is the view of Nanaimo, BC from the lower car deck of the Queen of Cowichan. Ferry rides on BC's Inland Waters are so invigorating! http://www.bcferries.com/onboard-experiences/fleet/profile-queen_of_cowichan.html |
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| There she is! Relaxing in her boat after a refreshing swim in Sproat Lake. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Alberni It's been three years! I'm so excited! What a fantastic spot for Janette to roost! |
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| P'Chee and Janette relaxing with Breakfast. The'll need it! Janette had a long list of chores for us! |
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| "John, Would you please put my new solar lights together for me?" |
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| With Janette's truck in the shop, we had to find something to do around the house: " I know! Let's prune the bushes down by the lake! I want to see the "Beach"! |
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| One sister to the Other: "You know! What do we do with all these Stones and Rocks?" Other: "Well .... let's put the biggest one here ... and pile all the others up like so .... and .... |
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| Several hours later, not too much squabbling and a few aches and pains: Jackie and Janette are on their way to having a lovely Rock Bed to back drop the New Beach! |
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| Janette took John out for a tour; They checked out the Water Bomber on the Sproat Lake. Ahhh! Absolutely lovely, lazy summer day! |
