ONE TERRIFIC TRIP!!!

Sooo we're back!!! We all had such a blast! We're happy to be home after the many, many, MANY hours spent in the car!!!

-3600 kms
-40 hours (in car) with 3 kids side by side in their carseats in the backseat of the car...dog on MY lap.
-portable DVD player (God send, colouring books, pencil crayons, books, cards, princesses, hot wheels, snack food, juice as well as many other great distractions....

HIGHLIGHTS

-visits with friends & family
-indoor playplaces
-bulid-a-bear
-pizza party, chinese food party
-thanksgiving dinners
-shopping with sis & sis in law
-BBQ
-family photo shoots
-pumpkin patch - followed by hospital trip
-tractor rides and lessons from grandpa
-very happy that Pake is out of hospital and that we were able to have a couple of quality visits with him!

We had a great family vacation. During the entire trip Matthe and I only fought once! It was about him packing my chips underneath something heavy - crushing them all! If you know me, you know NOT to mess with my chips!!! Really though I've gotta give it to Matthew...he did a fantastic job packing and unpacking the car a million zillion times. matking sure that everything we needed for the trip was within arms reach (except for my chips).

Matthew and I totoally thought that although it would be awesome to see our families and friends that the trip would be somewhat nightmarish!!! We couldn't have been more wrong. The kids did well in the car the 2 days it took us to drive to hamilton and the 2 days it took us to drive home from Bowmanville. Nothing that a blaring Ipod couldn't handle!!! The kids did so good adjusting to the many different sleeping arrangements and our families did well keeping us all very comfortable. We had a fun filled and action packed 2 weeks! Finishing it off with a trip to the ER with Matthijs to find out that he had soft tissue damage in his ankle from jumping off of a giant haystack on our last day there!!! My dad says that Matthijs is an accident waiting to happen...Matthew says he's just a plain ol' walking accident!!!

Our trip ended with some tear filled goodbyes (you know me!) and promises of seeing each other soon!!!

We love you all! Thank you for making this a trip to rememeber...forever! But most of all we need to thank Jesus for having His hand of safty on us the entire time. We gave our trip to Him everytime we got inside our ol' Volvo and everytime He blessed us!!! Thank you God not only for our safty and health but our family and friends!

BIG congratulations to our friends...Sherri, Richard, Joshua & Elijah...they just welcomed a baby girl into their family on October 20th. Her name is Leah Henrietta and I'm sure she's absolutly beautiful!!! We were hoping we'd get a chance to meet her. But like most girls....she was fashionably late (8 days)

Here are 25 pictures to sum up some of our trip back 'home'

Our drive down was BEAUTIFUL amazing colours....just breathtaking











The 3 Musketeers...Me, Nancy & Brenda....friends since JK & Grade 2


Meredith turned 2!!! Thanks for the pizza pary guys!!! Yummy.......




Me, my sis, my brother...our parents, husbands, kids, Trevors girlfriend Jacquie that I just love!!! It was great to finally meet you!!! You fit right in with our family!



Apple picking


Our good friends Josh ans Eli


Pake with Isla...the oldest member of the family with the youngest member!!!


Still not rolling over...but still trying to master the sit-up


Tractor rides and lessons from grandpa!!




Matthew, his sisters...his parents, husband, wife and kids...missing Rachels boyfriend Jakub...we miss you!


HOME SWEET HOME....the beauty we arrived home to! FALL is in the air and on our ground!!


That was a long post!!!!