Cute little thing, isn't he! But he is also an escape artist. See the paper clip holding the cage door shut? Well, unless totally secured with paper clips on both sides of the door, he can get out -- and does routinely to Evita's disgust. He usually is found again in the blue box in the Grade 3/4 room. He must be attracted the small amounts of food and drink still clinging to containers and then can't get out again.

Dave's sister Jane happened to celebrate her 50th birthday with a party for family and friends. She didn't expect us to visit, but we were able to stop over on our way back home because of the timing -- that was a real bonus for us! Bob and Jim came without their wives and it was fun for Dave to see them being twins together! Tom and Mel also came and so did Mom and Dad and lots of her friends. We had a great time!

During Spring Break, we made a quick trip to visit mom and dad in Michigan. While there, Dave tried to get pictures of the cardinals, especially of the cardinals flying in to dad's bird feeder. This was the best he could do. They have a LOT of cardinals there -- very colourful! We had a good visit, including joining them in their mall walk.

Well, we finally got winter! On Saturday night, it snowed and snowed -- we got about 8 inches -- and then it got cold. This is Dave after going for his morning walk. The temperature was minus 20 (colder with wind chill) and Dave has icicles in his beard and moustache!

Evert and Sandy took us for dinner at the Queen's Landing in Niagara on the Lake on Saturday night -- the food was fabulous! Just before we left (Dave had to preach in the morning) we took a family photo. Everyone was there except for our Chris and Julee and Michael.

While at the Great Wolf Lodge, we took mom to the Butterfly Conservatory. They also have reptiles at the conservatory, so here is mom and Evita looking at a Burmese Python. It is a lot harder -- impossible in fact -- to get a good picture of them with butterflies, although one did land on Evita's head briefly. It flew away before a picture could be taken.

Evert arranged for the whole extended family to go to the Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls for Omie's 75th birthday. We weren't sure about that as a birthday for Omie, however she had a good time because her grandchildren were having a good time. And we weren't sure about it for ourselves -- we've never gone to a water park before. However, we had a ball! Evita got into the wave pool with Irene and went on most of the water slides as well. Afterwards, Evita commented that there weren't many "older people" like us on the water slides -- it is geared to younger families. We'll have to go again someday with Samuel!

While visiting in Vancouver, we went to the Festival of Lights at the Van Dusen Gardens. What a spectacular event it is! We had to take two trips to get there as there wasn't enough room in Chris and Julee's car for 5 adults and 1 infant seat. Samuel rested comfortably in his sling with his father and we had a wonderful time! Dave had to lay down on the pavement to get this picture and got a wet bum but the photo was worth it!

Proud Opa and Oma with Samuel on our arrival Christmas evening. Or is it Grandpa? It is definitely Oma. Doesn't she look happy?

Some touching moments of Samuel with his mother and father. We love the way that Samuel and his mother are looking at each other, and isn't it sweet how his father is kissing the top of Samuel's head while he sleeps? We think so!

We became grandparents with the birth of our first grandchild, Samuel Elliott Botting, born to Chris and Julee at 2:09 a.m. Tuesday (B.C. time), Dec. 12, 2006. We are thrilled at the little fellow! When we visited between Christmas and New Year's, he loved to curl up just like in the womb, as shown here. Now, we have to decide whether we are grandpa and grandma or opa and oma or some mix of the two. Evita is used to oma and Dave is used to grandpa in our respective backgrounds.

Evita dressed up as a zebra on a school day when everyone was supposed to dress up like some kind of animal. We took a heavy plastic bag and added electrical tape for stripes and felt ears and she wore a sweater with "zebra stripes!"

The weather was fantastic on Thanksgiving weekend -- then on Thursday morning, we woke up to snow... and the leaves still changing colour on the trees! At least we didn't get 10 inches, like they did in Fort Erie. Or two feet, like they did in Buffalo!

On Thanksgiving Day we visited family in Toronto. Evert and Sandy joined us at Irene's. Mariel also joined us along with a friend from Queen's who comes from Kerrisdale too and couldn't go home for the holiday weekend. It was a push getting there as Dave preached for the Thanksgiving Day service. Traffic was heavy as people were already starting to head home from cottage country in the early afternoon. But it was worth it. Here we are on a walk with Spencer, Elliott, and Mya on bikes and with Irene walking their dog.

We went for our traditional colour walk at Vandewater Park on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. The weather was incredible -- warm, even hot as we walked. The colours were really vivid this year. We also ran into the Roeper family there, as we often do!

The grand opening ceremony was held in the school's huge gym with a mass choir led by Fred Riemersma. About 800 people attended the ceremony.

QCHS held its grand opening on Sept. 23rd. The building is about 40,000 square feet and cost about $4.7 million. It is located on Wallbridge Loyalist Road just past the railroad tracks north of Highway 2. It's a really nice building with lots of space and a huge gym.

While in Ottawa, we spotted this giant spider near the National Art Gallery. No one seemed to be very shook about the spider - panhandlers are harder to handle, actually - so Evita and Leo posed with it.

We also visited Cathy and Leo VanArragon just before school started. Here we are in a park behind the parliament buildings. We had super weather and a really good visit together and shared dinner together at a Vietnamese restaurant (a first for us), which had very interesting cuisine!

Dave's sister Jane visited during August. We went to the Gut, which is a waterfall through a rocky gorge near Coe Hill (close to Bancroft). We had a lot of fun checking it out! Jane makes an effort to visit every summer, and we always appreciate that. Dave and Jane went for their traditional breakfast at Cora's before she headed home to Detroit.