Chris, Julee and Sam came to visit for 5 days after visiting with Julee's parents in Nova Scotia. It was really great to have them here, and especially, to get to know Sam -- and for him to get to know grandpa and oma -- and to watch him grow and develop. He got steadier on his feet all week long and even walked a few steps, probably by accident as he has not done that again! He has a great smile and takes a lot of interest in the world around him.

Excavation started on the work site for our new church -- it was exciting to see after literally years of preparation! At one point we had 10 trucks shuttling back and forth, removing fill and bringing back aggregate. We brought it to the level for footings, but have been unable to pour footings because we don't have a building permit yet, which has been delayed by issues over storm water management. We have reached agreement on that this week, though, and hope to receive the permit by the end of next week.

While Jane was here, we had some baptisms at the river after a profession of faith service. We baptized four adults and two children! Different people helped Pastor John to do the baptisms -- we arranged for each individual to have someone help who had played a role in their faith walk. Dave helped to baptize Henk.

My sister Jane made her annual visit. Here we are at one of our favourite places -- Bren's Place on the patio for coffee!

Evita took her class on a trip to Sandbanks in June. Here, she is showing her students what poison ivy looks like. We saw, as usual, lots of very beautiful lady slippers. We also saw a swan on a nest! That was exciting!

The whole school gathered to watch as Mom got busted at school, along with the principal. It was all part of a fund raising challenge, and Mom's Grade 1/2 class raised the most money and was able to have her "arrested." The police officer took them to the police station and put them in a holding cell before bringing them back to school.

Here are some spring wildflowers that we saw in May during our annual wildflower walks. Left to right: Trout Lily, Hypatica and White and Red Trilliums.

Jim and Gwen visited us on Good Friday with Gregory and Krista (centre with Gwen) and two of their friends, Amber and Brandon. They stayed overnight on their trip back home after visiting in Vermont and touring the Boston area as well. We had a great visit! Gregory, by the way, turned 13 on the Monday after Easter, but his father says he has been acting like a teenager already!

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!"