Tepees and Walks

Even though it is January, we still have not received more than a few dustings of snow and its been rather nice. One of our routine things is to go for a walk every day, and we've been pretty good at keeping that goal. Today, after a busy Saturday of cleaning and food prep, we made it out to enjoy the fresh air and bring our cousins, Noah & Silas, to Pake and Beppe's house where Cassia and Hannah, Esther, and Titus were. Upon arriving at the bush, a grand structure standing 18 feet tall was directly in front of us. The boys had built an amazing Indian tepee, complete with a fire in the middle and a doorway.

As you can see, everyone is looking at it. It was quite the structure, and has taken the boys and Pake two days to get it looking like that.

Wilhelm destroying our old fort to help build the new one! My uncle and aunt were gone, so Pake and Beppe are watching Wilhelm, Coen, and Audrey for the weekend

The view of the top! They fit it together very well.

Coen tending the fire in the middle of the tepee. He did such a good job.

As par the guys' calculations, the fire was in the middle and their was a ten-foot radius all around. The door was created in the general wind direction.

A view of the bush. Pake was cutting down some trees since the weather has been so nice lately.

More tepee pictures.

Tepees & bricks, also a playset in the background.

Pake and Beppe's house

The guys were just tying string on it, and they plan to wrap a couple of big tarps around it and then sleep in it. They said that since us girls get our tea parties, they should get their outdoors sleepovers. 

And I agree. Now, I'm just looking forward to winter camping! That should be fun.

Birthdays Are....

Birthdays are the only time of year when one get's to sing one's praises....and I'm not trying to be proud when I say that I love birthdays. For as long as I have been alive, my birthdays have been different from the rest of the family. November 12 is right smack dab in the middle of busy season, so around my birthday it was always busy. And now with me working, it still is. I decided to open my present(s) tonight so that my siblings could watch me, since I get up so early anyways.
Today has been amazing! If I'm going to be honest, I don't feel any older, just loved and blessed.
A couple of my friends stopped by work today to wish me a happy birthday and give me presents...which I thoroughly enjoyed. Many people also called and emailed me too! I'm looking forward to celebrating this evening with my family, and resting and relaxing too.
Since it is my birthday, I shall present you with one thing that might surprise you. (about me) Here goes.
When I was a little child, I loved to play with tupperware. (I still love to play with tupperware!)

Me when we took our family pictures...

Me on the far left

Picture of some little girls!

And lastly, a quote from google. Pretty wise too!

I must say, today has been amazing. I've lived fifteen awesome years on this earth and I am so ready to live another! And just think, next year I can drive. (I've already started practicing)

Enjoy the snow, and have a wonderful day!

Many Happy Returns of the Day!

Thanksgiving Camping - Weirder Pictures

So, V wants me to post more of the weird pictures, so here it goes!

Eating chips on the beach.

Joel really wanted to play "Rusk" (aka "Risk") with Dad.

The photoshoot with V! I accidentally focused the camera on the weeds not V!

Trying to talk while I take a picture, isn't a wise idea!

This was just sitting there, and I thought I'd take a pic of it

Mom doing something while Moriah is reaching for more chips

I have no idea what Joel was trying to do!

Standing by the water (notice that I'm the one taking the pictures)

Classic Victoria #1

and #2

Eating macaroni

Cassia climbing a tree.

You can barely notice her "black" (it was more blue/purple than black) eye.

Classic Victoria #3

Standing at a boardwalk on a trail overlooking the beach.

Ellia

Sitting around the fire 24/7 unless we're on a trail or in the van!

I close with this great picture of Mom! Totally describes how all of us were looking at V most of the time.

All in all, we had a good time!

Now, it rainy and dreary, and a good movie day!

Thanksgiving Camping 101 (aka 2019)

Our camping trip was cold but good. We got there late Friday night (probably around 8:30/9pm). On Saturday, we did lots of trails, which is where most of these pictures, below, are from. Mom was sore, and I guess all the walks and canoeing (yes, we went canoeing; it was fun!).

Sunday, we were almost late to church. It took about 50 minutes just to get to church; later we found out that you can get there in about 25/30 minutes. So we really took the long way! Mr. Tuinstra invited us to their place for lunch, and we went there; after getting invitations for lunch from the Vogels and DeBoers. Mr. and Mrs. Tuinstra knew we were coming because they had supper at Pake & Beppe's on Saturday night, and Mrs. Tuinstra made a delicious crockpot of soup and buns. We had a good time with Mr. and Mrs. Tuinstra, thankfully there were no extra guests, except their daughter, Elizabeth, who came about 10 minutes before church.

This time we were there is good timing! Afterward, Carrie Vogel was there, and Mom talked with her for a while. Ellia was literally dying!!! She had a fever and was lying on the ground! But later on, you would have thought she had been perfectly healthy!

Monday, we packed up. Left. Got home. Emptied the trailer. And left for the Music Night. The Music Night was great fun! 

I took a lot of photos (actually most of them are from me.

The pictures of people, I was literally doing a photo shoot of V. She wanted me too.

We had a good time!

Family Pictures 2019

At least once a year, every family does something important: family pictures. This is often a trying ordeal and only now have I actually (being nearly 15) learned to appreciate it. (Maybe.) A few weeks ago, when our whole extended family on Mom's side was down, we did that very thing. And since I'm sure you're interested in what we look like, I decided to post a few. First, the individual kid pictures

Me, 14

Alicia, 13

Moriah, 12

Cassia, 10

Ellia, 8

Joel, 6

Big Family Photo

We kids were all mostly in play clothes, but it looked fine anyways. I think that for nearly 30 people, the picture is pretty good.

Now, our family photo.😊 I am posting four pictures, to emphasize the struggle. (We took 15 pictures.)

Take One: Funny Faces

Take-Two: Nobody's Looking

Take Three: Mom's not looking 

Finally, a good one. And my favorite.😀

We are going camping on Saturday, so I will bring my camera, take pictures, and then post them after. Or will try to! ;) Enjoy your September!