The Latest and the Greatest

Many thanks to my sister-in-law Pauline and her husband Rene for all the stylish new clothes the kids are wearing below. It was a treat to find such a fun package in the mailbox and what great taste! Being that everyone had something fresh and new that they wanted to wear, we decided it was time to take a new Dad and Kids picture which includes our recent addition, Danika. Here are some of the best of the bunch from that morning.

Summer has been great so far. We had 3 rounds of special, out of town visitors. It was a funny moment just after our last guest left when Pierre and I agreed it felt a bit lonely around here and yet we had 7 people in the house!

Christian had an amazing week away at Knight's Quest boys' camp for the second year in a row. Unlike his mom at that age, this boy does not get homesick. He was relieved to be out of the limelight that comes with being the youngest age group. The camp is run by good friends of ours (who are dads and grandpas to some of the campers) and many of the families we get together with send their sons to this camp also, so these boys have a blast together.

Both Christian and Griffen are well into what has been a very exciting soccer season so far.

Griffen, who hadn't played since he was 4, blew us away when he turned out to be one of the faster kids on his team and scored a goal in his first game. This was a major turn of events because at age 4, he was quite obviously at the back of the pack and his low muscle tone was evident with a lack of coordination. It made us so proud to see how much he has improved as an athlete and his new found strength and confidence is a heart-warming thing for us to witness.

Christian, who just started loving the sport last year, was selected by his coach to play in the league all-star game this season. What a nice compliment for a guy who aggressively covers the whole field each game, but is always one to share the ball and prefers to pass and assist rather than get the glory by taking it to the goal himself.

Pierre has been busy gardening in his first month off on parental leave, focusing mostly on the side and backyard. He is an early bird, so he gets a lot done in the morning hours when it's still nice and cool outside. It's shaping up out there for sure!

Due to closing up our vacation/future retirement home purchase in Florida, we have had to stay close to home all of July. We still haven't decided where we might like to go in August, but it has been neat to throw all kinds of trip ideas around. We'll see where we end up.

All for now!