Wild Beauty of Nova Scotia

A beautiful day and walk at Lawrencetown Beach on a Sunday afternoon.

I had to stop to take a second look at this stone with a perfectly round shelter for another stone.  Hmmm..

Lou likes to leave the beach just abit cleaner when he leaves...sometimes there are interesting treasures.

There were a few kite surfers impressing us with their strength and skills

Another beautiful view from above the beach.

A walk towards another view point.

 

 

 

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.  There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.  Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world."  Psalm 19: 1-4

A Dance...

Some beautiful moments in my day yesterday!

The Gift of Grandchildren

The past few weeks we have had the privilege of spending much time with our children, grandchildren and waiting for the new baby to arrive.

Reading...

Fun activities...

Eating out...

Blowing bubbles..

Beach walks...

Enjoying morning breakfasts...

Sightseeing, riding the ferry...

Arlo arrives on April 28...a very happy family!

We are so thankful for the gift of life.  It seems that there have been deep channels made in our hearts in order to receive the abundance of good things that we have received in the past two weeks  Thanks be to God.

Young Learner

During a shopping time yesterday Annika took much care and concentration to make sure her ducks were in a row.

Painters

Taking a moment from deep concentration to pose for the photographer.

Martinique Beach

It has been said that we see God's greatness in the details of creation.  Today I tried to pay special attention to some of those details--the various shells on the beach, the way that they are stuck in the sand, the lines that small pieces of gravel create on the beach, the waves created in the sand by the water, the tiny birds, and how they fly away in beautiful formation...and we enjoyed our first picnic of the season!!

All Season Beach

Heading down to the beach with eager anticipation of building castles and who knows what other possibilities might exist.

Doughnuts

Lou's mom always made wonderful doughnuts...Annika  with Lisa's help is continuing the tradition.

Angels

Simple pure pleasure!! 

Bedtime in Seaforth

Ahhh....enjoyable relaxing moments!   And what could be better than a Winnie the Pooh story at days' end?

Trans Canada Trail in Chilliwack

Yesterday was a glorious "winter" day on the Vedder Trail.  We enjoyed the walk with our friends.

Deja vu...

Fun to walk around in Lynden Washington the past few days.  Enjoying the swiftly flowing stream, the ubiquitous blackberry bushes, fresh air, sunshine, the nearby mountains including Mount Baker, bald eagles.

Scope for Imagination

Ella has a gift of a wonderful imagination.  Tonight she chose to protect her daddy and herself from the rain, while the rest of us were getting soaked.  Oh well, just prior to that she had served us up a beautiful meal with attention to many details.  Tonight we leave Cebu to go back to Canada!  We cherish many precious memories of our time together.

Happy Sunday

Evening dinner out on the "side yard".  Such a great time with a beautiful barbecued dinner and fun conversation.  If you look carefully, you can see the new sala in the background--tonight was a sort of initiation.  God bless this home and hospitable family!!

Beautiful Girl

Ella utilizes her creativity in taking numerous pictures.  This is yesterday's self photo.

Gelatissimo

Someone once said that a vacation day was incomplete if you hadn't enjoyed ice cream(or gelato) at some point in the day.  We all chose a kind of chocolate and all were happy with our choice.

Grandma and Grandpa time

One of the activities of our few hours together this evening involved picture taking.  Ella has been having fun with the timed photos.  Here is a sample of one of them.  Ella has a vivid imagination and we became gymnasts walking on a balance beam of blocks, made hay for some animals who were inside the block fence, did some cooking and eating of chicken, played hide and seek, were caterpillars who became butterflies...good times!

The Coming of the Sala

Just a few minutes ago the ordered sala(in Canada we would call it a gazebo)  was delivered here to Jen and Andrey's house.  As you can see from the pictures there were some challenges that needed to be overcome.   However, with the help of a large crew of men and a few children, it is now settled into place.  It is sure to be enjoyed by family and guests who visit.

Adventures

We have been going on daily little "adventures".  It is fun to explore new things with a curious three year old.  Today we toured this ship which is in port in Cebu for one month.  The Logos Hope is a "floating community that brings knowledge, help and hope to the world".  The book fair is quite extensive and we enjoyed choosing several new titles.  What also was so enjoyable was sharing a bag of popcorn with Ella. 

Happy Chinese New Year!

This evening we joined together with a great company of friends in Cebu to celebrate Chinese New Year!  The celebration included a delicious potluck dinner, great conversation and even some fireworks.  At one point during the evening, Lou and I talked about how privilieged we were to be with so many interesting and capable young people. 

Waterpark Fun!!

Ella really loves the water and is getting to be a capable swimmer.  Today she was diving down to catch pretend "star fish" and grandma's toes, at a Cebu City hotel resort. 

This picture was taken just before the first launch on the lazy river, at that same resort.  There was much delight for all of us over this particular activity. Very pleasant on a very hot day.

Buying local

The local market is less than a ten minute walk from Jen and Andrey's house.  It is a frequent destination for us.  Today I bought mangoes, (70 pesos for one kilo--5 mangoes for about $1.75) bananas, coconut (where I chose a coconut and had it shredded--for less than fifty cents), fish, eggplant, long green beans, pumpkin, onions.  Though we are stared at because of our foreign-ness, it is fun to interact with the smiling merchants and walk away with produce from Cebu.

Bedtime Story

After a busy day of playing with friends, bear hunts, preparing food, going for walks, playing hide and seek, building tents, eating, imagining many wonderful things...there is not a better way to end a day than to read a book together.  For some of us the habit continues...the book I have just completed  is Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.  Lou is reading Just a Thought  by Ed Cook.

On being kneaded...

Baking bread has always been a therapeutic activity for me.  I love to bake different kinds of bread.  Today we made cinnamon rolls...mostly I did, but Ella helped by kneading and also by making a few of her very own rolls.  Fun moments and enjoyable times sharing the results.

Environment Friendly

Kawasan Falls close to Moalboal where we went on a family hike.  As we entered the park, there was a sign that informed us that Cebuanos are Environment Friendly.  Reassuring.  There were a series of five waterfalls.  It was a good day.  Many people were getting on rafts and being paddled directly under the falls.  We enjoyed the refreshing cool water by going for a swim.

Dacozy Resort

One of the things we loved to do this weekend on our getaway weekend to Moalboal, about three hours from Cebu City was to walk on the beach, discovering the beautiful starfish, sea urchins, hermit crabs.  Looking at life and creatures through the eyes of a three year old always brings a renewed sense of wonder.