Wednesday, July 25, 2007

We've arrived!

(...in BC that is :-) ) We got to my parents place around 11 on Monday night. We stopped in Banff for a few hours and visited with Conrad's family who are camping there for the week. We're very thankful to have arrived safely after so much driving. Now we're ready to relax and visit with family and friends. I wish I could post some pictures of the trip across but I'm not sure I can do that from here so I might have to wait until we get back.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

In Calgary

We arrived in Calgary around 10:30 last night after a very long day. We'll spend the weekend with my two brothers and their families and then on Monday drive to Banff, spend sometime with Conrad's family who are camping there and then arrive to the Valley Monday night or Tuesday some time.

It has been a beautiful drive! The best part is driving through all the different landscapes. It's forever changing, from dry grassy dunes to hilly bluffs, through forest, then the badlands, through bushy bluffs, and then mountains. It's a gorgeous country!

The trip has gone really well. The kids are being really good travellers! We had two little mishaps on the way.... On Thursday our engine light went on and the engine was revving really high when we were going through the Big Horn Mountains. After turning the van off and back on it was working better but the engine light was still on so we stopped at a mechanic. It was stuck in second gear. It's been fine since so that's good. And...yesterday we had to drive back an hour and fifteen minutes because we forgot our camera in a park! That was the longest drive, wondering if our camera was still there. So we drove an extra 2 1/2 hours on what was already going to be a long day! But the camera was there so it was worth it.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Day 1

We're in Madison, WI for the night! Today went really well. We left home at 4:30 and arrived here around 5 (4:00) local time. The kids were really good. Tessa had a bit of a rough time off and on but every time we stopped (3 times I think) she was happy again. Anneke's not feeling very well (the reason we were awake at 3:30 already :-p). She's coughing a lot again... We're starting to think she might have athsma (sp?) or something. Hopefully she doesn't get any worse. Tomorrow we're on to Mitchell SD (I think - I can't even remember what state it's in anymore...) Off to bed now. It's only 7:00 here but we're tired and if we can go early in the morning that's great because we really enjoyed driving in the early hours.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Today

We were busy today getting some things done before we leave on Monday. Conrad brought all his books back to the library, he applied for a passport, I did a few last minute errands and also finished Anneke's dress. Remember that fabric a few posts ago? Well, here's the end result. It's a bit big and the skirt part of it ended up waaaay wider than I thought but I think it's still cute and hopefully it'll fit her next year too :) It's also really good for spinning...


Here's a couple pictures of the kids from a few days ago. They were sitting in front of our house watching the portable washer truck clean the garbage hut. So very facinating!


Over the past couple of months I helped Erin with a quilt for their new baby, Noah. We finished it just a week or so before he arrived. We used that minky stuff which is a polyestor or something and it's very soft and cute but hard to sew without it stretching. It was fun to do together, although I'm not much of a teacher... I think you should take a class some time Erin :)

Monday, July 9, 2007

Introducing...

Dr. Conrad!!!

Things went well today and with a little editing Conrad will be finished with his thesis and officially finished his PhD. Wow! We have been very blessed with the opportunity for Conrad to complete his studies here. The Lord has provided us with all that we needed, and so much more. All thanks to Him alone!

D-Day

Today is the day of Conrad's defense. Conrad is pretty nervous and we're looking forward to having it over. We're up early...couldn't sleep anymore anyways although I think that was a lot to do with the fact that it's pretty warm and humid. I wanted to go in and listen/watch but that's not allowed, which is too bad, so I'm going to meet Conrad before the defense and wait for him. M. kindly offered to take the kids for us - thankyou!

I'll update later with how it went. I hope you all have a good day!