It is not often that we can get together as a family. We managed it last summer when we went to a cottage for a week. And we were able to this again early in August, when our youngest daughter Pauline drove up from Massachusetts with her two children, Gracie and Chris. Unfortunately, her husband Greg was unable to come this time. Pauline is expecting another baby in November, but she was brave enough to drive all the way from their place just outside Boston to our Toronto home, and made it in less than ten hours. The children really behaved well, with a little help, of course, from the DVD player in the van.
The occasion was the celebration of number of birthdays: Sharon's (July 22), Adrian's (August 5), and Pauline's (August 6). It was wonderful to have Pauline join us for these birthdays and great to be together for the week of her visit. We had a great time showing Gracie and Chris around the parks and other recreational spots of Toronto. Gracie was duly impressed by the visit to a real castle (Casa Loma) and the children really loved the day we spent on Toronto Island, which is accessible only by ferry. They were able to visit a farm, go swimming, and even take a ride on a carrousal. And we took time to explore the pool only a few blocks from our place at Christie Pits. Even though Pauline and the children were with us for a whole week the visit went much too quickly.
We managed to get a photo taken of us all, in front of our house. Our son David, is standing behind us; Sharon behind Wendy, and Pauline on the right, with Gracie and Chris in front. David is still in Toronto after several years working overseas, in Saudi Arabia and Turkey. This fall he hopes to take courses in community development. Sharon, our oldest, lives at our house and manages the place while we are out of the country. It is too bad that Greg was unable to be present, but he had to keep working in Boston.
You may have noticed bars in front of the basement window. We installed them shortly after our return from the IICS vision conference mid-July. While we were gone, our basement apartment was broken into. A number of items were stolen, especially older jewelry, coins we had collected on our travels, tools, and other small things; from time to time we still discover that items we thought were in a certain location are simply gone. None of these stolen items were expensive, but some did have sentimental value. We are thankful that our thief overlooked European passports, British and European currency, and that we had our laptops with us. During the six years of our stay in Nigeria we never experienced a successful break-in, although some money and other items were stolen by some who worked for us.
A few days after Pauline left, we drove to Cambridge, to help celebrate the 65th birthday and retirement of Wendy's brother, Andy Elgersma (August 7). His children put together a lovely surprise party for him. He was certainly surprised when he entered the room where he was invited to have a low-key supper, and discovered instead a large group of family and friends, some of whom can be seen in the photo below. Andy is tall and white-haired, standing directly behind Wendy.
From left to right is Grace (Wendy's youngest sister, who lives in Cambridge), Andy, and Peter and Jane Elgersma. Peter is our cousin. Again it is not often that Wendy's family gets together. Unfortunately, Pat, the oldest sister lives in the Netherlands, and was unable to be present, although she wanted to come. That might have been an even greater surprise!
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