Mulder skydiving

My little bro went skydiving for his 21st bday! HE LOVED IT and a few days later is still on a bit of a rush from it, I think. :0)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROB!!

Wet July Camping

Well, we were supposed to go to a cottage this weekend/week, but plans fell through sorta last minute, and Derek had booked 5 days off, and we figured we might as well still go somewhere! So we found a place near St. Mary's/Stratford area called Wildwood Conservation Area. It was a good trip, rain and all. I ended up getting sick our last night there, must've eaten something BAAAD. So that wasn't too much fun, but at least it was on our last night, otherwise, I might have wanted to go HOME!

We checked in early on Sat, went to our nephew Travis' eighth bday party which was close by, and then headed back JUST before the rain started. We were just glad it rained mostly at night while we were there! The girls got good and dirty, and had a grand old time at the pool and lake. The things we do for our children, hey? Things they most likely won't even remember!!! It's all SO worth it though of course.

Mesmerized 8 year old.

Waiting patiently for her cake.

Injury! No one actually saw it happen, but we're pretty sure she ran right into Rudy and Tina's glass/screen door. Instant goose egg!

In Travis and Kyle's tree house.

First campfire on our wet campsite.

SNAILS! Kept Geneva busy for hours.

Geneva and her pet Slimy.

Rudy, Tina, Kyle, Travis, Opa and Nana came up for the day on Sunday. One quick downpour, and then we were good to go!

Brookie's reaction was rather priceless.

Fishergirl

Fisherboy

Sittin with cousin Kyle

"Tavis" whose name Brookie LOVES to say.

"Tousins"

With Opa.

Mesmerized almost 4 year old. (next week!
On Monday we went here in London. The girls LOVED it and were the perfect age for pretty much everything there. I remembered going here when I was little, but things had changed just a smidge!

Ducks!


The very cool HUGE splashpad. How come this wasn't around when we used to go to here when we were kids, Mom? :0)

Loving the water.

A nice wet, sisterly hug.

Looking a little wiped out after lunch and a splash.

I thought she might be scared, but she LOVED the ferris wheel and says it was her favourite part of the day. Brookie wanted to go on REAL bad and kept saying "I turn!" but we didn't think it was such a great idea. :0)

Wheee!

They look a little dozy, probably since Brookie woke everyone up pretty much every morning between 6:30 and 7. OUCH!!!! There's not much you can do to convince a 2 year old to go back to sleep when the sun is shining and the birds are a-singing away!
This pic is to show the great set up we discovered to get us a 1/2 hour more sleep/quiet in the am. Too bad we didn't figure this out til our 2nd last morning. The dvd played is attached to one end, the kids on the other end of the playpen with a big ol cup of cheerios. The one camping luxury we allowed a few times- the portable dvd player!

One with mega mosquito bites, one with goose egg remnants. Looking a little rough around the edges at 7 am.

We found a neat "chair" on one of the empty camp sites near us. We had NO one around us after Sunday, felt like we had the whole area of the campground to ourselves actually!

Attempted sister photo op.

Camping family!

Lounging

Waterbug!

G and D.

The END!

LOTSA pics for ya'll!

Hiya! Long time no write!

Lotsa pictures for ya'll tonight! The girlies are sleeping and so is Derek, getting ready for a night shift. (probably his first in over a year!) Things over here are grrrreat.
Feeling good, not so tired, and even a wee bit of a tummy to show off!
And now for some pics to show what we and our beauties have been up to.

Fathers' Day at Opa and Nana's.

Holding her cousin Hudson. I think it's Hudson..Maybe...
Geneva loves the babies, and I think she's going to be my big helper when our baby comes.
Derek's sister Ann tells me I should have twins too, and I don't think she'll believe we're having just one until I show her the ultrasound pics I'll get in a few weeks... Statistically, I just don't think it's be possible! :0)

Geneva with her Aunt Ann, and I think Logan. Possibly. I can tell better in real life.
Some people say that G looks a bit like her auntie.

Annual Father's Day parade in the Huisman backyard.

Looking a little skeptical of the lawnmower float.

But she gave it a try, and wanted to ride "adain" and "adain"
(One of her favourite new words)

Getting wet.

And wetter.

Helping Daddy at home later that week.

Notice Geneva's new hairstyle. Doesn't want anything in her hair and it hangs in her face all day. Drives me bonkers and doesn't phase her a bit.

****************************************************
My baby is 2!!!!

The lovely card Geneva was so excited to give to her "baby sister"

Helping.

Fruits and veggies!

"You're in trouble!" A quote from a gal at church to Derek... She thinks he's in for a fun time dealing with this one on the right when she's a teeniebopper.

How cool! You can cut them in half!

Hooray for veggies!

Chopping up some tomatoes for breakfast. Don't worry, it's all plastic! No sharp objects near this 2 year old!

Da girls. Daddy was at work, and we waited to open Boot's other present that night. SOOO proud of her new camping chair.

A few highlights of the camping trip over the July long weekend (no pictures of the rain and the SOAKING WET tent. That would be too painful to relive...) Although, there are some wet sleeping bags and towels on the clothesline behind us as a friendly reminder. We went with our good friends Dave and Karen, and their daughter Anneka.
(And yes, Karen, Brookie did happen to say "NO" a lot that following week....) I think she's over it now. :0) We managed to have lotso fun despite the rainy night(s).

G reacts a bit to "squeeto" bites it seems... She got attacked on our first night and has a few dozen bites to show for it!

Absolutely loving being outside ALL day long.

With Anneka.

The dry Jorritsma gang.

We soggy Huismans.

Getting to stay up late for a campfire since she had a snoozers.

Here's a few pics of the much more relaxing vacation I had at my parents' place with the girls. We ditched Derek for the week. He missed his girls and what he claims is 'his baby boy' Is he setting himself up for failure or what? :0)

Uncle Bobby. Nice farmers tan, boy! Can tell you work outside huh?

Geneva swam for almost 3 hours straight. What a water bug! (Notice Aunt Christel's baby belly! There's a Mulder cousin in there!) hehe

At the tridge in Midland. It's a 3-way bridge. Tridge, get it?

With grandma at the cool statue(s).

Holding "Daddy's" hand.

Come on Brooke, let's run!

One word: Admiration.

All right. I think I'm almost done with this hour long blog session! A grandma in another country is going to love seeing all these pics, I'm guessing. I think she may just miss her little girlies already.

But before I go, here's some shots of the Huisman girl combo birthday party this Saturday. Even though Geneva's birthday isn't til August... Hooray for visitors, puh lease come any time!

The boys! Getting So big! They're doing lots of smiling and 'talking' now. So fun.

I told you she loves babies!

Even Brookie got in on the baby-snuggling.

Opa looks a wee bit concerned, perhaps? :0)
Ann is such a laid back, awesome Momma. Didn't phase her a bit to have her boys a smidge over-loved. Matt, by the way, we think you're a pretty super-tastic daddy too.

Finding the clues on the scavenger hunt Uncle Derek made. Justin and Riley had a hard time waiting for the rather much slower Geneva and Brookie... Abigail kept up well though!

Digging for their next clue!

Huh? Where'd everyone go? We just got here! She eventually caught back up to to the scavenger hunt crew.

MMM, strawberry shortcake. There's some leftovers in the fridge, I think I'll go eat it when I'm done here....

Ok, the only reason I put this pic on, since my face is rather humerously distorted, is that you can sorta see da baby belly getting bigger!

A post-dinner stroll. Not exactly a quiet walk with all 13 of us, but a fun one none-the-less!

All right. Signing off. Must go wake Derek so he can head into work. Will not wake the others. Babies aren't allowed to do night-shifts.
Love you all!