Oct 15-19, 2012 New Shingles.

Michael came down to help with the new shingles.
Mickey Potts (on the right) was able to help for a few days also.     

Michael decided to start on the bedroom side.
The whole week, we had gorgeous weather.  

Michael, Jeff (had to see what was going on), Marcel and Mickey. 

Brother-in-law Peter was awesome.
He did all the dump-runs after picking up the shingles off the ground.  His trailer had a dump bucket.  

REX  SynFelt (blue) is a high strength woven synthetic roof underlay that was great to work with compared to tar paper.(asphalt-saturated felt).  Michael had never worked with this product and was quite impressed.   Slip resistant, light, and a lot cooler to work with in heat.   

Huge tarps to catch most of the trash.  Teresa and Richy helping.

• Arlene Repar:  Nice job everyone! Beautiful Aunt Lida, you could get a better shot if you were 

  
  

  up on the roof with them! ;

  
  
• Alida Hoogstad:   Actually, I'm standing on the shop roof!!!!

  
  
• Arlene Repar:  Good for you!!!

Enjoying the gorgeous weather and view.  An amazing hard worker.

• Season Leigh:  What a cutie!!

  
  
• Alida Hoogstad:  Agreed.

Much deserved coffee break   Marcel, Mickey, Michael and Peter.
Marcel is now asking when Michael is coming back.  He quite enjoyed the cooking and serving. lol.

Norah McKean:  I don't think the dads (Marcel & Peter, now Grandpas) have changed a bit! :

I took a dump run with Peter for a Kodak moment.
After my first picture, a bulldozer pulled up beside me and said, "pictures were not allowed".
Who else would take a picture of this except me.

Neighbor Curtis also came to help after work. 

• Janice Gabnai:   Looks great! Good looking crew you have there too!

  
  
• Michael Hoogstad:  Wow.... your favorite child is awesome!!! :

  
  
• Alida Hoogstad:  Agreed...my favorite son from Chatham is awesome. Great job.

Short a couple of bundles.  

The following Sunday we saw a tree full of Turkey Vultures.
A hazy day prevented a clear picture.   

Oct 5-7, 2012 Thanksgiving camping at Presquile

Thanksgiving blog should start with gorgeous colors and flowers.
Pink and orange Bougainvillea plant and maple tree in our yard. 

Leah looking for rocks to paint. 
After we all checked in on Friday,  the kids wanted to do rock painting. The Hamilton Hoogstads do not have a trailer, so they slept at our house and joined us every day at camp.  They arrived Saturday.  

Michael and Season's site, with Lake Ontario in the background. 

Alanna is just getting over the chicken pox.  She looks like a teener with all the spots.
Sara is posing as a mermaid on a rock.  

Rocks for painting are getting larger.  Sara can't get up with her load!

Waiting for Teresa to arrive in the evening with dry wood.
Marc is trying pretty hard to keep the wet wood burning. 

The kids spent hours and hours every day rock painting.  

Braden made a Mom and Dad sign. 

Placed under their site post, so he knew which site was his. 

Site on the left is Marc and Renee's and on the right Michael and Season's.
Teresa is beside Marc and Renee, with us around the corner.  So close together.
The kids were able to ride bikes around the block.  

Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012

Cooking breakfast.  Toques and winter coats were worn.  

Zach standing in front of the huge tree.  

Hiding spot for Leah and Braden.
Unfortunately Sara ended up with poison ivy on her face and hands.  Poor kid.

Marcel and Teresa 

Erin kept hiding behind the ball....but I got her.  Stinker. 

The site in front of  Michael and Season was empty.  We enjoyed our morning coffee here.  In the sun.
Kids were constantly playing ball here.  Worked out so perfect.

Morning sun behind the big tree. 

Awesome to have 5 sites...and only pay for 4. 

Off for some geocaching. GEOCACHING is a free real-world outdoor treasure hunt. Players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using a smart phone or GPS and can then share their experiences online. There are 1,914,440 active geocaches and over 5 million geocachers worldwide.

Marc used his GPS to locate the geocaches.  We found our first cache.  The kids were pretty excited.  Two families had never been geocaching before. Marc signed the logbook and returned it to the cache. We could take an item from the cache - and  leave something of equal or greater value in its place. When we were finished,  Marc put the cache back exactly as we found it. Finally, he logged on the cache page to share our experience with others.

Lots of fun, but super chilly when driving. 

Our second find.  The kids love it. 

Season Leigh:  Definitely very fun! Even if we have to get through snakes to find it!

Marc signing the log book. 

The third hunt was not that easy. 

GPS led us to an overhead bridge.  We searched and searched, close to an hour.
Lots of fun. 

Finally, Season found it.  A small container with a magnet attached under the railing.  

Saturday afternoon the Hamilton  Hoogstads arrived.
My brother Herman always welcomes an invite to see all the nieces and nephews.
And a Thanksgiving meal.  Love having him live close by. 

On our site, we started out with one table.  Then two.  Then three.  Two for all the rocks. 

                 Martine Dal:  Heheh, only a grandma can get them dirty,  then send them on home !!

•               Alida Hoogstad:  I think I will make some painting aprons. 

  
  

                          Kids got acrylic paint on their winter coats. Oops.

My monkeys.  Love, love, love this picture.  

Brand new camping experience.  No beach or swimming. 

Who needs the Sandbanks!

Just kidding. 

Zach watching Micah warm himself by the fire with no chair?

We needed the second picnic table for our big Thanksgiving dinner.
Our site was the warmest.  Protected from the wind. 

Amy also taking pictures of the kids and scenery. 

With all the clouds, the sun shone on the tree only a few minutes.  Gorgeous. 

• Janice Gabnai:   Beautiful!
• Martine Dal:  Just love this!

Thanksgiving dinner. Spiral ham, chicken, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes with gravy, carrots, beans, squash and buns. Our motor home had big time attitude not to make me work at all. Couldn't get the batteries to run, no electricity and no propane and no heat. Sooo....we got catered to all weekend. Thank you motor home.

Janice Gabnai:  Sounds delicious!  What a great way to spend Thanksgiving!

                         Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. 

Alec Mc Vean:  Looks like a great party...MH temperamental at times....Happy Thanksgiving 

• 
  
• 
  

Teresa brought glow sticks for the kids.  

Don't think Marcel understands glow sticks.

Left over birthday cake.  A tea light this time. 

Cute card:  You look the same today as you did the day you were born...
bald, wrinkly and toothless!

People made by Marc, Renee and Sara.
Printing and framing by Amy 
Marcel's 65th birthday gift from all the kids.  Such a unique gift. 
Maybe they could comment on the names of everyone. I can't figure it out.

• Marc Hoogstad:  Mom, these are your children and grandchildren. You don't know who they are???
• Alida Hoogstad:  Maybe half??
• Janice Gabnai:  Wow! This is awesome! 
• Season Leigh :  Lol, mom!  I'm with you. I'm having trouble picking out who is who as well.

Thanks Renee, Teresa and Kelly-Lynn for the names to add to the picture. 

We finally figured out how to camp when it's very cold out.
Crawl in bed with all your clothes on.  Toque and all. 

Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012

After church, coffee and lots of goodies, it was time to play again. 

Grandma pushing the kids with the broom.  Not sure who had the most fun. 

• Martine Dal:   What a great grandma
• Alida Hoogstad  The best job ever Martine.

  
  

Need to ask Marcel to make up something to push the big wheel with. 

Leah keeps on running.  Rachel pushing Danielle.  

Rachel getting a turn while Erin pushes.  

Must be hard work by the look of Erin's tongue! 

Peanuts for the chipmunks .... and themselves.

And their patience paid off.
On Sunday afternoon, we decided to go home.  Calling for rain. When I asked Marcel what he wanted for his 65th.  He said "an ATV for you" and voila, he got his wish. Such a sweetie. We continued the festivities with the ATVs.  Kelly-Lynn was more than willing to give all the kids rides. 
A great weekend with lots of new memories.
We will probably do the fall camping again.

•