What's Zup!

2007 in Review

2008-01-20T19:57:00.000-08:00

WOW, AMAZING, INCREDIBLE
2007 has past and 2008 has come!

What have the Zups been up to in 2007?
Lots of walks on the local dykes with the boys.

Rene's 50th Birthday Party

Guatemala in November

Just having photo fun!

Rene building bird houses to sell.

Eggactly the same idea!

Elisa's Grad from CTC

Elisa's Prom

Our first snow in November

The only bench on the dyke walk.

Harrison Mills in the fall.

Guatemala Nov. 2007

2007-11-28T18:06:00.000-08:00

Lippazzaner Stallions

2007-07-19T22:46:00.000-07:00

A night of flying horses!

They do land.

oooooooooooooooo

Triplets

Here come the redcoats!

Before and....

....after being tweeked!

This was a surprise for my birthday!
Elisa, Anna and me!

Thanks Rene!
The End!

Barnanza Celebration

2007-06-30T22:30:00.000-07:00

2 friends plus 1 idea
2 moms to pull it together
2 dads to finance it
plus 2 brothers to assist!
= a formal event fit for a queen!

Location is everything!

Evita's Barn loft extraordinare

Deluxe outhouse facilities!

Flower boxes on the lower barn!

Setting up the loft!

David & Elisa folding burgandy napkins.

Sonja setting the tables

Rene filling the outdoor torches

Werner and more torches!

Evita's garden

The 2 Grads

Elisa & her brother Dan

Chantel & Erin

Barton & Monica

Sonja, Chantel, Erin, Elisa

Dwane & Josiah

Elisa & David

Hilda, Elisa, Melissa, Sephia

Hilda, Johnny, David, Elisa

Big brother Dan had a few words!

Dad's presenting the girls a dozen white roses!

The next day and Elisa's hair is still lookin good!
Elisa's roses and some of her cards and gifts.
Thankyou family & friends
for making Elisa's Grad special!

Grand March for Grads

2007-06-09T18:28:00.000-07:00

Congratulations Elisa!
...finished for now!
Grade 11 & 12 combined with one free year
of UCFV College courses,
producing a certificate in
Health and Human Services.

......maybe nursing....
..maybe early childhood ed....
.....maybe something else.....

First it's the Grand March
and then the prom.....

Elisa and brother Dan in his finery!
(he had just finished work and he
graciously took the photos)

Elisa & Avonlea Vriend

Elisa & David Schile under the bridge!

...the next destination is....

.....fancy shmancy.....

Mom and Elisa
(I'm not that short, Elisa has heels on!)

Weeks later....
Convocation Night
300+grads =4 hours of program
and guess who is the last
grad to grace the stage?

Sonja Klotz was about 1/2 way in the procession

Avonlea Vriend was near the end

Elisa Zupancic won the priviledge of last grad!

The only "Z" sitting beside a "Willmont."

Proud of you girl, you made it!

Graduate Art

Past Peak Flow

2007-06-09T18:18:00.000-07:00

News Flash!

We passed peak
flow this weekend!!
No flood water...
in Abby!

Easy Does it....Ebb...and...Flow....

2007-05-10T18:15:00.000-07:00

"To Flood or Not to Flood"
only the Lord knows for sure!
We are definitely praying about the
weather patterns for the next few weeks
.....warm....cool....warm....cool...
ebb.......and ...... flow......

This is one of many dykes
throughout the Fraser Valley.
The question is,
"will the water reach our house, since
we are on the flood plain?"
Last night we went to a community flood meeting,
people were streaming into the school gym
which soon became flooded with citizens,
overflowing into the parking lot!
Good News!
The chances of us seeing water at our doorstep is very
slim since we are on the very edge of the flood plain.

The dogs aren't worried about a flood!

In fact they are checking out their messages,
left by friends via peemail.

News Flash!
Today the city returned my call, our house is sitting
at 10 meters of elevation.
Yeaaah, that means that we qualify for "sandbags".
If the flood waters go past 6 meters high upriver,
then we can phone the city and they will
dump us a load of sand & bags!

Let's change the subject and look at some design in dyke
nature!
This hay field was recently mowed and prepared for the
next crop via the "honey wagon". Notice the cool stripes
that lead your eyes to the open barn door.

I like these green hay stripes too!

So what's a "honey wagon"?

If you look carefully you can see a spray of brown
liquid that makes the crops grow, but plug your nose.

News Flash!!!!
As of June 6th,
they think that the dykes
will not be breached !
Only those living along the
Fraser River outside of the dyke
are in present danger
of being flooded!
Peak flood time is
June 7-10th.

I've been asked to join
the provincial
Emergency Social Services,
which means dealing with
the evacuated families.
This should be interesting
if I get called!

Thanks to our Staff

2007-05-03T23:24:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to our staff,
for the Christmas present of a
weekend away
at a cabin on Little Shuswap Lake.

Peaceful, great weather for hiking,
cool enough to enjoy a fire,
and it only rained once for about 30 min.

We explored this trail which led
to a gorgeous gorge.
The dogs stood way too close to
the edge for the health of my heart!

We also explored forks in the trails,
that sometimes led no where.
In the above photo Jordan River
is our acting SCOUT,
he usually went first,
the great HUNTER that he is.
Rene was next...camera in hand!

Linda was next,
followed by Raphael
the Rear Guard
(are we there yet!)
It seems that on every hike there is
treasure to be found!
This hike was to be no different.
Raphael our Rear Guard
disappeared into the trees....
as we backtracked our steps we found...
him rolling around on top of something...

...two Bambi legs....
not to be out done by an older brother,
Jordan scouted out a single Bambi leg 20 feet away...

...of course not to be out done by weiner dogs,
Rene found the last Bambi leg further down the trail
...but he chose not to take the scent home
with him on his clothes...

Raphael had forgotten that dead
animal scents don't cut it in the house...

Some of Rene's photo images.

Easter in Salmon Arm

2007-04-23T21:06:00.000-07:00

Zupan Clan
(check out our history in Feb. blog)
....or perhaps coming to a theatre near you
when we get discovered!

Look at that zuper family resemblance!

He did it, she did it

Zuperly brotherly instinct!

Eggstravaganza Egg Bash Winner"Gigi"

Beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blue & green flames thanks to Jeff!

A Zuper star is born!

What a View

2007-04-15T21:32:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful day for a hike, no rain,
a gorgeous blue sky with
giant volumous clouds,
2 darling dachshund dogs,
a picnic lunch, dog treats, ski poles
(aids for uphill), and a camera!

On the way up the trail
we past some kool bike
jumps
that some industrious youth had made.

Also on the way up Jordan
lost his jacket!
I can't believe it,
It was his favourite
cow jacket!

Finally after an hour of
up and more up ...... a valley view
worth seeing!

This is a view of the Fraser Valley
surrounding Abbotsford.
The mountains in the foreground are
Canadian
and the mountains beyond
are in Washington State.

We literally found a ledge
and had our picnic lunch.

Then the incident happened
during lunch, I'm almost too
embarassed to mention
my error which could have led to a
dachshund disaster...
We were enjoying our
lunchtime ledge which
hosted our lunch and a great view.
Since the ground was our table,
the dogs were intoxicated
by the smell and the view
of our food.
Their eyes were locked onto my
meatloaf sandwich.
After all they surely deserved to
share in this delightful dish,
since their little short legs worked
10 times harder than ours
in climbing the trail.
I broke a piece of meat
from my sandwich and gently
tossed it toward Raphael......yikes
....to my horror he missed it
and the meat tumbled down over the ledge!
(at least a 75ft. drop)
If I can remember correctly,
both Rene and I yelled emphatically
"STAY, RAPHAEL,
STAY"
I'm convinced that an angel
must have been holding Raphael
by the tail to keep him from
bounding after that chunk of meat.
Jordan
was still trying to figure out
what he had just missed out on.
"What a relief!!"

Considering that they are hound dogs,
it made sense that they would be on the
hunt.
Raphael found a dead mole
and decided to bring it home with him.
A few good rolls on a carcass captures
enough scent for take home delights.

As we retraced our steps back down the trail,
we heard the moo
of a lonely cow jacket!

Home sweet home,
a haven of rest!

Some of Rene's nature shots from our hike.

Family Dinner Eggstravaganza

2007-04-15T21:23:00.000-07:00

We miss you Dustin!

New York, New York

2007-04-07T15:40:00.000-07:00

We did it, New York in 11 hours!
But why only 11 hours? Originally we had planned for 4
days in New York, but a snow storm cancelled our flight
so we spent more time at Dustin's school.

Dreaming of New York,
another flight delayed!
(ice in New York)

We finally arrived at 9:00pm,
and signed up for the shuttle bus tour.
(not really a tour, but we saw the city as passengers were
dropped off here and there)

It was exciting to see Times Square at night,
and I have the blurry picture to prove it!

"Veselka" a 24 hr Ukranian Restaurant,
for the next 5 hours. Interesting people, borsht (beet soup)
raspberry cheese blinze, perogies & kolbasa sausage & coffee
to keep awake!
Very ukranian yummy!

Yummy homemade baking
that we were to full to sample.

Check out the menu on the wall.

Can you see the famous New York yellow taxi?
We left our 24hr haven with suitcases in tow and arrived
at JFK airport at 3:11am for a 7:30am flight.
(found out that terminal 9 didn't open until 4am.
we could have had another cheese blinze and coffee)

A great view of Calgary from the airplane.
Since our flight to Calgary was delayed, we missed our
Abbotsford connection, but we caught a flight to Vancouver
an hour later.
It was great to get away for an adventure
but it is sure great to come back home!

6 Planes, No Trains, 4 Automobiles, 1 Shuttle Van and 1 Taxi

2007-04-03T19:14:00.000-07:00

Photo: flying over Toronto in a 12 seat plane to NH.

Elisa Marie and I (Linda) flew to the New England state of New Hampshire to visit Dustin William at school. It was a whirlwind trip, leaving on Sunday night and arriving mid morning on Monday, then leaving 7 days later for home, but it was worth it!
Dustin skipped school and met us at the airport which was 45 min. away.
(Thanks Josiah for driving!)
We stayed at the girl's house which is affectionately called "The Yellow House".
Our first meal, gourmet hotdogs!

The Yellow House is huge, with endless bedrooms and lots of bathrooms, a huge kitchen area, 2 livingrooms, plus 2 full suites for staff, all situated on some acreage in New London
(a small retirement town full of huge/gigantic summer residences). Take notice of the wood beam ceilings, mostly wood flooring and lots of wallpapered walls.
Claire and Jessie gave up their comfy beds for us, and they bunked in with some other students in another room.
They insisted that it would be fun for them to be
with the other girls, kind of like camping!

Below is a picture of the typical size of a house in
New London, gigantic! Yes we had snow!!

On our first night there we went to an optional evening of art & music!
Dustin and Elisa checked out the art table while I manned the camera.
The next day we went to classes with Dustin.
This semester was coming to an end,
so the students were making class
presentations while we were visiting.
Great timing for us, because we saw
our fellow Canadians Brandon Bowers, Luke Matthews
and Jesse Matthews present their stuff, eh!

Then it was lunch break before everyone dispersed
for their internship work assignment.
Anthony, Jacob & Noah

Dustin, Rebecca, Sharaya, Elisa & Jesse

A highlight of the week was 2 snowball fights!
Elisa jumped right into the fray while I safely
snapped pictures from the inside porch.

The next photo is my best action shot,
yes that's Dustin doing a flip off a chair.
Luke just let a snowball fly and Jesse
is getting ready to let one loose.
Those canucks love the snow!

Afterwards having to deal with wet pants,
socks & shoes,since the boys were at the girls house
with no change of clothes.
It was worth it, they had a great time!
Hey Dustin and David,
why not get that fireplace blazing hot!

In the kitchen, Anthony and I are busy practicing
some Hebrew alphabet....aleph, bet, dalet, gimmel, hey.....
Dustin took us up to Pinnacle Mt for a great view.
For New Hampshire the mt. was high,
but for BC it was moderate in height.
Nevertheless, it was beautiful up there,
a warm breeze was blowing and the atmosphere
was light and peaceful. I was sorry that I had forgotten
to wear my boots because it was very slushy snow.
Thanks so much Chad for giving us a ride in your truck,
we would have been soaked!
At the top there wasn't very much snow,
just enough for a snowball.
Elisa had just thrown a snowball at Dustin,
can you tell she hit her mark!

Time to say goodbye and head for New York!

See Part 2 New York in 11 Hours

Just for you Dustin!

2007-02-28T18:54:00.000-08:00

Tonight was family night again, so some special things were planned to include Dustin from afar!

First, Elisa roasted a carrot over a candle for Dustin
(he would have done it first, fire is his fav)

Then we thought about you Dustin, as we ate ice-cream & chocolate!
Boy, he would have enjoyed this!

Then the best part of all, a trip down memory book lane!
Are you ready Dustin?

It all started with Elisa finding a family favorite picture book
while she was at the library.
(hey, what was she doing in the picture book section,
I thought she was researching an essay!)
Elisa thought that we could read it together on our planned family night,
mom loved the idea!
So, Dan using his literary voice to capture the essence of this tongue twisting tale, spun us back down memory book lane once more.

Dustin, I'm sure you remember this rhythmical name,
"Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo" which according to the book is a Chinese name which means "the most wonderful thing in the whole wide world!"

The book title is "Tikki Tikki Tembo" by Arlene Mosel

Cheese Please!

2007-02-22T19:09:00.000-08:00

What images come to mind when you think about cheese's like; Brie, Camembert, Old aged Cheddar, Edam, Feta, Gorgonzola, Gouda, Gruyere, Havarti, Limburger, Monterey Jack, Mozzarella, Parmesan, Provolone, Ricotta, Romano, Roquefort, or Swiss?

Perhaps, melted mozza on pizza, brie on bagette., swiss on rye,
parmesan on ceaser salad!

We have discovered a cheese not listed here that has an amazing entertaining quality.

A cheese that is not particularly famous or well known, it's not really much to look at, in fact it's not particularly appetizing in appearance, it's very pale in colour, and unattractively irregular in shape, but loads of fun hidden in every bite.

The secret key factor is to have company whilst eating this coagulated cheese.

I researched this cheese on Wikipedia and found this quote,

"The New York times in 1911 reported on an ancient Celtic song, dating from the 12th century, that mentioned cheese ----, perhaps the first musical reference to the most musical of cheeses^[2]:"

So what's the big deal!
This cheese actually "squeaks" when you eat it.

It's especially fun when you have guests dining with you, who have never experienced squeaky cheese before.
We ask our guests if they have ever eaten "squeaky cheese"?
They usually have quite a questioning look on their face, followed with an "are you serious" look!
Then we go to the fridge and bring out the
cheese curds.

Note: if the curds have lost their squeak, microwave them for a short time (sec's) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese_curds

Sephia & Cheese Curds from Birchwood Dairy

Jasmine In The Air

2007-02-14T21:41:00.000-08:00

Dustin this blog is for you!
Just so you feel connected to family night at Jasmine Gardens.
Dad even got you a Chinese cookie with a message.

David calling from Thailand!

Project Purple

2007-02-10T13:08:00.000-08:00

Rene the master builder.

The master builder incognito!

Unfinished birdhouses incognito!

Interesting scrap or not?

Treasure trove ala birdhouse.

In Search of Eagles

2007-02-08T22:58:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, Rene, Linda, Elisa and the dogs, Raphael & Jordan River ventured out in search of eagles. Rene was eager to try out his new closeup camera lense. We heard that you could find lots of eagles at Harrison Mills, near Hemlock Mt. It soon became obvious that the eagles were finished feeding on the salmon run because they weren't there. We tried Kilby beach, but all we found was a lot of decaying salmon on the beach. The biggest challenge was to keep the dogs way from the salmon, they found great delight in rolling on the carcasses
(guess who had to have a bath when we got home!).
All said and done, we saw a few eagles here and there but we didn't capture any on camera, but we had fun and that's what counted!

Rene's oil patch that he was photographing in above pic.

Elisa found a vertical salmon head to photograph!

These last 3 pic's are Rene's, tree burl, swamp, Sumas prairie

More Dyke Artistry

2007-02-08T22:44:00.000-08:00

Zuparsis, Zedupancic, Zuplancic, Zupansic,

2007-02-03T16:22:00.000-08:00

Since Dan recently blogged about "Fun with Family ", I thought it would be appropriate to talk about "Family Heritage".

I will start with the Zupancic side of the family
It goes way back to my teen years, I (Linda) always thought that if would be fun to marry someone with an exotic, unusual surname........well it happened!
Not that I married Rene Zupancic for his last name, but it helped! lol

Over the years we have discovered some advantages of an unusual name...
1. If the phone rings and they can't pronounce your name, it's a telemarketer for sure.
2. A conversation starter...What nationality is your name?
3. Being last on most lists: voting lists, telephone lists, school lists, graduation
commencement lists, just head for the back page, the back row, the back stage.
4. Being last is great when you are running late
5. We can be found easily, everyone in the phone is related.

....and some challenges of an unusual name!
1. When you are spelling our last name Americans have no idea what you are talking about. When you say "z" they write down "zed" because "z" to them is "Zee".
resulting in Zedupancic, now that's more exotic than we need!
2. Some people are intimidated by the name, they hesitate in pronouncing it,
for fear of being wrong.
3. You get used to spelling your name for people.
4. You learn to laugh at the misspellings of your name.
(we are collecting those misspellings, as you can see from the title of this blog)

Where did this name come from anyways?
Well for those of you not interested in history, just skip this part of the blog.

6th century AD-
Pagan Slavic tribes invaded the Western Balkan Peninsula of modern day Bulgaria, (Yugoslavia) Serbia and much of Bosnia. They were not just raiders, but colonists and agriculturalists. They established settlements all the way down to the southern tip of Greece.
This conquered territory of the Baltic was very mountainous with a terrain ranging from dense forest and fertile lowlands to a dry and arid landscape.
As pagans they worshiped a variety of gods. To this day in Yugoslavia, some of the gods names are honoured as place names; the god of horned animals, Veles, or the thundergod, Pirun or Pir. Later, they converted to Christianity through the Roman Emperor Constantine.

The local Slav population was organized on a tribal basis: starting with the family unit "zadruga";
families were united as clans, and clans as tribes "plemena"; and the territory of a tribe, called a "zupa", which was ruled by a territorial chief called a "zupan".
So when you add the "cic" which means "son of" onto "zupan", you get "zupancic", the "son of the territorial chief".
By the middle of the 9th century, the Slav (Serb) ruled territories that had been established, gathered together into a kind of Serb princedom under a Grand Zupan.
Towards the end of the middle ages, the old Slav title for a regional chief, Zupan had survived, but it was no longer a princedom. It was somewhere in between the upper levels of state and the lower levels of office. Today, the name of "Zupancic" is more commonly referred to as "son of the mayor".

Okay, you made it through some history about the Zup's.
This next section is a more detailed look at the history of the Western Baltic territory that was to become Zup land.(Yugoslavia)

Let's go back a bit, who was there before the Slav's invaded?
In the 1st century AD, the earliest inhabitants of the Western Baltic lands were a collection of tribes known as the "Illyrians". They were mainly stockbreeders of sheep, pigs and goats.
Where did the Illyrians come from? One theory suggests that during the fall of the city of Troy (the demise of the Hittite Kingdom), there was a large scale movement of peoples from the Eastern Mediterranean, coinciding around the same time that the Illyrians arrived in the Balkins.
The Illyrian lands came under Roman rule and Roman establishments were gradually settled.
The Illyrians themselves were heavily recruited into the Roman legions, their lands were the military powerbase for governors and generals, who later became Roman Emperors.
By the 9th century all their land was firmly settled by the Romans.
*The Apostle Paul preached in the Roman province of Illyricum

The Germanic tribes of Goth began invading the Roman Balkans in the 3rd century; inflicting massive defeats on Roman armies in the late 4th century. But in the late 5th century they mainly withdrew to the kingdom which they established in Italy. They were finally driven out in the 6th century and that Balkan land became part of the Byzantine Empire.

During the 6th century 2 new populations entered the Balkans: the Avars (a Turkish tribe from the north) and the Slavs.
At first their histories were intertwined: the Avars, though less numerous seemed to have had the upper hand because of their superior military skills. The Avars were eventually driven out of the Balkans in early 7th century by Byzantine, Croat and Bulgarian armies, so the Slavs were the ones who predominated in the end.

By 620 AD a Slav population was well established in Modern Bulgaria, Serbia and much of Bosnia (Yugoslavia). The Slavs had absorbed the Illyrians, Celts, Romans, Goths, Alans, Huns and Avars. This Slav invasion established a linguistic identity which eventually replaced all other languages.

A few years later, 2 new Slav tribes arrived on the scene: the Croats and the Serbs. The Croats were invited into the Balkans by the Byzantine Emperor to drive out the troublesome Avars.
The Serbs were not engaged to fight the Avars but were connected to the Croats and entered in the same period.
In 1019 AD a new powerful Byzantine Empire forced the Serb and Croat rulers to acknowledge Byzantine sovereignty.
In 1080 AD all these lands were consolidated into a single Serbian Kingdom (including Bosnia).
By the 13th & 14th century the Serbian Kingdom had grown into a militarily powerful state.
Throughout the middle ages they enjoyed some peace in the midst of civil wars, shifting allegiances, conquests and invasions by the Turkish and Hungarian armies.
Power shifted back and forth with the Turks and Hungarians. For example, modern day Sarajevo was developed from a fortress and a village by the Turks in 1448.

That's it for now,
I haven't studied the modern history of the Western Baltic lands yet.

Our heritage, where we have come from is very important!
Do you know your family history?
Let's take a poll, tell me where?

Hebrew Treasure

2007-01-26T22:11:00.001-08:00

I finally created a picture that I like using flags, a camera on a tripod and lots of patience, (and some great background music), then later tweeking the image on the computer to get what I wanted.

For the past few months I have started taking Hebrew lessons to help me read, write and speak this amazing language. It all started because I was captivated by the hidden treasures that can be found in Hebrew words, giving me a greater depth of meaning and understanding.
So here is a taste of what I found out.

Hebrew is an ideogramic language, which means that many pictures are used to express the idea of the word.
The Hebrew alphabet is made up of 22 consonants, each one represents a literal and a symbolic picture unlike our English language.

I will be posting some Hebrew text in the future, but for now I will just spell the names of the letters and their meanings.

Let's look at the word fire in Hebrew it has 2 letters, Aleph and Sheen.

Aleph means "ox, bull", strength, leader, first
Sheen means "teeth", to consume, to destroy

So, these 2 letters together express the pictoral idea of fire as "the strong devourer"

My Cleft in the Rock

2007-01-25T12:33:00.000-08:00

What is a cleft in a rock? Why do I call it mine?

The Hebrew word for "cleft" is chagav which means
to take refuge, a rift in the rocks.
I think the following quote from King Solomon sums it up quite nicely for me.
"So I went with Him, and when we were climbing the rocky steps up the hillside, my beloved shepherd said to me. O my dove, while you are here in the seclusion of the clefts in the solid rock, in the sheltered and secret place of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for you voice is sweet, and your face is lovely."

I have found a place that I can run, walk or saunter along, a place where I can be silent, sing or cry out my heart, or laugh to my hearts content, a place not frequented by many others, a place that abounds with nature; eagles, hawks, herons, ducks, swans, muskrats, coyotes, seasonal farmlands, a magnificent view of the mountains, all kinds of weather especially the wind blowing across the valley.

This place I call my cleft in the rock, a symbolic refuge. A place of communion with my Lord, who shares in my joys, my struggles, my hearts cry for my life, my family, my friends, my world. In the very beginning I was walking just for the exercise, but to my delight through the perseverance of walking all year long in every kind of weather, I began to discover the hidden beauty and treasures of this place.

I've posted a photo showing one part of my cleft, it may not seem beautiful to you, in fact it's fairly ordinary by dyke standards, but this windy, winding, dyke calls to me to come!
I have had many surprises and delights over the past 2 years of walking here. Once I spotted a family of skunks walking ahead in the distance, needless to say I slowed down and let them disappear down the grassy bank. I have also come to appreciate the seasons and how they relate to the farmland which surrounds both sides of the dyke. The different colours and designs that you see in the growing crops of corn, or in the bare harvested fields. Later I will post some of the seasonal photos from different angles.

I have also posted a photo of my 2 four-legged companions who faithfully help their human get exercised. Raphael is the long- haired black dachshund (3 yrs), Jordan River is the short-haired dachshund (2yr), they are great fun. Sometimes they need a bath after a visit to the dyke, because they have the knack of finding the fresh duck, bird, or eagle doo doo , which they must sample by rolling around in it and bringing that wonderful aroma home with them. Oh well, I always have towels in the car for the ride home.

Perhaps you have a special "cleft in the rock" place, I'd love to hear about it.

Postscript for Photo's

2007-01-24T20:24:00.000-08:00

This past Christmas we all agreed to forgo major gift giving and focus on a family activity. So the search was on for what we could all do together before Jan 6 (Dustin was leaving to go back to school in New Hampshire). Idea's of snowshoeing, skiing, and Oregon Coast winter storms flew around, but we settled on time together at a friends cabin for 2 nights. The cabin was great, only 30 min away from home, and we could take our 2 mini-dachshunds (Raphael and Jordan River).
We feasted on BBQ steak, baked potatoes with the works and ceaser salad, and of course snacks.
In between everything we went for two walks, one on the beach, one along the creek. Anna (our daughter-in-law) learned how to skip rocks for the first time.
Most of the night we played a fun, fast paced version of scrabble called "Take 2".
The 2nd night Rene and I had the cabin to ourselves (plus dogs). We went for more walks(in the rain), spent time reading, and experimenting with our camera's.

The clock photo: Daniel and his wife Anna (married in May '05)
This clock was eternally set at 7:52 , we kept forgetting it didn't work.

The dinner photo: Left side, Anna, David (Elisa's boyfriend), Elisa, Dustin, Linda, Rene

Thanks Jacob & Family

2007-01-24T00:15:00.001-08:00

Art de Cabin Cultus

2007-01-24T00:15:00.000-08:00

Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhh

2007-01-22T21:32:00.000-08:00

I've been delaying writing my first entry because I have so many things that I could say, but what to say first? It's like facing a clean blank canvas, almost too white and clean in the absence of text. Elisa said, "Mom just do it, say this is my first blog, yeahhhhhhhhhhh".
Okay I did it, I have entered the realm of bloggin (is that a word?)
Thanks Elisa for the encouragement!