Day 233 Sunday 08-23

We had a wonderful family day today.....we celebrated Daniel's return home as well as my birthday.

We were all happy to have the opportunity to meet and interact with Vinjelu's sister and brother-in-law, G & M

Scott wasted no time in getting over here to spend time with Daniel.....







Daniel was introduced to his newest niece......

It was great to get to know M and TK.....

And, of course, G......

One of the activities of the afternoon was picking raspberries - Dad, Jessica, and Victoria all took a turn at the berry patch with Jessica being the most serious.

A huge swarm of bees was spotted early in the day, buzzing around the barn. We were afraid they were going to take up habitation in the old hive in the barn walls which we had filled with insulation foam a few years ago. However, after 'resting' on the outside of the barn for a short while, they disappeared.



This photo is of the last small group of bees before they all flew away. Previously, the swarm had covered this corner of the barn about 12 feet high.......

Great Auntie Melanie and Uncle Ken brought over the 'Little Tikes' car, truck, and trike that Steven and Scott played on when they were little. Seth had been in the truck once before so he waited rather impatiently while Auntie and Uncle gave the vehicles a 'bath'.

These toys were a big hit with Seth and TK....and later on with Kaden as well.

Thanks, Uncle Ken and Auntie Mel!

Of course, since Daniel has been gone for 5 months (and he's lost 20 pounds), it was inevitable that one of his brothers would challenge him to see if he had gotten any stronger......

Andrew claims the victory but then HE walked away with a broken finger!


I was blessed with many lovely gifts, including these lillys from Jessica and Donny.....

.....and these roses from Rob and Lana and the kids......

It would not be practical to include photos from every aspect of our day on this blog, I'll just say that we all had a wonderful time enjoying one another. I was blessed by each and every person who shared the day with us.

We ended the evening around the fire - unfortunately, the temperature dropped to be awfully close to 0 C....... we were not very comfortable, but we are stubborn Albertans - it is AUGUST for goodness sake! If we want to sit outside at midnight, we WILL - even if it is only 7 C!

Although the air was pretty nippy, the sunset was very pretty and only signalled the end of daylight, not the end of the party.