Our First Summer Camp Experience and Continued Healing!

On Sunday we travelled to Tiskilwa, IL, the home of Camp Menno Haven, to release August (our 9 year old) to spend three nights and days away from home. He had a friend from our church, Zak Eidson, there too. It was probably hardest for me (mom) to recognize that August is now old enough to be away a few days on his own! He did very well and seemed to make a lot of new friends. They spent time swimming, boating, doing archery, making crafts and learning Bible stories. I think it was time well spent!

We continue to heal following our accident on Friday. Bret is having the most pain right now (a pinched nerve in his shoulder) and is seeing a chiropractor for the first time. He is back at work, although having to get up and move around a lot. We are praying for a full recovery. I am mostly just waiting for my many bruises and scrapes to finish healing. I feel pretty much back to my old self now. The kids are fine.

I imagine some of you are wondering how we ended up in an accident. We simply drifted slightly off to the right of the white line and when Bret attempted to correct by pulling to the left, he lost control. I should explain further that the shoulder on Hwy 17 was damaged (crumbling) and there was a two inch drop, just about one inch past the white line. So, when Bret attempted to correct the drift, the tire pushed against the broken shoulder and the car veered out of control to the left of the highway. We narrowly missed a telephone pole and rolled three times, landing in a soybean field. It was simply an accident! We are thankful there was no oncoming traffic! It happened so quickly that we barely knew what was happening. We are so thankful to be alive and well! It was really a miracle.

God is Good!

I'm not sure what I could say that would be more profound than a picture of our Jetta and the words "God is Good!"

The reality that all four of us were carried out of this car on Friday evening (July 25) is hard to remember. We were headed to a weekend getaway in Chicago for Bret's 20 year high school reunion. Instead we visited the St. Mary's Emergency Room. They released Bret and the kids at midnight and me the next morning. We are bruised and battered, but whole.



August let us know right away that he was mad about two things! One, we couldn't have our weekend away, and two, (more importantly) his library books got dirty! :-) We told the kids that God must have sent some angels to protect them in the back seat. Truly this must have been the case because their only marks are from their seatbelts!

Kirsch Pflinzen!

This spring I picked a half gallon of sour cherries from the two trees we planted out front about four years ago. It was our first harvest from the trees and I made sauce for pflinzen (like crepes, also called Russian pancakes). My grandmother used to make a cake-like dessert with the pflinzen layered with sour cherry sauce. It's really yummy! I'm listing the recipe, if anyone wants to try it!

Pflinzen (Crepes or Russian Pancakes)

Combine in mixing bowl:

2 eggs, beaten

2 c. flour

2 c. milk

1/2 t. salt

Beat well together with rotary beater.

Heat a heavy skillet to medium-hot add a small amount of oil and swirl around the skillet. Pour in about 1/3 cup of batter, turning the skillet to coat the entire surface of the skillet. You should end up with a crepe-like pancake. When underside is brown (about a minute) turn over and brown lightly. Repeat steps, adding oil between each pancake. If you don't want to use the sour cherry sauce to make a cake-like "tower" you can also sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, drizzle with honey, or add any other sauce you like!

For the sour cherry sauce, all I did is pit the cherries and cook about 4 cups cherries with about 1/2 to 1 cup water and about 3/4 cup sugar. I added about 1 table spoon of cornstarch mixed into some of the water to help thicken the sauce. You can make the sauce to taste or buy some ready made cherry sauce.

Good luck!

More from Ontario...

Over the river and through the woods to Oma's house we go...


We enjoyed our week in Ontario. We got to spend some time on the beach of Lake Ontario. We visited Port Dalhousie where there is a lovely old-fashioned carousel which offers rides for only 5 cents each. We didn't get a chance to ride this time, but enjoyed the playground and a walk along a dock out to the lighthouse. Katie and August are with Stevie (Otto's son) in the first picture. Bret and August are enjoying the sand on a warm day. We collected sea glass of various colors along the beach. My mom was looking for photo ops for her brag book! :-)







My return trip was exhausting. Me and the kids, no relief driver (Bret) and not a lot of peace and quiet. Bret spent the first half of the week with us and then flew home on Sunday after the photography session (we haven't all been together in a long while). Bret had to be back to work on Monday to complete the last week of his blackbelt training--I won't attempt to explain this, except to say it's work related! The trip was a lot of fun! I'm really glad to be back at home now and into a more normal routine! Yay!

Changes...finally!

Okay, I promised you an update and now--almost one month later--here it finally is! I will be using the newer format and putting pictures in with the text. Hopefully this will work without any problems. Also this will allow those who would like to see closer up to do so by double clicking on the pictures.

So, the first thing I'll do is explain why it's been so long since I've updated this blog...we've been very busy! Okay, I'm sure we all are and this is not a good excuse, but hey, it's true! :-) The kids finished soccer in mid-May with a tournament. They both won trophies (so did all the other participants) and felt proud of themselves, so I suppose it was worth it!

The kids finished school on May 23rd and with great joy and celebration they welcomed summer vacation! It was a happy day, full of anticipation and unplanned time. The next day they were bored. Go figure!

We immediately began planning our first summer trip--to St. Catharines, Ontario (to visit with Angela's mum and extended family). The highlight of this trip was a one year old boy--Benjamin--the kids' newest cousin. You'll see him in some of the following pictures. During our visit we also spent two days at Marineland (amusement park/zoo) and one day at the African Lion Safari (strangely located near Brantford, ON). We also drove by Niagara Falls. One of the rides at Marineland, called Sky Screamer, affords an aerial view of the Falls. (While completely terrifying its occupants!)

Katie got an opportunity to pet and feed a beluga whale. She also enjoyed the company of her uncle Allan when she got tired of all the walking! August was chosen to "teach" a dolphin to sing and dance during a show (also at Marineland). His reward was an inflatable dolphin. I also couldn't resist an opportunity to take a picture of the walrus seeming to chew on his "fingers." The last picture is my brother Stephen and sister-in-law Heidi with the kids on a pirate boat.

The following pictures are from our visit to the African Lion Safari. The cute little guy in the swing is Benjamin. The cute big girl in the baby swing, trying to get Ben's attention is, of course, Katie! I thought it was funny how the primates climbed all over someone else's car (we rode in the bus) in the drive-through part of the safari adventure!

Well, it's late, so I'll try to make another installment tomorrow. Maybe one that won't be like a commercial for southern Ontario! Peace!

Changes...

I am making some changes to this blog, and as you can see, am having some minor issues. I am attempting to insert pictures into the main body of the blog, hoping that this will make them bigger (and also enable the viewer to click on them to enlarge further). However the words are not going exactly where I would like them. So, bear with me as I continue to play with the format over the next few days.
This can't be a long post as I'm needing desperately to mow the lawn today (and do the laundry) and haven't gotten out yet (it's 12:20) so...I have to go now if I'm going to be done before I get the kids from school.
FYI..For those of you interested in our kids' many activities, we have T-ball and Baseball practice tonight. So, I'm gone from about 5 to 8 o'clock tonight with that! Luckily, Bret has a meeting at work tonight too, so we wouldn't have had family time anyway... Soccer is basically over with a tournament this weekend as the finale.
The kids have started their last full week of school. Next week they have Monday and Tuesday and a half day on Wednesday. Then summer break starts in earnest.
August is going away to Camp Menno Haven (church camp) for a short week in July (Sun to Wed). It's his first time away to camp! He is going with a friend from church, so that should help with homesickness!

Lawn mowing and other stuff...

Well, I finally had to mow the front lawn! I take that as an affirmation that it's finally time to wear shorts and enjoy spring. Yay! I mowed the front lawn with the push mower, but am hoping to use a lawn tractor for the rest. (For those who don't know, we have about 1 acre and it's on a hill, so this is a relatively challenging task.) Well, yesterday evening Bret was browsing the classifieds for lawn tractors (ours is really old and needed a new battery and other fixing) and he found a great deal on a Craftsman! So my awesome hubby drove out on Sunday night and got us a newer mower. It looks good, has a nice padded seat, and has more features etc. than our old mower. I'm delighted! I'm really going to enjoy mowing now!

We had a visit from our pastor last week--and sat out on the deck in the backyard for the first time this year. It was wonderful to finally use our backyard for more than putting the dog out. Of course, I'll have to go out in search of "land mines" (thanks to the dog) before the kids go running barefoot out there! :-) We put out a bird feeder all winter with regular wild bird seed. This spring we added a second feeder with black sunflower seeds. The birds LOVE this! Suddenly we are enjoying gold finches, purple finches, several varieties of woodpeckers, chickadees, doves, and more. Yesterday I filled the feeders and one of the birds flew at me! I think either to scare me off or to try to get at the feeder! We can sit out on the back deck and they still come out to the feeders! We are enjoying the view!


The wonderful hubby (whom I mentioned earlier) also tilled our garden on the weekend--YAY--so I am able to get out there and begin planting! Katie has been eagerly anticipating the cherry tomatoes. Last year she would sit with a big bowl of tomatoes and eat as many as we let her!