A Girl of July Turning Five...

In July we attended cousin Tirzah's 5-year-old birthday party.  Below are the painters, ready to begin their sun-catcher creations...

Selah & Tia's friendship always makes me smile.  Born only 2 years apart, but opposite spectrums of the stature genes, drawn together by their mutual love of babies...

Hit, it, Tia!

The candy scramble...

Even little boys like making bracelets...

Happy Birthday, sweet Tirzah!

Time to decorate our own cupcakes...

Too pretty to eat!

 

July Vacation (the final espisode!) - Niagara Falls!

The stress of a lost passport, the fatigue of finishing a great vacation, and a limping mommy - but we still caught some beautiful glimpses of the Niagara Falls.  Here's Isaiah posing so sweetly...

First we observed the Niagara River in all its raging torrent above the falls...

How wide is the river?

Then we viewed the American Falls with the Horseshoe Falls in the distance from above the rapids...

 

And then we witnessed the falls great power from the base of the rapids...

Climbing all the steps with Daddy to feel the spray...

The power of all that water leaves you feeling mighty small and powerless...

Isaiah posing again with the American Falls behind...

And finally we made it home. (And for the curious, weeks later the passport did surface!)

O Canada! (July Vacation VI)

 After Tim & Nicole's wedding we stayed the weekend in Canada, spending a few days with our cousins, the Bilkes family.  On Saturday they took us to a Safari park- what a treat!  Big cats and other game, right outside our van windows!

 We even had a member of the primate family catch a free ride on top of our vehicle, like the one in the picture below...

 I have dreamed of visiting Kruger in South Africa some day, but this safari was a bit cheaper & closer for the family...

Rhinos- wouldn't want to challenge these beasts!

Selah making the acquaintance of an ostrich...

After driving around the safari we got out to walk around the exhibit section.  4 dear little boys, in order of age: Justus, Judah, Ezra & Isaiah...

Watching the elephants take a bath in the lake...

Selah & Justus on the boat trip, trying to catch glimpses of more monkeys...

Selah & a whole bunch of boys!

Elephant show- an elephant artist!

Amazing creatures of an amazing Creator!

And they even got to ride one!

Selah, Judah, Isaiah, Justus & Duane on the first elephant...

Don't slide off...

Ezra, Malachi, Jerusha & Lawrence on the 2nd elephant...

Everybody could fit on the train ride...

And after a very hot and thirsty day of animal watching, it was time to head to the water section of the safari.  Here Hannah & Jerusha cool off in pink...

The twin babies with twin mommies?

Judah at the end of the slide...

Isaiah down the green...

Cold water never did feel so good!

Hum-de-dum, let's just kick our feet, shall we?

We spent the weekend with their family- thanks to generated power... until the 'hydro' came back on.  But it didn't bother the kids at all...

Selah loved every minute of baby time.  I'm 50% sure she's holding Kezia in this picture.  Or could it be Carissa...

Two 2-year-old girlies romping on the couch...

Thanks, Uncle Lawrence & Aunty Ellen for letting us join in the noise and activity of your home!  We brought home many fond memories!

Our Last Wedding (July Vacation V)

My brother Tim is the last of our siblings to get married... there will be plenty of cousin weddings and future niece and nephew weddings... but no more sibling weddings!  But we are very delighted for Tim and our new sister-in-law, Nicole.  Nicole is from Canada, so to Ontario we headed after Michigan...

...here are a bunch of cousins finishing breakfast at the hotel we all stayed at- can you tell they are not exposed to much media?!

Cousin Jonathan and Selah waiting for the wedding to begin...

Some little honey chose this time to squeeze in a little nap...

Judah was delighted to have a special role in Uncle Tim & Aunt Nicole's wedding...

The groom and his ring-bearer...

Judah & cousin Marianne, the flower girl, examining Judah's lacey pillow...

Sweet little couple...

Keeping the little cousins entertained before the ceremony...

Our matching kiddos...

Trying for a family pose...

 

 

Some really nice couples...

My Mom with her boys & Nicole...

My brother Andy & his family...

Driving away in Tim's mini cooper...

The wedding reception was a bit of a whirlwind for us since we were the Master & Mistress of Ceremonies.  But of the pictures I do have, here are some of the nieces and nephews singing 'A Christian Home' and welcoming their new Aunt into the family...

And here is some of the wedding party singing a special song together...

So that's about it that I have.  I was running around too much to take many pictures.  But I'm hoping to add some more photos when I receive them.

And here's a parting shot taken the next morning as we said all our good-byes once again...