Birch Bay Evening

One Last Pedalboat Cruise on Thunderbird Lake

With Riley, Blane, and Jace...

Soccer in Chilliwack BC

We love to watch our grandkids in action.

We therefore took great pleasure watching our Taegan play soccer in Chilliwack the other night, scoring a goal on offense in the first half and playing great defense in the second half on this 80 degree (Farenheit) evening.

Making a Raspberry Cheesecake with Grandma

Riley and Blane (along with Jace and their mom) picked raspberries this morning at Barbie's Berries, and helped Grandma make this berry good cheesecake this afternoon.

Weekend with the Grandkids

It was actually Saturday evening spent watching Jake play three basketball games with his Chilliwack team at a one-day tournament, followed by everybody sleeping over at our house 30 minutes away, followed by a Saturday morning birthday party for Taegan, followed by a table tennis tournament on our new outdoor table.

Great fun and what a treat for us to see all of them together!

Below, Jake is keeping a vigilant defensive eye on his check.

A fast-food dinner between games at the Lynden Dairy Queen...

Grandma Kathy helping Jace enjoy his ice cream treat...

Kim taking a break from the heavy responsibilities of three kids...

Taegan looking beautiful...

Enjoying Gammy's flowerbox birthday cake made just for her...

L to R: Peyton, Blane, Avery, Taegan, Lily Rily, Jake, Jace...

Dave plays Kathy (Dave swept the tournament, having spent his lunchtime playing at a previous employer a dozen years ago)...

How Many Countries: Preceding 12 Months Edition

With an upcoming trip to China in November, we're filling out applications for Chinese visas today, having received in the mail last November one-year visas on the same day the new 10-year visas were announced.

One of the questions asks what countries we've visited in the past 12 months. Our answer is Canada, China, Vietnam, France, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Maldives, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Bermuda, Gibraltar (UK), Spain, Poland, Fiji, New Zealand.

Hope we didn't miss any (other than Vatican City).

The World's Top 25 Landmarks and Us

We just ran across Trip Advisor's 2015 list of the world's 25 Best Landmarks. We feel incredibly fortunate to have already viewed 18 of the 25. Ironically, two of the seven landmarks we haven't visited are in the U.S.A. Machu Picchu is definitely on our bucket list.

1.       Angkor Wat*(Cambodia)

2.       Machu Picchu (Peru)

3.       Taj Mahal* (India)

4.       Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (Dubai)

5.       La Sagrada Familia* (Spain)

6.       St. Peter’s Basilica* (Italy/Vatican City)

7.       Milan Cathedral (Italy)

8.       Alcatraz (U.S.A.)

9.       Cristo Redentor* (Brazil)

10.   Golden Gate Bridge* (U.S.A.)

11.   Eiffel Tower* (France)

12.   Church of the Savior on Blood* (Russia)

13.   Notre Dame Cathedral* (France)

14.   The Alhambra* (Spain)

15.   Hagia Sophia* (Turkey)

16.  Charles Bridge* (Czech Republic)

17.   Great Wall at Mutianyu* (China)

18.   Lincoln Memorial* (U.S.A.)

19.   Burj Khalifa (Dubai)

20.   National September 11 Memorial (U.S.A.)

21.   Wat Pho* (Thailand)

22.   Chichen Itza (Mexico)

23.   Sydney Opera House* (Australia) 

24.  Petronas Twin Towers* (Malaysia)

25.  Panama Canal* (Panama)

* Places we've visited

Blaine Washington Marina

The view is from Chada Thai, our favorite nearby go-to restaurant. It's been a busy day and we enjoyed Larb and Eggplant Delight - no rice though because we're still counting calories.