Celebrating Elizabeth's birthday and retirement

Having dinner at the Erie Beach Hotel in Port Dover.

Then for a visit to the pier.

Drayden is Two, May 1, 2011

Easter Sunday, April 24, 2011

The day was pleasant weather wise, the company was good and the food was splendid. The Easter Bunny managed to stash plenty of treats around the yard for the kiddies. Thank you Donna and Johnnie for once again hosting the perfect day.

Chilliwack Times

Brody Huitema is featured in a newspaper article.

Spring in Switzerland

From a recent hike.

Nynke

It is with great sadness, we announce that Nynke passed away on April 16. She started foaling in the morning but we soon quickly realized something was wrong. After hours with the vet trying to get the foal out we loaded her up and took her to Guelph Vet College to see if they could save her. They tried very hard with still no success.

Hello Huitema cousins! I need all of your addresses for Tegans wedding. You can send them to me at mhuitema@hotmail.com. Thanks Monique

Our trip South - cont'd. Arizona

Bert reading outside our camper in Quartzsite, Arizona.
Some information on the Apache Trail in Arizona.
The narrow, winding road (one lane) going down (many times) and then up (many times) on the Apache Trail, Arizona.
Roosevelt Dam on the Apache Trail.
A cactus on our campsite in Lost Dutchmen State Park, Arizona. This Park was just outside of the start of the Apache Trail.
Leaving Lost Dutchman State Park.
Bert and I on a picnic in Pala Duro Canyon State Park. We spent the day there since there were no empty campsites available as it was spring break in Texas.
Bert was right on the edge of a deep cliff.
We found this great museum and we spent the entire day there. From there we headed home and we arrived home on Sunday afternoon.

Our Trip South - cont'd. California

Marie found this big Bird of Paradise plant on the grounds of the Mission.
Bert in part of the original San Juan Mission church. It had been ruined by an earthquake that took place while mass was being offered many years ago.
Age and Marie were down visiting Herman and his family during the same time that we were there. The four of us spent the day at San Juan Capistrano at the old San Juan Mission and then out for lunch in Capistrano. Here Marie and I are at the table just before we were leaving the restaurant.
Bert, Marie and I went partially up the mountain at the lookout where we had a lovely view of the town of Lake Elsinore.
Herman treated his family as well as us and Nick and his family for breakfast at the local Elk Club building.
Bert took some family photos and here is Peter and his daughter Courtney. Courtney works part time after school at the Dairy.
The entire clan.
Cousins: Bert, Nick, Herman and Age.
Bert and I went to visit at Nick's place after breakfast and there was a palm tree near Nick's driveway. He pointed out that there was an owl who lived in the top of that tree and that mice and rats have a tendency to live in palm trees. At the base of the palm tree we found evidence of both the owl and skulls. I

Our Trip South - cont'd. Arrived at Herman's in California

Dana working in the store at DeJong's Dairy in California.
Having coffee while bottling the milk.

Herman and Peter working on bottling of the milk after it is pasteurized and homogenized.
The Dairy before it opened in the morning.
Holly took Bert and I for a bike ride on the dike that has been built on Lake Elsinore.

Our Trip South 2011 - Cont'd. Headed to California

After going through some steep mountains and some rough terrain the truck needed a new rear universal joint. We were directed to this garage in Van Horn, Texas.
The surroundings at the garage didn't instill much confidence in us. They didn't even have a hoist or a workbench! They told us not to bother unhooking our camper and went right to work on it. It all worked out and turned out to be amazingly inexpensive. Perhaps the low cost of their overhead was the reason for that.
We came upon this "boneyard" of retired planes in Arizona.
We were driving over the mountains heading over to Herman's place in California where it was obvious they had had a recent snowstorm. All kinds of cars and people were at the sides of the highway marveling at the snow. It was apparent they didn't have much experience in building a snowman since some of them were pretty sad looking.

Our Trip South 2011 continued. - Seminole Canyon State Park, Texas

We stayed a few days at Seminole Canyon State Park, Texas. You had to take a guided tour to be able to get down into the canyon.
We took our bikes on the trail to see the canyon where the Rio Grande River flows into part of it. The whole canyon is used for flood control for the Amistad Dam which was up the river.
Of course we had to leave a Canadian touch. Large rocks were at a premium so this is not up to true Canadian standards.
This was our campsite and the Texas winds sure blew across it.