What a great bicycle ride on the second day. We went approx. 54 kilometers that day and 26 kilometers the day before.

Found the names.

Isabel and Aukje pointing to the Huitema name on the plaque.

This is the pavilion that houses the plaque with the Huitema name on it.

This is the section of the bike path that was built on abandoned railroad lines. The Huitema family donated some money for the buildiing of this wonderful bike path in memory of their parents.

Isabel, Aukje and Marianne started on the beautiful bike path in Granby but before too long the seat of Marianne's bike needed raising and a kind gentleman assisted us (actually he did it) and we were soon on our way again.

Hup Holland Hup!

What an exciting world cup thus far...be sure to be watching Sunday at 3:00 (edt) for Holland vs Portugal.

Skype and An Inconvenient Truth

There's a free internet phone program called Skype. You need a microphone and speaker for the computer or a headset system. I know my housemate prefers the little headset system. With Skype, you can call other people running Skype for free, anywhere in the world. If you have or install Skype and want to talk to me, e-mail me and I will give you my username.

Also, if you are running the program Skype, you can call any phone in North America for free. So I can run Skype, and call my parent's home phone and talk for free and they don't need to be using Skype. This will only be available for the rest of the year (but Skype to Skype calls will still work after that for free).

Finally, I just saw the movie An Inconvenient Truth which was really good and very educational.

Kite flying

Carly watching Bert's kite.

Tegan and Bert

Tegan having a conversation with her uncle Bert.

Heavy discussion?

Watching

Watching the Huitema "show".

Birthday girl.

The birthday girl!

The Band

Great music!!

Jivin'

The band's music was too hard to resist and Marijke and Carly just had to give it a whirl.

Birthday party

Maaike and Tom took some time off from fishing to talk with the birthday girl.

Looks like fun!

Stef must be entertaining Donna with a great story.....Stef has lots of those!!

New Blogger

Just signed on this "blog" deal...no pictures just yet, just a quick hello. Oh, and happy birthday to all those with b-days in May (or any month past) i've missed...there's just so many!

I just had to try this "easier" method of posting pictures and so I thought I would share this photo of my spring bulbs in bloom.

An easy way to add pictures

Hello,

Blogger has made some changes to adding posts to a blog and now there is an easy way to add pictures. You don't need to use the 'hello' program anymore, you just add the picture when you are composing your post. The add picture icon is right next to the spell check button (check ABC) and you just follow the instructions.

Meeting of some of the cousins.

Easter Sunday at Donna and Johnny's. Maaike and Jericho enjoying the beautiful weather that day.

Spring Skiing in Vancouver

This picture is from Grouse mountain, on a nice spring day you get a fantastic view of the city and you can even see Mount Baker (not in the picture though). Spring skiing is nice but it does get a little slushy.

Bert and I have made it home and the cold spell we are having here is quite a difference for us. This photo was taken in a courtyard in Rio Grande City where we had gone for lunch with some friends.

Dutch Passport

I have successfully received my Dutch passport. I am officially recognized as a dual citizen. I’ll describe my situation so my cousins who are interested in getting their passport can do the same. First off, your father should have been born in Holland but left before the age of …I’m not sure. At least 13 I think. Second, you must apply for the passport before you turn 28 (ten years plus the age of majority). You will also need a bunch of documents that take weeks to process. It took me about 4 months to finish everything. Here are the documents you need:

1) Your father’s Dutch passport or the passport which his name was mentioned in when he came to Canada. That passport exists and has all the kids names in it.

2) If you can’t find the passport, you need proof he was a Dutch citizen before he left Holland through:

Bureau Vestigings Register BVR

Spui 70, 2511 BGT Den Haag or Postal address:

Posbus 12620

2500 DL Den Haag

The Netherlands

Tel: 011-31-70-353-3171

Fax: 011-31-70-353-2850

3) You need your father's long form citizenship certificate. This was awkward for me because Canada no longer issues the long form, only the short form (which dad had). The long form citizenship form can be requested by the consulate directly to whatever Canadian department handles it. I brought both the short form citizenship form and the long form (we still had it but it had been invalidated) and that was accepted.

4) You father's large size birth certificate. This I got with much assistance from Fokke Ypma (thanks again!!) You have to contact where you father was born to get this birth certificate. Hmmm, I can’t remember the details of how all this worked out. Perhaps Fokke has some insight.

5) Your parent’s long form marriage license available at your provincial Bureau of Vital Statistics. This document must be legalized by mail or in person at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa. (see address below).

6) Your large size birth certificate. Also available at the provincial Bureau of Vital Statistics and this must also be legalized at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa.(they do have a website)

7) Two full face pictures (different size than Canadian passport photos). If they need to be signed I don’t know. I had my supervisor (Prof.) sign them just in case.

8) Your Canadian passport or driver’s license.

9) $77.20 cash in the exact amount.

Legalizing Canadian documents: The original certificates must be legalized by

Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

125 Sussex Drive

Ottawa ON,

K1A 0G2

So I gathered all the documents, went to the consulate in Vancouver and they helped me fill out the passport application, took my money and in 4 weeks I went back to pick it up. So I am officially a dual citizen, I have a European Union passport which makes working in the EU much easier.

Texas

Bert and I are now in Falcon State Park in Texas (along the Rio Grande River), where we have stayed in previous years. The weather has been just great with temperatures an average of 27 degrees. Not too tough to take huh?

Hello all you cold people! I hope everyone is well. How is the weather? Here it hasn't gone below+30 since before mom and Betts and Zach were here - the poor things melted! Anyway, I have still not learned how to post photos on Blog, so if any of you would like to see photos of the trip (and of my non-university life after christmas) then sign up with www.ringo.com - it's free and SO easy to post photos - so maybe I can get some from all of you as well!
Take care everyone, love you all heaps,
Love
~Sarah~

Of course these two had to get stuck but luckily they were able to pull one another out.

After we got our tree Carly took the skidoo and Bert drove the 4 wheeler to the shack at the pond at Johnny's. It was a beautiful crisp winter day...perfect for Christmas tree cutting.

Carly did some snowshowing the day we got our Christmas tree at our farm.

Aukje played us a little tune on the piano during our visit.

Bert resting on Sunday afternoon at Aukje and Pierre's place. Aukje and him were quite a pair on the Saturday evening!!

Wyatt and Jericho dropped in at Bert and Marianne's on Halloween.

Marianne, Anne Marie and Isabel having a chat.

Bert, Donna and Marianne at Tavis and Amy's wedding reception.

Gabrielle, Marie-Claire, Tegan and Zak pose for a group photo.

This picture was taken shortly after the ceremony.

Bert decided not to wear his "bee outfit" and within a very short period of time a bee stung him below his eye. That will teach him to wear his protective clothing.

Mike and Sonja dancing at the reception.

The photographer left the girls while taking the photos of the guys and Bert thought they should look like they were fishing.

A great shot of the bride and her family. The pictures were taken in the woods behind Jason and Anne Marie's place.

The photographer set up this shot of the guys running to meet the girls and I managed to get a picture of it as well.

Mike's friends had polished their trucks and provided a unique "honour guard".

Age and Mary giving the bride and groom the traditional carriage ride after the ceremony.

Wyatt and Jericho having a little rest under the tree in front of the church. Jericho did a great job as the ring bearer for Sonja and Mike.

Back in Vancouver

Hello,

San Francisco was great, the conference went well. Too bad you couldn't come Donna! I saw the Sea Lions and the bridge but I never did get to ride the trolley because when I had the time the line was HUGE!! I also was treated to a pretty swank dinner at an oyster bar and tried raw oysters for the first time. So now I'm back in Vancouver and back at work. I like the picture of putting up the tent.
TTYL,
Carly

Carly having a great time horseback riding with Tegan's guidance.

Carly and Tegan going for a little ride at Nick's place.

Carly and Marianne.

At the reception.

The guests enjoying themselves at the reception.

The bride and her attendants.

Rehearsal for the wedding at Kinkora Church.

Johnny, Bert, Marianne, Ainslay and Andy putting up the wedding tent while Pete observes.

Here at the Huitema sisters at Elizabeth's birthday dinner in Port Dover.

This picture was sent to me by Carly and it was taken when she and a bunch of friends went horseback riding in B.C. She is on the second horse from the right. This was taken on the same day that we had our big snowstorm on April 23rd!

Hello everyone!!

Hi there
This blogger thing tends to confuse me a bit and takes a while to browse on dial up but it is great to go in and see the pictures and it was nice to track your trip Aunt Marianne!! Things always seem busy around here - Jericho keeps us hopping on a daily basis. He is growing like a bad weed but he makes us laugh every day!! I would love to post a picture of him for the Aussies and the Westerners in the family but I don't have the technology - sorry! Well I finally posted and I hope it all works!! Take care