Visit from the Little Quists

Today I spent some quality time with Jenny's two youngest boys, Jammers and Micah. Jenn had to go to the passport office and that is certainly no place for two active little guys who wouldn't take kindly to standing in long lines.

The little guys were a pleasure to have. Micah disappeared downstairs to play video games with Max until Max had to go to school. Jammers was happy just to explore all the toys that were around.

They watched television while eating a granola bar and blueberry muffin.

They played in the back yard and had great fun discovering all the foam alphabet letters that were laying around. They'd bring them to me and tell them what they were. Even not-quite-two-year old Jammers could tell me what some of the letters were.

Micah's favorite letter of course was 'M' but he was quick to show me that if you turn it upside down it became 'W'.

The slide always has an appeal for all the kids who come to visit.

We had a good time together. When Jenn got back from the not-so-long lineups at the passport office, the boys didn't want to leave. They'll be back.

Water Baby

On our last day in Osoyoos last month Mary and Greg brought Layla and Baron to our hotel so Layla could play in the pool there. The child is absolutely fearless and loves the water.


She floats...

She swims...

She jumps...

She swims underwater...

And she especially loved going on the water slide...with her dad...

...by herself...

... and with her mom.

Meanwhile, Lloyd and I sat on the sidelines keeping Baron entertained.

It's a toss-up who among us had the most fun.

Anson's Birthday

Cindy and Rob had a small family birthday party for Anson's 8th birthday on Saturday. They rented a big bouncing structure for entertainment. The kids loved it. They took balloons in it and bounced till all the balloons were broken.

Then there was cake, of course. Chocolate...with ice cream.

Anson always plugs his ears when we sing "Happy Birthday" - too much sensory input for him, or maybe our singing is just that bad! - but he tolerated it and blew out all his candles.

Everyone was interested in the gift opening time. Then the goodie bags were distributed and the party was over. Short and sweet - the best kind. Anson enjoyed it, whch is what it was all about.

Anson's little sister Brooklyn showed me the lei she got at a birthday party she attended a week or so ago. Then she and Charlie proceeded to demonstrate the hula for us...pretty good for little girls who have never left the mainland.

Happy Birthday Anson. It was fun sharing your birthday with you.

The Neglected Son-In-Law

All of my children and their spouses are dear to me, each in their own individual way. In these blog entries I've featured all of them at one time or another. My SIL Curtis and I have a running joke about how I slight him in my entries, and although it's been inadvertent and accidental, nevertheless he has a valid point. Take the Brides blog for example. I showcased each of the brides we've had as our children have been married. All of the pictures there feature the bride and groom. All, that is, except Amy and Curtis. The picture I put in for them was of Amy alone. Poor Curtis got left out, a fact that he has never let me forget. And as Amy keeps telling me, Curtis is the best looking son-in-law we have.

Then there was the post two days ago about the family barbeque. In the picture of the men, Curtis is hidden behind Lloyd.

So today's blog is an attempt on my part to assure Curtis that he's a valuable member of our family and any slights are entirely accidental. (Gotcha C !)





Now he's a family man - this is him with his second daughter, Sydney, on her birth day.

I'm not sure when this was taken, but it's a nice one.

Helping #1 daughter, Mackenzie, open her birthday presents. Poor kid's birthday is Dec 29 so it's easy to get caught up in Christmas.

And by the time his third child, first son, Aidan, came along, Curtis was used to sleeplessness and grabbing cat naps whenever and wherever he could.



Here they are all together about a year and a half ago.

He has become quite a golfer over the past few years, with his main goal being to beat his father-in-law. For the first time this summer he has managed to do that a couple of times, but not in the crunch - his team lost the MacKenzie Family Golf Tournament yesterday to Lloyd's team.

And that's the neglected son-in-law, the only one with a blog entry of his own. Some day I'll take my camera to his office (he's a chiropractor) and take pictures of him in action and blog about that.

You're Welcome, Curtis.

MacKenzie Family Golf Tournament

Today was our annual Labor Day MacKenzie Family Golf Tournament. We've been doing this for about 7 years now and it generates quite a high level of competition among the golf playing family members. We had the smallest turn-out ever this year because two of our daughters and their husbands who live out-of-town were unable to attend, and we decided this year not to invite the non-family members who in previous years swelled our numbers considerably.

The players were divided into two teams of four with players of various skill levels on each team. They played 'best ball' and had to use each players ball at least once in the game. There's a contest for longest drive, won this year by Corey, and for the closest shot to the pin, which Curtis won this year.




This is the winning team: Rob MacKenzie, Lloyd MacKenzie, Corey Rasmussen and Brad White. Their name will be engraved on the MacKenzie Cup as soon as we replace the one that got broken last year.

This glorious team was beaten by one stroke - many tears were shed :) The team consists of Curtis Woolf, Quincey Hardwicke-Brown, Mike MacKenzie, and Emily MacKenzie Taylor - the only woman brave enough to join the men this year. Quincey and Mike were the winning twosome for the past two years so were a bit chagrined to have to pass the title on this year. At least it took a team of 4 to dethrone them.

Here's Mike, Quincey and The MacKenzie Cup in 2007.

Here are some pics from previous years' tournaments.

The 2006 players

The 2007 Players

The tournaments are organized by a different family couple and always include a family meal (usually a barbeque) that everyone helps out with. It's a great way to spend Labor Day.

Family Barbeque

We had a family barbeque today as a prelude to Monday's annual MacKenzie Family Labor Day Golf Tournament. Five of our kids and their spouses were there, and 12 of our grandkids. The other two kids/spouses and 5 grandsons will put in an appearance on Monday.

I went around taking candid pictures of the kids and groups during the evening.



Kenzie and Max played hide and seek with Layla, Sydney and Brooklyn.


Anson found a good perch on the roof of the play house.

Alex played with the toys in the house, pushing the doll stroller around as practice for his baby sibling that'll be here in April.

Max showed his girl cousins how to play his favorite Wii 'punching' game.

Layla and Sydney played with Kenzie and Max in the toy room.

I heard water running and went around the corner of the house and found 2-year old Aidan playing with the hose. He dropped the hose as soon as he saw me because he's not supposed to play with it, but he looked so cute that I had to tell him to pick it up again. He was so happy to have permission to do it - he couldn't keep the grin off his face. He thought he should try to get his Grammie wet though!

Baron ate some watermelon and got it all over his white shirt then went out back to sit and watch the bigger kids play.

Kenny and Elly enjoyed playing on the swings and slides.

Brooklyn took her turn on the swing when she wasn't playing with her cousins.

And Charlie was so tired from being up most of the night visiting with Layla that she slept through the whole thing until about half an hour before we left. Poor baby.

In the meantime the men sat in the diningroom discussing strategy for Monday's golf tournament and solving all the problems in the hockey and football leagues.

And the women sat in the kitchen discussing kids, clothes, health, diets, hair, and other important things.

It's so interesting to watch the cousins when they get together. They seem to pair up according to size, rather than age these days and the ones they played with today may not be the ones they played with last time. The oldest (Kenzie) will be 7 in December, the next two (Charlie and Brooklyn) will be six in November, Layla is 5, Syd is 4, and Elly is almost 2. Most of them are the oldest and/or only girl in their families so are 'princesses' and used to taking the lead. I must admit it leads to conflict when they play, especially among the older 4. They're gradually learning to resolve their difficulties and take turns and share in the leadership. The boys aren't near the trouble. Life is never dull when they're all together.

Last Day of Summer

Tomorrow the kids go back to school. My granddaughters Kenzie (6) and Charlie (5) spent today together hanging out, although Kenzie actually started homeschooling in grade 2 with her Mom, Amy, this morning. She's looking forward to being home with her Mom and siblings all day while 'going to school'.

Charlie, on the other hand, is entering grade 1 at the local elementary school tomorrow. Last year she attended kindergarten in the afternoons. This year it's schooling full days. She's a bit nervous about what's ahead for her, who will be in her class, if her friends from kindergarten will remember her, etc. She's a bit anxious but I'm sure everything will go well. I hope so anyway.

They spent part of the day sprawled on the chaise lounge watching movies (Hoodwinked, Hannah Montana).

Then this afternoon they gathered up a stack of books, took them out to the back deck, and read for an hour or so.

Meanwhile, 4-year old Max got on the computer and played some very serious games. He spent last year in pre-school and will be in Kindergarten half days this year, with the same great teacher Charlie had last year.

And then there's Elly. Although she doesn't realize it yet, she's in for changes in her life this year. With both siblings spending so much time in school, she'll have lots of one-on-one time with her Grammie. Should be interesting for both of us.

She enjoyed picking dandelion seeds this afternoon and blowing them.

And pulling the petals off the last roses of the season.