After the VBS half day…

July 14-17

We had so much fun at our church’s VBS that our afternoons were not overly busy.. a few runs to Sam’s club… the odd errand. Miss Echo, especially wanted to do her Gammie mail and practice her colouring, tracing and other fine motor skills.  I really wanted to share the beautiful handwriting I see on so many of my packages and letters from Gammie herself. I love seeing my name in cursive!  Thursday evening we packed up the kids to go and cheer on another of our favourite soccer players – AIDAN! He plays on the same team as a few of Emanuel’s other scout buddies so it was fun to run into the other parents and say hi.

Aidan played a good game and the kids ran off with Alex and played at the park so we managed to see all the action. They don’t play for score but for the experience. It was fun to sit and enjoy another game with Darcy. She is one busy lady this summer! And with that… enjoy the action shots!!!

Alex helping out in goal before the game for practice kicks

‘A rather timely cozy murder mystery as we have experienced our first canning this year with produce fresh from the garden. Mary Ellen Hughes’ The Pickled Piper is the first book in “A Pickled & Preserved Mystery” series. The main character in this story is Piper who owns her own pickle store. After breaking up with her fiance who has up and decided to travel the world himself, Piper moved to Cloverdale to follow her dream and live near her Aunt Judy and Uncle Frank.

The story begins with the start of the Cloverdale Fair where Piper has her own pickle stand complete with a giant barrel of homemade pickles. Everything seems to be going well until the following morning when Piper finds a local antique store owner dead… in her pickle barrel! With a cast of interesting small town people, some store owners, others friends this book has a wonderful flow to it.

Piper is a strong character with an interesting history. With a handsome Christmas tree farmer visiting occasionally and a murderer on the loose Piper balances pickling things (and suggesting some yummy and unusual items to do so with) with running her business and working to clear the name of her employee’s boyfriend. Nate, a newcomer to the town is a musician who had a run in with the deceased in the middle of the fair is only one of many who did not get along with the rather aggressive man.

This is a great light read. The romance is light, the mystery interesting and the main character a delight. To top it off, included in the back are two pickling recipes and some pickling tips! I would definitely suggest this first in a new series for any lover of cozy mysteries! I look forward to the next book!

July 15 and 16

So much going on overlapping… VBS, our afternoon activities AND USA Cup. Anthony is once again registered to play. We missed his games last year but went the year before and then to some this year. We lucked out as it is basically in our backyard.

We went to two games… the first was a game versus another American team. The boys did not do too well but they played hard.

The second was with a foreign team – Columbia. Neither games ended in a win but it was great to watch the boys play in a different venue.

Our little ones ran off with Aidan and had a blast as well.

As we have gone through stuff in the house we came across the pins KEN got and traded for at HIS USA Cups. We decided to gift them to our godson as well. He was very pleased with them. I am glad that we could pass them along to someone who is so obviously passionate about the game!

Of course we took a boatload of pictures so please enjoy our godson in action!!!

The ridiculously good looking ref!