The Fourth of July

How many parades have a live bald eagle in them?

Watching the parade

It was a bit wet, but we didn't care too much. The parade was wonderful with a really great bagpipe group this year and lots of participants. Benaiah had a bucket and loved the novelty of having people throw candy to him. One of the boys from the Allstar baseball team even gave him a signed baseball. We decided the fireworks in town were too late to attend, so we had our own little fireworks show in the driveway. We were all soaked afterwards, but what a wonderful day to celebrate our nation and our freedom! God, thank you for letting us live in this country that You alone have made great!

Uncle Bob

Earlier this summer, my Uncle Bob visited us. It's always good to see him when he comes up to do "research" for his salmon art. He makes beautiful stainless steel salmon and other types of glass and metal artwork.

Fishing

A day's catch. (The large fish in the middle is Benaiah's.)

Benaiah was pretty proud of his first fish - a whopping 10.4lb Dog Salmon!

This is Eric's King Salmon he caught on his first day out. Eric's dad also caught a nice "white" King and a Sockeye Salmon - both rare catches. Yum!

Now here's a big one! Seeing the whales and other wildlife is always half the fun of fishing.

Benaiah all geared up to go.

Dad and Benaiah driving our boat. Benaiah's favorite part of fishing is the Doritos. The guys said as soon as they get in the boat Ben asks for the chips.

The proud fishermen

Grandpa and Grandma Bird

Eric's folks came up for a visit in July. They stayed one month and we had a wonderful time! Every day that it was nice weather Benaiah wanted to go outside with Grandma to blow bubbles. The guys also fished quite a bit, but more about that in my next post...

Prince Rupert Trip

We always take a drive to Terrace during our stay. The drive along the Skeena River is marvelous!

Benaiah had the conductor of this train wave at him and toot his horn. It was great highlight of the trip.

Even the rest stops are beautiful!

Our apartment in Prince Rupert

Tea Party

Bubbles!

This just doesn't look even!

Noelle at the Prince Rupert park;
her first time swinging.

Benaiah at the cannery museum in Port Edward, BC

Benaiah and Friends

Benaiah, Noelle and Rachel

Benaiah dancing with Logan

Benaiah is getting to be such a big boy! He's been growing nearly and inch each month and talks quite proficiently now. He's a sweetie!

Noelle

Noelle is still my little "peanut." She weighs about 15 pounds and is still wearing only 3-6 month clothes. The sixteenth of this month, she will be 9 months old. Where does the time go?
She loves to smile and charms people with her blue eyes. She likes to wave at the cars when we watch them from our front porch. She sits up on her own now and can walk a bit in her walker. She's very anxious to be doing whatever Benaiah is doing.

This Summer

I know that I do blog in spurts, but my life happens in spurts. I do want all of you to know what's going on with us though, so the following are a few pictures from this summer of what we've been up to.