Birthday Month?

Even though we weren't able to see Alan and Nathan on their 12th birthday (they were having a great time at Cadet Camp), we still had many opportunities to celebrate!
The first celebration was with Beppe and Pake on July 21, after A & N's last soccer game. The second celebration was on July 30 with a few of their friends from the neighborhood.

Finally, this past weekend, on August 22, we celebrated with Roger's family up at his uncle's cabin at Camano Island. One great part about sharing your birthday month with 2 cousins is that you can choose between lots of yummy desserts!

Happy 12th Birthday, Nathan and Alan!

Fishing

While my parents were here after the Family Reunion, my dad took the boys on a charter fishing trip. Their goal was to catch salmon, but it was a little early for that. Instead, Nathan caught a starfish...

...and a shark...

...and a ratfish and lots of flounder. They took home the flounder for dinner! Alan and Nathan both got to drive the boat back to shore.

Thanks, Pake!

DeJong Family Reunion

We went to a huge De Jong family reunion in July. There were about 426 people in attendance. Here's a view of the tent where we met: Saturday afternoon we went into downtown Lynden to enjoy the Raspberry Festival.

Hannah had a great time at the reunion with her second cousin Hannah. My Hannah is wearing a nametag--it's Purple for Pete (my great-grandfather), and has 5 sides because she is the fifth generation. I thought this system was very clever! George's descendants wore green, Baaye's wore blue, Teake's wore teal, etc. and my nametag was square because I am of the 4th generation.

Alan and Nathan instantly made friends playing flyers up with a football.

The cousins from the Netherlands (about 50!) sang a few songs at Saturday night's program and Sunday morning's worship service.

We all had a great time with family!