Cultus Lake Family Time August 2007

Who wants ice cream?

Willem, Brennan, Marissa, Silas, and Jonas enjoy a cone on a hot June day. Do they look like they could all be related??!!

Our Venda friends and colleagues

SM GULD!!!

DANIELLE WINS GOLD IN SWEDEN!!!

Danielle's team put together a great season and they finished it in style. Danielle was great... Van Huizens everywhere should be proud!

Jake.

Kids say the darndest things!

I told Silas he had a cute bum and he gives me this funny look. "What do you mean?" he says . I said "I think you have a cute bum" He looks at me like I am really wierd and says "But Mom, poop comes out of it!"

Jonas asks Eric the other day " Is Mom older than you Dad?" Eric says "Yes, why do you ask?" Jonas replies " Well I kinda thought Mom was bigger than you, so that must mean she is older."

(Just for the record I am NOT bigger than Eric)

Nathan Marten Jake

SOLLENTUNA STILL IN FIRST!!!

After a hard fought battle with a cross-town rival here in Stockholm, Sweden, Danielle's team kept themselves atop the Swedish Eliteseries with a 5 set win last week. After winning the first two sets in their home gym, the Sollentuna ladies went to sleep and before they knew it, they were in a 5th set situation. Fortunately, they woke up in time to win the deciding set 16-14. Sollentuna is in first place right now and there is a strong possibility that they will finish the season there setting themselves up nicely for March and April.
The Tierp boys (inc. Jake) are doing well of late. We've won 8 of our last 10 and we are slowly climbing up the standings. We're in the top 4 now and looking to keep moving up!
Off the court, life is good. While Richard is soaking up the sun in Brazil, we are experiencing a real winter here in the north. Lots of Snow and not much sun means lots of time working out and watching movies. No beach days unfortunately.
Hope all is well at home. We can hardly believe it has already been 3 months. Do something overly Canadian in honor of us today! (eat some pancakes and maple syrup or peanut butter toast, Danielle would have you go out for all-you-can-eat sushi but one could dispute how "canadian" that really is, drink a ceaser, watch some hockey, you decide)
miss you all
Danielle and Jake.

rich in rio

Todo Bem?
Hey, its Rich and I have been training in Rio de Janeiro since the 8th of January. I have made Ipanema Beach my home for the first couple of months of 2007. The conditions for beach volleyball are a little better down here than in Canada during the winter (actually, its summer here)... Maybe you can tell by the pictures that we are training on a piece of pardise, the landscape is gorgeouss! More importantly, the training has been great. I am here with 3 of the younger Canadian players and a fourth has recently joined us. Our Brazillian trainer, Marcao, is an expert in beach volleyball and we are all glad to be working with him!!
I am adapting to the Brazillian lifestyle with the diet and portuguese lessons, but dont worry, I havent gotten to the Brazillian fashion sense yet, ie. the g-string swim trunks. But, when I do, Ill be sure to send you the pics!!
Tchau!!
ps. Todo Bem means "Its all good?" in Portuguese.

Trip to Kenya

Willy and I had a wonderful trip to Kenya visiting Pete and Julie. One of the highlights was a visit to the Maaisi Mara. Here is a shot Julie took.

Hemlock Mountain

Heh all. Here is a picture taken on Hemlock Mountain.

Dan and Marissa are sitting in front of the property we bought

there a year ago. Much of Dan's time right now is devoted to

designing a cabin for this lot. Anyone interested in helping with

the build??

Winter Wonderland!

We have a snow day today! No school for Krystina and Michael, yes, we are wimps on the west coast when it comes to snow.

Anyways we are enjoying playing in it, even though when we are done, we are still soaked through as if we have been in the rain instead of the snow. The kids have made a snowman and snow forts, so that they have somewhere to hide from the snowballs Michael throws at them!

It all looks so beautiful outside, peaceful and quiet. If only it would stay....

Oh summer, where art thou?!!!

Hello everyone!!

Since our lives are fairly uneventful during school, we thought we'd share some of our summer travel shots with y'all.

Nairn falls, British Columbia - camping with friends.

Phil's Dam - otherwise known as the Libby Dam (Montana)....Look how happy Helena is to spend her vacation helping Phil research...




Gallaugher farm in Ontario










Van Huizen comedy at its best?


(Peter and Jackie's Cottage)


Hope you enjoyed the shots. Merry new year and hopefully we'll see all of you some time this year!! Lots of love...