Sunday, July 26, 2009

landscaping at the taylors

mike used the machete to remove the overgrown brazilian pepper tree, not an easy task. yes the temperature was 97. i've been having fun helping with the yard work, playing with dozer, going to hockey games (mike scored 5 goals) woo hoo!!! its been a great vacation! andrea comes into town on tuesday for more fun together. i love the florida heat, especially when you can come inside to cool off. elizabeth and i have been walking and bike riding, but no pool after the workout, boo hoo, because it was still locked at 7am! dont worry elizabeth is going to talk to the president of the community for the combination.
thats all for now, another hockey game tonight, and some shoe shopping today!
love to all!
nancy



Greetings from Vancouver! I need a break from studying for the FE (fundamentals of engineering...) exam, so here's my first update since moving out here. I'm having a great time out here, there's just so much to do! Its funny to think back to when we visited here for spring break of my freshman year of High School. I remember looking at the Coast Mountains from the parking lot of Mountain Equipment Co-op and thinking of how perfect of a city Vancouver really is: convenience, happy people, good coffee, proximity to the mountains, and most of all, the perfect backdrop for a city. I put it on my list of cool cities I'd love to live in but didn't honestly see myself living here someday. So ever since I've moved here I've been pinching myself. Its quite a place!

Work is going good. I'm the young junior engineer in the office, which means I get the scraps of a majority of the engineering work that goes around. Besides that, I've been getting along great with the other engineers and I can't complain. I've been working on a lot of stuff from the Alberta Oil Sands north of Edmonton. They're moving a lot of dirt and rock up there, so its a geotechnical engineer's playground (and an environmental engineer's nightmare... but I'll save that for another blog post). The mine we do a lot of consulting for is 3-4 km (ha!) wide, maybe 50-60 meters deep at the deepest areas. To put it in perspective, the mine I worked in last summer was just about as wide, but quite a bit deeper. In the oil sands world the mine we work at is a baby. Its really just started and is about 1/8 of the way done.

Besides work I've been playing four square (we call it man square) somewhat regularly with a friend from work and his friends on fridays. Its pretty fun playing a kid's game at an elementary school with a bunch of grown-ups, while enjoying a beer or two. I've also been playing water polo at the University of British Columbia with a club team. There might be 4-5 actual students total on the team, the rest are older guys and gals. Its really challenging compared to Michigan Tech water polo, there's a few former national-level players so it makes it pretty tough to keep up sometimes. I like to think I can hold my own against them, though.

Thats about it for now! Don't want to bore you too much with whats going on, but thats the gist of whats going on in my life!

That pictures are from my hike about a month ago along the Howe Sound Crest Trail. Its a 30 km trail that starts just outside of Vancouver and winds along a ridge over 5-6 mountain peaks. I've been telling people its the most mentally challenging thing I've ever done in my life, but it gave me a perspective not many Vancouverites (or flatlander Michiganders!!!) get of the city and surrounding landscape. Having a hard time seeing the trail? So did we, and that was one of the many reasons that contributed to the difficulty of the hike! If you find the lions, which are the two sharp peaks in the middle of the picture, the trail came between those two peaks, down the ridge and then back up to the point where the picture was taken. I'm not in the picture because I was probably still behind.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Sue's Views


Sue's Views


This guy's been hanging out at the property. The picture is taken off of Ron's trail cam. We've seen him on the trail cam for about a month. We know he's spending the night because we have pictures of him laying down, sitting, scratching, and eating...just your typical guy in the woods. I figured you would be getting bored of the Grandkids, so I thought I'd throw in a curve. This was a taken at around 9:00 pm. I like it because the sky is such a pretty deep blue.
Love,
Sue

Monday, July 20, 2009

Mini Fam Reunion

How lucky are we? We got Nan and Liz here for the week.

Liz shopped for Reeboks at Bealles, just like Uncle Jim told her to do.

We played Scrabble on the beach.

Happy Hour at Sparky's (so what else is new).

Bill made us "Death by Coconut" cocktails, and even Nancy embibed.
Next, pizza for dinner, sunset at the park, and an after dark swim in the pool.
Now we are really havin' fun! Wish you all were here.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

A Rathbun Family Must Have


The conference bike. You may already have this out in the garage, but if not, Jim, you need it for your next solstice party. You can rent one at http://www.conferencebike.com/. You steer, they pedal.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Sue's Views


Well here she is in person. I'll cherish this moment in time and never forget how shocked I was the minute I saw her face. Boy, we had a ball! There are scads of scads of pictures. I will try to send you all a disc of the photo shoot.
Love, Sue

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Sue's Views


We had just gotten home, turned on Saturday Night "Live",
with guest appearances by the Grandsons featuring "Jett-Jive"!
We were glad we tuned in as we laughed and screamed,
the dip in the river was a little obscene.
I can't remember ever having such fun,
After two day's time, the show was all done.
The crew's moved north taking their act up to camp,
making more memories with their drawers a little damp.
After hundreds of poses for the camera queen,
There's surely a favorite after all these scenes.
I'm still amazed that my dream came true,
if only for two days, I'm no longer blue.
Love, Sue

Monday, July 13, 2009

Sue's Views



The fun continues with the Tuohimaas!

Sue's Views


My Three Grandsons on the Thunder Bay River. What a great time we had...The boys ended up swimming in their underwear, the dogs romped in the water, and we grinned from the shore snapping photo after photo for memories to last a lifetime!
Sue

Sue's Views


We had some surprise visitors all the way from Washington pop in on Saturday night. What a thrill. Now I know how Mom and Dad must have felt when the four of us showed up on their doorstep. We've had a super time so far. I took today off (Monday) and they are going to be heading up to Adam's family camp in Houghton tomorrow. We walked down the street so Adam could fish, but the dogs enjoyed swimming and splashing as did the Grandsons. So any hopes of catching any fish were flushed down the river. We went to church where Jett did his "thing" during the hymns, and Candy and I had that gush of happiness streaming down our cheeks as we sang together in the "Big House". Later we took them to see the elk and did a deer run down on Farrier road where Don lives. The boys were intrigued by my gourds, and got into painting thier own creations yesterday. I cooked a roast and potatoes and beans for dinner. We were pretty wiped out after a full day of excitement. Adam drove one stretch 36 hours. They left on Wednesday night and made here at 10:00 Saturday evening. We have lots of ideas for today, but their still sleeping right now. The boys have their dirt bikes ready to let loose on their camp porperty. The two dogs have been getting along beautifully. As Nancy said, if you want something bad enough, keep praying for it, and boy did I pray; night after night. I couldn't see how it would be possible to see them with ticket prices the way they have been. It is truly a blessed event. The power of prayer is alive as I hold each moment dear to my heart during their stay. It's so great to be able to see and hear their personalities and the topper was last night. As we were driving to see the dear all in packed into the Tuohimaa van, Dayne said out of the blue, "I love you, Grandma!!!!" Aw-w-w-! Does it get any better?
Love, Sue

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Sue's Views

Sue Floer just checking in.