The Montifiore Manse

Our North American Trip: Part I

British Columbia, Canada

Where to begin when so much is to be told? First, we are grateful that we were able to enjoy a wonderful vacation on the East coast of Tasmania, first in a campsite at Shelly Point near Beaumaris and then in a campsite at Cosy Corner in the Bay of Fires north of St. Helens. The first was a lovely shaded area but a bit noisy, the second was a sunny spot with immediate viewing and access to the beach. It was a relaxing and quiet time.

Second, Julia has grown much beyond the last pictures. She is jabbering away, sitting unassisted, saying Da-da-da-da and even the occasional Mom, and can blow raspberries, clap, drink with help from cups and bottles, eat pureed foods, use a little potty, and generally express her will much more. Her hair has thickened a lot. And she's got four teeth!

Third, I'm finally posting pictures from the November - December trip. So without further introduction, here's the first installment.

Julia in the airport in her new stroller. The blue spoons are her favorites to chew on and eat from.

I had such a blast spending time with my two good friends Jill Meerdink (nee Tanis) and Sarah Elshout. They had fun reconnecting and sharing old memories, too.

Our host and an old family friend, Rev. Bart Elshout, meets another little Julia. (His granddaughter in New Jersey is also Julia!)

Julia enjoys the new carseat and the mountain views in B.C. 

A hint of a glimpse of the new first tooth.

She's such a big girl! She can sit in a booster seat in the restaurant with Mommy and her friends.

Jill and Sarah at the Old Spaghetti House in Vancouver. It has a charming atmosphere, great food, and even better prices!

The whole table. Here Julia opted for the extra visibility of a table seat. :)

Julia loved it when Jill explained that she was "so big!" It was a fun game, complete with hand motions. Jill will be a great mother when her little one arrives next summer!

As we were on the waterbus (a tugboat of sorts) to Vancouver Island, the lighting was perfect for a photo shoot of our little celebrity.

Love those cheeks!

In the giant warehouse flea market there we found an irresistably gorgeous little hat for Julia. There's a flower on top.

Julia was very curious about the fruit drink Mommy had. Can I get a taste? She's still mesmerized by any water bottles or glasses she can reach and loves to chew on or drink from them.

Sarah gets a big grin.

It was lovely to reconnect with the Kosters for Sunday lunch. Only two years earlier Terry and I visited British Columbia together shortly after our engagement and had Sunday lunch there. The pictures are still up there from that day, so recent but so long ago. Both of our families have grown. Pictured here are the four who still live home, but we had four more there at lunch.

Julia was impressed by Mike's puppet skills... or shall I say fascinated?

We ladies headed into the U.S. for a fruitful shopping excursion and stopped at a restaurant called Dutch Mothers while there. Yum! We enjoyed Dutch pancakes, Belgian waffles, and other such delights.

Cheery in her stroller, Julia continues to attract comments and smiles.

She did not fall behind in fashion modeling, either. Quite a sophisticated look, eh?

We even managed to get a picture of the three of us together.

Sarah's mother, Joan, also enjoyed having another Julia to grandmother. We were certainly made comfortable through her considerate care for every need!

Julia loved meeting new friends - here, the daughter of our friends Gary and Bec Neels.

We also enjoyed an international dinner at the home of Robert and Sandra Stam. That was the occasion of Julia's first roll from tummy to back. It gave her quite a scare to land up bumping her head and staring at the ceiling where the floor had been.

Julia was great with new people, and enjoyed the attention of Mrs. Jackie Stam.

She then moved on to examine the necklace of Mrs. Jan Stam. Jan, as you might recall, had visited us in Tasmania when Julia was still a large bulge in my figure.

Ah, a beard! A bit longer than my Daddy's, but white! Bert also got his turn with the baby.

  And lest you think it was all fun and games... oh wait, it was! Julia had lots of fun with a new version of peekaboo with Jill. There's a cute video of it that I'm having trouble uploading to the web. Maybe next time....

The next installment will be Arkansas, home of my parents and a lot of other friendly folk in the church there. Hopefully it'll be coming soon!