Luke and Rachel: January 2016

We traveled up to the cabin the night of the 4th (we were lucky we found the place because there were no road signs and the directions were turn left at the construction sign loose gravel) after having a delicious dinner in St. George with the Hoer's. On the 5th it was party time!! Dad brought up our dirt bikes, the Lindsay's brought their dirt bikes and the Hyer's brought their side by side. It was so very windy and we were in the middle of no where so the sand and dust would whip into your face. It was still fun riding around the cabin but the wind made it hard to want to stay outside for very long. Lucas and I were able to visit the Hafen Cemetery, it was nice being able to see grandpa's grave and visit his families graves. Surprisingly Lucas and I were some of the few who were aloud to drive the Hyer's side by side so we took some of the cousins out on rides. I was driving and we had Lucas in the front with me and Emma and Megan in the back and I took a corner a little too fast. The video Emma happened to be taking I think depicts how everyone felt for a couple seconds until I gained control of the side by side again. Lucas admits he was debating on whether to grab the steering wheel or not but wasn't sure if that would help or make things worse. I was able to recover and now we have a hilarious video! Unfortunately Maddy and Lauren weren't able to recover when they took a corner too quickly. I forgot who was driving now but they took a corner and ended up sliding the bike and themselves on the gravel. It was a sad sight to see but we are lucky we have so many medical professionals in the family to take care of them. Lauren got beat up a little more so I think she was driving. But with the help of Dad, Diana, Liz, Kat and even Lucas we were able to clean them up. Lucas I think is starting to become interested in the Medical field, it was so cute seeing him at my dads side handing him tools while he cleaned out the wounds. I ended up cutting off Lauren's jeans because it was too painful for her to pull the jeans off and then Liz, Gina and I helped her clean her wounds in the tub. After getting Maddy and Lauren cleaned up and medicated we had dinner and then went shooting! Uncle scot brought not only his guns but explosives also! The explosives he brought was called tannerite. After mixing the tannerite if you shoot it it will explode. It made shooting guns that much cooler! After shooting we also hit some balls on their mini driving range. At night Lucas and I sat outside and star gazed, it was breathe taking. Sunday morning we packed up and left. Even though it was a quick trip and despite the motorcycle crash it was nice being with all of the cousins and family.

On August 27th we flew into Buffalo New York, picked up our rental car and then headed for the Niagara Falls! Lucas and Sam have been to the Niagara Falls but I hadn't so we made a slight detour so I could get a glimpse of the natural world wonder (not one of the top 7 natural wonders in the world as we thought). Lucas said the Canadian side of the falls was more impressive then the American side and boy was he right!! On the Canada side of the niagara falls we were up close and personal, we could feel the mist from the falls! It was breathe taking! After looking at the Niagara falls we took our journey further into Canada to Milton, where Grandpa Willhelm and Grandma Hendricus live. Lucas told me how Grandpa and Grandma were very blunt and boy was he right. Grandpa is a sweetheart, he is so cute! Grandma was very nice and prepared us snacks to eat but then things turned. When she asked us if we wanted snacks Lucas replied "I'm okay" and she said in a stern voice, "Don't say your okay. You either want it or you don't. It's either yes or no. I know your okay". Then Lucas said sorry and she said "Don't apologize". It was shocking but then I understood what Lucas meant.

American side

Canadian Side

August 28th

On August 28th Toni and Tyler were nice enough to give us a tour of Milton! We spent the night at Dan and Jane's house so when we woke up we had breakfast then went over to Grandma and Grandpas where Carrie, Benson, Sally and Tony were staying. We went to Harvey's for lunch and it was like a subway where you put what you want on your sandwich but with a hamburger. Harvey's was amazing! There were so many different topping options and sauces, like who would have thought to put spicy mayo on a burger? I didn't put it on my burger cause I'm a wimp when it comes to spicy but its cool it is an option. After a tour of the Milton town square we headed to a Blue Jay's game with the WHOLE family. It was fun meeting all of the Tielemans cousins and of course watching a baseball game.

August 29th

On August 29th we had a family party at Dan and Jane's for Grandpa and Grandma's 60th wedding anniversary. It was perfect weather for lawn games and a BBQ. It is always nice being with family and I am very grateful that I was able to finally meet all of Lucas' cousins and family. The Tielemans side of the family has a unique personality and make up but it was nice to be around family. Toni and Tyler are hilarious, I can't get enough of them. Toni is the sweetest girl ever! Toni and Tyler live in the basement and take care of grandma and grandpa so naturally they are grandpa's favorite and boy does grandpa express that. Grandpa is such a sweetheart. I guess the Tielemans express themselves and love differently then my family so when I complemented grandpa and told him he looked handsome I became one of his favorites. He told me that if Toni wasn't living in his basement that I could live there and said something to the extent that if Toni didn't take care of him so much I would be his favorite. When we all gathered for cutting the cake Grandpa and Grandma both had a little toast before cutting the cake together.

Grandpa said, "It really strike me how you people did this all for us, and I'm very very thankful. I already this morning was going to make some notes of what I was going to say but I (Grandma pipes in and says "say thank you and shut up") I may have to put it on paper and give you a slip but you have to understand something. That we really appreciate what you kids do for us and how you feel about us. Its special how grandma is treated by all of you. I thank you very much for this day. I know you guys did something for us and I usually want it my way and I just let you guys do it and I know it would be perfect and it really shows what you did. I want to say thank you, thank you, thank you very much. "

After eating cake we made s'mores by a bonfire in the backyard and played big booty (Lucas' idea and it was a HIT).

Left to Right: Derek, Tony, Linda, Dan, Carolyn

Left to Right: Dan, Linda, Jane, Derek, Tony, Sally, Carolyn, and Carolyn's boyfriend

Darryl, Carrie, Toni, Luke, Paige, Sam, Catelyn, Brandon, Dave, Kyle

Andy (Grandpa's older brother)

Kristin (Brandon's girlfriend) and Brandon

August 30th

On August 30th we went to church at a nearby chapel. The ward was filled with friendly people but boy was it a small ward! I have never seen the Tielemans Interiors store and so we stopped by after church. I also had the treat of seeing Derek's place...boy was it interesting. Interesting doesn't even begin to describe it. I felt like I was in a museum filled with random statues, pictures and trinkets. His house is the definition of being a collectomaniac. I don't know where they even eat because his table was covered in trinkets and there was dust on it so it's not like they just barely put the trinkets there. For dinner we had left-over BBQ and played big booty.

August 31st

On August 31st we took a ferry to Toronto Island and rode bikes on the island. Tony watched Benson so Carrie and Sally could come with us to Toronto, we weren't sure how that would go but it went smooth (supposively). Boy was it humid! It was good weather but once we got peddling the sweat started rolling because of the humidity. We weren't out of breath or getting a workout but we were pretty sweaty. After the bike ride and eating lunch on the island everyone except Lucas and I (we used the rental car) left to head back to Milton. We were able to go to the top of the CN tower, which was the world's tallest free-standing structure and the world's tallest tower for 34 years, until 2010. The CN tower is 1,815.4 feet tall. They recently added glass flooring so we were able to walk over that and I admit I was very nervous at first but Lucas jumped right on it. After the CN tower we got some street dogs and went to the Blue Jays game (Toni and Tyler have season passes and we borrowed their tickets).