Sea Camp

Blake was able to go to Sea Camp with his Jr. high this last week.  They fund-raised and go every three years so everyone has a chance to go once while in jr high.  He was not nervous since he has flown so many times. 

 Blake had a really great time. They spent a lot of time in the sea, boogie boarding, learning about siene nets, and swimming. did some labs where they dissected quid and other fish, and learned a lot about sea life.  One day was spent out on a boat.

They did some scuba diving from the boat and he tried eating some kelp.  Said it was not to bad. Many games were played 

It was warm and beautiful.  Blake came back very tan.

They went to Sea World one day also.  There were a lot of neat things that they got to experience.   When we picked him back up from the airport Friday, he talked thee entire way home.  Not many stories got finished.  He was so excited to share it all with us that in the middle of one story he would remember another thing that happened.  It was also the same camp that Leah had gone to 3 years ago, so they were reminiscing together.  Did you have this leader, did you play this game, oh yeah yeah, and saw this and did that.  It was fun to see them so excited together.

Blake didn't take a camera with him.  All these pictures camp from a teacher that went with them.  It is such a neat thing for these kids.  So much time and effort goes into the planning and organizing.  We have some great teacher at the school.  Blake had a journal he wrote in each day and will be able to remember this trip forever.

Holidays and Tender Mercies

HALLOWEEN: I did not get one picture this year of my kids dressed up at Halloween.  Both these pictures I stole from Leah.  Her and her friend Megan went as Tom and Jerry to school..

  ..and then with Meadow and Emily to the stake dance they went as tourist and a lion.

Blake had a group of friends that Dave took out trick or treating and the all went as ghosts.  They said they wanted to go old school and just cut holes in a sheet.  I should have asked Dave to get one but forgot.  The day of Halloween Leah and I went to Toone's.  Emily had her annual party, with movie and treats.

REMEMBRANCE DAY: This year as Remembrance Day fell on Sunday, we had debated about moving sacrament meeting time or just leaving it.  In the end our bishop decided it was just easier to leave and knew that many people would be leaving.  Blake was asked to play The Last Post at the community program and Leah laid the wreath for our church.  I didn't get a picture of either, cause it seemed a little disrespectful to be up with my camera during those times.  Blake was nervous and didn't play as well as he had at home.  But did a good job.  He was disappointed in himself.  Many people complimented him.  After they served beef on a bun which was a nice surprise and very good. 

As mentioned before, we have had quite the ordeal with getting Cora's visa for the UK.  The whole rig-a-ma-roll with getting it sent off was crazy.  When we left the consulate, we were given a tracking number and told we could start tracking it Nov 9th.  On Oct 23rd, Cora got and email saying it had arrived in the UK and that all looked in order.  They would sent her another email when it was processed and on its way.  So we are waiting around, checking email for a few weeks.  I was talking to Cora on Monday, the 12th, and she asked if I had tracked it yet.  I told her I had not since usually when you can start tracking it means it is just sent and will still be a while, I would start looking at it in a couple days.  She really wanted me to just see, so online I went, and got a big shock.  UPS tracking said it had sat here for a week and since no one picked it up was being returned to sender. No one had called us or emailed us to let us know.  Panic!  The visa is a stamp in her passport.  So even if the visa did not come in she could not even just go to the Provo MTC like missionaries do.  She could not leave the country.  Dave and I both started making phone calls.  He left work and went to UPS and talked to people there.  After a few hours we were told it had been signed for at the consulate in Edmonton.  We didn't know if it stayed there or had been shipped out.  If it had been shipped off, it could take up to 12 weeks to get it returned.  There is no phone number for the consulate either. Cora quickly asked for time off work the next day and we told her to make sure she was there right when they open at 8:30.  She was on the door waiting.  When she arrived they asked for tracking number and ID.  After waiting for almost 2 hours they handed her the visa.  We were so relieved.  We then realized that even if we had gotten a message from UPS, we couldn't have picked it up.  Cora would have had to drive down, show ID and sign for it.  So many tender mercies.  Cora felt inspired to have me look it up, Dave talked to the right people, Cora's boss gave her the day off last minute, and it was still sitting at consulate.  Blessed day.