What Happened in June?

 Our June started with Ben's birthday on the 3rd. He requested homemade doughnuts like the ones we made for New Year's Eve ... and this time he helped to make them!

 

The following weekend, we took him to the Warhammer shop in Burnaby, which we'd never visited before. Ben picked out a few sets to paint, while I was introduced to the world of Warhammer :)

Fast forward past all the studying and finishing school projects (including Janae's first college art class during the short summer term) to June 20, when we attended the Scandinavian festival in Burnaby. This was especially exciting because I got to be there with all my sisters! Anita hadn't been since we were kids but was able to come up and meet us this year.

Janae and Alaina made some beautiful crowns at the Sweden tent,

and Eric got to try on the chainmail in the Viking Village for the first time! (He still needs to grown into it a bit...)

We also had our usual Swedish meatballs, European hot dogs, and (my favorite) Norwegian waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, and we picked up some chocolate-filled Marianne mints as well.  

The next day was Father's Day, which we celebrated with chocolate cake, a big Star Wars cup with sound effects, and a trip out to Langley for Eric to receive his patriarchal blessing.

 

Then it was the last day of school! Eric got an award for being on student council all year. Now on to Grade 7 for him and Grade 12 for Alaina (she's already ordered her grad hoodie and wants to go look at prom dresses!). 

Without any school this past week, we've had time for a few walks in the rain,

and also a trip out to Steveston where we visited the Gulf of Georgia Cannery museum, walked along Fisherman's Wharf, and ate fish and chips near the ocean. This was also my dad's birthday, so we thought of him with all the fishermen, fish, and canning of fish :)

And on the very last day of June, Ben launched his video game, which started as a project for one of his media arts classes a couple of years ago. Ben has built this game from scratch, including all visuals, coding, sound effects--even music--and has been adding and improving various aspects of it. The game is now available for people to buy and play on Steam!

Isn't it nice how June started and ended with Ben? :)

Now we're already into July, looking forward to two months of summer holidays....

Out of the Woods

This week we got to see our kids' school production of Into the Woods ... twice! Since Alaina and Eric were in different casts, we weren't sure which night to invite people to come, but our wonderful family came to BOTH shows! 

Thursday night, we saw Alaina as Rapunzel. This was Alaina's final role in a high school play, since she is in Grade 11, and her school only does a play every other year. She was the perfect Rapunzel in a beautiful costume designed and made by Janae.

 

We loved her singing and her long hair coming down from the tower (I couldn't get a picture, unfortunately!) ... but she is now covered in bruises from being dragged across the stage by the witch!

 

 

The next night, we saw Eric in his very first school play as Cinderella's father.

Eric had already performed a matinee for their school and was considered an "audience favorite" because of his humorous portrayal of his character.

 

He was the father of one of Alaina's friends and the husband of another, so he got to spend lots of time with high schoolers :)

Here is a video link to of one of their dances, taken during a dressed rehearsal with Eric's cast (when Eric forgot his black shoes!), filmed by Alaina: "Into the Woods" Dance

It's hard to believe this production is all over now! 

We've been thinking about it since last June when Alaina received a script, the kids have been working on it with practices multiple times a week (and every Saturday over the past few months), and then all of us were immersed in it two nights in a row. Even Jason is singing the songs now! :)

It's definitely something we will always remember.

Janae's Birthday: Ice Cream Tour and More

Janae celebrated a milestone birthday this month: 19! 

She and I went shopping at Coquitlam Center, then Janae went out for dinner with Alaina, and afterwards our family had a strawberry cake at home.

But throughout the month we continued the celebration with trips to new ice cream shops every week :)

Since Janae is a big ice cream lover, I thought it would be fun to spend the month of March sampling ice cream from shops we hadn't tried before. We looked online for the best-rated places in Vancouver and then chose four.

On Janae's actual birthday, she and I tried Vashti Rose in Port Moody, and even by the end, this was one of our favorites (Janae ranked it #2 of 4). Janae got Mini Egg, with a sample of chocolate mint on top. (I had chocolate cherry with a sample of Mini Egg, in case anyone is wondering!). So good :)

One week later, our next stop was Chocolats Favoris in Gastown. This shop obviously specialized in chocolate--they filled our cones with melted chocolate, added soft serve ice cream, and then dipped it all in more melted chocolate, adding toppings as well. It was pretty messy, but very, very good! (Janae ranked this one #3 of 4.)

The third week, we had Alaina and Eric with us for spring break, and we stopped at Rain or Shine in Vancouver on our way to Flyover Canada. Janae got a sundae here, which she didn't like as much as the other ice creams, but I tasted Eric's chocolate honeycomb and definitely want to go back for a cone of my own someday. Janae gave this shop 4th place.

Yesterday, we finished our tour at Earnest Ice Cream in Vancouver. We didn't know we were saving the best for last, but Janae ranked this as #1 out of the four shops we visited. She once again tried the Mini Egg, and it did not disappoint! Alaina had strawberry (maybe the best strawberry ice cream any of us had ever tasted!), and I got carrot cake.

You might think that this was a lot of ice cream, even spread over the entire month, but when Janae had her friends over to celebrate, they also had an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen--kind of a tradition with Janae. (Janae and Alaina also snuck in a trip to a local and well-loved ice cream shop during the month, which just shows that for some people there might not be such a thing as too much ice cream!). 

Anyway, Janae wanted a Hamilton quote on the cake, "I'm only 19 but my mind is older," which seemed fine until I had to give it to the DQ staff over the phone and then again when I picked up the cake :). They definitely got creative with the color scheme!

The girls went out for dinner in their prom dresses then back to our house for the cake.

Then the next day they had a party for Janae as well :)

Such a great month of celebrating Janae ... and now half of my kids are adults!

The Happiest Day after Christmas

After Christmas, there's really only one thing to look forward to, and it started 12 years ago:

Eric's birthday, of course!

This year, I said he could stay home from school on his birthday (it was a Friday, with not much going on academically). Of course, Alaina woke him up early anyway--since she still had to go to school :) She made him a fun card and gave him a very ... interesting ... gift.

Here's a closer look at that card--notice the height difference between Eric and Alaina. That's taking us back a few years!

Later, we had pizza and an ice cream cake (less of a mudslide this year, luckily). Grandma gave Eric a harmonica that came with pages of handwritten hymns and instructions, so Eric has been playing "Come, Come Ye Saints" like a pioneer all day.

On Saturday we extended the festivities by going to see Zootopia 2, which we all enjoyed.

Happy 12th Birthday, Eric! 

Happy New Year, 2026

Happy New Year!

Alaina, Eric and I started a new tradition this New Year's Eve: making oliebollen (Dutch doughnuts). My mom used to make these when I was little, and it was so nice to try them again :)

Then on January 1, we went to one of our old favorites: Burnaby Village Museum (pictured below on New Year's Day 2016 and 2026).

 

The kids have grown a little in 10 years, but they still had fun seeing all the historic sites, 

 

 

riding on the carousel, 

 

and posing for pictures :)

Such a fun way to spend the last day of 2025 and the first of 2026!