Salt Water

It's the flip-flops that I can't resist. Ridiculously and indulgently coordinated with his little blue swim trunks.

He actually took to the salty bath with curious enjoyment; a tad bit skeptical, but ready to swish his legs around and get some seaweed on his belly.

Visitors from Afar...

Up until July of this year when Daniel and Liz returned to the U.S. from Indonesia, Alex and I realized that all of our siblings were in different countries, with no more than one in each. The countries we spanned were Austrailia (Ming), Singapore (David and fam), Indonesia (Daniel and Libby), Germany (Jon and Flavia), USA (Andrew and Rachel), and Canada (us). Looking at world maps with Talya is a lot of fun since we can point to immediate family members and close friends in every continent. Anyway, we got to have a visit from Uncle Jon and Aunty Flavia this summer. The highlight for Tal was probably getting to go to "her" Aquarium with Uncle Jon in Vancouver, all by themselves...

First Swings

The little dude is getting to enjoy Fort Langley Park along with Big Sis.

Cold Water

well, cold is really the only kind of water we have around here, unless it is in a very heated pool. Over the course of the summer, Talya logged three weeks of swimming lessons at our local outdoor pool. She usually lucked out with somewhat decent weather but there were definitely a few days when I was wearing sweatshirts outside trying to get in the path of the steam rising from the pool. We enjoyed brief dips in the cooler waters and longer sits on the beaches around them.

Speaking of swimming lessons...here she goes in the Jellyfish class!

Fragrance Lake...after a hike on Chuckanut Mountain

Getting ready for a dip in the lake on the swimming beach at Lake Padden in Bellingham

Enjoying the scenery after a picnic supper by Lake Alouette at Golden Ears Provincial Park

Gorgeous Lake Alouette

Faces

Cousins, Moods, and Wedding Adventures

We always end up with some kind of funny story after Talya and Braylen get together. My favorite is when they first met at age 1 1/2 and every time the adults would try to get their picture taken, Talya would smile for the camera and Braylen would take the opportunity to bite off a hunk of Tal's popsicle. She acted like she didn't notice but later in the evening gave a rather aggressive bite to Braylen's poor finger. At age 3 1/2, cooperation isn't their favorite word unless you tell them to make mean or scary frown faces.

During this boat ride of the frowny face above, I had the entertainment of hearing these kiddos work on their conversational skills. Braylen said, "My favorite color is blue." Me: "that's a nice color. Your eyes are blue, Braylen." Braylen: "My eyes are light blue. My favorite color is dark blue." Talya, trying to get Braylen's attention: "Braylen?" Braylen is looking the other way. Talya again: "Braylen!" Braylen: "What?!" Talya: Braylen!!" Me: "Braylen said 'what' already; why don't you just tell him what you wanted to say?" Talya: My favorite color is black." Braylen said nothing. Me: "Braylen, do you like black?" Braylen: "No!" Braylen again: "I have black shorts and black pants, you know."

Getting ready for their big roles in Aunty Brittney's wedding, T, B, and fellow flower girl A play with the latest technology.

No, they were not calmly lounging on the window sill of the mansion passing the lazy afternoon away. I don't think they kept their bums still in one place for five seconds.

In the wedding, Braylen dutifully fulfilled his ring bearing responsibility all the way down the aisle after which he turned a completely different direction and walked behind all of the groomsmen instead of taking the precious pillow up to the altar. When gently redirected by one of the groomsmen, we all heard a very loud and mildly sarcastic, "that's where I was going!" Talya and Amelia daintily walked down the aisle spreading rose pedals one at a time and when they got to the front had quite a few left in their baskets. Not missing a detail, we heard Braylen's commanding voice again: "Just dump the rest of them out. That's all I'm going to say."

The one I should really post pictures of is the ravishingly beautiful bride, but unfortunately our camera gave out early in the day and all I have is pictures of her hair in rollers from the morning salon session, and I suspect she'd rather not have these posted. (:

Student Driver

Look Dad! The trees over there! Look! Look!

Look! I said, trees, Dad! Green!

Uh oh! @#%$! I can't reach the brake pedal!

Oh Momma, what have I gotten myself into?!

Family News...

Meet our cuzzie and nephew, Peregrine Kenneth Emmanuel Nelson, born on August 10! He's long and slender, has a sweet little chin dimple, an ever-so-slightly turned up nose, deep ocean blue eyes, and silky baby hair. He also makes remarkably funny grunts and howls like a wolf. He seems to especially like sunshine, trees, and his momma and dadda.

Nicknames that I'm aware of to date: Pippin, Pipsqueak, Percito, Hobbes, Pip, Perry, and I'm starting to want to call him Pickle (after the protagonist of The Adventures of Peregrine Pickles, which was written by somebody named Tobias...I actually know nothing about this story from 1751, just like the names).

Holy Baptism

July 31st...

Talya Faith Kwee, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

May God, who has received you by baptism into his Church, pour upon you the riches of his grace, that within the company of Christ's pilgrim people you may daily be renewed by his anointing Spirit, and come to the inheritance of the saints in glory.

We have brought Talya Faith to baptism knowing that Jesus died and rose again for her and trusting in the promise that God hears and answers prayer. We have prayed that in Jesus Christ she will know the forgiveness of her sins and the new life of the Spirit.

As she grows up, she will need the help and encouragement of the Christian community, so that she may learn to know God in public worship and private prayer, follow Jesus Christ in the life of faith, serve her neighbor after the example of Christ, and in due course come to confirmation.

As part of the Church of Christ, we all have a duty to support her by prayer, example, and teaching. As their parents and godparents, you have the prime responsibility for guiding her and helping her in her early years. This is a demanding task for which you will need the help and grace of God... (taken from the liturgy of Holy Baptism)

Around her first birthday, we started noticing that Talya stared longingly and curiously at the cup and the bread every time we celebrated the Eucharist in church. She seems to have had a deep spiritual sense of our need to partake in this mystery, steadily growing towards a confessional faith. After many conversations about the meaning of the water of baptism, and participation in communion, Talya made the decision to be baptized this summer. She told me at the end of the day of her baptism, "I am so glad that I was baptized when I was still only 3 years old." Me: "Why is that, Talya?" Talya: "Because I will get to have communion for more of my life."

The reason we named her Talya Faith was because our deepest prayer for her since before she was born was that she would receive faith as a gift from God, like dew on a flower. The name Talya is Hebrew and means "Dew from Heaven." Dew is significant in the Jewish faith, and is prayed for as a blessing and referred to symbolically in the Biblical Old Testament (Deuteronomy 32:3). The Greek version of her name (Thalia) means "to blossom." So, knowing that faith itself is a mystery and not something that we can control, we pray that this blessing of faith would continue to touch her like dew and blossom as she grows.

We thank Uncle Andrew and Auntie Rachel for accepting the role to be Talya's godparents.

Say Cheese

Yeh Yeh and Nai Nai Visit!

We are so grateful to have Alex's parents be able to visit us this summer. We have been having a lot of fun together.

Summer Fun

Riding on boats, throwing rocks in streams, climbing trees, holding baby bunnies, eating ice cream, visiting with grandparents, uncles, aunties, and newborn cousins (the cousin pic here is with 4 week old Kelsey and 2 year old Jordan Rahim; Toby is 10 weeks). Summer snuggles sums it all up for Tobes.

4 weeks-old close ups

I couldn't resist this sleeping chub.