A day and a night at the fire

This time we had fun in the sun and it went all the way through the night till the fire. Another great weekend.

Me and Emmy goofing off at the Lac du Bonnet park.

Emmy and her 'dog' going for a slide.

Yoga anyone?

So cute! Found you...

A fine dinner and general overeating, Mom and Dad Matthes finally made the journey.

Yes we are taking our own picture ....

Dan playing in the shadows

Yes we are still lovers ...

Mom and Emmy playin

Jumping pigtails!

B's fire skills are awesome.

Gage and Emerson debating the theory of general relativity.

Dan just found out his dal was burning. WHAT?!

Great Holidays

I took a few days off with the famiy, we had some great weather and a great time at the cabin once again. I think this is definitly considered my summer home!

Dan spent some time with us and we introduced him to water sports, he took on a role as a professional tuber ... and showed a fine display of tubery.

Gage, Dan's master trainer, shows him how it's done:



Emerson is famous for boat naps; she always makes sure she has her soother and blankie 'for a little nap on the boat'. Brandy has skills; her wakeboarding is getting awesome except for two scorpion falls that might have ended the season a little early (we won't say that the water is too cold for her!).
G man, gettin the boat ready for another TUBE session.Another favorite passtime of Emerson is playing in the car, she is doing a fine job supervising me pack up.
Stanozolol enjoying the sun and crisp air of Lee River.Little Emmy havin some fun with the sprinkler at home.

The Lake

Well it seems all the posts are about the lake; but that has been the santuary since coming back from India...just a few pics of playing in the water.


Dave

The dogs - Ocho and Ollie

We had another great weekend at the lake, Matty was dog sitting Ollie so he had both pups over at our place one night- I think Ocho is a rocker spaniel? Anyway he is really cute and both Gage and Emmy really took to him. Ollie is getting old (105 yrs) so she was a different kind of fun.

G -Man rocking out the riding mower "Mc Pig" (Gage calls it his quad since I won't buy him one! Accepting donations to the quad fund...)

Emerson pretending to be a puppy:

Emmy and Ocho on a walk:

Emmy and Ollie on the couch ...

Just Chillin...

Run!!

-Dave

Crafty

Emerson was quick to learn where we kept the cookies; she is in full form here and this is her favorite outfit.

Thanks to everyone who made it out on the weekend to Lee River it was FUN!

Back to the city for the week....

DM

Weekend at the Lake

Aaahh what a glorious breath of fresh air, the lake was great this weekend! Brandy went on a girls shopping weekend to Fargo and GF (that's Grand Forks) and I took the kids out to Lee River.

We had fun; we roasted marshies, we swam in the lake, we picked woodticks off our skin and we fixed the hot tub. It was awesome. I poisoned the driveway and managed to over fill the sink enough to wet almost the whole kitchen, which left me feeling somewhat silly ... oh well at least I still haven' had time to put the floor in or else there might be a little damage to fix.

The long weekender coming up should be good too; I will get McPig back to work and chop the long grass down and there will be huge fire in the back pit.

See you soon
Dave

Brandy and the shoppers about to depart ...

G Man having some fun with the marshmallow pokers....

Home

We are home. We are almost back on time, and all of us are feeling like the year went by in a flash.

All of our bags and things made it unharmed, and we are all enjoying the sunshine, clean air, delicious food and simplicity of the stores here!

However, I insulted my taste buds with an over priced under ripe mango from Safeway this morning. It was utterly dissapointing and made me long for a 10 rupee king mango off TTK Road..........

Here are a few shots of the journey back; starting with the tedious process of packing and closing the Chennai home and finishing with our Winnipeg home:

Lunch with the boys from the office:

Ladha and her family:

Brandy juggling weight and stuff between all 9 suitcases:

Me and the girls from Greyshot:

I already miss you Olivia!!!

Dan's new digs:

Gage and I took Dan here for his first night away from 'home'; ask him one day about losing 5 pounds to sweat and stubborness:


Thats all for now, a lot more to come when I have some (free?) time.

Dave

Winding down

The place is reminisicent of our arrival; the rooms are empty except for our suitcases and a few items left out. The days have seemed to fly by looking back as they always do and we knew they would; but our minds were not prepared.

We will be home soon; we will be back to Canada. We have grown and we will continue.

Love India.

DM

Paradise = Maldives

It was short and very sweet. I have been to the Maldives. The water is crystal clear and warm, the air is clean and crisp and smells of coconuts and suntan oil.

The adventure started in Chennai, with a plane that was 3 hours delayed. A stop in Bangalore was short as the flight was waiting for us; I loved the rush and hustle of running to catch it because it made time FLY!

Next stop in Male (not like male the man but pronounced Mal - a), where we moved to a small sea plane. Apparantly an unusual storm was passing through and with mega winds and rain I was counting on the two air sickness bags to get me though it...I left them both under my seat as an arrival present to the pilots. A total of 18 people could fit the plane but only 6 got off at the Hilton Rangali, 4 others were carrying on to another island after we were clear. The wind was so strong the pilot took three tries to get the dock! I couldn't wait to get off that plane as my motion sickness was bad.

A deep breath, some cold H2O and I was ready. Here is the sea plane dock:

Here is the walk to the island hotel reception:


More to come ... ...

DM

A Great Weekend

We spent some time in GRT Temple Bay again...such a glorious place, I feel relaxed, tanned, fat and happy.
The view from our terrace...

Dan taking some photos...

Me, Emmy and Svenia in the hotel bar...

The German and Canadian kids having some fun...

A wicked heap of rope...

Gageman on the beach...

Emmy in 'fast mode'...

Brothers

Dan has arrived - safe and in great spirits. The kids were PUMPED to have uncle Dan here and both talked his ears off (actually they haven't stopped!).

Here is an early pic of the shoeless hobbit feet:


Another Angle:


Freshly stepped off the plane:



And a short video of the main drag by our house from last night; there was a 'meeting' going on. It was LOUD!!

Indian Zoo

OMatthes Clan at the Indian Zoo

We had a blast, it was hot and long. Famous quotes:
Brandy - I have never sweat this much. Ever.
Gage - Models of Dinosaurs? That nice, but I'm ready to get back to the car.
Emerson - Dad? I want to see the fat hippo.
Dave - Get a picture of that sign! (of an animal called the Wild Ass. We didn't get the picure)

 

Good times

-Dave