2005

May 14, 2005 Angela and Billie's Wedding

On May 14, 2005 Angie Mitchell and Billy Erskine were married. For more pictures of the wedding, click here.

May 22 - 28, 2005 Las Vegas

For our 11th wedding anniversary, we headed to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon.  For details and pictures, click here.

June 1, 2005

Grampa had a little slip up watching Raya.  Now that she can walk, she scampers while I chase behind. On a quick tour of the apartment, she found the toilet and got her hand in the water.  I removed her arm and she then flushed the toilet while I put down the lid.  She quickly turned her attention to the toilet paper roll and began aggressively unrolling it.  I started laughing very hard.  She picked up the mounds of paper off the floor and I just managed to open the lid in time for her to send the paper in.  I broke off the tail end of the paper from the dispenser while she quickly flushed again.  I was now laughing very hard.  She then started to pull down another large amount of paper and I made sure the lid was open.  This time I was laughing so hard I didn't react in time to prevent her hands from going in the bowl too for a splashing party.  Grandma was alerted by my laughter and my gasps for air as I held myself up against the tub and my eyes teared over.  "Oh God, Tim," Viki exclaimed as she saw what was going on.  She scooped up Raya and carried her away from the offending grandparent.  As they left, Raya called out "Oh God."

June 4, 2005

Kathryn was the first family member to participate in the Oak Bay Tea Party.  She was a flag bearer for the Oak Bay High School Band.

Our annual trip to Parksville was great fun again although the weather was cool and rainy.  Attendees were Tim, Viki, Marika, Drew, Raya, Stan, Kevin, Teresa, Robert, Kari, Brennan, Pam, Lora and Sierra.  In the football game, Kevin and I were both limping badly after the game.  I had quite a dramatic dive to the goal line which resulted in a fumble and no score.  Robert was King of the Castle, which included knocking his partner Kari flat on her back into the ocean waters.

June 16 - 17, 2005

Kathryn graduated from Oak Bay High on June 16th.  There was a get together at Kayla's place before the ceremony.  It was attended by Kathryn's mother Ev, Charles & Ruth Hebert, Stan Freiberg, Viki and me.  On the 17th Kathryn attended the dinner and dance at the Empress Hotel with Niño Samson.  Nino turned out to be the son of a co-worker, which we only found out on the day of the ceremony.  He came by the house with a corsage and was impeccable dressed.  He was the perfect gentleman and it was the only time in all our 6 kids that Viki and I experienced the parent side a traditional prom night date.

June 24, 2005

The Tall Ship Festival was in Victoria on this weekend.  Ships came from all over the world, including Russia, New Zealand and Mexico.  To see more Tall Ship pictures, click here.

July 7, 2005 Pam's Nineteenth Birthday

July 4 - 11, 2005 at Shawnigan Lake

July 30, 2005

Dennis and Dawn Dixon visited from Washington state.  The Oak Bay Marina had a power failure and informed us there would be no dinner service.  Viki, Tim, Dawn, Dennis, Kathryn and Lovisa convinced the Blue Crab to make room for us on their verdana and we had a great time.

August 4, 2005

  Kathryn got her driver's license.  Then Tracie and Kathryn headed to London and Czech Republic.

August 5, 2005 Packers Family Night

Rachel and Heidi Speckhard attend the Packers Family Night. Tickets were obtained by Tim over the internet.  The tickets went to Canada and then through various family members and cities, including Valparaiso and Sheboygan, before ending up in Green Bay.

August 11, 2005 - Viki's 50th

Lovisa was the planning force behind a surprise birthday party for Viki.  It took some unexpected white lies from Tim to seal the deal.  Marika and Lovisa came through big time on this event!

August 13, 2004 

Tim and Viki finally make it to the Butchart Gardens.  The Saturday fireworks were amazing, but the picnic lunch was even better.

August 15 - 22, 2005 at Shawnigan Lake

September 4, 2005 at Saanich Fair

We took Raya to the Saanich Fair and had some special moments.  The first thing we came across was the obstacle course for dogs.  Raya loves dogs.  They were all awaiting the start of the races and were in a line up against the fence where Raya could get very close.  They were very excited and many were yelping.  Raya began making equally loud yelping noises.  Spectators in the stands were smiling and I was laughing.  One of the owners said their dog was shy with people, but had taken to Raya.  Raya was allowed to feed her new friend weiners.  It was hard to convince Raya to move on to the rest of the fair.

The next item we saw was the horses.  For some reason Raya was very interested to see the horses and had been saying "Raya ride horsey" for the past two days.  The first horse we came across was a giant Clydesdale.  As I held her close to pet it, the horse tipped its ears back and Raya exclaimed loudly "No ride! No ride!"

Beginning of September

Kathryn moved to Prince George and her room mate ended up being the daughter of a woman I work with.  Kathryn also met a new serious friend, Andrew Holler.

Halloween

Raya was quite entertaining at Halloween.  She was extremely polite at the first house.  It went something like this:

Drew: "Say ,Trick or Treat"
Raya: "Tick O Teet"
Drew: "Say, Thank You"
Raya: "Tank You"
Drew: "Say, Goodbye"
Raya: "Goobye"

On leaving, Drew asked her to put the candies in her bag.  With no response he reached in for the candy.
Raya screamed, "Minnnnnnnneeeeee!"

At the next house, the process took an unexpected turn.
Drew, "What do you say, Raya?"
Raya, (in clear adult English) "I want more."
Mom was embarrassed, but Viki and I had a good laugh.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year had a special guest, as I flew Kathryn in from Prince George for the weekend.  Brining Kathryn home was sort of a re-enactment of my favorite thanksgiving movie - Home for the Holidays.  Hopefully we were less dysfunctional than the characters in the movie.  At the dinner this year were Stan, Glenna, Lovisa, Erik, Marika, Drew, Raya, Damon, Kim, Steve, Carol, Chuck, Terry, Cheri, Randy, Lexy, Kathryn, Viki and me.  Kathryn's time with us was very special and she intends to bring the boyfriend back with her at Christmas.

Pics of Marika and Drew