The Talens' Tales

While I was in the hospital and then recovering from my surgery at home, Wilbert and the in-laws kept the kids quite busy. The kids went to parks with Oma and Tante Reina. And then once I was home, Wilbert took the kids to parks few afternoons as well.  Joash has a fascination with Chinese Lanterns and so he and Wilbert have been doing lots of experimenting with different shapes, fuels and other things.  Wilbert and Joash also constructed this nice seat for the back of skelter so Gideon and Mataya can for a ride. So far Joash has been really willing to drive them around. They also made a different hitch for a small wagon so it will hook up to the skelter as well. It has been to see some of ideas of kids come to life. And I think Wilbert enjoys doing it too.

M(om): Gideon, who are you today? G(ideon): Can I go outside, Mom? I want to go outside? M: I know Gideon. Now that you have figured out how to say "outside," you ask to go outside a lot. What do you like to do outside? G: Everything. Crawl in the sandbox, ride in the tractor, crawl in the grass, sit on the little yellow car, go for rides in the seat on the back of the skelter. Outside is the best. M: You do enjoy it. What else do you like to do?  G: I like to look out the window at the cows and "moo" at them. I also like to look at books and I like to eat. A lot. M: We are certainly amazed at the amount of food you are able to eat and you seem to like everything. You also really like to feed yourself, which makes for some interesting and somewhat messy meal times. But I am so pleased that so far you are willing to try anything. G: It is all so good. Mom. M: Any thoughts on walking? G: It sounds like a good idea, but I am very happy to crawl wh...

A British nurse in WWI German-occupied Brussels, Evelyn Marche spends her days at the hospital and her nights working at a café . . . or so it seems. Eve's most carefully guarded secret is that she also spends her nights carrying out dangerous missions as a spy for a Belgian resistance group. When a plane crashes as she's en route to a rendezvous, Eve is the first to reach the downed plane and is shocked to recognize the badly injured pilot as British RFC Captain Simon Forrester. She risks her life to conceal him from the Germans, but as the secrets between them grow and the danger mounts, can they still hope to make it out of Belgium alive? High as the Heavens  is the second of Kate Breslin's books that I have read and I found this one just enjoyable as her first. It is an interesting time in history with interesting characters and an exciting plot that keeps the pages turning. A WWI novel without most of the gore of war, but still a clear and riveting pictures ...

This was supposed to be the first of probably a few post about our wonderful family vacation in Michigan with my parents and sisters. Instead it is a post about our vacation, on PEI. The kids at home with Oma, Opa, Tante Reina and Wilbert. Wilbert home with the kids or visiting me...at the hospital. At 4 am on the morning of July 15th, instead of going to the airport to fly to Michigan with the kids, Wilbert and I drove to the hospital where I was soon admitted and fast tracked to have my gall bladder removed. A little bit of background. I have been struggling for a while with random bouts of pain in my abdomen and back. Back in October of 2016, I did go the ER with this pain. At that time, the doctor determined I was having esophageal spasms, a surprisingly common thing for a woman who had a baby 5 or 6 month ago. After my time in the ER, I did not have any further issues until April of this year. In April, I had 10 of these episodes in 20 days. Most often they would last for ...

Our 11th anniversary was last week and Wilbert and I were able to spend a good chunk of the day together away from the farm and it was wonderful. We decided to head to Point Prim to have lunch at the Point Prim Chowder House . But, our meandering back road trip we over shot the point, but ended up at Roma at Three Rivers instead, which was just as nice. It is a nice historical site with a lovely view on the water front and a nice little cafe with soup and bread. So we had lunch there instead and had the tour of the historic site. On the beach at Roma at Three Rivers Costumes was part the tour. It was a very warm day and these clothes were very hot. So we were thankful we don't have to wear things like this any more.  After our lunch and tour of Roma at Three Rivers, we did head to Point Prim and climb to the top of the lighthouse. A great view and a nice climb. We also stopped at Hannah's Bottle Village on the Point Prim Road. We decided we will come back a...

We were so pleased and surprised to have Jander come for a visit. And he spent time almost every day of his visit working with Joash on riding his bike without training wheels. Today, on Jander's last day, Joash was able to start and everything by himself and went very fast on the driveway. Thanks Oom Jander for helping Joash be able to ride a two-wheeler!

We are enjoying our summer so much, especially since summer means visitors. We were so happy to have Emil, Karisa and Ezekiel visit last week.  They flew into Charlottetown and captures some great photos of our farm from the plane.  We got to meet Zeke for the first time. The cousins were not quite sure what to make of each other. Zeke and Gideon are about 7 months apart and pretty much the same size. The trampoline is so fun! Walking in downtown Charlottetown. On the waterfront.  We really wanted to get some nice pictures of all the kids together. Unfortunately the kids were not in a very cooperative mood at all. So this is what we got. Oma, Opa and grandkids. The brothers and their kids. Gideon and Zeke.  We also had lots of fun on the beach together on Canada and took in the fireworks in town as well.  Thanks for coming to visit Emil, Karisa and Zeke. We look forward to seeing you again soon!

We have been having a lovely holiday weekend.With some family visitors, it has been a great excuse to get out and do somethings with the family. Last week Thursday we went to downtown Charlottetown and saw the Young Company show for the year at the Confederation Center. Since it is a free outdoor show, we had a picnic lunch during the show and it was very nice. Then, of course, we needed some Cows ice cream for dessert. It is so nice to eat some ice cream on water front. Traditional picture on the Cow. Normally our church has a picnic at the beach on July 1st, Canada Day. However, the weather wasn't looking all that great, so the picnic was postponed to Monday.  There are lots of fun games and activities, we have lunch together and it is right on the beach! This year they had a contest for the most Canadian outfit or costume. Joash came up with a grand plan and spent sometime time writing and drawing. I helped him tape it to his clothes before we went to he picnic...