Thanks Kids!! (March 4-5, 2012)

Our 2011

Mother's Day and Father's Day Gift

from our kids was a get-away-weekend.

We were busy building a house,

and and had no time to get-away.

Come fall, Mai said

"You better cash in on that gift,

or it may expire."

So we found a one night stay

in a Hotel at the Whistler Ski Village.

We don't ski, but to see a ski village

in the winter and enjoy all the activity

was nice. Unfortunately my dream of

seeing all the buildings covered in

three feet of snow and looking like

a Gingerbread Village didn't come true.

We had spent Friday and Saturday

nights in Vancouver with Mai,

and went up to Whistler

on Sunday Morning.

It rained all day Sunday, and

turned to snow before Monday Morning.

When we first arrived, we got parking

under the Listel Hotel for the car.

Then we went for a walk intending to take

the gondola to the top of the mountain.

From there you can take the

"Peak to Peak"

gondola which runs between

Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains.

But the girl selling the tickets,

showed us a webcam picture,

and there was no visibility whatsoever,

so we decided not to spend the money

on the gondola tickets,

they allowed us to go for free

to the first stop,

which is at the tobogganing park.

After that we walked around,

and did some window shopping,

Below are some pictures of the village.

For lunch we found the Mongolie Grill,

that was pretty cool,

it is an on the spot stir fry consisting of

what you choose from a food bar.

Choice includes vegetable, meat,

seafood, and sauces to go with them.

After lunch, the Hotel room was ready,

we rested awhile watching

a couple of programs on TV.

After dark we drove to

a distant part of the village

for the desert we didn't have at lunch.

That was really good, (sorry no picture).

We shared a very large

Strawberry-Chocolate Crape,

that was served with

ice cream and whipped cream.

After that we enjoyed the Hotel Hot tub,

and relaxed some more before bedtime.

Come morning,

this was the view from our window,

Snow at a Ski Village, novel idea??!!

A couple pictures as we were leaving.

As we passed the Vancouver area

it was even a little sunny.

But a short distance after Hope BC,

we were stopped by Dept of Hwys,

and told the Coquihalla Pass was closed.

they had a foot of snow over night,

and there were accidents including

jack-kniffed trucks.

So we were forced to take the

old Highway called the Hope-Princeton,

which takes an extra 2 hours.

Below are scenes from that!

The first hour was pretty stressful,

and there too we saw the box of a Semi

hanging over an embankment, teetering

on the cement guard rail.

But after we got over the summit

of the first pass it improved drastically,

and continued getting better the closer

we got to our beautiful

Sunny Okanagan!!

Nice weekend, thanks again kids,

Love all Five of you!!

Mom and Dad

2011 in Review

As you can see it has been some time

since I up dated my blog!

The year has gone by in a blur.

Upon Arriving home from Africa/Europe,

it was time to get the taxes done,

but that was mixed with the final touches

to a building plan, getting the building

permit, and finally starting the building

by the beginning of May.

At the same time,

Ronald had made plans to return to

mainland US from the Island of Saipan.

He asked us to buy him a car.

We found what he wanted

(the blue Ford Focus Wagon)

about 50 miles north of Kelowna.

We picked the car up on a trip to

Revelstoke(my dad's home town)

there we meet up with some family

from Holland who had come again

to visit our 102.5 year old aunt.

Our first adventure in Revelstoke was to

drive to the top of the new ski mountain

above our hotel,

to view the valley and the village.

Left to Right:

Anneke, Luc,

Beth, Hector,

Lo, Hettie, Royce.

After that we picked up Aunt Ebba,

& went to her favorite restaurant

for a mid-afternoon meal.

(She is on the right

between my cousin Hettie and I)

The rest of the summer was consumed

with building a house on the property

we first owned (and lived at for 5 years)

when we moved to Kelowna,

(before Mai-Rhea was born).

This picture shows the beautiful hedge

surrounding our "estate".

It was probably the selling point for us,

we have always loved the hedge.

When the kids were small,

I was comfortable allowing them to

play in the fully fenced yard, that

was secluded from the eye of passers.

The house being only 2 steps

above the yard, made it easy

to supervise their play!

Our Cozy Charming Little House!!

Spring Time.

Winter Time.

The old house was sitting

on the middle of the lot,

and it is a lot that is big enough

to be sub-divided, and each lot

can have either a duplex,

or 2 houses on it.

So in order to proceed,

we had to remove the old house.

But we didn't start that process until

the new house was almost complete.

When we needed to disconnect

the utilities from the old house

in order to move them to the

new house, the renters lived in our

motorhome for the month of

September till the utilities were

reconnected and we got the

occupancy permit.

See progress pictures below.

Hector tamping the backfill

preparing to pour the cement slab floor.

Floor poured, garage still left to pour.

Just like magic, a house appears!!!

Stopping up all the traffic on Taylor Rd.

While the utility crews were working.

Then the north part of the old house

had to come down, so the underground

utilities ditch could be dug.

We left the bedroom end so the renters

were still able to store most of their stuff,

until actually able to move.

To all Realtor's...

This is how you really do an

"Open House"!

Here you can see the trench pretty much

going through where the living room,

and kitchen used to be.

The finished product,

landscaping

will have to be done in the spring.

Back to the year as it happened:

In July Hector and I went to Florida

for a week to celebrate Wailu's

(his oldest brother) 70th birthday.

Ronald and Tiffany had also come

for the celebration, while there,

friends sponsored

a baby shower for them.

We rented this neat red vehicle,

we had the choice between navy and red,

how hard could that be?!!

And with the stroke of a computer key

was able to change it into a brand new

Chimney Sweep Vehicle for Hector!!!

September Trip

My cousin's daughter got married

on the long weekend,

I drove for 4 hours,

Kelowna to Wenatchee Washington,

there I met Mai-Rhea, who had driven

4 hours from Vancouver, I left my car

in the parking lot of the SDA Church,

and with Mai and my cousin Carmela,

we drove another 4 hours

to Walla Walla Washington.

Jaqui Toews & Andrew Hellie

The cousins of Jaqui's mother Sharryl,

Left to Right:

Carmela Steinke Theroux,

Beth Versteegh Odiyar,

Karen Bannister Mathiesen,

Gladys Steinke Wentland,

Darla Ritchey McCarty,

Jaqui & Andrew,

Sharryl Ritchey Toews (bride's mom),

Rod Schafer.

Jaqui's first & second cousins

Left to Right:

Kelley McCarty,

Sonia Toews (bride's sister),

Allen McCarty, Mai-rhea Odiyar,

Kevin McCarthy,

Derrick Alikin

That same weekend we celebrated the

80th Birthday of

Leatha Steinke Ritchey

(my mom's youngest sister,

& grandmother of the Bride).

We also visited the wife

of one of my mom's cousins,

Grace Streifling

They had at one time lived in Kelowna

while her husband Gus was principal

of our Okanaga Adventist Academy.

Summer of 1960 they left as Missionaries

to Nigeria. We have stayed in touch,

and it was nice to see her.

October 7, 2011

Brought us our First Grandchild

Jadon Thomas Armogan Odiyar

We visited him at his home in Nebraska

when he was 10 days old,

and stayed for a week.

I am going to manage my own gift money!

Jadon with his mommy: Tiffany

Pete & Verna Blankenship,

Beth & Hector Odiyar,

Tiffany & Ronald Odiyar,

Jadon

Two months later we returned, on Dec 18

with Uncle Royce, and Auntie Mai-Rhea.

While there Santa actually visited us...

...and he brought Jadon, his first

Vancouver Canooks, (hockey) Jersey,

which came from his "auntie" Kelley

(my cousin's daughter, who like Mai,

had no sister, so they grew up very close).

Jadon, needed curtians for his room,

so his 2 grandma's went shopping.

Verna bought the material,

and I sewed them.

Brown may seem a little dark for

a baby's room, but it matches up with the

brown trunk on the tree, the blue trim is

leopard print and matches the walls!

the small blue dots you see are an

assortment of blue buttons.

Well Folks... that's it for 2011

Happy 2012 to all of you!!