Canada- Take THREE

The Vanderleest Family Reunion, Drayton Valley, Alberta Canada- PART I

This was the reason for the trip. Every summer Mrs. Jones' Mother's Birth Mother's Family (take a minute and read that again... ok, got it? ;) ) has a family reunion in Drayton Valley.
My Mother's birth Mother's (hereafter referred to by name, "Willi") parents migrated from Holland to Drayton valley with their children sometime after the war. Most of the children still live in the area with their families and so they have a big family reunion every year in Drayton Valley.
Kind of fun for us since Mrs. Jones' side of the family is small and has never really had need for a full blown family reunion (Mr. Jones on the other hand is a different story). It is always so neat to get to know these wonderful people better each year.
As an ADOPTIVE Mother myself, I hold a special place in my heart for my Mother's birth family. And likewise as a daughter of an ADOPTED Mother. The wisdom I have learned meeting these people is that family is never ending and comes to us in so many ways- through blood, adoption, and bottom line LOVE. Family is a never ending circle of people that share and show love for one another. I am so grateful for my everlasting and eternally growing family.

The barn (on Willi's sister, Petra's, farm) was the location of the reunion this year. We also got to stay close by so it was nice and easy for us to just walk on over.


Mrs. Jones' Mother, Laurie, visiting with her nephews.

The swing set saw a lot of action this weekend... Malia was ALL OVER the farm. She felt quite secure and comfortable there. It was not unknown for her to randomly be found over by the cows or the horses. Mommy and Daddy had to keep a close eye on her, but she was of course loving it.

The beautiful Grammy Laurie and Malia.

Don't you wish you could hear what they were saying? Something funny! This is Auntie Michelle, Mrs. Jones' sister, and Willi.


Ok, so you remember those little parachuting army men that you used to get off the icecream truck? Or maybe from a toy store? Well, they are still around but are now bigger and better. This is Gabe throwing up his Parachuting Diego toy.
I had to get this sequence because it was just such a great example to me of pure childhood joy. And I remember a long time ago sitting on the curb in front of our house in LA throwing up my own little green parachute man and blowing those little plastic bubbles out of those little plastic colorful straws. Remember those!? So fun... and I could see that same feeling I remembered, in Gabe's face, as he was in his own little world trying to throw Diego higher and higher.

That's the joy I was talking about! Right there on my precious little boy's face.

A photo of Willi's older sister and her husband. We met them for the first time at the reunion this year. They are wonderful people and just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. More photos to come in the next post.

Mike chatting with Nicki. You DO want to be a part of this conversation. Her and her husband have traveled all over the world and always have the neatest stories to tell.

Some family checking out the horses.

Sister gossip...

Willi and her husband Jackson with Malia. Can you see the resemblance between her and my Mom?

Mike enjoying a conversation with James and other family.


The weather is always a surprise in Alberta. It was super HOT most of the time we were there (pleasantly hot though). We were all dressed for the summer weather on the day of the reunion.
Suddenly around mid afternoon the dark clouds came rolling in and the rain started. It was still a warm rain but was coming down pretty hard.
All of a sudden the hail started. And this was no ordinary hail this was CANADIAN hail!! It was HUGE, the biggest hail I had ever seen. Quite a site. Mr. Jones once lived in Texas so he was not so impressed, I guess it is true that everything is bigger in Texas... even the hail.
Anyway, Grammy Laurie and Auntie Petra decided to put all better judgment aside and go OUT in the hail and throw the large ice down each others shirts! Crazy ladies!





Here is a sampling of the different sizes we found.

This one could have hurt someone!

At the end of the hail storm, this is who I caught running back to the barn from the porta potty. That is right, let me set the scene for you.... Gabe had to go to the bathroom. Remember, he is 3 and still fairly new to the bathroom scene. Now most of us avoid using the porta potty even as adults, but Gabe braved it and headed over to the porta potty with Daddy. After a little coaxing, Mr. Jones got Gabe up on the seat to do his business.
Bring on the golf ball hail storm...
Gabe- "Oh no! What is that Daddy?"
Daddy- (peaking out of the porta potty door) "It's hailing!"
(plump plump, bang bang, clink clink)
Meanwhile Gabe bravely continues his business as they "weather the storm"
As soon as it lightened up they B lined it for the barn.... and that brings us once again to this now classic photo.

When the hail lightened up, it also brought another surprise from the direction of the porta potties. A double rainbow!! The weather might be unexpected and crazy up there but it sure does bring some beautiful skies and scenery, and unexpected fun as well!