Christmas in New Mexico! (2007 version)

Donkersloot family Christmas 2007. (Katy courtesy of Skype)

Katy Intently watching the events of gift opening etc over the web cam.

So it was very odd and sad to not have Katy here this year. As you can see by the group picture, however, that we still found a way to keep her in the mix so to speak. A fun time was held by all.


We want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and happy new Year!

Charity Invitational September 21, 2007

Here is a picture of Nick and Becca with us the night of the Charity Invitational banquet. During the day I played in the golf tournament and our team came in first. Trust me it wasn't because of my golf game!

Pictures from our trip to Vancouver: September 07

So we had the wonderful opportunity to head to Vancouver from September 8 - 16 to attend Carver Christian High School's retreat at Camp Malibu. The picture above is from the camp. Pretty hard to beat the location of the camp! Of course we did a few other things while we were in Vancouver...

...... Like celebrate with Anton and Jacquie !! Tacos on a Saturday night at their place......

......and particpate in a murder mystery with our Bible Study group in Whistler........

Don't the men look distinguished??

Don't mess with these women......

The Vancouver Donkersloots at Paul and Deirdre's place. September 9, 2007

Rehoboth House going, going .....gone

So our house that we lived in for five years on the Rehoboth campus has been moved! It was quite the venture. A family from the school purchased the house and then set about moving it off the campus. Here are some pictures of the event. The picture of the house above and below are basically of the house before too much was done. That's Katy's bedroom window on the second floor in the picture below.

The basement has been gutted to get ready for the move.

Here I am setting the house down carefully on the truck girders!

The truck getting ready to haul it off.

This was the evening before the big move.

The house under the I - 40 overpass

Traveling down the road. (notice pyramid in the background)

Last view

Katy on the stairs to the basement after the house was gone.

Summer beach fun!

Katy and I went down to California to meet Anton, Jacqueline, Aaron and Erica. We spent a day at the beach and we had a blast. Ruthie and Bethany and Lindsey also came down to spend the day with us. We had a blast! Here are some of the pictures. This was on July 20. I know it took some time to post them but so be it!

A beached whale.....

Anton and Ron catching a wave. Erica is wondering if she'll get hit...

Anton and Ron riding it in...

Waiting for the waves..

After riding the waves

Katy and Jacqueline catching up on news!

We are back in the USA

Our trip to Europe is done, however, our trip home is not yet done. We had a marvelous time in Europe and we are now staying for the day at Tim and Sharon Vanderkodde's in Grand Rapids while we rest and get ready for the drive back to New Mexico.

Here are some promised pictures........

On Saturday we had a family reunion with all of our Dutch relatives. There were about 85 people there and that was not all of them! It was a fun day but rather overwhelming for some who had not met them before. Here is a picture of the Canadian group that was there.

On Sunday our last full day in Holland we went to church with Stephan and Rochelle and family and then spent the day with them. We had a great time visiting but it was too short! Next time we'll stay longer, we promise.

We left Holland via ferry and took the ferry to England. This was all a last minute decision but a good one as it was relatively inexpensive and quite relaxing and enjoyable.

Our final parting shot of Holland as we leave on the ferry.

The Stenna plus lounge on the ferry was well worth the extra cost. The ferry trip was really a lot of fun.

Getting ready to board our train in London Paddington station. Some of the old train stations in Europe are really great!

Wine on the train is always a good thing! The train trip from London to Cardiff was lovely but not cheap.

Cardiff Central train station. Our trip began in Cardiff and now ended in Cardiff. We had a lovely time and I would recomend Cardiff to anyone thinking of going to Europe.

Parting view of British security at the airport.

We are in Cardiff ready to head back! We'll post more pictures when we get home. (next time I'm taking a laptop....)

More..

Pictures from Wales and Holland

Here we are at Cradiff Castle. We actually had sunshine that day!

Holland #2

So we are now in Leiden after visiting Lisse where Mary Lou's grandfather was born. Very lovely city! We really had some fun being there. Having Katy with us who is an experienced world traveller has helped immensly! She has great instincts about the transit systems down here. I will try to post pictures if I can from this internet cafe.

We are actually staying in the wodds at a place close by Otterlo in central Holland. We have each day planned out already so we will be busy.

Driving in Wales was a real adventure. I did not have any accidents but it sure was pretty crazy to throw out all of your instincts. We let Dad drive once and that was it. That was way too crazy an experience. Learning to use a roundabout as well as driving on the left along with shifting (yes we had a standard) was indeed a challenge!

Pictures to come.......

Ron

In Holland!

The internet access in Wales was off for the weekend so we could not post! We are in Holland at an internet cafe. We will post more pictures etc when we can! Suffice it to say that the wedding went great and the whole adventure was really a blast! We highly recommend Wales to you all!

More later!

Ron

Pictures!! (Start from the bottom and work your way up)

Breakfast this morning at the B&B. The Welsh do amazing breakfasts!

The Welsh mens choir of Penarth, Wales. This was fun to see them rehearse!

It was quite the sight and we were both glad to have been able to have come. Having a car made this possible.

Yes, I am driving a car here in Wales. It is pretty crazy but there seemed to be no way around it. I have lots of stories to tell about the way they do things here.....

??????

I thought this sign was funny. It was in the Cardiff train station....

Here we are the day my parents and Katy arrived. We went to another Castle that day. Apparantly Wales has more castles than any other country in the world. I would not doubt it!

These pictures were taken on the day we arrived. No one else was here yet. Picttures of Roman barricks from the town where Lyn is from and then pictures of the castle where they are to be married on Saturday. Caldicot Castle is the name.

The day we arrived.....

OK a new post!!

Nick, check for my response to your last comment on the posts. To all of the others I will say that internet connection is difficult here in Wales. The library has a great setup but you have to be here when the library is open! Today we are waiting for Paul and Dierdre to get in so we have some time.

Keith and Nina arrived safely yesterday. A day later than they were supposed to but they are here now.

Yesterday we went to StoneHenge. I hope to post pictures on the next post. It was really fun. Then last night we went to see a Welsh mens choir rehearse. That too was a blast. They treated us wonderfully! I suspect that Katy being with us had something to do with that. It has been fun to have Katy with us. We are staying at a marvelous B&B along with my folks, Keith and Nina as well as Paul and Dierdre. Tonight is the "Hen and Stag" night so we'll see what that is all like.

Tomorrow we go into Cardiff again to see a organ concert at Noon in the big church in town. The rest of the Holland family come in tomorrow. Today is the one sunny day that we have had so far. It has gone up to 17 C today. I am wearing shorts becuase it might be the last chance that we have to do so! The rains come back tomorrow. It really is beautiful here!

More later!

Ron

Safe and sound!

After a very long travel day on Saturday, we arrived in Cardiff Sunday morning at 10am. We managed to stay awake until 7pm and then I slept for 12 hours (Ron could not sleep quite as long). We are in a very lovely b&b in Caldicot, close to the castle where Annette and Lyn will be married on Saturday. Ron's folks (and Katy) come in this evening -- so the fun will begin! Stay well, everyone! (ML)

We are writing this at the Cardiff Visitor's Centre. It has been a very rainy day, but we have see Cardiff Bay and are on our way to see the Cardiff Castle. Not sure if we will be able to find a place to post pictures -- but we will try! There is no internet access at the B&B, or even in the town, but we will try. Ron

Off to Europe!

So today we begin our trek to Europe. Tonight we stay in ABQ and then tomorrow morning we fly out to Wales. It is a 22 hour trip all told becuase of the various stops at airports that we need to make. We'll try to keep you all posted as to what things we are up to! We are looking forward to seeing Katy in a few days.

It is cooking hot down here right now so some cooler weather in europe won't upset me. (I'm not so sure about Mary Lou)

Naked House

So this is how our house looks without a tree in the front.....