A Place to Stand, a Place to Grow. Ontari-ari-ari-o!

On July 22, 2014, I (Beccy) flew to Ontario to visit my Dad, celebrate my cousin Susan's birthday, attend the Shantz reunion, celebrate my Dad's upcoming 80th birthday, visit with family, see 2 of our daughters and 6 of our grandchildren.  And few more delightful events also took place which you'll see in the pictures below or in another post.

Grey, Brooks, Kenna (Darla's children) playing in the park at my parents home. Darla herself spent many happy hours playing in this park.

What would a visit to great-Grandpa's be without shelling some walnuts?

The walnut trees that were planted in 1980 or 1981 on Grandma Haas' farm outside of New Dundee, Grandpa Shantz's house and our house is Dickson Hill and were not even as big around as your baby finger.

These seedlings are now full trees measuring between 10 and 16 inches at the stump. It is recorded in the book The Trail of the Black Walnut by George E. Reaman that the Mennonites ended up in Markham and Kitchener area from Pennsylvania because they saw black walnut trees they knew immediately it was good farm land.

Brooks got a haircut.

Went to see AJ (my cousin's son) play ball.

Beccy & Uncle Ken

Rochelle & Beccy

Dad/Grpa Shantz took me to visit my birthday twin ~ July 26, 1958.
I am a few hours older than Diann Zinn. 

Beccy's grandfather, Sylvanus Shantz built this house for Diann's father in 1955. She moved back home when her father in his 90's had poor health. She still looks after her mother who is now 93.

Grandpa still has three varieties of grapes growing in his back yard.

 

We went for a drive to see the horses and buggies.

Susan Shantz, the 50 birthday girl!

'Great Grandma' Dorothy Bennett with Brooks, Kenna, Grey, Canaan, Mattea & Kayla

Lauryn, Dorothy, Beccy, Darla

Dorothy & Beccy

What is a holiday without a trip to McDonald's?
Everything when you've never had honey with your nuggets. Go Canada!
And magnificent when the server thought Beccy, Darla and Lauryn were sisters! :) :) :)

And then a trip downtown Toronto

A crystal 'curtain' ~ a dream come true for these three little girls.

And the holiday ended with a trip to my sister's cottage on Pigeon Lake in ON.