Staying in Courtenay we mostly hung around with people, Mark and Kayla came up too and Mark was working on Matt and Bek's "shop." So there were plenty of kids!

Friday we went to Kindergym, which was at the local rec. centre. They open the gym up for an hour with heaps of gym equipment for the kids to use. There are mats, trampolines, bars, a foam pit, lots of soft balls, ride on cars and more....it's a great idea and perfect in winter for kids to burn of energy. Our boys loved it. We also went again the following Tuesday morning before we put the kids in the car for the trip back.

Saturday we took the kids sledding at Mount Washington, Dave and Kess and us. Moses and Ezekiel were not particularly impressed at wearing snowsuits etc. Silas had fun for about half an hour before he had enough ;) A lady from the ski lodge came and said what we were doing was too dangerous and we had to stop. By then it was about time to feed the kids so we aded off anyway.

Sunday we went to the meeting, Courtenay is a very small meeting but we had Sunday school and then meeting as per normal. One other thing, when it is someone's birthday they sing them happy birthday, and then they put into a money jar the coin amount of how old they are. Even though Shane was a visitor, we all still sang happy birthday and he put his money in. Of course then two other kids wanted to say that they had had birthdays too. One was Kristy and the other was Silas! Funny. Then they have a collection for Sunday school, where people put their coins into the money jar. Silas was allowed to take the jar around and collect the coins and he was pleased as punch. Then they went to classes, and Silas learnt about Elijah at the brook. He told me all about it, right down to the fact that the birds brought Elijah bread and ham! Bek, who was teaching them, took some bread and ham because it was only suitable meat she had to bring for the kids, and he took it quite literally!

We spent a fair bit of time and Matt and Bek's house, they have heaps of outdoor toys and all the boys loved riding on the "gator" which is motorised.

On Saturday afternoon, after the sledding, we put all the kids to bed. Jonathan had dozed off while putting Silas to sleep and he and the boys were all downstairs. Kess was cooking a turkey roast for dinner and I was in the lounge while she and Dave were in the kitchen. I was reading and could smell something burning. Unbeknowns to me, they checked the turkey FOUR times to see where it was burning. I didn't worry at all, until about 20mins later Kess came out and said "What IS that burning???" and we saw smoke billowing up the stairs! We all raced down, and I yelled out to Jonathan to wake him up. All the rooms have baseboard heaters, a long thin heater against the wall, and if something was left on it, a fire would start. I was panicking that in the boys' room there was something on the heater and the room was on fire. The place was full of smoke and Dave burst into their room ahead of me. Nothing. Jonathan was up by then and my second thought was the dryer. Nope it was fine, and then Kess was yelling "It's here!" Next thing she and Dave were stomping out some flames outside the door! What had happened!?! Kess had gone down and got potatoes from the downstairs kitchen (it's a basement suite, so it's set up with a small kitchen) and had knocked the element on the stove on by accident. She didn't realise and there was a calendar, catalogue and a few other things that caught fire, and a plastic packet that was melting. The smoke was awful, and we had every window in the house wide open, despite the cold. It was such a bad fright. We took all the kids upstairs where there was more fresh air and less smoke to breathe. It took ages to clear the smoke, and even the next day the smell was lingering. We prayed thanks to God that nothing worse had happened, and that we were all safe! And we enjoyed the unburnt roast turkey after we had all recovered ;)

We had a great time staying with Dave and Kess, lots of laughs, late nights and serious chats too. Silas and Tycen played really well, even though he found three kids invading and playing with all his toys onthe first night! He also keeps insisting that they are getting two babies, not just one next year! Funny kiddo.

Now we are back in Victoria, and the little boys have colds again. Today we stayed home and made sure they had good sleep, including Silas who is having very full and stimulating days. Mary came for dinner (Hannah came last night, but they both work so couldn't come on the same night) and hung around for a while so that was nice.

Off to bed, it's late here. Hope you're all well! I think of you all in the warm ;) and hope everyone is safe and enjoys end of years and their holidays. I'm missing good desserts and real chocolate, so enjoy some for me! :)

Love and God bless from us all.