Canada Day, Friday, July 1, 2011

Javan and Hensie invited us to join them in celebrating Canada Day. A Filipino friend Jocelyn joined us. We started in the morning by the Dolphins statue in Waterfront Park. Many booths; one where Hensie helped Havie make her head band. Many people wore red and white like the colours of the flag in the background. I have a Canadian flag on my cap too.  Yes this blog entry has more photos because I am finally learning how easy it is to send photos from my Picasa photo program to my blog.  Helps that they are both Google programs.

Below, Havie is about to put money in the cap for some for some outstanding street dancers. One even taught Javan and Hensie dance lessons years ago.




Havie is a delightful precious three year old who inherited great verbal skills from her mother, ability to charm and figure out how to get every one's attention, and here we see her mischievousness. Two seconds from now she threw the green pail of water where I had been standing. She had great fun chasing her grandparents with water at the children's water park at Hot Sands Beach.

Havie is still learning to take turns. She loved this water slide and went down it five or six times while the children standing in line went down once or twice. She just smiled and they let her past.
Havie loves dancing, anytime or anywhere. The sculpture of The Sails makes a great place to dance.
Ogopogo is world famous like the Lochness Monster. Japan has even sent television crews to do documentaries. Ammon has seen it.
Friends of ours are developing their cosmetics business by setting up display tents. How much do you think they would pay to use Havie's smile in their promotions?

We had already eaten Filipino food with Hensie's friends but we also ate in the large Prospera auditorium while we                                        watched some  dancers and drummers on stage. Javan and Hensie went home to prepare for time at a mountain cabin while we drove home to give our bones a rest. So Canada Day was family day for us and many others.  But it is more.

On Sunday at testimony meeting, many gave thanks for the freedoms we enjoy; freedom to worship as we please, to have fun and to work (mostly) as we wish. We live in a great and beautiful country. At church tears came to my eyes as we sang all four verses of O Canada. I love being a Canadian. I like to think I am patriotic. Canada is part of our heritage, part of who we are. I appreciate that my great grandparents came from the UK and Europe to settle on the prairies. I appreciate the sacrifices they made that we might have a comfortable life. Might we all help to keep this true, "God keep our land Glorious and free! O Canada, we stand on guard for thee."