May I Introduce....

...the newly minted manual therapy certified Mr. Karis Zbaraschuk, MSPT, CSC, COMT. Yippee! After waiting a LONG time to find out the results of Karis' manual therapy test that he took in Chicago during June (the one that he was sure that he failed), we have received the results that in fact Karis passed all three portions of the exam. We are quite excited about this, and Karis is happy that he won't have to study again for the exam in October! Karis now has more initials after his name than his actual name - which is hard with a name like Zbaraschuk! :)

We hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend - we hope to head out to the beach on Sunday, so will post more pictures next week.

Canada Trip - Part II

We've arrived back in Orlando safe and sound after our 10 day vacation to Canada. Our trip was a real treat to visit with family. We started off the trip by going to Alberta to visit with Amy's Aunt Elaine, Uncle Murray, Grandma, Cousins Kim and Scott, and Kim's husband Yan and son Nicholas. We had awesome Ukrainian food - perogies and nelishneky (no way on this earth did I just spell that right, but trust me when I say that it is delicious!). Zachary had a great time on the farm and got to wear a jean jacket just like a farmer and even saw real-live buffalo for the first time! He seemed quite interested in baby Nicholas although we had to be watchful that he was gentle enough around the baby. Karis was able to hang out with Uncle Murray and do farm "stuff" that he loves so much, so he was quite happy! I loved visiting with the family - it was such a treat to have everyone there at once!

Zachary in his jean jacket - ready for exploring!

Zachary and Uncle Murray meeting the buffalo

Amy and Kim going four-wheeling (first time for Amy!)

Kim, Nicholas, Grandma (aka Baba), Amy and Zachary

After our visit in Alberta, we journeyed to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan to visit with Karis' family. Zachary had a great time with his cousins Emily and Connor. Emily knows almost all of the Saskatchewan wildflowers, so we went on a wildflower walk which was quite educational for Amy! The weather was a little cold and rainy while we were in Prince Albert, so not as much farmwork was done as Karis had hoped. We enjoyed a too-short visit with friends Eldon and Aris (Zachary developed a crush on Aris - poor girl, she had to lug him around most of the day!). Zachary had his first taste of a crab-apple, which was quite funny to see his "sour" faces but he kept coming back for more! He also had his first interactions with a friendly cat. Baby Kaylie is an angel baby - cute as can be and sleeps most of the time!

Connor with his Canadian tattoos ("Made in Canada" and Canadian Maple Leaf)

Emily and Zachary hanging out in the wheel barrow

Zachary had a fascination with barley - he'll be a farmer yet!

Grandpa and Grandma Z with their grandkids - Connor, Emily, Kaylie and Zachary

The flights there and back were so-so - on the way up Zachary managed to pee all over himself and Amy - with no change of clothes packed for either of us (where was my brain when I was packing???), we had a "shopping spree" in the Minneapolis airport. Not a bad airport to have that happen however, so we both managed to get some dry clothes for the second flight. The second flight we were upgraded to first class which was very cushy to say the least (Karis was the only one who was upgraded initially - to which Amy told him that he would be DEAD MEAT if she had to ride back in coach with a child while he lounged in first class! So, being a smart man, he went up to the counter to see if Amy could either be upgraded or he could be de-graded - luckily the lady was quite nice and upgraded us both!). On the way back, we had to get up at an unearthly hour of 4AM to make our flight. Zachary AGAIN managed to pee all over Amy and himself, but we were prepared this time. The first segment of the return flight found Zachary screaming and crying most of the way (Children's Benadryl was NOT doing the trick!!!) - Amy was seriously considering locating that 'return receipt' and exchanging him in for one of those angel babies referenced earlier! :) However, the second flight was uneventful and he slept like a champ. Hallelujah!

From the Starting Line to the Finish Line.

The big news of this week is the arrival of Kaylie Allison Zbaraschuk (newest member of Kent Zbaraschuk's family) on July 31st. Her two older siblings Emily and Connor seem to be as pleased as punch for now - let's hope it lasts! :) She is as cute as can be, and we're looking forward to holding her in person when we visit Saskatchewan next week. We've timed this trip quite well! Mom and baby are now at home where they can actually get some much-needed rest. Kaylie - may you have many fun adventures in this life!
Zachary is finishing up his swimming lessons - he may have one more lesson next week, but other than that he'll be done. This week he went into the pool fully clothed - today he was in a fleece sleeper to really test his ability to float in any circumstance. He did amazingly well (although let's be clear, he still isn't happy about this experience!). At one point though he didn't get back up into a float as quickly as he needed to, so we've decided that one or two lessons in the sleeper may be warranted. Karis went into the pool with him and the instructor to learn some of the techniques so that we can keep it up over the rest of the summer. Zachary seems to cry less when Daddy is in there with him (all things are good when Daddy is around!)
We'll be heading to Canada for our 10 day vacation next week, so we won't have another update until probably the weekend of August 25th. We hear that it is hotter in Canada than it is in Orlando, so we're definitely hoping for a cold front to move on through!