Jumping June

Immediately after getting back from Europe - literally landing on Friday and then heading out on Sunday - the boys went to summer camp.  Kaleb went for the first time, so it was a momentous occasion.  Maybe Mom worried more than he did as he went with his friends Kieran and Lucas.  The house was super quiet without them for that week - although little sister Addi-cakes said she was quite happy to have all the attention to herself "because they are loud and bossy!" :)

Amy took the boys up on Sunday and Karis went the following Sunday to get them - so we each had some quality time with the kids.  Amy and Heather went up the first Sunday and then when it was Karis' turn he went with William - so at least we had some friend bonding time on the long drive there and back.

Love his face - gonna miss you kiddo!

Zachary was with his friend Cristian and they ended up being in Cristian's brother Luke's cabin - we love Luke, such a great kid so we felt really comfortable

Lucas, Kaleb and Kieran stayed in the Gopher cabin

He at least gave a smile when getting his kiss!

Proof of life picture halfway through the week - he lives!  We had some of Kaleb as well on the camp website, but as Luke was the counsellor he actually texted Amy a picture of the two boys

While the boys were gone, the ladies went out on a few outings in the evenings, including a date night to Panera.  Good times!  Addison also went to a VBS at one of our churches that week

This church has the most amazing decorations for VBS - this tree went all the way to the ceiling and the "knot hole" was functional, where people went up and looked out at the audience to talk as part of the church program! 

See the people up there?

The Markham Woods VBS program is always a highlight for us, so we were happy to be able to attend the Friday night program in which the kids sing and do the motions to the songs with gusto!  It is always so sweet!

She is three rows up from the bottom in the middle of the picture

Hanging with her brother - love the relationship these two have (when they aren't bickering...)

The week that the boys got home from camp, Amy's cousin Scott came to visit for a cruise with our cousin Jeff.  We were excited to see him - he lives in Abu Dhabi so it isn't often that we can catch up with him.   Taking a deep breath, Amy is going to admit on this blog that we were supposed to go on the cruise as well for Jeff's 40th birthday, but Amy in the craziness of the Europe trip managed to accidentally book the cruise for the wrong week.  Yep - booked the cruise for June 27th instead of June 13th.....so we were not able to join them.  Who would have thought that the entire boat would have been completely sold out, and that every single person would show up (because yes, we drove all the way down to Tampa to wait at the terminal in the hopes that someone wouldn't show up).  It must have been a God thing, because we tried everything other than stowing away to get on that boat!  We're sorry Jeff :(  And proving yet again why Amy has the best husband ever in the history of mankind, Karis did not kill her for booking the wrong date and wasting a bunch of money.  Amy is blessed beyond measure for her amazing husband!

So with the fact that we ended up being here for the weekend, we decided to put our time to good use and we filled it up with lots of things that we just never have time to get done.....so Amy did 24 credits of continuing education to finish out her yearly requirement while Karis painted one of our rental houses.  We also went to the Vacation Bible School program for Addison (her second program this year) and had some friends over that weekend.  And because that Sunday was Father's Day, Karis ended up joining a group to go skeet shooting as well!  Both boys went with him and they each got 4 clay pigeons - getting a little better each time! While not a cruise, it definitely was productive.

Finished panting the main part of the house - just the trim remained!

A lot of fun on the boat together!

Taking aim

 When they got back from the cruise, we were able to visit with them that Monday when we had them over for supper.  It was great to catch up, and Scott stayed with us until Thursday when he flew up to New York City before catching the flight Friday back to his home.

A funny story while Scott was here is that he decided he would like to go to the Trump campaign announcement in Orlando (the day after he got back from the cruise) (even though he is Canadian and lives in another country, so this election has no bearing on him - he said it was a fun social experiment to watch!). Anyway, he used Amy's phone number to sign up unknowingly, and Amy deleted the text before he could tell her ..... so then he used Karis' number (with our blessing) to get his tickets.  So now Karis is on Trump's "supporter" list so we get all kinds of texts :(

In other events, Zachary went to his very first paint ball birthday party.  Welts galore, but he had fun!

A major event in June as a surprise 40th birthday party that two other ladies planned with Amy for Jennifer.  We did it at the Goblin Market which was a very quaint restaurant up in Mt. Dora.  Ashley, Corey and Amy planned for months, and managed to pull it off without her finding out!  There were about 16 people there, so it was really fun to celebrate such a special person!  Happy birthday Jennifer! 

Flowers and placecards that had a picture of each person attending with Jennifer....along with a blessing for each underneath the picture 

And delicious "nothing but bundt cakes" for the treat! 

The whole group of celebrants!

The party planners with Jennifer

Speaking of birthdays, we also had a chance to celebrate Lyle's birthday - Amy's step-father.  He is such a great addition to the family - we have really enjoyed getting to know him.  Happy birthday - may this next year be amazing!

After Jennifer's birthday party, Amy took Addison to get a mani/pedi - this girl loves to have some pampering done, so she was all in for that!

 Jennifer is in charge of the Family Ministries at our church and is doing a fantastic job.  She has lots of fun events for families to come to - and one of them recently was a rescue animal foundation - and they brought all kinds of exotic animals to share and teach the kids about.  It was a super fun event!

 Random pictures:

London and Addison - sisters of the heart for sure!  So sweet these two girls!

Take your child to work day.....Addison cam and hung out with Karis for a while one day when Jennifer couldn't keep her.  Give her electronics and she is quiet as a mouse! :)

After camp, there were a few friends that all got together from Zachary's class to go boating at her house.....at the request of the really sweet girl in the middle top row....it is a brand new world in middle school for us as parents!

Jennifer took the kids one day down to Splitsville in Disney for a fun diversion

Who is this bubble monster? :)

2019 Europe Trip - Part 3 - Germany

So the last part of our Europe trip was interesting....to say the least.  We will share the highlights and then be off to try and quickly catch up the rest of the summer in the next few posts!  We have literally been gone more than we are here this whole summer, hence no posts when we aren't here! 

After Amsterdam, we jumped in the car again and drove 9 hours to Amsterdam along the romantic road.  We didn't leave as early as we probably should have, so while we drove along the road we didn't stop at any of the little towns to enjoy their quaint charm - so now we definitely have a "to do in the future!" trip.  

The drive itself was long and boring - but the Volvo literally almost drives itself so it keeps the stress fairly low for Karis as the only driver.....it rained cats and dogs for much of the morning so it did make for a little less "wow" factor as we drove.  We get enough of rain here in Florida! :)

The countryside along the way though was very green and pastoral, so that was lovely to see.  There were also these interesting crops with wires up in the air and posts along the way - we're not sure what they were growing but you can imagine how that piqued Karis' interest for sure for his farmer's heart!

We stayed at the Timehouse Hotel in Munich, which was AMAZING.  It was a three bedroom apartment, brand new, super spacious and comfortable.  Customer service was above and beyond.  Definitely recommend it if anyone wants space in Munich!

The next day, we went to tour the Neuschwanstein Castle - which was the inspiration for Walt Disney's Cinderella Castle.  It was built by King "Mad" Ludwig, but he never actually had the chance to live in it as he was taken from the throne.  It was a cold (think about 48 degrees!) day that rained, so we didn't stay super long there but it was a beautiful drive into the countryside and very interesting while we were there.

Kaleb's Van Gogh umbrella came in handy!

The yellow castle was his childhood home and the far away castle is Neuschwanstein

Lovely fountain area outside of the castle

After the castle, we headed down to the museum and stopped to take a lion picture---it appears that there was a lion theme for our trip with starting off in London's Trafalgar square and now ending it here!

listening to her audioguide

Before getting bored and just sitting with Elin!

When we realized that it was just too cold and wet to really explore outside that much, we hoped back into our Volvo and raced back to Munich as we were turning it in that evening, which was going to cost a fair amount to turn it in after hours.  We made it in time, and thus saved ourselves a boatload (although not as much as hoped for when we had to then take a taxi to our next step at the Bayern soccer stadium - but it was still a material savings so we'll take it!)

Good-bye to the new car - we should be getting it at any time!

We went over to the Bayern soccer stadium for a tour and a visit to the museum.  While this isn't Zachary's favorite soccer team (Manchester City is), it was still really fun to see.

Sitting in the players chairs!

When we came out of the stadium, we realized that we had no way to call (Amy's cell phone wasn't working), weren't sure where the subway station was, and the entire place was closed down in an industrial area of town.  So, it was a bit of a concern as to how we'd walk to find the subway station (which was supposedly about 20 minutes walk away), but when we walked out God heard our prayer and a lone taxi drove up to the stadium!  It was a Prius, so Amy was assuming that it could be a problem as we had 5 of us but who knew, their Prius has a third seat!!  We had no idea, so it worked out perfectly!

That night, we were tired and the kids decided that they just wanted to stay at the hotel instead of going out to eat.  No problemo, because in Sweden Amy had bought 5 bowls of just-add-water pasta bowls (Knorrs).  Zachary didn't want the mac and cheese, so he got a version that Amy thought was cut up veggies (Carbonara).  The words were all in Swedish, so it was just a quick glance at the picture.  Zachary ate that night, but didn't like it about half way through so he switched and ate some Mueslix.....so Amy picked up the spoon and started to eat it and you guessed it, it wasn't cut up vegetables -- it was BACON!  Fast-forwarding to after we got home and went to the allergist, we determined that Zachary is VERY allergic to pork products (as in, we should have an epi pen with us), so we are thankful that he was okay and didn't end up not being able to breathe.  He was pretty disgusted, as he was our reluctant traveller anyway and said "See, I didn't want to come to Europe anyway!" (as if Europe was what caused the allergic reaction!) - but after he got over the trauma of it all, he did say he'd had a good time! :)

Well......we headed to bed by about 9P as we were all tired, and Zachary woke up Amy at 1:30A and said "Something is really wrong with me."  She got up and turned on the hallway light to realize something was SERIOUSLY wrong with him.  His upper lip was huge, and getting bigger practically as she watched him.  She woke Karis up and we dumped out our backpacks frantically looking for Benadryl or Claritin etc.  No go.  So, Amy ran downstairs and called a taxi to have Karis take Zachary to the ER (Karis initially wondered why Amy didn't go, but as Amy isn't medical and we both couldn't go as the other two were sleeping, it just made sense for Karis to go with him, also being a man in a strange city at night is a little safer!).  It was a good thing because Karis was very sensible through the whole experience (as he always is), and avoided having Zachary admitted to the hospital.  We just agreed instead of being admitted that we would scratch our Salzburg trip (boo) and stick around Munich (which was so cute and amazing, we were glad we did!).

Sitting in the Pediatric ER after getting the prednizone

They came home about 5:30 in the morning and crashed until late morning.  We then had a quiet morning as we watched Zachary to be sure he didn't have any relapse while Amy then walked down to a pharmacy to get various medications (she was sick, and then we wanted to have medications as back-up for Zachary).  

This was Zachary about 11A that morning, so the swelling had started to come down.

While walking to the pharmacy (where the pharmacist turned out to be a German guy who had done his residency in Orlando of all places!!), she passed by a parade of mopeds - there had to be over 1000 of them!

Mid afternoon we packed ourselves up and hit the public transportation to go and check out old-town Munich and then head to the airport where we would fly to London to spend overnight before heading home to Orlando.

Reminders of home wherever we went!

Eating some ice cream!

We flew to London that night and our pre-arranged limo (really just a van) didn't show up for almost an hour.  Super frustrating, but we finally made it there safe and sound.

Have booster seat, will travel!

When we landed in Orlando, Karis was dismayed that the temperature was 99 degrees as we drove home.  We were longing for the cool weather of Europe!  The kids definitely showed themselves to be good little travellers - and we'd definitely do it again!  We'd love to go back to Munich and Salzburg as we really didn't get to experience all of the tourist areas there, so next time it'll be on our list!