Charlevoix, Quebec - CANADA!

Amy has an annual work trip in the summer, and this year the location was to Charlevoix in Quebec Canada! (O Canada!).  Last year we did not take the kids but decided this year to make it a family trip and so the whole fam came along.  We employed a new technique this year for the boys to behave themselves (nothing like being surrounded by executives whose children are grown and who don't remember the trials of having young kids!!!) - we gave them 5 single dollars every day, and after receiving one warning, if they continued bad behavior then one dollar would be taken away.  It worked very well, and at the end of the week Zachary used part of his money to get a new book! Kaleb is yet to be decided what he'll get.

We had a fun time there, and enjoyed the 65 degree weather vs the 95 degree weather that we're suffering through here in Florida.  Addison was a little apprehensive about flying, telling us that the "clouds are scary!"  She was a bit of a pill on the trip - fussing and whining for the opposite parent at all times but we made it through with lots of distractions. 

The girl loves to paint!

We did several fun outings that week, and spent time with the Hilliards, Ottatis, Johnsons and Stewarts.  The kids had a blast playing and making new friends - it was so fun to watch!  Zachary began to have a little freedom in that he was allowed to go down to the hotel lobby (the Grand Hall at the haughty Fairmont! :) as long as he always stayed wherever he told us that he was going.

 On Wednesday we headed over to an emu farm, which was interesting to see and feed the emus.

While we waited for the tour, Amy showed Addison how to blow on a dandelion to make the fluff fly!

Feeding the emu...

...was a hit!

The Hilliards and the Zs

 On Thursday, Karis and the kids went on the group tour of the cheese factory and then in the afternoon we stayed local to let Addison take a much-needed nap.  That night, we went to a local restaurant called the "Bootlegger" - the house was built in the 1930s and was relocated to this area and became a production site for alcohol.  The house was amazing with its tiny maze-like hallways, hidden rooms, fake walls, collapsible roofs etc.  It was full of character and history.  The dining experience was a little less than desirable as it was SUPER long (tour taking up part of it) - we got there at 6:30 and they told us the rock band would start playing at 9:30. Amy thought "No way am I going to be here in 3 hours, the kids need to go to bed!!"  But alas, we didn't get out of there until 10PM.  There were 95 people from the company that went, so it was fun to be there.

In Baie-St.Paul as they waited outside the cheese factory

Addison developed a love for Victoria (Tic-toria!) - thankfully Victoria lives in Orlando, so they can see each other again! :)

When the band played, they brought out hats for everyone to wear.  Once in a lifetime....

And the strobe lights started....

And then Addison started 'dancing'...Adventists don't have any 'moves' so let's hope this doesn't develop into anything!

 Friday we went out for breakfast with the Js, and then went to a local nearby island to do their "Treasure hunt" - we never found the treasure, but it was a fun way to explore the island.  We also went geocaching at the end of the day, which was super fun.  It was a group of folks - Hilliards, Johnsons, Ottatis and the Zs that went.

Eating crepes for breakfast....

At this same restaurant, there was a plaque on the floor that was super funny.....

Riding the ferry over to the island....it was a bit chilly this day!

Farmer at heart!

 At one of the stops, there were some flat rocks on the edge of the water that extended for quite a ways that the kids had fun playing on and throwing rocks into the water.  It was quite a pretty area.

Beautiful flowers!

While we never actually found the Treasure, we did have fun figuring out the clues and seeing the island's special areas of interest.

This was the find at the first stop.

And a group picture at the last stop (at least of the kids!)

On Saturday, there was a kids activity out to an observatory where we could view the sun through a special telescope.  What a cool experience (at least for the parents!)

On the observatory deck....what a big brother to give her a piggy-back ride! :)

The group of kids that we went on the morning outing with.  

 The Fairmont resort was beautiful, and overlooked the St. Lawrence river.  We took a few pictures as we explored of just the beautiful landscape.

On the golf course - how pretty!

Another view

Random pictures from the trip:

Addison slept in the adjoining room with the boys (on a blow-up toddler mattress), but every morning between 4:30 and 5:30 she'd come into our room and crawl into bed.  She'd sleep on Amy or between us (laying horizontal, so invariably one of us would be kicked!) so there was little sleep to be had for the parents but the snuggle-time was precious.  Naps also required Amy to lay down with her, but thank after she was asleep she'd stay in bed with no issues.

Praying she didn't roll of the bed, so Amy had put pillows beside her...thankfully she never fell off.

Reminiscent of Zachary at this age, Addison adored pushing the elevator button.  At one of our first meetings, Zachary threw a huge temper tantrum in front of everyone when he didn't get to push the button...thankfully that didn't happen this time with Addison!

  Not sure how, but we had a HUGE room where we stayed - the adjoining room was just a normal room with 2 double beds, but ours was crazy-big.  Two couches, three arm chairs, a desk, two dressers plus of course the bed!  What luxury!

Sibling bliss - if only it was this peaceful always!

We can't go without mentioning  Father's Day of course - we headed out to Crepevine to enjoy some crepes (to get us primed for our time in Quebec!).  It was delicious!

Devouring out food!

Phrase of the week:  "I'm going to see sister Elin!"  Addison apparently has now adopted Elin, or really wishes that she had a sister (not going to happen - at least not naturally!).  It was cute how she wanted to see her 'sister' all the time up in Canada!

Zachary:  Mom, at the end of today, I'll either have all 5 dollars or no dollars.  Mom:  Yes Zachary, you have the ability to either lose it all or have perfect behavior, it is up to you.  Zachary:  Well, okay - I think I'll have 4 dollars because no-one is PERFECT!  Ha ha, it was a range of 3-5 dollars per day for the week, so not terrible.

Look on the Bright Side!

Sometimes life hands you lemons and you just have to make some lemonade.....any way possible.  Last week, we were getting ready to head out of the country to Quebec City for Amy's annual work meetings.  We were totally focused on that when we noticed that the storm on Friday night had toppled a neighbor's tree over onto our wellhouse.....GREAT!  The roof was punctured in 3 places, and we were about to be out of town in the rainy season!  So, the whole family pulled together and we spent the afternoon trying to clear it off the roof and get the debris cleared away.

Doesn't he look so excited to have this job to do?  Half the wellhouse is covered....

All the kids helped (although we won't lie and say that it was ENTHUSIASTIC help as it was indeed hot and humid) - this is Kaleb hauling away the debris

She was a cheerful helper although her face wouldn't look like it! :)

Standing on the roof after the tree had been cleared off.  It'll need a new roof, new gutters and new faschia.

The view from the end

Update:  After we got back home from Canada, the totally amazing "I Can Fix Anything" Mr Zbaraschuk got to work and totally re-did the roof!  The Z family is incredibly lucky to have a Dad like this!

Anthony and Christopher are godsends - helping to rip off the shingles

Halfway through the job...

The next day - now one day prior to leaving on the trip, our main house A/C konked out.  As in died. As in we're gonna die in 95 degree weather! :)  As in the house warranty just expired! (Of course!)  But, this too shall pass and thankfully it didn't come as a total surprise as were anticipating that it would give up the ghost eventually. But it would be nice not to have to deal with that while we're out of town!  But the CRAZY town part of this whole thing is that our master bedroom A/C konked out the SAME AFTERNOON!  What are the chances of this?  Should the Zs play the lottery?  

Update:  Both A/Cs were fixable, so God was good to us - so we pushed off the requirement of buying two new A/Cs off a little while longer.....

On the bright side, we had the fun of celebrating Jeff's birthday!  We had delicious haystacks, and then enjoyed some nice visiting time.  Addison of course warmed up to Jeff and soon was trying to 'push' him out of his chair as he playing fell off.  They compromised and shared, although at one point he sat on her (while supporting all his weight!) - she doesn't look disturbed in the least does she!

Umm.. this chair is a little bumpy!

Kaleb finished his last skating lesson, and they brought out actual pucks to play, so off Karis took Kaleb to get his very own helmet and stick - he was pleased as punch!

Kieran and Kaleb with their hockey sticks!

Starting to handle the puck...

Phrase of the week:  Addison, true to form, had a hilarious conversation with Jennifer - "Jennifer - you need to go to Target!"  Jennifer:  "Why?"  Addison - "Because you need to get me some CHOCOLATE!"  This girl does love her some chocolate!!

Kids in Drama!

Our talented friends - Allen, Ashley and Rosa - have started a kids drama club at the church.  It is just in its infancy stages, but it is fun to be a part of it and have the kids learn to be up front without nerves etc.  It'll be fun to see how it develops over time!

Duncan talking to the kids as he participates in a mini-play with Allen

Then kids volunteered to go up and showcase a certain reaction/emotion etc

The two older boys were last.....

Addison is starting to show some interest in sports - taking after her older brother.  He was outside playing catch with Karis and she ran outside to participate!  Zachary is a fantastic big brother and took the time to "play catch" with her!  The boys are amazing big brothers and play with her quite often.

He stood close enough to guarantee that she could catch it

This is the game of 'roly-poly' where they roll up in a blanket and roll around the living room - Kaleb was playing as well, but was just off-camera a bit

We have an old tire swing from the previous owners that Addison has discovered, and likes to go back there to swing. It is in the shade, so we're lucky as it is much cooler!

 This week was Markham Wood's vacation bible school - which is our FAVORITE event of the year - the boys just love it - in fact Zachary said this year on Monday "It always goes by so fast Mom, before I know it, the week is over!"  The theme this year was Everest.

A few random pictures that have been especially memorable over the last few weeks:

Not sure that there is a better picture than this one!!  What fun in the mud outside of Jennifer's house!  LOVE IT!

Addison loves to paint - anything and everything....as evidenced below....

Pretty lips!

  Phrase of the week:  "Guys (spoken by Addi), let's play rolly-polly.....GUYS!"  Gotta love a girl who knows what she wants!

Cooking Competitions!

The cooking streak continues, and the boys were cooking the other day with Amy - both making a batch of banana bread muffins (yum!).  They had a lot of fun measuring and mixing, and now have started to have 'cooking competitions' when their friends Blake and Evan come over.  Karis made them go through the cookbook to find a recipe that they wanted to make (brownies out of a box for the little kids, but it was 'from scratch' vanilla cream pie for the older boys!).  It was pretty good!

Dueling Banana Bread Muffin Chefs!

Looking through the recipe books to figure out their creations!

The finished products - yum!

A good friend of ours - Tangie - turned the big XX this week (to remain her secret!), so Amy had a fun evening going out to celebrate with the ladies at the Colorado Fondue Restaurant.  It was an evening of laughter and good food!

Ashley, Jennifer, Tangie, Vasti, Amy and Corey

This week, after 14 years, we FINALLY got rid of the hand-me-down kitchen table (thank you to the Vohwinkels!!) that has served us well.  The fabric chairs were in such deplorable shape that we couldn't wait to get rid of it....and you'll notice that there is NO fabric to be found on these chairs!  The table is also 'distressed' so if our kids distress it, the Z-parents will have no distress! :)

It is a sight for sore eyes! :)

Zachary finished his football season this last week - the team had moved up to the 10U age bracket, and as most of them were 8/9, they found the competition to be much stiffer.  They placed 4th, and Zachary did feel the pressure of being the QB this time-around -saying at times that he didn't do very well but he ended the season on some very good games where he threw very well and learned to "step into" the throw!

The man in action!

The team - missing 2 players that ended up not finishing the season

As there hasn't been any pictures of our little girly in this week's post - we'll include a random picture of her - she does love to paint - whatever she can find to paint!  Good thing bodies and clothes are washable! :)

Happy as a clam!

Amy forgot to share these "All About My Mom" surveys that the kids filled out - so precious and we'll want to keep these in our memory banks! :)  Some answers are dead-on while others....

Let it be know that Amy does NOT drink coffee, and she does NOT love to make supper! :)

I guess the pictures for the blog makes Amy a picture-taking hound! :)

Zachary and Amy share an intense love of reading!

Animal Kingdom

Last weekend we had the fun of celebrating Blake, Evan and Brady's birthdays.  We had a full Sabbath when we started off at Aunt Louise's with Amy's cousin Rick and his family as they came back from Europe - we had so much fun hearing all of the places that they went as we have been to many of the same places and could picture in our mind's eye what they were sharing.  Can't wait to go back!!  Sadly we did not snap any pictures (how could a blogger not take a picture!?).  After that, we headed down to Bonnet Creek (second Wyndham Resort now in a month!) to play in the pool and sing the Happy Birthday song!  There were lots of pools there, so the kids had fun playing with each other as there were LOTS of them! :)

Daddy is never far away from Addi these days! :)  Karis and Abel enjoying some chatting in the pool

The birthday boy!

Lots of kids - I would say this group has more than replaced their parents...we're adding to the world's population! :)

 The next morning, Amy joined the birthday group at Animal Kingdom with Kaleb and Addison.  Zachary had a football game, so he and Karis had some quality time at home.  The day was hot and humid.....but thankfully Jennifer had some fast-passes that allowed us to whiz through the lines pretty quickly.  For most of the day, it was Bergherms, Biris, Grodacks, Isidros and of course the Zs.  Tangie and her girls left for a birthday party, and afterwards Allen stepped in as the surrogate husband for Amy the rest of the day - THANK You! :)  There were many times when that extra set of helping hands was greatly appreciated!

Addison is enamored with Colby - and when she saw him she immediately went over and started to touch his hair, almost 'petting' him!

On the Kali River rapids - Kaleb's favorite ride of the day, we were nice and wet (COOL!) after this ride!

They had a scavenger hunt, so the kids were having a ball getting their patches as they learned about animals at each station.

Sibling bonding at the dino-playground area

It's a sliding train!

The group on the safari ride...Amy and Addison at the very back!

The afternoon became miserably hot - so the enjoyment quotient began to diminish...but we did manage to get some more fun in at the petting zoo before calling it quits and heading on home.

Addison was not nervous about touching this goat - amazing!

Hot and sweaty on our way out... wanna share that fruitsicle Addi?

 The boys have started to show more interest in cooking, so Karis had them help with making supper this week - Zachary made a salad with fruit and Kaleb made the pancakes!  Our boys are growing up!

 And to cap off our week - a few random pictures....

Enjoying Sabbath dinner on our back porch.

Dress-up fun at Jennifer's!