One to One High School Reunion!

Amy went to high school at Parkview Adventist Academy (PAA) which was located in Lacombe, Alberta on the same campus as Canadian Union College (CUC) - that's where she met Karis for the first time although we didn't date until 7 years later!

One of her close friends in high school was Daena Kerr (now Seland).  Amy went back for her 10th high school reunion but hasn't been back, so it has been over 20 years since she has seen Daena!  Daena and her husband Doug (who was friends with Karis' older brother Korey) came down to Florida to visit some relatives, and spent some time with us - arriving Wednesday and heading out on Monday.  It was like our very own private high school reunion!

What a fun weekend to catch up with each other's lives - it was fun to walk down memory lane!  Thanks for coming, our house is always open for visitors, come again!

They went to Kennedy Space Center on Thursday, and then on Friday we all went over to Winter Park to the boat ride along the canal lakes and then enjoyed some ice cream afterwards!

So great to catch up!

Daena, Doug, Karis and Amy

It was a lovely cool day while out on the lake!

That Sabbath was serving sabbath at church, so Addison went with Js to the Mustard Seed and helped while we enjoyed some downtime with our guests.  Karis was at the medical tent, so it was a relaxed morning just Amy, Doug and Daena.

Looking through old photo albums!

Going on an airboat ride is kind of quintessential Florida, so we were able to fit that in as well - it was another lovely day and a great guide.

The sun, wind and white noise of the air boat can lull anyone into sleep!

Other highlights of the week included a ladies dinner out while the kiddos were at Una Voce practice for their upcoming play the Fiddler on the Roof!

Tracy, Amy, Kim and Alex

And Addison enjoyed a girls movie night at friend Alison's house.  This is such a great group of girls - very little drama thank goodness!

Soccer Award - Most Improved Player

Kaleb's club soccer season came to an end (and possibly the end of the team as multiple seniors are graduating, making it hard to possibly find enough players) and on their last game awards were handed out.  They also won first place in the league for their division, so that was a nice way to cap off their season.  It was super fun to see Kaleb get most improved player for the season - he has blossomed in his defensive position over the years and really turned it on this season which was cool to see him recognized.  He plays hard, doesn't bring an ego to the field, shows great sportsmanship and is a friend to all.  Way to go kiddo!

Announcing Kaleb Z as Most Improved Player!

Proud Dad

Proud grandma too!

Moms are always proud!

A good friend of Kaleb - Micah - a senior graduating - he will be missed!

That weekend we had the fun of enjoying a visit with the Reiners - lots of fun to visit, do puzzles, play and just enjoy each other's company!

On Sunday, Grandma Bobbi saw that there was a defense class for women at the church, so we all thought that would be a fun outing and headed on over.  We didn't realize it would be 4 hours long.....but it was still fun to take Addison and Elin and learn about how to be aware of our surroundings!

Besties!

Addison, Grandma Bobbi, Grandma Anesta (Niesha's mom), Amy and Elin

We had some other fun events that week that deserve a mention in our weekly recaps too!

Bergherms were out of town, so London stayed over one night.  The girls enjoyed hanging out together!

And speaking of hanging out, we enjoyed a game of "Code Names" with Elin, Addison and Kaleb 

And last, but certainly not least, while Una Voce was practicing for the upcoming Fiddler on the Roof, us moms enjoyed a night out at Santiago Bodega's!  Amy, Kim and Tracy

And to wrap up October, we also had the gaggle of girls over (Addison's friends - Alison, Penny, Lele, Lily, Elin and Addison) to tube behind the boat and play at the house - it is always a joy to see these girls enjoying each other!

what a beautiful rainbow!

This group of girls has been very drama free - and we are incredibly blessed for that!

Orangewood Homecoming & Southern Fall Break

Southern's Fall Break occurs mid-October (sadly not at the exact time of our Fall break down here), so Zachary flew down on Allegiant to Sanford (yay, so close!) and back up from St. Pete over near Tampa (not so close, but very affordable!).  It was lovely to have our boy home for a few days - having the whole family together was awesome! 

No visit home is complete without Jeremiah's!

And we enjoyed Sabbath lunch to celebrate a belated Canadian Thanksgiving (waiting for Zach to be with us) with the whole complete family!

And no visit would be complete without torturing one's brother

And little sister had to get in on this too - poor Kaleb who doesn't like a lot of close touching was ready for this family moment to be over! 😂

Zachary is a big Aria fan, so he was particularly delighted to be back with his puppy again - that is one very big puppy!

That Saturday night was the Orangewood Homecoming event, and one of the OCS classmates asked Kaleb to go with her (Ashlynn) so we headed out to take pictures that evening at Kraft Azalea park.

Erik J also went, so we grabbed a picture of Kaleb and Levi

And the dads watching all of the shenanigans!

Kaleb and Ashlynn

A bit small, but it is Lucas, Ashlynn, Sierra, Becca and Kaleb

Lily (long-time friend of Kaleb and Becca) came along to take pictures as well even though she doesn't go to OCS.

The old FLA crew - Kaleb, Lily, Becca and Lucas

And while Kaleb enjoyed his evening at Hoco, the rest of the Zs enjoyed an evening at home watching a movie together while Zach was home!

Pumpkin Fest & FLEC Fall Break

The fall always begins to ramp up in terms of activities in October, and this year was no different.  The Adult Zs had a fun evening out at the church's Pumpkin Fest - lots of mixer games and at the end of course Tank.  This year Karis did not play as the Js didn't come, and Amy was not going to be crawling around on the concrete floor! :)

With October starts to come school breaks, and we had the fun of having Sadie come over to hang out with Kaleb (as the official babysitter) and they had a grand time that day!

Co-ed soccer was going on at FLEC in the fall and Addison enjoyed playing.  She got a lot of playing time and held her usual defensive mid position.

Anytime there is a day off of school, it is a great opportunity to think up something fun.  London, Addison and Miss Jennifer went out to see the inspiring "Soul on Fire" movie.

Orlando Shakes Play Outing & FLEC Fall Festival

Each year FLEC has a fall festival in which they bring in lots of fun activities on a Sunday, including bounce houses, BMX performers, food trucks and more.  This year the weather was beautiful - great time to be in Florida!   

Addison and Alison

Lily, Addison and Emy (Alison's younger sister)

Such a sweet friendship!

In addition, her class raised enough money during their MyFlec fundraiser week hat they were able to have a "school-free" day with Waterslides and all kinds of fun!

Lele, Lily, Alison and Addi

Umm how many popsicles is this girl going to eat!?

That weekend, we had a fun outing for the family by going out to the Orlando Shakes Theater to watch the Hound of the Baskervilles with the Js and Cs.  Play with "mid" (to use a teen slang term!) but the evening with friends was of course lovely.

Southern All Night Soccer Tournament

 Zachary played softball intramurals at Southern, and the culmination of the season is an all-night softball tournament.  Yep, all night.  Crazy, but they are young and energetic!  Amy and Karis hadn't been up to see him since he went to school, so we watched the weather carefully (because it almost appeared that a hurricane may decide to come!) and when we decided it would be safe we booked tickets the Thursday and flew up on Spirit via a direct flight (awesome!) to Chattanooga.  Our dear friends the Hicks graciously took us in for the weekend - and Erick (their son) graciously let us have the bed when he also showed up for the weekend as a surprise.  Thank you Erick, you are so kind!

We enjoyed touring the campus with Zachary on Friday, and then went to Hicks to have supper and celebrate Kayley's birthday.  Happy Birthday Kayley!

We miss you kiddo!

The Advent Health nursing building on campus.  The whole campus is so beautiful!

We even crossed paths with Jake, Zachary's roommate!

Kayley trying on her birthday gift clothes

Enjoying some snuggle time with Dad

It was quite funny because we went to the cafeteria to help spend some of Zachary's food credit (he eats off campus way too often in order to get the pre-requisite amount of protein that he wants for body-building!) and ran into the FLA Senior Class who is on their Senior Outbreak tour!  How fun to see all of the kids that we know from home!  Amy took pictures with all of the kids and sent it to their parents as a proof of life picture - so awesome!

On Sabbath, we went to the Crosswalk Church, where we enjoyed the service and were able to see even more students - it is a very well attended church!

Zach, Blake, Luke and Cristian

Saturday evening, we headed out to watch the games.  The old fuddy-duddies lasted until 12:30, but the next game wasn't until 2:30A so we packed it in -- and that was a fair decision as they ended up losing that game and were out of the tournament.  It was a lot of fun though - lots of teams dress in matching crazy outfits, such as wigs, matching t-shirts etc - lots of fun team spirit

Zachary at bat

The fan club!  Jennifer B and London came up as well to watch Blake play in the tournament

We were sad to say good-bye, but we enjoyed seeing Zach so much, even though it was brief!

Zachary's softball team

Kevin graciously took us to the airport the next day where we rented a car, drove to Atlanta and then hopped on a direct flight back to home - arriving at 5P.  It really was a pretty easy experience through the whole with direct flights!