Boys & Their Toys

A few years ago, Karis decided that the Florida sun had finally knocked all of the stuffing out of him and that every time he did lawn work (which is often down here) he was going to be on the edge of having a heart attack. So, with that mental image in mind, we trotted off to buy a small lawn tractor to minimize the amount of time that he was outside in the heat of the day (not entirely clear that the heart attack wasn't just clever manipulation in order to convince Amy to buy the tractor, but that's a topic for another day. :)). Now that Zachary has gotten a little older, the farmer in Karis has decided that there can be nothing more fun than for Zachary to ride around on the tractor with his dad!

Last week we had a rare treat - our close family friend, Norma James, came down with a few of her friends from Canada to visit Orlando. They stayed with Amy's mom and had quite a fun time - exploring places like SeaWorld, Holy Land, Blue Man Group, the malls and last but not least "La Nouba." The visit was entirely too short, but it was great fun to see them and catch up.

New Landscaping!

We finally bit the bullet and decided that it was time to make a long over-due change to our front entrance. For all that have been to our house, you'll remember that there were two overgrown trees at the entrance that were constantly encroaching on the walkway. In addition to that, there was a jolly green giant Hibiscus bush at the front of the walk - which was absolutely lovely when it was in bloom but it would get so big that our visitors would have to walk on the grass to get around it and my car would "drive" through it in an attempt to get into the garage! So, we've finally removed the offenders and put in some new plants. It isn't quite finished as we have some re-painting to do along with a few more plants etc and decorative wall hangings, but we're getting there. The next landscaping project will be to remove the dreadful bird of paradise plant in our back pool - the thing has grown through our pool screen so many times it is ridiculous! That hasn't occurred yet, so we'll share more pictures as our projects progress!

Zachary is "racing" towards walking independently and now will walk for quite a space between two people. I am including two pictures of his new accomplishment - the first is a picture of him walking between Auntie Kelli and Karis - you'll notice that his eyes are closed (not a recommended feature of walking!) and that he has a sock in his mouth - aka the "French Boa" Don't ask me how this name has been attached to socks, but Zachary has developed a fetish for socks - he loves to carry them around with him and try to put them around his neck - hence the "boa" - I think that the "french boa" was added just to give it an air of sophistication! :)

The second picture is of him wearing a shirt that I received from work - the shirt says "Super-Duper Controller" in honor of the fact that I am the Controller for AHS. I thought that it was quite cute and clever.

P.S - I realized after making this post that the first picture of Zachary has his eyes open - apparently it was two different pictures that had the funny things going on - so I've posted the extra picture below.

New Car!

The excitement this week was the fact that Amy's mom has a new car now! We went around and test-drove the Toyota Rav-4 and Honda CRV with her - which was quite fun as Amy loves nothing more than making lists of pros and cons! :) The decision was made to go the route of the Honda CRV and the purchase was finalized this week. New cars are such fun - new car smell is awesome!

Zachary has decided that just pulling the tupperware out of the cabinet is no longer exciting enough - we must get INTO the cabinet for our fun to be complete!

On other things, we have finalized our plans for the Canada Trip Part 2 and will be flying up August 11 and back on August 21. We're looking forward to spending time at Amy's Aunt and Uncle's farm in Alberta and then at Karis' farm in Saskatchewan.

Practice Makes Perfect

Zachary has decided that walking may not be for the birds after all, so we've spent much time walking around the house while Zachary practices. Has he walked alone yet? Not our Mr. Safety Man! :) But, we'll take what we can get - at least we're progressing in the right direction! We've enjoyed the week - we celebrated the 4th over at the Hilliard's for the "Splash Bash" - what fun!

Parlez Vous Anglais?

Our first trip to Canada in 2007 was a wonderful experience - we spent the first weekend in Manitoba (where Amy grew up) and then flew to Quebec City where we spent the rest of the week.

----------Picture with Grandpa Gene---------

In Portage la Prairie (French for "crossing the prairie with a canoe on your shoulders!") - we enjoyed our stay with Amy's Dad (we had a delicious feast of perogies and cabbage rolls), attended church (many memories of attending church school in the basement and playing with the other kids), travelled into Winnipeg to see Grandma Norma (who taught Zachary how to crawl up and down stairs! :)), and capped off the visit with a stroll down memory lane with Amy's childhood friend Nicole and her family. Amy toured Karis around the small town so that he could have a visual image now of where she spent many childhood years! It was a much too short visit, but we're thankful that we could be there for any amount of time! Thanks to everyone for the hospitality!

--Rintoul Family with Patriotic Canadian Flag!--

Then, we were off to Quebec City where the Z's had never been. We were a little apprehensive at first about not speaking French, but we were pleased to see that most people spoke both French and English (We wish that we were diligent enough to know two languages!) Quebec City is absolutely beautiful and has a very European feel to it - quaint little shops with flower boxes everywhere, lots of historical sites, cobblestone streets and delicious little French cafes. We spent some of our trip exploring the countryside - it is amazing how green and hilly it is - along with spectacular waterfalls. One day we met up with Amy's cousin Kim and her family - which we were eagerly awaiting! It was awesome to meet Yan and Nicholas (he was so small and adorable - it brings back memories of when Zachary was small - why do they grow so fast!)

--------------St. Anne's Canyon -------------

------------Picture with Kim, Yan & Nicholas------------

Zachary was a trooper on the trip - he got very little sleep but still managed to fairly happy until the end of the week when he'd just had enough (and we'd had enough of trying to keep the 'wild man' happy!) - lucky that we were heading home soon! Children's Benadryl may just be the most miraculous drug ever invented - Zach slept for almost all of the flights which was a blessing!

Happy Canada Day (one day late) and Happy Fourth of July!

First Haircut!

Last weekend, Zachary underwent his first official haircut. To be honest, he's had several hair "trims" where certain portions of his hair was cut, but this was the first all-over haircut. We saved some of his curls from the back to put into a scrapbook for posterity. The only way that we could get him to sit still enough was to give him a bowl of cheerios to munch on! :)

On another note, we purchased bedroom furniture for our master bedroom! It arrived yesterday, so now we're in the process of putting our room back together. It is quite exciting as we've just had the mis-matched furniture for a very long time.

Next week, we're heading to Canada for a week. We'll first go to Manitoba for a visit with Amy's Dad and other friends before heading to Quebec City for meetings that Amy attends. We've never been to Quebec City before, so this will be a fun adventure. We're going to be able to see Amy's cousin Kim and her family in Quebec as they'll be there for their own vacation by coincidence! Great timing! :) So, we'll not have another post until around July 4th week or so.

On a final note - Happy Father's Day to all Dads!

Learning Experiences!

Last weekend, Karis went up to Chicago to take his manual therapy certification after finding out only 3 weeks prior that he would be allowed to go. So, those three weeks were crammed with cramming :). He flew up there last weekend to take the 3-part test. He won't find out his results for another 4-6 weeks but he feels like he may need to take the practical (hands-on) portion of the test again in the fall. Apparently he fell into the "mind goes blank" trap that most of us have experienced at one point or another! :) He was able to take a short drive over to Berrien Springs to stroll down memory lane with friends (Will & Heather Cochran, Kelly Slikkers and Alex Markovich)

This week has been a traumatic one for Zachary - he has been forced into the world of swimming lessons by his cruel parents. :) Beware, swimming lessons are not for the faint of heart - there is much crying!! :) So, every day for 10 minutes we experience a "controlled drowning experience" (description provided by our friend Lisa who is also forcing her 14 month old Luke to learn to survive as well! :)). Basically the lessons are for 3-5 weeks in which the child will learn to flip onto their back and float until help arrives. If they are walking already, they also learn to then flip back over and swim towards the side before switching to float again to breathe. Both boys are mad as hatters during the entire 10 minutes (good thing that it is short!), but we are seeing progress (Luke is really kicking towards the wall well and Zachary seems to be getting the hang of the float business). We have a long way to go, but it is giving me a peace of mind to know that we are pro-actively trying to ensure that he'll be as safe as possible in a state where almost every other house has a pool.

As a final note, my cousin Kathy came down for meetings this week, so we had a fun time catching up with her! We are very lucky that Orlando is such a popular spot for meetings etc as we've really been able to see many friends and family over the years as they come for conferences etc.