Summer Vacation - World tour - Part 3

The last part of our trip was a jaunt up to Saskatchewan to visit Karis' family in the summer - completely opposite from our normal Christmas trip so Karis was very excited.  We drove from Vermont up to Montreal as the flight times were better, and had a layover in Toronto.  When we arrived in Toronto, we discovered that we were in for a loooooong layover as our flight ended up being cancelled but we were lucky to have a flight that we could catch at 11P that night.  That meant 9 hours in Toronto just hanging out trying to keep the kids entertained.  We were again fortunate in that Addison ended up finding a friend that she played with for most of our "sitting around time"

This girl is all girl - she could barely be torn away from this lipstick stand in the airport - even to go and eat lunch!

Blessing on this little girl for keeping Addison entertained!

We played cards, drew, watched movies...anything to keep the boredom at bay

 We stayed that night in Saskatoon as it was 1A when we landed (3A our time), and it is still a 2 hour drive to the farm.  No way Jose.  When boarding the plane in Toronto, we realized that we only have FOUR passports........who would draw the short straw and have to stay in Canada?  Which parent would have to fly to the US Embassy in Calgary - wrecking the entire vacation?  Answer to the first was Kaleb....answer to the second was unknown.  The despair was high, and prayers were fervent.  The next morning when we tore through our bags, and to no avail could not find the missing passport!?  Karis kindly got every single phone number that we could find online for the airports that we had been at so that Amy could begin calling that afternoon once reaching the farm.

Papa Z came to get us at the hotel that morning.  Addison was happy as a clam!

Proud of herself with Daddy's hat on upside down!

 Upon arrival, Karis got into work clothes and went onto the roof - the roof was to be reshingled on the one side (the other side saved for next year).  That was a major project that he wanted to get done for his parents while he was there.  Amy on the other hand took a deep breath and sat down to begin the arduous task of calling the phone numbers - on a Canadian holiday no less as it was the equivalent of their Independence Day.  As she worked her way through the numbers, she called Canada Border Services in Toronto...and after sharing her story the man asked "What is your son's name" and when she said Kaleb, his response....."I have his passport sitting right here in front of me".  THANK YOU GOD!!!!  What an answer to prayer. 

The next portion of our story was that we then had to get a FedEx label to send to him, but when we tried to create an account we couldn't put in our US address as we were physically in Canada (FedEx, major shortfall - why would they assume that you would never need to set up an account if you were in another country????) so Amy then started to call all of our family and friends in the US to find someone who was near a computer who could set up an account.  Finally she struck gold with Heather C and we were able to get an account set up.  The passport was then shipped to a company in Prince Albert (as the farm doesn't have a physical mailing address and FedEx won't ship to a PO box...) and then we had to go in and pick it up.  Whew, it was a hassle but it was SUCH a relief!!

After a day and a half of roofing, Amy decided that it was time for the extended family to get involved, so she and Zachary - and Connor - climbed on up there and lent our hands and our backs to the job.  We were the ones stripped the shingles, pulling out nails, and then cleaning up the rain gutters afterwards.  It was a little nerve-wracking up there with nothing to keep you 100% safe, and Amy of course worries so she was very diligent to be sure that the boys were not to get close to the edge, couldn't play around, couldn't pull backwards (because what if they tripped and fell off the scaffolding!!?) until even Zachary said "Mom, you worry too much!"  But, we were proud of the boys, they worked hard and hopefully had satisfaction that they did something good for their grandparents.  Also, that they learned the value of the college education so that they don't have to do manual labor all their life!

Before the work begins

Karis is one of the hardest working people, proud of him!

The boys up there for the first time

Addison desperately wanted to get up on the roof - no way Missy - much to her dismay!

Amy is nervous enough that she must maintain physical contact with the roof at all times....two stories up is a long way to fall!!!!

Cleaning out the last of the gutters

Amy held her breath whenever Karis was close to the edge....don't make any unexpected moves!

It looks great!

It wasn't all work and no play, so one day we took the kids to the local waterslide park where they had a blast.  It was a great day and they had so much fun!

Addison in the smaller kids area (pink skirt in the middle of the picture)

Addison has become quite the poser for pictures

We also celebrated Kaylie and Addison's birthdays while we were there.  Happy birthday girls (can you stay little a while longer?)

 Auntie Lori is always a wealth of fun things, and she did not disappoint.  Out came the costume outfits so Addison had a blast playing with everything! Here she looks like a Cleopatra!

 There was a lot of playtime with the cousins, from football catch to crafts, to hide and seek.  Karis took them on a walk to his old school house as well for a walk down memory lane!

Doing a puzzle with Emily

pick-up sticks

The pied piper with his kids on the walk

Old school house is now abandoned

Zach and Connor are perfectly matched in their love for sports!

Addison always loves to ride in the tractor - even more than the boys!

Addison and Uncle Kent

 

Karis playing tag with the kids....he decided that he is old because they can cut much faster than he can!

Addison and Zach fell in love with the two dogs....much to their dismay Amy is allergic to cats and some dogs, so there is unlikely to be dogs in our household anytime soon!

Papa-Z's girl!

This is a new way to clean windshields!  Just put the girl up there - she does love to work and help!

The Z-family on our last day - we'll miss you and can't wait to see you again soon!

When we left the farm, we went over to Alberta to see Amy's aunt and uncle and her Grandma Lena.  Grandma Lena is in a nursing home now and has severe memory issues, so this may be one of the last times that Amy sees her, so it was a true blessing to go.  She didn't remember Amy and wouldn't come out of the bed for a while but eventually she got some energy and was able to get up and play a bit with Addison. 

They had a sweet connection

Love you Grandma!

 On Sabbath, we hiked around some really interesting hills/formations near Aunt Elaine's house.  we had never been there before and the kids had a grand time climbing all over the hills.  It was a beautiful day for sure!

Hiking down into the canyon

On top of the world!

Beautiful scenery

Waaayyy up there

The three kids had lots of independence and we let them explore on their own while we walked around the base

They're up there somewhere!

Leaving our Z mark that we were there!

Refreshing watermelon at the end - yummy!

No trip to the Sankeys is ever complete without a drive by the buffalo!  The bison had actually broken out of their area through the fence so Uncle Murray had a mess on his hands come Sunday to try and get them back into the right spot and fix the fencing.

One delight of the time there was the fact that they bought a foot massager, so all the kids had a fun time giving it a whirl!

She did it multiple times!

Thanks for being so hospitable - we loved visiting with you Aunt Elaine and Uncle Murray!

 Phrase of the week: Amy was talking to Addison about her picking something up etc, to which Addison replied "I can't, I am weak because I left my muscles at Miss Jennifer's!" 

Summer Vacation World tour - Part 2

Starting off where we ended last week's post, we arrived in Stowe Vermont late Monday night. It is a lovely green area with lots to do outdoorsy.....if it isn't raining!  However, we were the recipients of rain almost every day - but rain or shine there is fun to be had!  It was a conference for Amy but there are lots of kids there so the Zs think that this is one of the best trips of the year!  We'll tell the tale of our time there mostly with pictures....

No conference is complete without a soccer game on any green area that the kids can find!

Even though it rained, we found things to do that made the time very fun- from going to the Apple Cider place (fresh apple cider, apple cider donuts, apple cider jam...you get the picture!).  Then there were the outdoor activities such as the treetop ropes course, zip-lining, canoeing....awesome although Addison was too young for several activities so we were a family divided.

Posing wtih hats with Miss Maddie!

At the Apple Cider Mill

Zachary was the only one old enough to go zip-lining - he got going as fast as 55 miles per hour down the mountain!

Ready set go!

While they did zip-lining, the rest of our family went to paint pottery (out of the rain!) with Johnsons and Hilliards.  Everyone had fun, although shipping the items back ended up with Amy's completely broken! Boo!

No trip to Stowe can be complete without a stopover at Ben and Jerry's for a tour of their factor and of course some ice cream!  Yummy!

Thursday found the boys going to their tree top adventure, while Addison and Amy took some quiet time in the hotel and advantage of a nap.

The part we love at these conferences is being able to connect with friends that we only see at these times of the year as they are flung across the country at various hospitals.  We enjoyed time with Huenergardts and Stewarts at a yummy pizza place one night!

Friday morning, Amy, Karis and Addison went kayaking on the river with a group while the boys went to play soccer.  The river was very full from all of the rain, so it was very fast and you barely had to paddle.  The biggest surprise was at the end when we came to where we got out, and we were kayaking through yellow mustard flowers.....beautiful but poor Karis - a farmer at heart - was aghast that the water had come up so high that the poor field was flooded.  Apparently it was normally a firm ground where you got out but the water was so high it flooded so hence we had to kayak our way out of the field.

Spending some quality time with our girl!

the whole group

A small part of the group

She is an explorer with that stick that she found along the way!

Meanwhile the boys played soccer and then made themselves a natural slip and slide - it looked super fun although their clothes didn't fare well.

The resort had rock climbing center there as well so the boys headed over there that afternoon - complete with auto-belay systems which made it very easy!  It was super fun!

Addison easily makes other friends, so she had a great time this week finding new girls to become friends with.  Chloe from Denver was a favorite, and they had a great time playing together.

entertaining themselves one afternoon.

while the other adults chatted

Now THAT is a cannonball!

Friday evening we finally had the chance to connect with our dear friends from Orlando - Vasti and Abel.  It was a game restaurant where you had board games etc to play, and the food was very good - yum!

No conference is complete without the finale - an ice cream sundae party - the kids thought that they had died and gone to heaven!

For the first time, we had Addison sleep with someone and as Kaleb and Addison are the two that sleep the most, we tried them out together.  She only fell out of bed once, and they did a great job not disturbing each other - although Amy did put a pillow in between them!

Hugging that pillow!

Amy was honored for her 20 year service award, it is amazing that so much time has passed!  It has been a blessing to work for this company, and such a fulfilling mission!

Can it be 20 years ago that we finished college!?

Karis was on Dad duty as always, and one morning there was a dress-up event for the Spouses, and he was so proud of himself when he texted a picture of Addison and the fact that he braided her hair all by himself for the very first time!!

That's a pretty good braid Dad!

Random pictures:

Can you sense that she is in a snit about something...looking down her nose with her arms crossed.  Harrumph! :)

Before we left on our vacation, we had a fun outing with Grandma, Ivalee and the Z-family to the Orlando Eye where it is a huge Ferris wheel that slowly rotates giving you a view of the Orlando skyline.  It was a fun experience with the family.

Up, up and away!

Random fun at miss Jennifer's!