Junglenastics

Zachary joined a gymnastics class on Tuesday mornings last month, and Amy went this week for "Parent Watch" week.  She was actually supposed to go the week before as that was the official Parent Watch week, but she had to host the annual Controller Conference for work, so no can do unfortunately (but thankfully his second mom Miss Jennifer was the stand-in that day so he still had someone!).  Anyway, Amy was able to go this week, and it was SO FUN!  The teacher is very young and creative - she has them do all kinds of stretching and strengthening exercises in the beginning by pretending to be animals and telling stories that you do actions throughout.  The kids are all completely engrossed and laughing while doing warm-up exercises!  She then starts in on the lesson, and they do all kinds of fun things.  This week, they worked on jumping on trampolines and doing somersaults, and then doing "sticky feet" (dismounts).  It was precious because Zachary was doing the circuit and every time he'd do a portion where it was "sticky feet" he say the words with a big grin on his face.  They started working on cartwheels, and jumping on one leg, and they did activities on the bars. Zachary was very attentive to her, and would do as instructed VERY well.  Amy was so proud of him!  At the end of the lesson, the teacher gave him a high five and told him that he had done REALLY well, so it wasn't just mother's pride that thought he did fantastic!! :)

Zachary's in the dark blue shirt in the center of the picture doing a bridge

 Preparing to do "sticky feet!" after jumping from the steps to the green mat

 Doing the spider walk on his hands between these two bars

  Swinging upside down on the bars

The weather is starting to turn cooler here, so we're enjoying the "not so hot" season here in Florida!  Hopefully we'll get some good playing time outside.  Last weekend we went to the park and kicked the soccer ball around in preparation for the soccer practice this week.  Alas the cooler weather means that our swimming lessons will soon be over - perhaps sooner rather than later as Karis will no longer even get into the pool because it's too cold!

Last weekend, Karis was in Seattle for his uncle Ed's funeral.  Uncle Ed passed away about a month ago from cancer, but they had the memorial later which was nice because it allowed some lead time in getting plane tickets etc.

Our close friends from Andrews University days, Will & Heather and their son Kieran have moved from Michigan down to Orlando (much to their dismay and our delight!).  Kieran is about six months younger than Kaleb, so we're very happy to have another playmate for Kaleb around.  It's been very fun to have them here, and they came over this week for a play date while Zachary and Amy were at Adventurers.

Kieran & Kaleb playing "bucket heads"

Phrase of the week:  As we've reported in the past, Zachary is VERY much a Daddy's boy.  To prove it, last weekend, he asked Amy "Mommy, next can you go on a trip and Daddy stay at home?"  Amy responded with something (memory is failing!), to which he said "Well, Daddy is my best friend and I love him!" Now isn't that just the sweetest thing?  Amy then responds again about being able to have fun with Mommy and you can love many people.  Zachary then very seriously looks at her and says "But Mommy, I have a different way......I love you in the Fall and Summer!"  I think that he was trying to say that this just wasn't Mommy's time to be in the limelight, so Amy didn't bother telling him that this WAS Fall/Summer so this should be her turn! :)  Ah well, although just when you're put in the category of "not your time to be first on my list" he'll then shout from another room "Mommy?" and when Mommy responds, he says "Mommy, I love you!"  Fickle men! :)  

Kaleb's phrase this week is "gween" - this is the color that he'll call EVERYTHING.  You can immediately tell him what color the object is, and then re-ask him and he'll calmly answer that it is "gween"!