To the Farm We Go

Last weekend, we trekked off to Green Meadows farm again.  It is one of Zachary's favorite activities and of course we're trying to get Kaleb over his animal phobia, so it is the closest thing to being on the farm as we can get!

Several of our us snagged the "groupon" coupons that they had a few months back for a cheap deal, so even though it is still hot in September, we headed off to the farm.  Karis was at a conference, so it was Amy flying 'solo', and she was joined by Bergherms and Deiningers.  Grodacks were supposed to come but were struck down with the deadliest case of pink eye we've seen (you were missed guys!).

Kaleb continues to make small steps forward in his fear of animals, so we'll continue to try and expose him little by little.  He still wouldn't milk the cow, but he did run into the pen with the goats and willingly touch them without having his hand on top of Mommy's hand (just the finger tips would actually touch the sheep, but the goats were another matter apparently!).  We were so fortunate because it ended up being fairly cool (relatively speaking) in the shade and twice it sprinkled (just like the Disney World misters, but only natural!) which kept us cool.

The chicken whisperer - no problems catching a chicken!

Ahh, a close encounter with Zachary's beloved bison!

Look mom, no fear here!

Last week Zachary was also 'inducted' into the Apopka Adventurers program.  We joined this year as we thought we had a conflict with the FLEC Adventurers program (which hasn't yet ended up being a conflict) but we've REALLY enjoyed it.  We know the Hilliards and Edris' as well in the group, so it is fun to be able to see them on a more regular basis.  The program is very well organized and has a lot of fun activities, so we've been impressed so far.  They had a bake sale last weekend, so we stayed to have a few "sweets" in the name of supporting the club - the boys chose the biggest cupcake they could to enjoy.

Tyler, Zachary and Cole

Love the icing face!

Phrase of the week:  "Mommy, I want to swim with Uncle William"  "Why, do you want to swim with Uncle William or just swim in his pool?: (Pool is very large and fun!).  No, Uncle William.  Why?  Because he wrestles and plays with me, and he's just my best guy.  Too sweet - kudos to Uncle William for being Zachary's best guy!  Kaleb's sweet moment is when he has started to change his night-time song from the traditional "Night-night Kaleb, Mommy loves you, Daddy loves you, Night-night Kaleb, night-night Kaleb, Jesus loves you, Jesus loves you" - he now switches the first Jesus to Zachary and the last one to Grandma and then was squeezing in Jesus at the end to try and get in EVERYONE who loves Kaleb! :)

The Wheels Come Off!

Right before we left for our trip to Canada on Labor Day weekend, Zachary decided that he was a big boy and wanted his training wheels off.  Daddy promised that when we returned that he would teach Zachary, so when we got back on Monday after naps we headed over to Teague Middle School's track to start the adventure.

Amy remembered learning herself how to ride a bike, and of course has seen other children over the years - so frankly was expecting a lot of falls.  In true "safety conscious" form, she brought elbow and knee pads to ensure that Zachary did not end up bloodied.  Kaleb though insisted that he have his own knee pads, so we took off Zachary's elbow pads to put on Kaleb's knees.

Karis took him out into the grassy middle of the track, and off they went.  He ran behind Zachary, holding on, and then let go and off Zachary went - with nary a fall!  In fact, it was amazing, HE NEVER FELL!?  What??  He fell once while getting on the bike (he insisted that he could only start if the left pedal was the one at the top, which was tricky for him to get it up each time) but seeing as he was just standing there it wasn't much of a fall to speak off. 

Other than getting started, Zachary never had any problems and in fact that first day he began to "race" Daddy around the track with Karis sprinting as fast as he could go and Zachary pumping his little legs as fast as they'd go.  Those "sprints" were interesting as Zachary's front wheel would wildly wobble as they went around the corners of the track but he managed to keep it together somehow!  He also began to do "skid stops" that day where he'd be pedalling a mile a minute and then slam on the brakes - sliding a good 5-8 feet laying black rubber on the pavement from his tires - all the while perfectly balanced.

This was one of those moments in life where you're so proud of your child - for learning a new skill so quickly, keeping at it when it was a bit hard to get started.  It was also a moment truthfully of misty eyes - how can our little boy be so big that he doesn't have training wheels anymore?  We're not ready for him to be big yet!  Sniff. :)

Phrase of the week:  As we've mentioned in the past, Zachary loves animals.  This morning he was snuggling with Daddy in bed, and their conversation went like this - Daddy:  How much does a polar bear weigh?  Z:  "800-1600 pounds".  D:  How much does a Fox weigh weigh?  Z:  "6-20 pounds"  D: How much does an alligator weigh?  Z:  "800-1000 pounds"  This kid reads the numbers from the animal flash cards and has them memorized!  Amazing.  Mom actually had to go and get the cards in order to recreate this conversation because she can't remember how much everything weighs!  Kaleb's is related to animals as well, but isn't an actual phrase but rather an activity- he was sitting with Amy one day, and he begins to take his little fingers and "pick" at things on her skin and put them into his mouth.  After watching him repeat this several times, she asked him what he was doing and he said "I'm picking bugs and eating them off of you!"  Ahh - didn't realize that there were bugs on Mommy and who knew that Kaleb was an ape! :)

Crazy faces - silly boy!

Here, There, Everywhere

We've had a crazy couple of fun weeks!  Two weekends ago, we had Amy's cousin Jeff and wife Niesha down with us for the weekend. It was super fun to have them and of course the boys were beyond excited.  As soon as they found out that they were coming, Zachary began to beg to go swimming with Jeff.  Amy responded that it would depend on how Jeff felt (he's been feeling a bit 'off' lately) when Kaleb pipes up "Niesha swim!"  If it wasn't one, then it was going to be the other! :)  We did have a fabulous time and the boys kept them busy playing "chase", swimming, reading books etc.  Zachary was so enamored with them that early one morning, one of them had gone into the bathroom and he laid down on the floor outside the bathroom door just to see feet!  At least until Mommy caught him and they had a discussion about privacy! :)

Awesome action shot - Kaleb's knee is up in the air - he was loving it!

Not to be outdone, Zachary makes the most of his throw from Jeff in his own action shot

Zachary had a "lease" on, and Jeff was walking him around like a dog (much to Zachary's delight!)

Last weekend, the adult Z-s flew up to Canada to visit Amy's Dad while the boys stayed with Grandma.  Amy's Dad had been in the hospital the week before with a suspected TIA, and of course his overall health has been declining over the past year.  We were very happy to be able to go and visit with him.  We actually had a family meeting with his doctor (not sure that our doctors down here would have been caring enough to meet with the entire family to discuss medical issues, but who knows....) - anyway she spent about an hour and a half with us discussing all of the various medical problems etc.

After that we went out to eat with Brad, Cam, Tracy and Dad where we literally had the BEST apple crisp Amy has ever tasted.  Coming from a cooked fruit hater, this is really saying something!  We were able to go to Dad's church the next day where we really had a blessing from the sermon (all about spending time daily in God's Word) and then headed over to Norma's house for a fabulous meal.  That night we actually were able to go to a concert at one of the local SDA churches that was celebrating their 40th anniversary.  Sunday we just made it a day of relaxing and enjoying each other's company before we headed back VERY early on Monday.  Something special happened on Monday when we got home, but that'll be next week's blog post! :)

Brad, Dad, Cam, Tracy and Amy

Dad's sporty wheels!

The boys had a fantastic time with Grandma -although they tend to get up even earlier when Mom and Dad are out of town.  When Grandma told Zachary to sleep in, he said "well, when Mom and Dad are out of town, my body worries about when to get up!"  They enjoyed the zoo, the Science Center, swimming and the highlight was going to the butterfly experience where Kaleb actually let a butterfly suck nectar off of his finger!  Yep, you heard it here -KALEB, our animal-phobic child! :)

He is quite proud about the butterfly on his finger!

Phrase of the week:  "I gonna take you DOWN Mommy!"  When your 3.5 year old emphatically tells you that he is going to "take you down"when he asks you to wrestle with him, it is so cute that you engineer ways during the wrestling match for him to think that he has actually pinned you!  It is hard to do when you're about 3 times bigger than he is!  Zachary's phrase revolved around a midnight episode of a coughing fit.  He was coughing with virtually every breath (he has a cold, but nothing like this!) and so Amy got up with him and after about 30 minutes in desperation she decided to give him allergy medicine and take him outside (it always works for her when she is in an allergic fit) - well at 1:00 in the morning Zachary is wide awake, telling her what each cloud looks like  - "Look Mommy, that is a kitty kat.....and that is an alligator......and that is a cow!"  All Mommy wanted to be doing was sleeping, but thankfully after about 15 minutes outside, the combination of the medicine and the fresh air calmed his cough down enough to go back inside where all parties went to sleep.