River Ranch October 2018

The first weekend in October, we went out to River Ranch again (Yes, we're behind but better late than never!).  This time, we did not have any RV disasters - we were quite thankful!  We did love this particular RV (it was a Jayco for our memory sake) the most - it combined all the things that we have really liked plus it had a slide out for the back kids bedroom so it really made that area spacious.  It was a hit!  The weather was nicer than when we went in June, so that was a blessing!



On Sabbath morning, Kaleb, Amy, Jennifer and Becca went for a horse ride - what a treat to be out in nature - we saw geese, an alligator, buffalo, bulls (that they use in the rodeo) and the weather itself was just lovely.

Jennifer W was in front, then Kaleb in the orange and then Becca at the very front behind the guide







Later that day, we did air boat rides and swamp buggy rides.  The funny thing is that Amy just loves the air boat ride, but Karis could do without it.....and Karis likes the swamp buggy ride, and Amy could do without! :)  Good thing that is one parent that likes each as the kids don't all agree on them either! 







Addison sat up beside the driver, and Amy was a bit worried as it is a very relaxing experience out on the water, and she fell asleep last time so Amy kept looking back hoping she didn't fall asleep and fall out of the chair!  Thankfully she did not!

Kelli, Erika, Yvonne and Amy

Zachary went with the Ws on the afternoon trip and he got to sit up by the driver too - apparently it was a Z day to sit up there!

Then, we were off to the swamp buggy - hot, bouncy, no breeze, nothing to look at it.  Did we mention Amy could do without it!? :)

Addison and Victoria

We did see a gator though!

We split up families and took like-aged children along, so this was the younger kid group

No camping trip is complete without games - at least when the Zs are around!

Kelli is one of the Adventurer teachers and we missed one of the club meetings, so she brought all the stuff for the kids to do - it was awesome!  It was on rainbows, so the kids had a good time ewith the crafts



That evening, we headed over to the rodeo and that is always a fun event for the kids.  It is just the bull riding and the barrel racing, so doesn't take super long.

Addison went out this time to catch the calf - she was pretty close a couple times!

Sunday always comes too early - we should go for longer but the kids are in school until noon on Fridays.  Sunday morning the kids went out and were fishing off of the docks - they all caught something, it was pretty cool!



Another family was intending to come, but had to drop out at the last minute but bless her heart, she baked cookies and brought them over to Amy, so we took a picture to text her to say thanks and that they were delicious!

It was pile on Dad day at the pool!

Elin, Juliette, Addison and Victoria

Camping in an RV is a ton of fun, and we are blessed to be able to do it!  Having the ability to rent the RV has been fun, and we are grateful to deepen our friendships with people that we don't always get the chance to hang out with a lot!

This time it was Wanderslebens, Johnsons, Zs, Fulbrights ad Reiners!

Bon Voyage

Addison recently had a "Bon Voyage" party for their class mascots - two owls Oscar and Olivia" that will travel the world this year as they learn about the different countries and at the end of the year, these "mascots" will come back with pictures of all of the places that they have traveled (i.e. been on vacation with their classmates).  Amy took the day off to do several projects around the house, so she was able to go and join in on the fun as well! Yippee!

Mrs. Gomberg's Kindergarten class - Addison is in the second row, middle.

They played "pin the country" like pin the tail on the donkey - Addison was adamant that she get hers to land on Canada and she did! :)

Playing musical chairs - she won a few times!

This would be one of the times that she won by the huge smile on her face!

In her air balloon to travel the world!

After all of the classroom activities (cookie decorating, pin the wheel, make a passport, musical chairs, world puzzle etc), they had a little snack which was very cute and in these little muffin tins - super cute little idea to keep things separate!

After the snacktime, we headed outside to send off the stuffed animals in their hot air balloons so we got a few pictures with the Oscar and Olivia, as well as the classmates.

Addison and Leleana

There were three classes that participated from Kindergarten (they have 4!), so it was fun and they had a huge "bouquet" of balloons that basically they let go into the air (secretly the teachers grabbed the stuffed animals out of the basket before letting the balloons go!)

Hard to see, but the balloons are pretty high in the air already in front of the cloud on the left hand side - they are just specks in the sky!

Pretty fun memory!

In other news, Amy took Zachary out on a date night to the book store - Barnes and Noble (not many of these left these days!) - he grumbled all the way there about "who goes to a bookstore, that isn't fun" - with Amy secretly laughing inside as she knows how much he loves to read....when he got there, his eyes were so wide!  We had a great time, got a book and then in two days when he finished his book (obsessed as always) he was asking when he could go again!?  Today, Mom?!  Gotta love opening their eyes to somsething new and fun!  We've always gotten books from Amazon or through our Kindle, so it was fun to go buy a book from a bookstore!

Orlando City Soccer

Recently we had the experience of going to an Orlando City Soccer game with Amy's work colleagues.  When it is a work event, we are spoiled rotten with being able to sit in the Suite/box, so it is always a special experience (we need to start actually taking our kids when we aren't with work, so that they can see what regular seats are like, otherwise they will think this is real life!  Not so much!)

Addison went with us for the first time, so that was a special experience for her.  The highlight for her though was the fact that Mom promised to buy her an Orlando City Soccer shirt - she apparently likes to shop! :)  It was a fun game, and she did get her shirt - although we didn't get a picture of her in it!

It had been a busy day, so she fell asleep on the way down

Only the ladies didn't have a shirt, and Addison ended up with one by the end of the night but Amy still doesn't have one.  What is up with that?!

We had Cristian and Becca over a few weekends ago and ended up on the lake, the fun twist to the experience was that they played "king of the tube" (reminiscent of king of the mountain!)  Even Daddy joined in on the fun....you can guess who won when he was on the tube with them!

Zachary vs Daddy.....not much of a true match-up

And over Zach goes!

With both boys in soccer, it makes for very busy Sundays with sometimes each boy in a different location.  A few weeks ago we headed over to watch him as normal, and there was a lovely park there for Addison!  She was super excited and showed Amy all how she could do the monkey bars!  She is pretty strong and make it all the way across  - and this was a wavy one so it wasn't just straight across!

At FLEC, there was a fundraiser recently in which they were raising money for more playground equipment, and they were extremely successful, so they had a color run at the end in which the kids get to run laps and run through big sprays of color - Zachary ended up extremely covered! 

the green monster!

it was just for the older kids, so Addison had the fun of a bounce house instead!

Hangin' with the Reeves

We had the pleasure of seeing our friends the Reeves when they were down here for meetings (Cory is also a CFO within AHS).  Karis and the boys went to laser tag with them to celebrate their son Jacob's birthday.  That Friday we had a grand time and went tubing with them.  Their one son was a little nervous in the beginning about alligators.....but thankfully of course there were none to be seen so he relaxed.  Let's be clear - at the first sight of an alligator Amy would NEVER be in that lake again!  So we tell ourselves that there are NONE there! :)

The whole gang - part in the boat, and part in the tube behind!

Ready to go!

Then we got the whole Reeves family out there on the tube!  Amanda was brave, Amy has never even gotten out there for a REAL ride (once super slow with Addison, but that doesn't count!)

Noah, Cory and Zachary - Cory was showing off - look, no hands!  Karis should have dumped him!

Addison went on a field trip at school to the local fire department and police station - it was fun times!

Last year, Zachary was in a city soccer league through a FLEC school team, and this year Kaleb is able to also participate on his very own team.  Karis is helping out as a back-up coach for that team, so it makes for a busy year to be sure!

During the half-time break, Zachary and his team-mate Eric (whose younger bruce Lucas is on Kaleb's team) had fun shooting goals while the field was empty.

In other random tales - if you have young kids, you've likely seen them "flossing" (What is that!?) - well, in a hilarious moment the executives that are on Amy's team at work were joking that they had no idea how to floss, so this lady at one of our town hall meetings decided to team these old guys how to do it.  They were terrible, super slow etc - so Amy caught it on video and shared it with Zachary and Kaleb when she got home.  They thought that it was hilarious, and decided to do their own video of how it was really done!  they have since asked Amy if the "old guys" ever learned how to do it properly --- nope! :)

The old guys above...

And now it is the young guys.... :)

A few last things to share - the first is a video of Addison in her swimming lessons - pretty good job!  It is a private instructor and he does a great job with pushing htem on their strokes and distance.

A night out at Sweet Tomatoes - loving on Grandma a bit!

Labor Day - No Truer Words

For Labor Day weekend, we decided that we were going to stay at home and WORK on a 100 house projects that we wanted to get done around the house.  It was crazy how many things had built up and needed to be done.  We mixed in fun with the work though for a bit!  But, by the end of the weekend we had accomplished significant things like 1) Amy completed 23 hours of continuing education, 2) three meals spent in the company of friends, 3) the entire garage cleaned and organized, 4) our master bedroom completely removed of all "to be donated" items that have been sitting there for literally years!, 5) Kaleb's room organized and de-cluttered (HUGE JOB) and 6) Toy room culled through for baby toys.  It was so satisfying to get everything done!  And exhausting.....

Kids are taking a break in the garage from the work

We also had the family birthday party for Addison - finally wrapping up the fourth celebration (yes, we counted, and our kids do indeed end up celebrating four separate times for each birthday - apparently the Zs like birthdays!)

We also had the chance to babysit Sandy - Amy's cousin's Jason's dog while he was at Epcot with friends.  Addison had a good time feeding her carrots and walking her!  Sandy wasn't too sure about the boys, and would chase them in the house barking.  Poor Kaleb would run into a bedroom and slam the door shut!  She got used to us over the course of the day, and Addison was quite proud of her relationship with little Sandy!

Walking Sandy to the end of the driveway and back

Sunday we headed over to Cochrans with Js and Touchards to have supper and play in the pool.  They put up a pool swing, and William would pull them high in the air and then let them drop into the pool.  The kids had a blast!

Zachary is about to drop!

Kaleb joined Pathfinders this year at Forest Lake Church (our home church), and they have Induction recently.  He is looking forward to the camp-outs and possibly going to Osh-Kosh next year!

Kaleb and Kieran

His class

Watching the program with Grandma!

It is a huge club!

Addison and Kaleb continue to love school at FLEC - it has been positive thus far.  Addison is now suggesting that she can walk in by herself.  Nooooooo - where did our little girl go?

Mom weeps in the van as Addison walks herself in!  Okay - not really, but there was a twinge inside for sure!

Work has been a little lighter for Amy lately, so one evening she took Zachary out for date night.....to a book store!  He had never been to a book store because we always order off of Amazon and order e-books from the library - he was quite grumpy about going because how could a bookstore be fun....until he got there and was AMAZED.  He asks to go all the time now! :)  After a date night with Zachary, of course the other two get their special time as well so Amy took Kaleb to build-a-bear one night and then the next week Addison had to go as well!  They had fun eating out and then getting to go to build-their-bear!

Stuffing it just right!

The proud owner of a new bear!

Putting the "heart" into the bear!

And here she is with her Elsa bear!

In other random pictures:

Where is Addison?  This is taking the idea of a bubble bath to a brand new level!

Oh, there she is!!  Complete with swim goggles to keep the bubbles out of her eyes! 

And in a random video - one weekend both the Js and Cs came boating with us and six of the kids decided to get on the tube at once!  they had a great time, and Daddy kept it very calm!

We finally got fishing wire to hang these glass ornaments that we made last year while in Corning!  Each Z family member made one.  Can you guess by color and size who made what?
Answer: Red/white (nod to Canada - Karis), Multi-colored (Zach), Blue and red (Kaleb), Blue and purple (Addison), Blue and White (Amy)