Sun Outdoors RV Resort & Easter Fun

We haven't had a chance to go camping much this year with the group, and the schools magically aligned this year to have a long-weekend break over Easter weekend - so we jumped on the chance to take a longer camping trip and went to a new place - Sun Outdoors over in Sarasota.  It was FABULOUS - we highly recommend it - it had RV spots but also little cabins that you could rent (which is what we did) that were well-kept and very comfortable.  

Off we go!

The group was a little different this year with new families coming, which is always fun to get to know people better and create new memories together:  Penas, Zs, Reiners, Putts, Ellis', and the Js.

The first day we were there, we explored the grounds and then went to a pottery painting even they held that afternoon.

Not everyone came out early, so Thursday was just Reiners, Johnsons and the Zs

One of the things that we really enjoyed is that our little cabin had a very large screened-in porch with a table that we made good use of for games like Dutch Blitz and Pit - so so fun!

There was a large pool with a children's playground, waterslide in addition to the Olympic sized pool - so we used that as well a lot, in addition to just hanging out while the little kids swam during the evening hours.

This place really was incredible, so many things to do -- so for the first time the whole Z clan went out and played pickle balls - it was fun to learn!

One of the unexpected items that became one of our favorite activities was Shuffleboard.  It was so fun!  With a crazy stroke of luck, the international shuffle board president ended up crossing paths there with Kent, so we found out a lot more about rules and strategy of the game.  

Partners - and did extremely well that round!

It is always fun to get the whole group together for a meal, so we did a Haystack meal this year -- and through another stroke of luck, we ended up being able to reserve a room in one of their many buildings for our meal - it was perfect because it had air conditioning (so lovely), and all of the chairs and tables we could ever ask for along with long tables to set the food up on.  Wow - normally they charge to reserve those rooms but the lady at the front desk was feeling generous for which we were grateful.

Playing games while we waited for the group to arrive

The Logo game kept a big group happily playing - it is always good for some laughs.  It is kind of like Trivial Pursuit but all about different brands/logos etc.

And some deep thinking as you see Karis tracking to rack his memory for the answer!

Dutch Blitz was a fan favorite as well

We were there over Easter weekend, so on Sunday we had several fun activities that the group really enjoyed.

Sweet Erika brought little gifts for the moms

And a dressed up Easter Bunny drove around the sites

And then we decorated cookies

And no camp-out is complete with Spike-ball and marshmallows, along with just hanging out and really enjoying each other's company.  It was one of the best camping trips (even though we were in a cabin and not an RV) that we have had - so fun and relaxing!

And a few other random pictures: 

Finishing her craft with Elin in the Js RV

Keeping sweet little Taryn out of the road!

On Sunday, we jumped into the car and headed home in time to join the Grodack Easter brunch - so our weekend was just one highlight after another - the brunch was delicious, fellowship even better, and the egg hunt of course is always a fun highlight for the kids.  Kaleb ended up having a friend's birthday party so he wasn't with us for that part of the weekend, but he had a lot of fun too!

The brunch group

Being too old for an easter egg hunt, Zachary took part in hiding the eggs.

All the kids ready to go!

And it truly was a mad dash around looking for those eggs!

She appears delighted with her finds thus far

A 16 Year Old Enters the Family!

How can this be, it cannot possibly be 16 years since Zachary was born - where did the years go by so fast!?  But it is true, this is his 16th birthday -- the milestones are coming too fast and furious, Amy is already sad that in 3 years he will go away to college.  NOOOOO!!!!  Anyway, enough of that, we are incredibly proud of this young man - he is kind-hearted, he is responsible, he is gifted athletically and academically, he has a shy sense of humor, honest and learning so many new things as he transitions from young son to an adult.  These years are changing fast - and we as Z parents have much to learn but we hope that he always knows that we love him to pieces and are so proud of him and the future that he has.  

Love you Zachary - may God shine His face upon you!

For his birthday, he decided to head back to TopGolf with his closest group of friends.  It was a bit warmer this year thankfully so no-one froze 😀

Cristian, David, Luke, Zachary, Matt, Erick, Blake and Aiden

The whole gang

Zachary is really enjoying golf this year - it may be his new sport!

Selfie with Kaleb

Even Addison got into the swing of things this year!

Lining up her shot!

Peanut butter ice cream cake - yummy

Luke's birthday is only 3 days after Zachary, so we wanted a picture of the two friends - they've known each other since birth!

And as we all know, Kaleb's birthday comes a scant 6 days later.  His big birthday party is scheduled for May after soccer season ends, so we celebrated this very special boy's birthday with family at home --- including a bunch of different cheese cake flavors thanks to Cheesecake Factory!  Kaleb is also growing to be such a fun personality - he loves to talk, thinks deeply, likes to try new things, kind-hearted, and also gifted academically and has spread his wings this year with singing and acting in Uno Voce.  Very fun to watch each young man develop their own path and characters - we are blessed to be the parents of two such fine men. Love you Kaleb!

Ready to dig in!

While we had a lot of happy news, we also had some sad news with the passing of Sparkle (the fish).  We knew fish were likely to last long, but it was still sad and there were a few tears shed.  Addison "buried" the fish in the back with a small tile shard with the fish's name on it.

Random pictures: 

Addison and the children's choir singing at church

Hanging out with one of her bestie's Elin.  These two get confused all the time, just like their Mamas used to be confused as each other!

And another one near and dear to our hearts - Londy

Ski Trip 2022 - Solitude & Brighton

This year the CFO Conference was a week earlier than the kids' spring break, so Amy went out to Utah for the Conference by herself and then the rest of the family joined her at the end of the week and we stayed the following week to ski as a family.

The first week as there was no family there, Amy decided to tackle the buying of new ski boots.  She had bought ski boots shortly after getting married, and then spent the next 20 years hating those boots - they were uncomfortable and took an act of Congress to actually get into them each year! :)  But she couldn't justify getting new boots when they still worked and were in good shape, but 2-3 years ago they finally broke (much to Karis' delight as he had been telling her for years to just buy new boots)... so with no family to ski with during the first week, she just went from store to store (7 in all) and finally got new boots from the Park City Ski Boot store and was super happy with them - yahoo!  Time well spent for sure, and they better last another 20 years as they were expensive!

Friday afternoon Karis and the kids flew out, and we were together with the usual gang - Js, Cs and of course our family.  On Sabbath we headed out to Salt Lake City to join with the Cs who were staying in SLC (they were originally going overseas for Spring break but that trip was delayed due to Covid restrictions so they ended up joining us out for skiing, but our condo at Solitude wasn't big enough to fit them so they had a condo down at the base and just drove up each day).  Anyway, we went down to SLC to go hiking up to a lookout memorial where you could see the whole town.  The weather was warming up a little, so the hike was extremely muddy (yeah for waterproof boots!)

What we were hiking to....

Snowball fight with the Dad on the way up

That one looks like it is a split second from hitting Dad's backside!

A group shot at the top oft he hike overlooking the city of Salt lake and the lake itself.  Very pretty view and a pretty easy hike if it wasn't for the very slippery, muddy trail that you had to be careful not to fall on.

The whole group at the overlook

Building a snowman at the top of our hike while the parents looked at the view

25 years of friendship with Kelli - thanks for being an amazing friend!

Afterwards, we went downtown to wander around the Mormon Tabernacle area and then walked up to the State building, where there was a large open area perfect for the kids to run around and play.  There was a HUGE snowman that others had built that was fun to see.

While the little kids played in the snow, the older kids and parents sat on a bench and enjoyed some fellowship.

Big snowball fight as they ran around - super fun!

Afterwards we ate supper at Cafe Zupas (yum!) and then went to the famous ice cream store (listed as one of the top in the country apparently) for dessert!

For the skiing part of our trip, we spent our time at Solitude (where our condo with the Js was) and at Brighton.  We are soooo thankful to report that there were no injuries this year as Addison has hurt her knee the last two years ---- she was told this year to avoid jumping, to keep her speed under control and if she didn't, she'd be spending the whole week in ski lessons (where she'd be forced to keep herself at slower rates of speed) instead of just 2 days of lessons.  She did well, and made it through with no repeat knee injuries thankfully.

Our little 'no-fear speed demon' 😂💗

It was fun skiing Solitude and Brighton this year, both are very nice mountains and were easily accessible from our condo.  The weather was nice, with several days getting new snow (which made visibility a little hard those days but always great to have fresh powder!)

The whole group

And the Z clan

We skied in groups, with the ladies sticking to the trails and the dads with the kids heading into the trees.  A friend from Orlando (Amy's finance director) was there with his kids and his son is friends with Zach, so Zach skiied a lot with them as well which allowed him to be independent of the gaggle of little kids for a bit each day 😂

And that's a wrap for this year's ski trip - it was a success and lots of fun memories!  The rest of this post will just be random pictures taken throughout the ski trip

Missing one kiddo, but he must have been with the other group at this point in time....

The girls doing the hand clapping games as we drove one night - fun to watch the little girls learning these games from our childhood!

National Junior Honor Society & Adventurer Sabbath

We are so proud of Kaleb, he has done so well this year in grades and he has always been a super well-mannered kid, and with those combined he was invited to be inducted into the National Junior Honor Society.  He filled out the application with his leadership and community service and was accepted.  The sad part was that his induction was during the week that Amy was out in Utah for the company's annual CFO conference (which did not coincide with spring break this year unfortunately, but more of that in our next post).  So Amy had to watch the induction via facetime from Utah!  So glad for technology though as she could actually see him receive his acceptance and be part of it from afar - yay!

Good for you Kaleb!

Getting some love from his sister

And of course Grandma and Grandpa don't miss any of the kids important events - we are blessed by them!

At the end of the year, Adventurers club always hosts a Sabbath and the kids are allowed to take part in various elements of the service.  Addison and London did the announcements this year - there were a lot of them so they tag-teamed it!

Practicing beforehand

And doing it live!  London is hidden beside Addison in this picture but they both did a great job!

With our long history with our extended daytime family the Bs, Jennifer always does a "memory" gift with the kids for Christmas as we all exchange gifts, and this year the girls went for pedicures and the boys went for Top Golf!  She texted to say that she was so happy to have all 6 of her kids back in one vehicle again -- so sweet and nostalgic!

And to wrap up this week's post - a few soccer-related pictures!

FCSL at FLEC has started, and Addison has decided to be the goalie of her team.  Always nervewracking to be the goalie, but she has done a good job of stopping a lot of shots.  Ultimately their team came in 3rd out of 5 teams, so good job girlie!

On our FLEC city club team, Addison has really enjoyed playing and getting to know the other girls better.

Addison's team and Coach Cole.  Girls: (L to R): Lele, Shelby, Stella, Jeniyah, Kamila, Addison, Josephina and Olivia

Tuckered out after playing hard!