Summer Camp & VBS

After arriving back from Alaska, the kids enjoyed a few quiet days at home (with Js living in our backyard, Kelli is always around so the kids have adult supervision so Addison didnt have to go to summer camps every week).  And at the end of that week, they packed up once more and headed off to Kulaqua for the week!  This was Addison's first time going (along with Erik and Elin) and she was over the moon excited.  Mom, a little fearful of her daughter going off to camp at the tender age of 10, but the cabin was full of girls that she knew so we took a deep breath and off we went!  Kaleb of course joined as well, but Zach has now officially aged out so he stayed home -- and enjoyed being the only Z child at home with all of the attention!

We carpooled with the Js, and caravanned with Jennifer as she was the camp pastor!  That also made it MUCH easier to send one's daughter off when her daytime mom would be there as well!

The folks heading to camp!  Kaleb drove with Evan in his van

When we got there, we stopped at the traditional Subway and pizza to get lunch and then registered.....and then headed off to the cabin!

She was excited to have the top bunk!

Elin was her bunkmate on the bottom

Mikaya, Olivia, Karolina, Elin and Addison

We miss you already little one!

As the parents stay at home, praying their child has a safe, fun week, it becomes a game of "Where's Waldo" each day as we scoured the pictures online for proof of life and to catch glimpses of our kiddos!  Amy quickly found Addison in this picture simply by the bag on her back - Addison is the one with the ponytail and the pink and grey bag in the store - happily waiting in line to buy some treasures!

Amy also quickly realized that Addison wore this same white sweatshirt (yes, sweatshirt in Florida!) every day for half the week until Amy included that observation in her daily email......that sweatshirt stopped appearing every day in the pictures, but wow, it was FILTHY when it came home! 😂

Kaleb's camp experience last year was terrible, but we are thankful to report that this year's counselor was great and that they had a very fun time - yahoo!  He was a sweet big brother one day when Addison was feeling homesick and gave her a hug as their paths crossed

Lucas, Nolan, Sam, Kaleb, Daniil, Evan, (Kieran came later)

Love and miss you K-bob!

We had a few camp moms out there that would periodically send us text pictures of the kids - so nice to see them!

Waterpark on the first night is always a hit!

Big smile, even though she was shivering!

And even a waterslide one day!

Love that Miss Jennifer was there!

We had the pleasure as well of going to our family friends the Wanderslebens' son Micah's wedding - can it really be true that we're at the age where kids are starting to get married!?

Eric, Micah, Mikayla and Jennifer.

Addison is a big fan of their oldest son Luke!

After a successful fun week at camp, the next week was VBS.  Both boys volunteered and Addison enjoyed one of her last years of being a participant.  Always super fun and they didn't complain one bit about having to get up every day to head out bright and early!

In other fun news, Amy's Mom and husband Lyle went on an Alaskan cruise and afterwards stopped in Winnipeg to see a dear dear family grandma - Grandma Norma.  Amy grew up with her family as part of our church in Portage la Prairie and adopted her over the years - such a blessing to have such a wonderful woman of faith in our life!

Love you Grandma Norma!

The end of the week before the kids came back from summer camp, the adults enjoyed an evening out on the Js new dock with some picnic foods and just chatting - such a great time to get together with the Reiners and the Js

Random pictures:

Cooks in the kitchen!

We enjoyed a lovely shopping spree with Grandma - ladies day out!

Suddenly this girl is lumpy bumpy!

Alaska Cruise Finale: Seattle

 We were sad to see our cruise end - what a fun experience to see some of the country's unique places and to both deepen friendships and make new ones.  We weren't sure what to expect when we ventured out with 51 people, but we were delighted to find that we had a ton of fun and would absolutely do it again sometime in the future!  Thanks to all for making it such a great time!

Landers, Hollands, Bergherms, Bonds, Isidros, Touchards, Cortes, Pontes, Hazens, Da Silvas and of course the Zs!

Love these young men!

Allen is known for making fabulous videos of his family vacations, so one perk of going on vacation with him is that you too end up with a fabulous video of your family vacation!  He would film every day little snippets and then edit them at night in his cabin, so within a week after our trip we had the video - wowzers!  The video is definitely worth the time to watch - Allen is magical with these!

Karis taping one of his segments

While Amy, Sheri and Jennifer did ours -- we were part of the bloopers at the very end because Amy messed up her lines, so wait for it after the credits roll! 😆

The final morning of any trip is always a sad affair, but we tried to capture as many moments of our group as we possibly could!

How many people can fit on an elevator -- a LOT!

Saying good-bye to the Isidros and Hollands at breakfast

These three had such a fun time together!

Addison loved hanging out with her new friend Blake - they collected matching water bottle stickers at each stop for their school water bottles 💗

After disembarking, we headed over to the Pike's Market with the Landers and Hollands as we were all flying out later in the day (versus continuing on with more vacation days).  It was neat to see the market, the "fish throwing vendor" that has made Pike's Market so famous, the original Starbucks, and the fascinating, yet disgusting, gum wall!

Hollands, Landers, Zs, and the Da Silva boys joined for this picture

Fish are flying through the air between the guy in the orange apron and the lady behind the fish stands!

Addison and Blake about to put some chewed gum on the wall to add to the collection

Up close to the gum - it is kind of gross yet kind of cool for the uniqueness of the colors and textures

The boys weren't as impressed

Blake and Addison sitting on the pig

The original Starbucks

While we lingered saying our good-byes, Addison decided to see how flexible her knees could be -- this girl is like gumby!

Amy's feet definitely can't do this

So then the rest of the family tried to see if they could do it --- only she can get her feet perfectly parallel, touching the length of them together!

We were sad to be flying back home - thanks to all for such a wonderful time!

Alaska Cruise - Day 6: Victoria

The last full cruising day we went to the port of Victoria B.C.  Amy has never been there before, and never been to the Butchart Gardens -- it is such a gem of Canada that you just can't miss going to see it so Amy was determined that we'd get out there (there would be no further disappointment on our trip!), so we grabbed a taxi when we got off the boat as there were no further tours out there, and went the 30 minute drive to see it.  We were not disappointed in the least - the gardens are incredibly beautiful - who knew that there could be so many incredibly beautiful flowers and landscaping!

A sweet butterfly shaped out of shrubs

A tiger made out of moss and trees - super cool

Within the garden, there were various sub-sections of different types of trees and flowers and landscaping that you could explore, as well as some totem poles, carousel, and other fun things for Addison to climb onto!

Taking a break in the Japanese garden

Love the bark on this cypress tree!

It is hard to capture the size and height of a cypress tree, but we were determined to get a family picture with the tree!

What an odd tree - it is like an evergreen but just very spindly, sparse branches!

And a totem pole picture of course

One shouldn't miss a carousel ride -- on a camel in the middle of Victoria!? 😂

Sheri Bond came out the gardens as well and walked around with us

Signing the guest book on the way out

After having our spirits filled with God's amazing creation, we headed back into town and filled our stomachs with yummy Canadian treats - poutine and beaver tails!

All of us enjoying our treats

Walking on the way back, we saw the most beautiful sunset across the water, and then a pedicab lady stopped and offered Amy and Addison a ride back free of charge to the ship - having never done one before we decided to give it a whirl and enjoyed having a lovely visit with her.  Amy tried to pay her when we got back to the ship but she insisted that it was free of charge!

Pick this lady if you ever get to Victoria so that we can help pay it forward by at least getting her some business!

What a gorgeous sunset!