A Day At the Zoo

Last weekend we had friends from Slave Lake come down and visit us. It was a fabulous weekend of catching up and laughing!!! Since we don't live that close to each other, we don't get to do this near as much as we'd like to. Sunday we went to the Zoo. First time for our kids and first time in many years for Conrad and myself. They've done a lot of changes since the last time I was there. We had a gorgeous, sunny, hot day!!!

So the zoo has a special exhibit right now called Dinosaurs Alive. They have extra dinosaurs in the park that actually move and make noise. It was pretty neat and gives you a better idea of just what these animals looked like. I have to say I'm glad I didn't live back then - they are pretty scary creatures! Unfortunately, Zachary was terrified of them. The movement didn't bother him, but the noise did. We spent most of our time in the dinosaur park walking quickly past the moving animals and trying to time it so we weren't beside a dinosaur when it roared.
We had our huge stroller with us, but Zachary spent most of the time walking with Daddy. There was just so much to see and he didn't want to be confined to one spot.
I have to admit....after having lived in Africa and seeing all these animals in their natural environment, the zoo is just not the same for me. It's lost some of its specialness (is that a word?). I kept remembering what it was like at Kruger and Pilansberg. And then I need to remind myself to be thankful that I've had the opportunity to see those places. There are definitely times when I miss South Africa!
Gabby, Isaiah and Zachary in front of a fish tank. Last time we were in Calgary, we told Zach we were going to go to the zoo. But the weather was so awful, that we ended up going to Petland instead. Zach loved all the fish there. So this time when we started talking about the zoo, he kept talking about seeing fish. We had no idea what he was talking about or where he had gotten that from, and then we remembered.....Oh, we're thinking zoo and he's thinking Petland! We had a good laugh about that. So I was happy when we found some fish for Zachary to look at!

Watching the elephants. Zach didn't really want his picture taken.
Zachary's first time on a ride!! I wasn't sure if he'd like it, but he had a blast! I, on the other hand, was fighting dizziness by the time the ride was over.

Isn't he a sweetheart?!!!!

So tired!!!! This was Zachary by the end of the day. He did so well, but eventually he just couldn't stay awake any longer.
My friend Krista's little brother. Her parents and brother came down to spend the day at the zoo with us as well. They were my second family while I was living up in Slave Lake. So good to see them again and catch up!
Zachary and Isaiah having fun together in the restaurant. Man, they were having a blast there at the end of the table. They three of them played so good throughout the weekend. This made me so happy. I love watching my boy have fun with his friends!

Tiiimmmbbbeeerrr.......

Several weeks ago we decided it was the day to chop down a huge spruce tree in our backyard. We've been talking about it for a while now and we finally did it! It was a nice tree but was growing way too close to our house and we want to redo our patio and the tree was in the way. Zachary and Conrad are hiding out underneath the tree waiting for Grandpa Tycholaz to arrive to help.

The house before......

......And the house after!

Conrad first trimmed off all the branches he could reach before cutting the tree down.

Dad T. (or Grandpa T.) cutting the tree so it will fall exactly where we want it to.

And there she goes.........Zachary still talks about the tree that fell down! He thought this was all very exciting! It was kind of cool to watch and the guys put it where they wanted it to fall which I was relieved about.

Nice, clean cut! Man, that tree was SO big!

The supervisors, Zachary and Juliette, giving the guys a thumbs up for a job well done. Not to worry, they were watching safely from the sidelines the entire time. (even though Zach wanted to be in the middle of the action very badly)

That was the pile of branches we had after they had all been trimmed off! Probably close to 5 feet high! It smelled like Christmas in our backyard. Mmmmmm, smelled so good!

Conrad's work truck loaded up for trip #1 to the dump. There were so many branches that he had to make 2 trips and the back of the truck was this full both times.

I do miss the tree a little bit, but I am loving the light that comes into our house now! It is also nice to have more space in our yard for Zachary to play in. Now for the patio improvements..... A little at a time I guess. Needless to say, our yard is a work in progress. But it's exciting to me to see the little steps being taken to turning it into a place we want to spend time in.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

For Conrad's birthday at the end of May, I booked a get-a-way to Calgary for a night. We haven't had a lot of time as a family lately, so I thought that it would be great to go away, forget about everything that has to be done around the house and just enjoy some time together. I had planned to go to the zoo - thought Zachary would love that. Unfortunately.........

.......this is what the weather was doing. It snowed for 2 days!!!!! So needless to say we didn't get to the zoo. But we still went and had fun doing inside things instead.

Having fun at Red Lobster! (Mmmmmm, seafood!)

Then when we got home, Zachary and Riley gave Daddy their gift - tools!

Happy 29th Conrad! It was a good weekend!

My Boys

Wow, it's been a long time! Life has a way of getting busy and I find that just getting through each day is hard enough. Doesn't leave much time for extras.....like writing new posts on our blog. :)

It is late, so this is going to be a quick one. Just wanted to post pictures of how big our boys are getting. These were taken about a month ago. Zachary is now 2 (28 months to be exact) and Riley is 6 months. Time is flying by so fast.

They are both such sweethearts! I'm so thankful for both of the boys God has blessed us with!

Riley Jerit Tycholaz

Introducing Riley Jerit Tycholaz.......

Okay, so this picture looks kind of funny, especially his stomach. It's actually a reflection of Conrad through the plastic of the incubator. There is nothing wrong with his stomach. Riley spent most of his first day in the special care nursery in this incubator under observation. He had his first poop before he was born, so the doctors took some extra precautions during delivery and afterwards.

Hahaha, right after this picture was taken, Zachary moved his feet and gave Riley his first kick to the head. Accidental of course! It wasn't very hard, but it was enough to startle him. (and us!)

Zachary has been very good so far with Riley - what an answer to prayer! He loves to give him hugs while he's in his chair and is always bringing Riley his soother and/or blankets. It's so awesome to watch Zach as the older brother. He has a lot fussier and whinier with us, and pushing his boundaries with us, but I'd rather he take it out on us and not on Riley.

We've been debating how much Riley looks like Zachary did as a newborn. So, we found pictures on the laptop and held Riley up to compare. Wow, does he ever look like Zachary did as a baby. We are going to have to be very careful to label all our pictures, especially since they are going to be wearing most of the same clothes!! I have several tubs of clothes that I'm glad I get to use again.

Still Waiting

Well, we are still waiting for the arrival of Baby Tycholaz #2. My due date came and went at the beginning of this week and I still have absolutely no idea when this baby is going to decide to make an appearance. The truly frustrating part of this experience is that I have been experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions and false labour contractions for well over a week now. In fact there has been several times when I was positive things were going to start happening. Unfortunately the pains have always stopped and my hopes have always been dashed. So if you have been wondering why you haven't heard any good news yet, that's why. We are praying that it happens soon!!!! We will post pictures when it does!

Austin T. Duncan Test

Anita, this is for you!

I told Conrad the other day about the 'Austin T. Duncan' test that was on our friends' (Brian & Anita Biedebach) blog back in the spring. So when I came home today after running errands, Conrad had set 2 chairs out and there was a dish towel on both chairs. So I went over to the chairs and sat down on one and opened up the dish towel. Inside was a ...................... spoon! According to our friends, this means that we are having a girl. (the wrapped fork on the other chair was for a boy) Now we just have to wait the approx. 4 weeks left to find out if the Austin T Duncan test will be right for us too. I would love to have a girl, however, I'm not too sure how accurate my instincts are - I thought Zachary was a girl for most of that pregnancy, and he is all boy!!!!

We have the baby's room almost ready - there will be lots to do after the baby is born and we find out the gender. It seems so much more real now, to have the infant car seat out and ready to go, the dresser put together with little sleepers in it, etc, etc. I can hardly believe that it is almost time for this little one to be born. So Exciting!!!!

An update......finally!

So, I've been wanting to update the blog for a while now. However, our home computer died a while ago and Conrad's work laptop doesn't want to let us upload pictures......grrrrrr, technology! So this is going to be a no-picture update.

We have been BUSY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Summer flew by for us. Conrad was very busy between work, a couple cash jobs, and helping a friend of ours with some roofing projects. As far as his job goes, he has been busy, but it's been doing quotes and trying to find work for his employees. It has been a rough summer and is going to be a rough winter as there is not a lot out there for commercial work and the competition is stiff for the jobs that are going on. God has been providing for us though, and we have been learning some lessons in trusting Him, especially when His answers aren't always what we want them to be. God is good and we are leaning on Him to be our provider!

Zachary is growing and changing so much! He is learning more words and is still very curious about everything. His newest skill is climbing onto the kitchen chairs so he can see what is going on higher up. This has caused quite a bit of frustration for me as I can't leave him alone in the kitchen anymore, because I never know what he is going to get into next or what he is going to try to do while standing on a chair. He is becoming much more independent as well. The toddler years or 'terrible two's' are quickly approaching! However, he makes me laugh daily as his expressions and actions are very entertaining!!

I have 7 weeks left in my pregnancy. I have been feeling not too bad lately, which is good. In August, I was the director of our church's DVBS program and unfortunately did way more than my body could handle. As a result I had several weeks of hip and back pain, but praise God, the pain is gone now for the most part. It still flares up if I try to do too much in one day, but it's a good reminder for me to take it slow. I can not wait to be done with this pregnancy and meet the little person that is going to join our family.

We also have another new family member. Conrad's brother Matt got married last weekend, so we have a new sister-in-law!! Kristy has been part of the family for a while now, but it is exciting to have her officially join the Tycholaz clan!! I'd love to post some pictures, but I was a bridesmaid and Conrad was busy with Zach, so we didn't take many pictures. It was a beautiful day though!!!

So that's roughly what we've been up to lately. We'll keep you posted, especially about the baby!!!