Zongker Family Blog

Last week, I wrote about the crazy heat we’ve been having, because it was really hot outside, here in our town.  Well, this week we got the relief that we needed, in the form of several rainstorms & thundershowers.  They have been happening mostly during the night, which is nice because our family are all good sleepers & the rain helps lull us & keeps us in that blissful, dreamy state.  The girls have been sleeping in longer in the morning & giving Jeremy & I little breaks from having to get up too early, which has been nice.  The local temperatures have also dropped significantly, making it feel like fall is just around the corner – it’s been in the 70s & 80s for the past few days & we’ve really been enjoying it!  Although the skies have been somewhat overcast, that doesn’t bring us down a bit!  We hope it continues, although knowing the “normal” weather patterns here (if you can call them that), we are probably in for at least one more blast of summer heat, before things settle down & the leaves start changing…

We don’t know exactly how bad the heat has been for everyone around the world this summer, but we’ve been experiencing pretty high temperatures, lately.  The past week or so, our local weather has been reporting highs of between 102 & 106 degrees Fahrenheit.  Although it’s really hot, we thankfully haven’t been affected too badly – no droughts, or anything like that.  We’ve just been staying indoors, for the most part; although our poor air conditioner has a hard time keeping up, sometimes, it’s still cooler than being out in the blistering sun!  We hope everyone else is able to keep cool & enjoy the last few remaining weeks of summer & that we get all get a break from these hot days, soon.

Well, our weekend was fairly uneventful, but it was a nice change of pace, since this summer has been pretty activity-filled for us.  Saturday, we stayed home & just hung out together.  The girls played with their toys.  Jeremy & I got a little bit of work done (chores, etc.) & later on, we played our video game together for a bit.  Sunday, I started getting sick, which was no good.  We missed church & I rested a lot, but don’t think I actually napped, that day.  That night, I had a hard time sleeping, though.  Being sick makes everything more difficult, but I’m not complaining.  Jeremy took good care of us girls & we had a nice, quiet, relaxing weekend at home.  Sometimes I prefer being a “hermit” like that, even when I’m not ill…  We enjoyed each others’ company & got some much needed relaxation in. 

Well, we went on a little “mini-vacation”, I guess you could say, just yesterday.  It wasn’t even a weekend or long weekend, but a day-trip to a city which takes about an hour and a half to drive to from here.  Katrina had been begging us to go to a science center, like the ones we typically see when we’re on vacation, out of town.  Even though there’s one in our own locale, we’ve never been to it, because we’ve been told it is quite small & not as spectacular in comparison to ones in other cities.  So, we planned the day to go to one we’d been to & enjoyed before.  It was really a great day for it, too.  It was one of the hottest days of the summer, so being indoors was a “perfect” plan.  We all enjoyed it, especially Kat, who couldn’t get over all the things there were to see & do.  There is a Planetarium, where we saw a brief show about the night’s sky, and we saw a show about explosions in their auditorium, as well.  They had remodeled part of it, since we’d been there, last, adding some cool new play areas for the kids.  Most of it was too big for Alyssa, just yet, but she enjoyed riding around in her stroller.  She didn’t take but a really short nap during the day, inside the planetarium, when everything was dark.  The rest of the time, we thought she’d get tired & “pass out” at any moment, but she was just so alert, not wanting to miss a thing!  She especially loved seeing the “choo-choos” – a display of model trains, going around a little city.  We all had a great time, though!  It was a wonderful getaway & something fun to do as a family!

We have just been having so much fun, this summer!  It’s kinda’ sad, in a way that Katrina has to go back to school, soon.  Just looking back, it’s amazing to think of all the things we’ve done & what is still going on.  Good progress has been made toward the planning of our next home.  We are still working on drafting it up, but the meetings with the builders have been great & Jeremy & I have learned so much from them, so far.  I began clogging again, which gives me such an awesome feeling – to enjoy a hobby I’ve always loved!  Katrina has completed the library’s “Summer Reading Program” for the second year in a row, got to go to day camp for the first time ever, raised some caterpillars into butterflies & let them go, practiced bike riding, went roller skating for her first time, and enjoyed VBS.  Alyssa continues to progress in her vocabulary, motor skills & other areas.  She’s got a different personality from her sister, that’s for sure, but we are enjoying watching it develop, just as much as she grows & changes from baby to toddler.  We’ve enjoyed family gatherings & time with friends, as well.  Jeremy & I both hit level 70 on our World of Warcraft characters, and are now enjoying other aspects of the game that are reserved for those that reach that top-level.  It’s really hard to believe that Kat’s school will be back in session in a matter of just under a month, now…  Although, we’ve had a couple of spells of either Jeremy or I (or both of us) just getting entirely worn out here & there this summer, we’ve each been able to bounce back quickly & keep chuggin’ along!  We still plan on squeezing some more great activities in, before it’s all over.  We hope everyone is having as much fun as we are!

We had a great 4th of July celebration!  First, we went over to the girls’ Uncle Jason & Aunt Stephanie’s house for a cookout.  Many other family members were there, also.  Everyone brought something, so there was a lot of good food.  We also got to swim while there.  With Jeremy’s help, Katrina dunked her head underwater for the first time!  Alyssa enjoyed splashing in her baby float & just playing in the water, in general.  After that, we went to a local soccer field/park to watch the big fireworks display that’s put on by the city each year.  Even though this has kind of become a family tradition over the years, it was even cooler, beforehand, this time around!  Some military planes & helicopters flew over the field in various formations, before it got dark.  It was really neat watching them – we were able to catch a few pictures, as well.  This is the first time they have done this.  We hope they keep it up, annually – it was a real treat!  All the kids enjoyed themselves & thankfully the fireworks didn’t scare Aly one bit, as we thought they might.  She pointed up in the sky at them & cooed & just seemed to have a good time, too.  We are grateful to have grown up in a country with the wonderful freedoms we enjoy!  We hope everyone had a great Independence Day this year, too!

We celebrated a special family member’s Birthday just a few days ago.  It was a nice time.  The girls’ Great Aunt Sharon has been staying with their Grandma Linda & Grandpa Ken for a while.  She just turned another decade older, I won’t say the number, because she doesn’t like to hear it, hee-hee!  But, we had a nice little party over there for her.  Ken grilled some hamburgers & hotdogs, Grandma Linda made the sides & we brought the cake & other decorations.  We ate dinner, let her open presents, then had cake & ice cream.  The girls even got to stay over for a couple of nights, per their Grandma’s request.    Great Aunt Sharon really seemed to enjoy it & we all had a nice time, too!

As you may or may not have heard, we have recently been dealing with a dilemma.  We found the “perfect” land on which to have our next home built upon – it’s a lot within a nice neighborhood, in the same suburban city we’re in now, just a few miles closer to the metropolitan one.  It faces in directions where the views would be just gorgeous & the sun would never be shining directly in our eyes.  The problem was that someone had put a “claim” on it, merely days before we did.  When we tried to put a deposit down on it (which was thankfully fully refundable), the person who had claimed it first made the decision to buy & they had “first dibs”.  So, we decided to look elsewhere.  We looked all around our area, going 20 or more miles in all directions, but nothing compared to that specific lot we’d set our sights on, to begin with.  Just when we were feeling like we were ready to give up, we received a call from the homebuilders we’d chosen, to let us know that the lot next door had opened up!  There are actually 3 in a row on that corner of the street that have yet to be built upon.  We were originally told that the other 2 surrounding “our lot” had been taken for quite a while.  However, the sale fell through on one of them, so it is now ours!  It’s so interesting to me how God works, sometimes!  Jeremy believes things had to happen this way, in order for us to fully appreciate the great piece of land that we are getting & now, the people that got “our lot” will actually be our neighbors!  It may sound kinda’ funny, but I think that is with good reason, as well.  They must be “like-minded” to us, at least a little bit, if they had the foresight to call the land developer, merely days before, the same way that Jeremy did, to ask about that lot.  I think we will all get along wonderfully!  The house plan itself is coming together rather well, too.  It’s going to be quite a process, but we’re sure the finished product will be totally worth it!

Father’s Day was a nice holiday this year, for all of us.  Not only did Jeremy get “spoiled” by a homemade pancake breakfast (which Katrina helped to make) that morning, but he also got a DVD series he had requested, as a gift from all of us.  Our day was busy, yet enjoyable.  After breakfast, I took a few pictures of him & the girls together & then, we all went to church.  Afterwards, we took his Dad & Step-Mom out for a nice lunch.  It was good catching up with them.  When we got home, the girls gave Jeremy his gift & the cards we had bought & Kat had made.  He watched a little bit of his DVDs & we rested up a little bit, as well, while Alyssa napped.  That evening, we went out to his Grandpa Bob’s house.  His Mom & Step-Dad had made barbecue food for dinner & we had a nice visit over there, with many of his side of the family, too.  We took pictures of Grandpa Bob with all the kids (our girls & their 3 cousins), which was special, because they are all his great-grandchildren.  It was very sweet & heartwarming to see them grouped around him like that.  When we got home from their, it was the girls’ bedtime.  It was a full day, but we all had a great time & we appreciate all the Dads in our lives!

Last week, 3 out of 4 of us had a change in appearance: we got our hair cut!  Although Jeremy typically gets his done throughout the year, Katrina & I usually only have ours done once a year.  This time around was a different experience, because we let Kat pick her own style.  She went with a chin-length, all-around undercut with bangs!  It really looks cute on her!  It’s the shortest she has ever had her hair cut, but she absolutely loves it!  Another plus is that she can brush & style it herself, now – we don’t have to pull it out of her face for her.  It makes her feel like more of a “big kid” to be able to do that, as well.  I personally got mine cut pretty short, for me, too.  The front & sides are chin-length, tapering to the back, which is a bit shorter & layered, for volume.  It wasn’t *exactly* what I wanted, but I’m not too disappointed with the outcome, either.  I love the front & sides, just would rather have the back be all one length & undercut, instead of the choppy layering that it has now.  But, hey, it’s hair & will grow back.  When it does, I’ll get it fixed the way I wanted.  I think Katrina wants to keep hers styled, too, so we’ll probably get hers cut again, when I get mine “repaired”.  The really cool thing she & I were able to do, having so much hair cut off of our heads was to donate our ponytails (the initial length that they cut off from each of us) to Locks of Love, a charity that makes wigs & hairpieces for cancer patients that tend to lose their own hair from enduring chemotherapy.  It felt good to do that, as I’d been wanting to for years & finally just decided to go ahead with it.  That night, per his request, I also “buzzed” Jeremy’s hair, in his usual style, which is typical for us to do.  Alyssa is too young & doesn’t really need her first haircut, just yet – we waited on getting Kat’s done until she was 3 years old & will probably do the same with Aly, depending on how long & fast it grows.  It was just interesting, the rest of us getting ours done all in the same day.  We all agree, it’s nice having it short for the upcoming summer – much more comfortable that way!  I told Jeremy it’s time for a new family photo, which we haven’t taken, just yet, but if you’re keeping up with the site, you’ll probably notice the update, when we do!