St. Augustine, Florida Part 2

The evening after the boys golfed, we went back to St Augustine for a walk on the pier.  My favorite part of the evening was watching Cate pick up shells and put them in her "pocket", which happened to be her diaper, cause she had no pockets.  My kids would say their favorite part of the evening was seeing the fisherman catch a baby hammerhead shark right on the pier!  Where was the mama??  Swimming with all the crazies in the ocean!
 

 

Our girls day was so much fun!  We went to breakfast early in St Augustine.  Then we toured the St Augustine Lighthouse.  What amazing views from the top and wonderful history in this cute town.  We took a trolley tour around town to see all the historical sights.  I took so many photos to hopefully preserve my memories.  It was very cool!  We ate Dole Whip (YUM), bought chocolate at a local chocolate factory, took a tour of a winery, and had a late lunch sitting on the porch of a cool seafood restaurant.  

 

 

 

 

That afternoon we took the kids to dinner at the Caddyshack restaurant on the World Golf Village grounds.  

 

The next day some of us went to the World Golf Hall of Fame.  It was a very interesting museum and I learned a lot about golfers and the game.  The most fun was getting to hit balls in a simulator and attempting a shot over the pond (which resembles a world famous golf course hole).  A few of the men made it on the green!  

 

Drew boy

 

Grandpa Jim

 

Uncle Troy

 

Aunt Laura

 

Me

 

Uncle Adam

 

Tim

The last night we were all together in FL we celebrated my birthday dinner at a Caribbean restaurant.  It was not the best experience (bad service and a hot sunshiny spot on the patio), but we went to the beach afterwards one last time.  We made lots of great memories in FL.  I am so grateful for my parents who organized the place for us to stay.  It was so much fun to vacation with my whole family.  I look forward to what next summer brings!  

St. Augustine, Florida Part 1

We went to the alligator farm our first morning in Florida.  None of us were ready for the heat and humidity that Florida is known for, so we all melted!  But what an amazing experience to see these creatures, that look pre-historic, up close and personal.  I had no idea there were so many varieties of alligators and crocodiles.  It truly was a great experience, despite the sweaty everything.  

Drew and Cael standing in front of the alligator 

Evelyn and Lainie being cute girls

After the farm we went to a restaurant called Salt Life on the St. Augustine beach.  It was a nice restaurant (terrible service), but delicious food, and it was refreshing to be in the air conditioning for a while!  

After lunch, we took the kids to the beach. Poor Owen did not last long, but he was such a "trooper" the whole vacation.  

Cate absolutely loved the sand and the ocean.  Very different than Evelyn was at this age.  

Lainie, or "Blanche" from the Golden Girls (that is who she reminds me of in this swimsuit) enjoyed the water too.  

Lainie and Cate, how cute are they!  

These two are "trouble makers".  If we lived closer, we could have our hands full with these two when they get older.  

Only missing Drew.  He was having too much fun jumping in the waves with Tim.  He really loved the ocean, but was cautious too, when we explained all the dangers.  

The next day was "Guys Day".  The men got up early and went golfing at the King and Bear Course, which was near where we stayed at the World Golf Village.  This is the only photo I have from the day.  Thanks for sharing it with me Adam.  

 

2nd week of summer

The second week of summer continued with a great trip to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science with Grandma Sue and Aunt Annie!  We enjoyed the newest exhibit about Modern Myths.  Evelyn and Cate enjoyed this unicorn (sorry the pic was so dark...darn iPhone 4)!  We took our time exploring and showed Grandma around to all the exhibits we like to see. And we couldn't go to the museum without our regular picture in front of the Wooly Mammoth!  We ended the day in the Discovery Zone area.  The kids enjoyed digging for dinosaur bones!  

We had to wake up really early (4am) on Saturday June 13th to catch our flight to Florida for vacation!  The kids were such wonderful travelers and were super excited to see Grandma Ruby, Grandpa Jim, Aunt Ashley, Uncle Troy, Cael, Lainie, Uncle Adam, Aunt Laura, and Owen.  I sent this photo to my mom, who sent me the following photo as they were all on their way to the airport too.  Adam and Laura were comfortably sleeping in a hotel room because they got to Florida a day before the rest of us.  But we were so excited when they texted us the picture below of the "four" of them waiting for us to arrive!  Yay!   Baby K to arrive in January!  

After a very long day of traveling, we finally arrived in St. Augustine.  We stayed at the World Golf Village. Since we met Adam and Laura and Owen first, we shared a villa with them.  Florida was hot and humid!  But we enjoyed it all!  I will post more about vacation when I get my camera pictures on the desktop.  

Summer begins...

The summer has been really fun, so far.  We kicked off our summer with a potluck dinner at our house with our Life Group.  I love these families so much!  It is such a pleasure to spend time with them.  

During Week 1 of summer, Drew spent the mornings at soccer camp.  The girls and I enjoyed the time to shop, play babies or dollhouse, and have fun at the park.  

 

We went to Picnic on the Plaza in Downtown Lafayette to listen to live music, play in the splash fountains and enjoy a special Subway lunch.  Cate loved laying on her belly in the fountains and pretending she was swimming.  Then she would come warm up in the sun on her towel.  

We are ready for our vacation to Florida with my family.  The girls, Drew, and I got new swimsuits.  

Week 2 of summer began with a trip to the library for story time and new books.  

Stay tuned for more fun from this summer!  

May 2015

Okay, I promise this is the last monthly post.  I hope to do more regular posts this summer because we are gonna have so much fun!  

Evelyn had her Kindergarten Buddy Day at Peak to Peak.  I told her she would be paired with a girl second-grader.  Boy, did I eat my words!  The lucky part was that she knew of this boy because his family has also attended her preschool.  His name was Wyatt and he was so sweet, kind, thoughtful and he really took care of her.  I enjoyed watching them!  

Evelyn also made a new friend while we waited for Drew's poetry and Popsicles to begin.  Evelyn is so excited for Kindergarten!  

On Mothers Day, we watched some friends' kids for the night.  The two boys had a sleepover in Drew's room.  It was a great time and now I know what it feels like to have 5 kids age 7 and under!  

Tim took the kids to get their haircut and came home with Evelyn's Bob-cut!  I was extremely sad (and angry) at first, but it is growing on me, and she can really pull off the short haircut.  

 

These are pictures from Evelyn's pre-k graduation.  We are so proud of her.  She is very ready for Kindergarten.  This summer we need to work on learning to wipe our own bottom and learn to read!  

 

Evelyn on her last day of Pre-K.  We have had some wacky weather here in Colorado and though it was May 20th, it was winter coat weather!  

Drew's last day of first grade was May 28th. He thoroughly enjoyed first grade.  He loved his teacher, Ms. Harlow, and he is looking forward to second grade and having Evelyn at the same school as him.  

We went to the cabin for Memorial Day weekend.  Aunt Annie came with us.  Despite the cold temps and rain, we made the most of the weekend.  We went hot-tubbing, swimming in the heated pool, bowling, and watched the Memorial Day parade in Grand Lake.  It was lots of fun!  These are two of my favorite pics from the weekend!