Weekend Getaway

There are some great benefits of living in Miami. One of such is that I can pick up Abe at work Friday afternoon, we can cruise down to the Bahamas for the weekend, and he can be back at work before 8:30 Monday morning. Abe had a business meeting in Panama on Friday, I was going to fly down Friday night and spend the weekend there with him. The meeting ended not going through, but we already had babysitting arranged and church asignments cancelled, so we decided to take the opportunity and jump on a cruise for the weekend. We had a fantastic time on Sunday we were docked in Nassau. We spend the morning visiting the Atlantis Resort and then were browsing in the Straw Market when were thrilled to run into our friends Mark and Jessica Martinez. They were also taking advantage of a weekend cruise and we spent a couple hours visiting with them--all four of us went and toured Fort Charlotte. We ended our evening eating dinner and watching the sunset as we sailed from Nassau. It was a great day.

Sunday was spent at the "private island" of Norwegian Cruise Line. We had a great time exploring the island and snorkling. We saw lots of beautiful, colorful fish, as well as a few eels, a lobster, and a sting ray. We enjoyed relaxing and just being together. Again we finished our evening sailing away whatching the sunset and we ate our dinner.

Monday morning we packed up and Abe was back at work by 8:30. We had a great time and are very grateful for Abe's parents who were willing to watch the kids for the weekend. We really appreciated the time to ourselves!

Brandon's First Day of Nursery

Sunday Brandon was 18 months and got to go to the nursery at Church for the first time.

I thought he looked really cute. Right before we left Emily asked me, "Mom, do you think that looks like Church clothes?" Obviously, she did not.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for the girls. It was supposed to me on Monday, but because of Tropical Storm Fay the first two days were cancelled the girls were all really excited. Kathryn started second grade, Emily first, and Lauren is in the Koala class at Preschool.

4th of July

On Wednesday we went to Disney World and the kids had a great time. The ride of choice for everyone was Splash Mountain where the only person who got wet was Dad. Brandon's favorit ride was the Tea Cups where he screamed each time we had to get off. We had dinner at a restaurant by It's a Small World where we ate and watched people get on the ride. Kathryn and Emily spent an hour waiving and eating. We never would have guessed that we would leave the park at 11:30 pm only after riding Flying dumbo at 11:00 pm. We had a great time.

On Thursday we went to Amelia Island where we played in the sand and pool and watched the fire works for the 4th. We sat about a 100 yards from the fireworks, but we sat down wind, so all the smoke was blowing in our faces. In addition, the wind was blowing the fireworks at us. Throughout the night, we had pieces of fireworks hitting us, and live (i.e., flying fire) landing all around us. One live ember actually fell into Emily shoe right in front of Brandon and Dad.

Emily and Kathryn can now swim the entir length of the pool. We are sure getting to be a mature family

Kathryn and Emily's Ballet Recital

Kathryn and Emily participated in thier first ballet recital on Saturday. They were so excited and looked so beautiful! Grandma Louise came over to watch and Grandma Pam bought them each a bouquet of roses. Thanks grandmas. It's hard to say what was most exciting--the costumes, make-up, or actual dance. It was a great experience for all. The girls did great for a sold out crowd. It was quite the recital lasting about 4 hours. The girls were backstage waiting in a room with all the other "young ballerinas" for the majority of that time. It was a long afternoon, but well worth it.

Happy Father's Day!

13 Things We Love About Dad!

1. We love going to the zoo with Dad.
2. We love going to Disney World with Dad.
3. We love going to the Everglades with Dad.
4. We love Daddy Daughter dates!
5. We love dad laying by us at night.
6. We loves playing games with Daddy.
7. I love you to babysitus when mom is gone.
8. I love when Dad lets me go driving in his car.
9. I love going on bike rides with Dad.
10. I love dad because he helps me.
11. I like when daddy fixes my bed.
12. I like when he gets me presents.
13. I love when you come home and are so happy to see us and we are so happy to see you to!

Julie's 30th Birthday!

I can't believe I'm 30 and have 4 kids! I must be getting old! I had a swell birthday. The girls each gave me $2.46 from their own piggy bank--2 $1 bills, a quarter, dime, nickel, and penny. They told be that was over 200 (cents, dollars, it's all the same at that age) and I could buy anything I wanted. I am going to buy a bike--Abe added some money of his own money as well.
I had a great birthday. It may not sound exciting, but we put up a shelf in the play room closet so the kids can now reach their games-- without all of the games falling down. I have been wanting to do that for quite some time now. We took some Pizza Hut pizza to the beach and had a picnic. That is my new favorite activity. I bet we've done it 4-5 times in the last couple months. then we went on a little hike by the beach through the mangroves. We found these "ancient ruins." Abe and I thought they were cool--the girls did NOT want to explore them. It was fun nonetheless. The kids (with Abe's assistance) made me an awesome birthday cake with green grass, a yellow sun, some pretty flowers, and lots of sprinkes. If it would have been at the store I would have paid a lot of money for it. I feel so blessed to have such a great family. They made my birthday very happy! I would like to add a video of the family singing happy birthday, but I can't figure out how to download it from my camera--maybe another day!