School is Out!

It's hard to believe that the school year is already over! Gavin and Liam both had their last day of school yesterday. I am ready for a break from being the school bus driver taking Gavin to and from school everyday and Liam two days a week. The boys had a great year in school. Liam loved Preschool and learned so much and gained many friends. Gavin learned in leaps and bounds this year too. He knows so much Spanish it is awesome. He was blessed with an awesome teacher who taught him so much besides your regular school subjects. Gavin loved his teacher so much that he isn't very happy that school is over! :) I think he will realize that he does like the break when he can play all day without interruption. Anyways, I'm proud of my boys. We are looking forward to an awesome summer of play. Our first playing begins with a visit to Indiana to see Grandma and Grandpa Kohl. We can't think of a better way to start the summer!

Liam the Preschool Graduate. (Too bad he still has to do one more year of Preschool) :)

Gavin and his awesome teacher Mrs. Segura.

Welcome to Miami, Beinvenidos a Miami

Nate and I just got back from a wonderful week of relaxing in Miami. The best part of it was that we didn't have to pay for any of it. Nate qualified this year for a reward given by his employer known as President's Club. We were wined and dined to no end and had a great time. We did go a few days early just to enjoy some sights of Miami before going to the Fountainebleau resort on Miami Beach. It was great for the two of us to getaway. We are so thankful to Grandma Kohl, and Grandma and Grandpa Hess for watching the kids while we were gone. Sorry, there are lots of pictures. We just wanted to make you jealous! :)

There are lizards everywhere! We had to get some pictures to show Gavin.

We visited a museum called Vizcaya which was a large estate of a well-known wealthy man in Miami. It was built in the 1920's but felt like it was built long ago in Europe. It was awesome and right on the Biscayne Bay.

I couldn't get enough of all the beautiful flowers in Florida. Gotta love the tropical climate.

The view from the Estate. This was a ship built out of stone in the bay in front of the house.

Our rental car. It had some issues, like the car alarm going off every time we tried to get in the car. It made for some funny looks from people probably wondering if we were stealing the car.

The second day we made it down to the Everglades and visited an Alligator refuge. Don't you love my Gator hat!

A large dead Gator. Nate did manage to eat some gator while we were visiting. That was one of his goals of the trip!

The gators waiting for a feeding. We took a video of the actual feeding to show the boys when we got home. They thought it was pretty sweet.

Lots of Gators.

Our first day at the resort we spent a few hours hanging at the beach. Sadly it was overcast, but still plenty warm. The water was also warm and nice to swim in. Nate spent most of his time in the water. I enjoyed relaxing on the beach and swimming a little.

Hanging on the beach. Yes, we know we are very WHITE! :)

Our second dinner during our stay at the resort was at Bongo's which is a Cuban restaurant owned by Gloria Estefan. The food wasn't that great, but it was a fun night anyways. They had people dressed like Lucy and Ricky, so of course we had to get our picture with them! :)

Our last day we got to go on an outing with some other qualifiers from Nate's work. We went on a huge catamaran that took us all around South Beach bays. We ended up at an island called Monument island where we ate lunch and played in the water. We went kayaking around the island. (it wasn't every big) and enjoyed just hanging on the beach. (My hair is wild!) :)

The catamaran. This was pretty much the only day we saw the sun and it was HOT!

Monument Island

Our hotel, The Fountainebleau.

It was a great trip! We are hoping that Nate can meet his goals again this year so we can go to next years President's Club which is a Mediterranean Cruise!

Soccer and stuff

Gavin just finished the Spring soccer season. I think he had fun playing with all of his neighborhood buddies, although he did say that he doesn't really want to play soccer anymore, so I guess we are on to finding a new sport to try. We had fun watching him even though it was pretty cold almost every game. Here are a few pics of our soccer Gavin!

He is #11, but I don't think you can see his number in any of the pictures. oops!

Gavin with his friends!

Dressed for a cold game!

These last pictures I took a couple days ago when Ashlyn was having her bath. She loves to stick her mouth and nose in the water and since she had a little bubble bath in her bath this is what happen! I couldn't stop laughing! Enjoy!

Whew! What a week!

I would love for you to think that I had a productive, crazy, rewarding week and that is why I titled this post as I did, but you would be wrong. Instead, I spent the week being "nurse mom". Last Sunday Liam began the sick party and it continued all week long. First Liam was sick from Sunday to Thursday. Then Ashlyn came down with it Wednesday until Saturday. Finally Gavin got hit on Thursday and is finally showing signs of improvement tonight (sunday). A whole week of cleaning up all the fun stuff that goes along with the dreaded stomach bug. We hoped it was only a 24 hour thing with Liam, but instead it was a nasty, awful bug that lasted too long! Some how I (and Nate) have survived so far without getting it. (not sure how) I am hoping that I have avoided it, but I won't celebrate until I know that Gavin is completely over it. I can't wait to get back to our normal routine and get on with life! Hopefully we are done with this type of sickness for a LONG time! Now on to disinfecting the house!

The scene from Thursday to Today (Sunday)

The scene on Wednesday.
You know Ashlyn didn't feel well when she just laid on the couch forever and watched t.v. She NEVER holds still, even for a second. Poor girl!