Bermuda

We just had the most amazing trip to Bermuda. This was another MetLife Leadership Conference and it was awesome, as they always are. This is the fourth one we have been to. The other three were just me and Brandon, Jason and Shannon. But this time Blake and Kim came along and we had such a good time!

Travelling there on a red eye flight was miserable, but after that first day, things were great. This is the hotel we stayed in.

Swimming pool with a view of the ocean.

The hotel (Fairmont Southampton Inn) had a private beach with lawn chairs and towels all set out for you. It was really nice with very little waves, super clear water, and soft sand. It was heaven. We spent time every day at the beach and just loved it.

The weather wasn't super hot, a little too windy at times, but still just way nice.

We swam out to those rocks in the distance quite a few times and it was so fun to swim in the ocean, in such mild water. It was cold, but easy to get used to. And did I mention, so much fun?

The sand castle we built.

Once we started taking jumping pictures, we couldn't stop. Ha ha ha. So much fun.

MetLife always takes you out on the excursion of your choice. We chose the underwater scooter adventure, which was snorkeling holding on to little scooters that pull you around so you don't have to kick your feet. It was kind of windy that day, and there wasn't a whole lot of amazing fish to see, but it was still really fun. I went snorkeling on a private beach in Vanuatu when I was 13 and had the most incredible experience, and I'm not sure if that one will ever be topped.

We ate dinner at a fancy restaurant one night. The food wasn't that great. Well, I had fish and I really liked it, but Brandon's steak was pretty much raw. And I was almost sure the fruit juice they brought us was alcoholic, but it turned out it wasn't. An experience for sure!

View from the hotel grounds.

Saying goodbye. The trip ended too early for me. I could have used another couple of days. I am now experiencing what my neighbor calls "PVB" or post vacation blues. And just like she said, my kids seem to be punishing me for being gone with extra whininess. Sigh...

Birthdays

So, I had a birthday. I turned 33. I don't like getting older. I think I imagined by the time I was this old I would actually know how to do things, like decorate a house and cook good food. But I am still clueless. 

My birthday was nice. Kristen babysat so I could go to lunch with Brandon. Then my mom had us over for dinner and made me an ice cream cake. It was a good day.

Preschool

Mckinley has learned so much at preschool. Her teacher is the absolute best! She goes above and beyond pretty much every day. It's a bonus that she teaches in her basement next door too!

When they were learning about the letter O, her teacher went out and bought a bag of 20 frozen octopuses for them to explore and play with.

She brought the bucket of them over to our house after so the twins could play too.

This is as close as Kallie got. :)

It's crazy to think this is Mckinley's last month of preschool. She absolutely loves the days she has school and loves to learn new things and do her homework. She has learned way more than I ever imagined. I always tease her and tell her she needs to stay home from school because I miss her too much. I am dreading Kindergarten next year.

Bees Game

We always have such a fun time going to the Bees games. This was the first one we went to that wasn't rained out. I still didn't watch any baseball. I just go to hang out with family.

They had a fun little train you could ride on which or course the kids loved.

All the little cousins. We are so happy we live close to so much of our family and love hanging out with them.

Spring Break

My brother Todd and his family drove down from Seattle for Spring Break to go to the cabin, and then to be here for Jack's baptism at the end of the week when he turned 8.

We had so much fun with them here. One day we went bowling, then to lunch, and then to the park. We played straight until 5 and then the kids crashed on the way home.

Tyler had so much fun with all his boy cousins. He and Ezra played so well together at the park and just ran around for hours.

Mckinley found some little girls at the park to play with and was holding hands with them and doing her princess strut walking around. So funny and so cute.

I can't believe how well these kids did with no nap. We did pay for it later that evening when I had to wake them up at 7:00 but it was so worth it. So fun to spend so much time with family!

My cute pregnant sister Amy flew in from Arizona that weekend as well. We had a baby shower for her while she was here. Kristen did such a great job and made everything so cute.

Mckinley was so excited to come to Amy's party but then shew as pretty bored being the only little kid there.

There's Amy's cute 34 week belly.

Mckinley has been pulling April Fool's pranks on us all month, after she learned what April Fool's Day was in preschool. She bit off all the skin of her purple grape and said "Mom, I don't know how I got a green grape in here." I believed her. She gets me every time.

Winter Cabin Trip

The day after Easter we headed up to the cabin. All our kids slept on the way up which made for a nice drive.

My mom rented a snowmobile, even though we knew there wasn't going to be as much snow as we hoped. But we needed a way to cart all our stuff and the little kids into the cabin. It worked out really well and we still had a lot of fun with the snowmobile riding around and stuff.

Mckinley loved hanging out with Jack. I love how she has her arm linked around his, watching a movie.

Tyler and Kallie were so cute in all their snow clothes and had so much fun playing around out in the snow. The snow was old and crunchy which actually made the trip a lot better for them because it was easy for them to walk around without sinking in.

We found a pretty fun sledding hill really close to the cabin and had a lot of fun sledding.

I'm pretty sure Tyler was happy here. Maybe the sun was in his eyes?

Going to the cabin in the winter is a lot of work, and we are not exactly "snow" people, so I don't know how often we'll do it again, but we sure are excited to go up in the summer when we can drive all the way in.

Easter Sunday

Brandon's dad does such a fun, huge Easter Egg hunt every year. Our kids just love it. They found so many eggs and fun surprises.

All the cousins with their baskets full.

I love that my kids are all saying "cheese" but none of them are looking at the camera.

By the time Easter Sunday rolled around we had done so many Easter Egg hunts that we were kind of done with that. We did have a nice dinner at my mom's house with my brother Todd who drove down from Seattle for Spring Break.