Florida - part 1

I still have not completed our Florida post. I am going to go ahead and share what I have and will try to finish it off tomorrow! As you will see from the pictures, our week was filled with so much joy and many special times. We are so thankful that we were able to take this family trip and cherish the memories dearly!
The pictures below are from the second half of the trip so the first half of the trip will be uploaded tomorrow.


Alexia sat like this on my legs for a good 40 minutes. She was just not feeling well and was really clingy.


She got up for a bit to spot the boys in the water...


...I can still hear Diego's squeals of joy coming from the ocean!

We had a fun dinner out one night and the kids behaved so well which made it a real pleasure to take them out.

Every night of the trip (except one) was ice cream and move night. After eating out or eating at the house, we would put on a Planet Earth episode and eat ice cream out of the tubs - what a treat!

It was the perfect time of year to go to Seaside because there were so few tourists. We had this playground to ourselves every time we went.

We tried to watch the sunset from the beach most nights

Diego barely walked a single step the whole time we were there. His mode of transportation was on his "moto." He rode it EVERYWHERE - to the playground, to the pool, out to dinner, out to lunch, absoultey everywhere. The beach was so close to the house that he accepted walking to the beach, but other than that, off on his "moto" he would go and he loved it!

A delicious shrimp lunch, overlooking the ocean. We were the only ones on this deck so the kids had a blast running up and down the deck while we had our lunch.

The best flavored shaved ice ever!

One of the highlights for me was renting bikes and riding around for a few hours. We didn't get any shots of us on the bikes, but we got this cute one of them in the buggy together. They loved it!

A sweet daddy/daugther picture, but this also captures Alexia's mood most of the week. She came down with a fever our first night there and had a bad cough and just felt miserable. She had a really difficult week with many tantrums and meltdowns, but we prayed a lot for patience for us and a happy heart for her and we were blessed with a really special week of sweet memories.

Since she wasn't feeling great a lot of the time, her favorite spot was on our shoulders.

This adorable place sold the most delicious cupcakes. They were so yummy and rich that just one was enough to share between the four of us.

A very cool line-up of treats - cupcakes, flavored ice, fruit cocktails, bbq and more!

There he goes on the "moto" again. This is the main street that runs through Seaside. This was our route to go from the house to the town.

Our street for the week

Our adorable cottage which was called "Bella Vista"

We had dinner here the first night we arrived and the last night there. They had delicious pizza and an awesome terrace filled with toys and games for the kids.

BIG GIRL!

Yesterday we returned from an absolutely wonderful family vacation. We went to Seaside, Florida for 6 nights and had the best time ever. Of course I have many pictures and tales to share, but since I have not organized the photos I thought I would share the big news that Alexia is potty trained!!!!!

I noticed that she was waking up with dry diapers consistently so I decided to bring out the small potty for her to use one morning. She was really excited about that, but was happy putting her diaper right back on again after using the potty. For two days she would randomly use the potty throughout the day, but neither of us were putting much effort into it. We were scheduled to depart for our road trip to Florida on Sunday so on Saturday I took her out to buy a pack of 12 undies. She was thrilled and loved the idea! For the road trip on Sunday we put a pull-up on and as of Monday morning in Florida she was done with diapers. We took the small potty along with us because she does not like using the big toilet since she can't get up on her own. She is doing awesome and even tells us when she has to go. This has been such an effortless process since it just kind of happened on it's own and we didn't have to think much about it. She is a superstar and we are thrilled for her!

I leave you with a photo of paradise...!

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday was absolutely glorious here. It is such a treasure that as we celebrate our new life in Jesus Christ, he are able to witness His creation of new life all around us. Springtime is in full splendor and we are constantly reminded of his awesome love for us.
Our church service was awesome with a fantastic choir and orchestra. Ricardo had nursery duty during 2nd service so we attended 1st service and then I joined him for his nursery duty to serve as backup. Since he was assigned to the infant room I thought he would be more comfortable if I was there to help him, but he was such a pro at it and all the babies loved him!
Just like last year, this year we met the Hempell family at the Intercontinental Hotel for Easter brunch and it was fabulous. Brooke is expecting a baby boy in just 3 weeks so next year there will be 5 of us! Morgan is almost a year older than Alexia so Alexia thinks she is pretty cool.
We sat down at our table and served some small plates for the kids before heading out to the courtyard for the egg hunt. They were very generous with their eggs and even gave prizes to all the kids who participated. Diego received a toy Lamborghini which sent him over the moon. This boy is CRAZY about sports cars and race cars and has had a love for Lamborghini's for some time now so it was such a treat to have his first toy one! He says Lamborghini's and Ferrari's are his favorite :)

So anyways, we finished the egg hunt and then headed inside for an amazing meal. The buffet was endless and offered everything from omelettes to sushi to steak to a chocolate fountain. I started my meal off with about 8 crab claws and could have eaten another 25 of them if there hadn't been so many other scrumptious offerings! They had a kids buffet so the kids were happy with their chicken fingers and veggies. The real fun began when it was dessert time! Diego and Alexia dipped their own marshmallows and strawberries into the chocolate fountain and thought it was the best thing ever. They devoured the chocolate covered yummies in no time and even went back for seconds!

After our meal we let the kids play in the courtyard for a little while longer and then headed home around 4pm. The kids behaved so well considering how long we were there and especially considering we skipped naps! We went for a long walk around the neighborhood when we got home which was the perfect way to end such a special day.





And they're off!

Is that girl model material or what?! :)

Brooke and I with the kids.

Diego was not thrilled at the request of this picture since the sun was in his eyes.

Christian, Brooke, Morgan and baby boy

Diego and Morgan decided they needed to use their hands to eat their marshmallows and strawberries...

Alexia kept hers right on the stick!

Easter Egg Hunt

Every year a very gracious family from church opens their beautiful home to all of the families of church children, 6 and younger. We missed last year's because we were out of town so we were so excited that we were able to make it this year. We went when Alexia was just 5 months old and she cried most of the time we were there so I never even went up to the yard to see the egg hunt. Diego and Alexia thoroughly enjoyed it this year and each picked up several eggs. Ricardo and I had a blast watching their excitement, hanging out with friends and enjoying yummy food.

Spring in full splendor!

Getting ready to head out for the eggs

With her best buddy, Hartley

Diego with a mouthful of candy

Baby boy at 30 weeks

In action!

After the egg hunt we headed home and put Alexia down for a nap. Ricardo and Diego headed out to get groceries for our BBQ with the Graham family. Diego really enjoys spending time alone with Ricardo and we want to try to do more "dates" with the kids on our own so they can have special attention.

We had a great time with Luke and Laura. Their son Oliver is just a couple months older than Alexia so they're good buddies at church nursery and baby Thomas is just 4 months old so he was snoozing a lot of the time and didn't make it into any pictures.

Oliver and Alexia were very excited to sit at their own table for a little date.

Diego did not have a nap that day so he went to bed around 7:30. Oliver and Alexia, on the otherhand were night owls and stayed up until past 9:00! They had a blast playing together, especially swords and drills.

Painting and playdate

I bought the kids suncatchers to paint last week and they loved them. They did a beautiful job painting and the suncatchers are hanging on the Dogwood tree outside the kitchen window and look so sweet. I will upload a picture of the finished product once I get one.

We invited our friends over last week to break in the playset and we had a blast!

Ruth and I with our third baby bumps just 4 days apart.

Happy Easter!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3

Picture post

Alexia LOVES meat and it is a special treat for her. We eat mostly vegetarian during the week and then Ricardo likes to have steak on the weekends. Alexia gets so excited when we tell her there is steak for dinner. Diego and I don't eat it so Ricardo is thrilled that he gets to enjoy the delicacy with his princess. She had already had several bites before I took this picture (including 3 stalks of broccoli) and she left the plate completely empty!

This is what the yard looked like on Tuesday morning...

...and this is what it looked like on Tuesday afternoon! We had this playset installed and the kids are just beside themselves with excitement. Alexia parks herself in the swing and Diego loves to go up and down the slide over and over and over. Ricardo and I are just as excited about it because we know it will provide countless hours of family fun!

We took care of Albe on Tuesday and I made them all bag heads and they ran around the house like this. It was hilarious!

Melt.my.heart. Look at Diego's hand on top of hers!

Mima and Tia Majo sent Diego this tshirt from Chile and he loves it!

The kids with Sofia and Albe. Their family is moving to Florida this week so we tried to fit in as much play time as we could this week. Diego met Sofia way back when he went to "mothers morning out" when he was two and they've been friends ever since and have had so many fun times together so we will really miss them. Sofia and Diego are 5 months apart, Albe and Alexia are 2 months apart and Jessie and I both expecting our boys the same week in June! We were so excited to have our babies together so now we are sad that we probably won't get to meet each other's babies until they're 6 months old.

Jessie had an early birthday/going away party for the kids at....(where else!?!?)....Chik Fil A last night and we had a great time. I was happy I was able to get a shot of the four of them together since we have sat like this together so so many times.

Jessie and I. I'll sure miss her!