Puerto Rico!!

 Happy Valentine's Day! We had the best Valentine's Day you could possibly imagine!! We boarded on a plane and headed to beautiful, sunny Puerto Rico. We had the most blissful 5 days and 4 nights!! It has certainly been our best vacation so far and I think it is probably because our kids are at an easy travel age. We went with our good friends the Konops and had the most amazing time!! There are tons of pictures, so get ready! Before we headed out, we had to celebrate Valentine's day. Here is Beckett "holding" his 2 flowers for his teachers before his school party. I am pretty sure most of the petals were gone before the teachers got them!!

 Valentine's morning! Time to open up some gifts!!

Jackson got  some candy, a new book, and a new Lego set!

 Beckett also got some candy, a new book, and a wooden shape puzzle.

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 Then we were off! Both boys did great on the flights. It was about 3 hours, which is the longest flight we have ever taken, but they were perfect! It was by far the bumpiest flight we have ever been on, but it didn't seem to phase them! Mommy and Daddy, on the other hand, were a little nervous!

10 minutes into the flight and he was out!

We made it! The view from our room was gorgeous!!

In February, the waves in Puerto Rico and huge! Some 20 feet tall!! Luckily, the hotel is surrounded by a natural rock barrier that blocked them. It was beautiful to see the waves crashing over the rocks. There were also a lot of critters to see on the rocks. The kids found snails, sea urchins, and crabs. Unfortunately, Jackson stepped on sea urchin and ended up with about 15 barbs in his feet. We tried to get them out but were unsuccessful. Luckily, there have been no signs of infection so far!

Aidan getting buried!

 Guess who had to do it next!

The first day we spent the entire day at the resort. The kids played on the beach and then put some serious time on this water slide! They must have gone up and down that slide a thousand times!

They look like ducks crossing the water :)

 Beckett was too scared to go down by himself, so Greg and I would have to take him. The slide was actually pretty fast and fun!

My great friend, Christine, was born in Puerto Rico and gave us lots of tips for our trip. One of her favorite childhood memories was of the ice cream vendors walking down the beach selling coconut ice cream. We had to try it, and is was delicious!

 The next day we headed on a jungle excursion. It was an all day adventure with the first half in the jungle and the second half at the beach. Payton didn't have a swim shirt, so they went to the gift shop to get her one. Twins!

 First waterfall in the jungle!

Family shot!

 I was the only one in my crew brave enough to enter the 65 degree water. Brrr!!!

Jackson would only let his feet get wet.

 Jungle hat!

On another tip from Christine, we headed to a restaurant on the beach called Pamela's. The food was great but the atmosphere was even better.

The kids ran around playing on the beach while the adults enjoyed a quite dinner :)

This was too funny. We didn't do naps and it finally caught up with Beckett. as we were getting ready for dinner one night, this is how I found him.

 He was so tired he didn't wake up!

The next day was a resort day filled with beach and pool time! We decided to buy these floats for the kids and they tried to do a little boogie boarding with them.

 Jackson doing a little snorkeling.

 The kids decided they would try their floats down the water slide. Super fun!

Weeee!!

The scenery was so beautiful!!

 Our last morning, we had a breakfast picnic on the lawn, and then it was time for some history!

 Relaxing on the hammock before we have to leave :(

Our flight wasn't until 3 in the afternoon, so we headed to Old San Juan for a little history. We explored a fort that has been standing since the 1500s!!

 It was super windy!!

 Incredible to think what life must have been like for all the soldiers in the 1500s.

This was actually the kitchen area.

 Best buds

 Because of where the fort is located, the trade winds are always flowing through this area. On another tip from Christine, it is the best place to fly a kite!

 So, fly a kite we did!

Beckett's turn!

 Good bye Puerto Rico! We had the best time. None of the kids wanted to leave and Jackson asked if we could move there. Sign of a good vacation!

 2 last pictures of my sweet boy on this beautiful island.

Until our next adventure!

Time to Catch Up!

We have had such a busy month and I have been so bad with posting! I am going to try to catch up this month with just a few highlights and then try to be better about posting!! Jackson is currently playing basketball at Upward and doing great! Daddy is his coach and Jackson has learned so much!! His last game he scored 6 points!! I am super impressed with his dribbling ability. This is really his first experience with basketball and to see him be able to shoot, dribble, and rebound is really impressive. We have really enjoyed this season at Upward and will definitely do it again!!

Our new favorite thing in our house is bath time in Jackson's jet tub! We decided to rotate rooms. Jackson has moved to the big guest room, Beckett has moved to Jackson's dino room, and the guest room has moved to Beckett's old room. Jackson finally got the bunk beds he has been begging for and he sleeps on top and Beckett sleeps on the bottom. :)

That is a serious bubble bath!

I thought this was cute. Jackson wanted to take a picture of Beckett one morning. Why can't he pose like that for me?

Sweet picture of the boys praying before the basketball game :)

Check out that defensive stance!

Since Jackson switched rooms, it needed a makeover! I painted his cabinets, bathroom, and had some help painting his room! It is amazing the difference a little paint can make! We updated his lighting in his bathroom and our decorator is coming today with his new bedding and accessories! We are going with a sports theme and can't wait to see the finished product!

All that painting is exhausting!

We had Jackson's Kindergarten Art show. I am always so impressed with this show. It takes a lot of work to get ready to display all the kids art projects. I was able to volunteer one Friday and couldn't believe all the work that had to be done! I am also always impressed with what Jackson's art teacher can get him to do. This year's theme was Jack Richeson's color wheel. Here is his blue police officer.

This is Arnolfini portrait. They had to look at the painting and then recreate it. So impressive!! This represented green.

Representing reds was his dog portrait.

Orange was his paper mache carrots.

 Gray was his elephant painting.

This seemed a little odd choice.....child with measles for mauve.  I guess if anything, it is current with today's epidemic!

He sculpted this blue footed bobo

His depiction of the White House

This was entitled "Optical Illusion". They wrote the name of the colors with a different color.

Here he is with his origami crocus

So impressed with my little artist! Here is Jackson and Beckett enjoying the post show snack. After I volunteered to help with the art show, I was lucky enough to be the secret reader for Jackson's class. Jackson has been asking me all year when I will be the secret reader and he was so excited to see me walk in!!

This month was also very sad for us. On February 4th, we had to put our sweet puppy Emma to sleep. She had an osteosaroma of her front paw and it got to the point that she really couldn't move anymore. I contacted a company called Lap of Love, and she was euthenized at home with her head on my lab in her favorite spot. I struggle with whether or not to let Jackson know, because I knew he would be upset. I decided I needed to tell him so he could say goodbye. It was heartbreaking. He cried and hugged her. He didn't understand why she was dying when she was only 7. It was really tough. I had him go home with his friend Jack to try to keep his mind off of it. When Christine picked him up, he told her that Emma might go to be with Jesus today. He said that her foot was going to be all better before he got up there so he could run around with Jesus. It was so sweet and sad at the same time. When he got home and realized she was gone, he was crushed. He asked me if we could still buy her a Valentine's Day present. My sweet, sweet boy!! Since we found out that Emma was going to die, Jackson has been bringing home books about different dogs. First, he thought he wanted a bulldog, Once he found out you have to clean out their folds, he decided that was not the right dog for him. They he thought he wanted a Golden Retriever. Once he read that you have to brush their hair everyday, he decided that was not the right dog. Finally, he brought home a book about a Labrador Retriever. It was perfect! Little gooming and his number 1 requirement....it will play fetch. He wanted a yellow for himself named "Fireball" and chocolate for Beckett named "Lavaball". After further research, I think we have decided to go for 2 Goldendoodles to try to minimize shedding. We shall see!

This is how Beckett entertains himself during Jackson's basketball games :)

We also finally made it to Build a Bear! Both boys got gift cards from Paola for their birthdays, so one cold day we headed over. We had never been before, so I really didn't know what to expect. It was actually really cute and the kids had a great time! Beckett picked out Toothless.

After you pick out your bear or other animal, you get to help stuff it. Then you kiss and make a wish on a little heart that goes inside. You also get to pick out music or a sound to go inside. Beckett picked out "Let It Go". Jackson picked a Bull dog and the Star Wars theme.

Jackson and  his Bull Dog.

After they are stuffed with stuffing, it is time to give them a bath!

Beckett worked really hard to clean his feet!

Next step was making their birth certificates. Jackson named his dog Pup Pup and Beckett named Toothless....wait for it.....Toothless :)

Thanks Paola!

Sweet brothers :) Whew! I think I hit the highlights over the last month. There were tons of other pictures of birthday parties etc that I didn't include. I'll try to fit them in during other posts. We are super excited for Winter Break! We head to Puerto Rico on Valentine's Day and can't wait! 84 degree weather and white beaches here we come!!