We had a fabulous time at Universal yesterday. We started the day at Islands of Adventure and then moved over to Universal Studios. The boys each had their favorite ride and were also equally terrified of a ride, or two, or three! It was very hot but we were having so much fun it was barely noticable. The boys were already asking to go back the next day before we even left the park! Luckily our passes are good for two years so we have two years of endless fun ahead of us!

Here the boys are just inside the gates of Universal Studios. Noah was clearly thrilled to be there!
Here Will is relaxing at the Cheesecake Factory. Melissa and I exhibited much willpower and only ordered drinks!

The boys said hello to the Cat in the Hat and the Grinch. Ethan had his first solo roller coaster riding experience! He is tall enough to ride on his own now which makes it easier for us since we only have to go through the lines once now.

I may have had the most fun! Will got me thoroughly drenched on the One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish ride. I gave him control of his cart and he made aim for any water flying at us!

We are all saddened by the passing of Flea. He was such a wonderful, amazing, charming dog. He was a staple in the Schrader family and attended all the Schrader get togethers and was always happy to entertain everyone. He will be deeply missed.

We had a wonderful visit with Bill, Steph, Gavin, and Evan. We spent a lot of time at the beach and even more time in the pool. The kids all got along great and kept each other entertained. Chris and Bill got to go out surfing a couple times and Bill saw a shark while they were out. Apparently he always wanted to see a shark while he was surfing- I guess he can scratch that off his list! Thankfully it was just a little one. Chris and Bill also had the usual Schrader brother competitions. What would life be without those??? Bill and Steph took a day trip to Disney. I think they were more exhausted than the boys by the time they got home! They did manage to fit in two character meals and a whopping 12 rides while they were there so I'm impressed! We had a cook-out for Memorial Day. We had 11 kids under the age of 6 and still all had a good time! Luckily we had 11 very well behaved children at the house! The boys are now looking forward to Saturday when we go to Universal Studios. Then early next week my mom, sister, and Alina, and Aidan arrive. That will bring another fun week of the pool and beach.

WARNING ALL FUTURE VISITORS- Our home is protected by Sir Noah!

School seriously feels like a torture chamber at this point. It is so hard being there with no kids! Tomorrow is the official LAST day. Ah... Ethan had a good time playing with the other staff kids at school today. They floated from room to room taking advantage of whatever "cool" stuff their moms had in their classroom. They even invited themselves into the extended day room where they have Game Cube, tons of toys, and board games! I didn't offer much in my room. All I had was sidewalk chalk and a soccer ball. Neither were big hits. The Play Station 2 and Pirate's of the Carribean movie offered in other moms' rooms won. Oh well! Ethan had the most fun riding his scooter all over campus and up and down my ramp!

Ethan is officially a first grader as of 2:00 pm today! He grabbed my cell phone to call Chris with the good news the second the bell rang! He got his last report of his kindergarten career and once again received straight +'s which is the equivalent to straight A's in kindergarten language. Will and Noah are wrapping up their year as well. Melissa went to school today for Paige's ice cream party and snapped a few pictures of Will and Noah on the playground. Noah is pictured with a fellow twin friend, Meghan.

Today is Ethan's official last day as a kindergartener. I actually got teary eyed this morning when I dropped him off. I thought back to the first few days of school when he cried and ran out of his classroom each morning! He has come such a long way. He is an incredible reader and writer. I wish you were able to read his stories! He has had the most wonderful kindergarten experience thanks to his teachers Mrs. Walton and Ms. Spinney. I truly hope Will and Noah are lucky enough to be in Mrs. Walton's class as well. Ethan is most excited about becoming a first grader after the bell rings this afternoon.

We are looking forward to Bill, Steph, Gavin, & Evan's arrival on Friday afternoon. I know the boys will all have a blast together. We have a lot of counting down this week! How many days until the last day of school? How many days until Bill & Steph get here?

Yes, new end tables and coffee tables are now required!

We had a fun weekend! Friday night Chris installed our sink and I couldn't be happier to have a gigantic, deep sink now. Saturday Ethan had his last game of the season and his end of season party. I wasn't able to go because I had to wait for our furniture to be delivered. I don't think that Chris has downloaded those pictures yet. After the furniture arrived and Ethan came home the boys spent the afternoon in the pool with the Eagney girls. In case you are unaware, it is very hot in Florida now. Melissa and I went for a late night swim. The pool itself felt like a bathtub but once you got out it was certainly chilly. Good thing we had the spa to jump into! We also played a game of Rumikub. Chris won last night. Today I went shopping in the morning and then spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool with the boys. They come up with the funniest pool competitions. If you see a cantaloupe showing up in our pictures don't be surprised. Noah has eaten nearly two entire cantaloupes on his own this weekend! He may just turn into one. We are having strawberry shortcakes for dessert and he was eating all of the strawberries as I cut them. I had to kick him out of the kitchen so we would have some for tonight!

We are a little late, but... Wednesday Ethan had his kindergarten award ceremony. The kindergarten teachers did an awesome job putting together the performance. Ethan sang a song about the alphabet. My brilliant son received many awards and we are very proud of him! After school we zoomed off to Will and Noah's end of season soccer party. The kids had pizza, cupcakes, and some other snacks. They received their trophies and awards and were very proud of themselves. All the 3 and 4 year old team needs is a trophy to make them happy! Chris is currently installing our new kitchen sink- with help of course!

Today was Kate's last day here. We had a wonderful visit with her. Now I'll just nag her all the more to move down here with us! Hopefully she wasn't turned off by the raging wildfire we drove through on the way to the airport. Unfortunately this one is only a few miles from our house. Chris and Mike went out and took some pictures of it tonight. Mike is good about posting pictures so check his site out for updates... www.eggknee.net

On Mother's Day Kate, the boys, and I met Melissa, the girls, Bobbie, and Melissa's Aunt Stephanie at the beach. Kate did a little sandcastle building only to have the kids quickly turn from builders to the demolition crew! Asking yourself why Chris and Mike didn't join us at the beach on Mother's Day, oh yeah- that's right, they had to go shopping!! I will forgive Chris though, he did get me my cute new pink Razr phone. Perfect timing since my other phone had just stopped charging and hadn't been working for a week!

Here is the poor tree frog that was forced into a five minute photo shoot with Chris and Kate. The poor thing had to have been blind from the flashes by the time they were finished with him! I guess he will never be entering our pool screen again.

Saturday after nap we went over to Grandma Bobbie's for Sophia's 2nd birthday party. She had a pool party and the kids had tOnS of fun! After that we hung out at our house. Mike, Melissa, Katie, Christie, RJ, Drew, Colleen, Aaron, and Kyle came to hang out for a while as well. It looks like Drew had one too many when he puked all over his Dad! Good thing it wasn't Father's Day weekend!