Florida....Here we come!

Our home for the week
All the kiddos
Family Shot
The Emersons

Posing at the beach
"I got my paci and piece of ice....what more could a little man want?"
Momma and her boys (in a "pink" float?)

The digging crew
Showing brother how to dig
Still digging....

Daddy and the girls

Andrew's favorite beach activity
Oops! Lost a wheel!!
There he goes!

Pool time!
Fearless Andrew diving in face first
Watch out boys...big sis is gonna get ya!
Popcicle time.....always a favorite at the beach
Time to go "crabbing!"
"The catch"

I wanted to post some pictures from our trip last week to Ormond Beach, Florida. We spent a week playing in the ocean, building sand tunnels, riding the waves on our infamous "pink" float, eating delicious food, playing with friends, hunting for crabs at night, swimming in the pool and spending quality time with our precious kids. We were so blessed to go with our friends, the Emersons, and their three kids. We spent a long weekend with them last year, but we were able to stay a week this time! Probably the highlight of the trip was going to Disney World for a day. It was only about a 1 1/2 hour drive from where we were staying. We took our three kids and Ben (the Emerson's 7 year old). He was such a great help! The kids had never been and it has been 25 years since I visited there, so we needed the expertise of an "experienced" Disney World vacationer:) The kids had a ball! It was extremely hot and pretty crowded, but they hung in there! We got there about 10:15 am and did not leave until around 11:00pm.....we were exhausted, but it was so much fun. They got to ride "It's a small world", "Peter Pan", "Buzz Lightyear (2x), Thunder Mountain and the race cars. We also saw two shows, ate lots of ice cream, met Buzz Lightyear, saw the parade (both daytime and nighttime parades) and finished the day off with the fireworks show right over the castle. I think we took a total of over 200 pictures during the week (thanks to digital cameras) and here are a few (well , a lot.....I couldn't help myself!) of the highlights.

Our Day at Disney

It's Summer!

Aunt Joy and Sarah AnneHappy 6th Birthday!
Sarah's adorable and delicious chocolate cake

Camping with the kids.....Getting ready for Smore time!
Roasting around the fire Mmm...yummy to my tummy!


The sun shining down on the edge of the lake....what a beautiful scene despite the drought conditions....what an amazing God!!Our home for the night

Visiting Mimi Jason, Cari and Little Baby Will
Andrew's First Waterslide Plunge (Daddy had the most fun....can you tell?)

It's finally "officially" summer!! I have really been looking forward to sleeping in and having more time with all the kiddos at home. Now that Sarah is full-time in school during the year I really treasure and appreciate these days I have 24/7 with them. These last few weeks of summer vacation have been full:) We have visited Mimi, gone to the dentist, taken a dip in our neighborhood pool, had a wonderful belated birthday lunch with Aunt Joy, visited baby Will and gone on an overnight camping trip. I have posted several pictures of our adventures above. Stay tuned for the latest Shaw Five Summer Adventures!! I will have some Florida pictures coming soon:)

Graduation 2008

Well, Kindergarten Graduation was Tuesday morning and of all things, Sarah woke up with a bad case of pink eye! What does a mom do? I knew that more than likely she was highly contagious (about 70 percent of cases are contagious in the first 24 hours) It would not have been such a big deal to miss it, but I had put in a lot of work, time and money into the whole production. My mom had come over the night before to watch the kids while I went and helped decorate, pick up cupcakes and run errands. Sarah's grandparents were also planning on coming an hours drive to attend. Boy, I was bummed!! At 6:55 am we made the decision to call the grandparents and tell them not to come.....Sarah did not need to go and contaminate the entire kindergarten class on the last week of school. She was sad about it, but she understood why. So I left the house to take the cupcakes and other items that were needed that morning. When I got to school her teacher informed me that she was recieving a special award that day. She really wanted her to be there. She suggested letting Sarah sit in the audience off to the side and I could walk her up to the stage to receive her diploma and award. I called David immediately and he got her to school just in time!

We got some cute pics of her in her cap and gown (and swollen eye).....the next time she wears these, she will be graduating from high school. If only time would slow down a little bit!!!

By the way, Sarah ended up getting pink eye in the other eye and Luke followed a few days later with it too. Luckily, Andrew did not get it, but we think he now has a case of Hand, Foot and Mouth......I guess we will go ahead and get all the contagious diseases out of our system before the summer gets in full swing!!!