Man vs. Wild

Chris was my fearless leader on our hike up to see the waterfalls.

Miravalles Crater

This is the view looking out over the crater. Incidentally, Chris and I actually burned our feet a few times from the steam rising up. I would highly recommend not wearing sandals if you are ever walking around in an active volcano. (I know what some of you are thinking, but sometimes common sense is not so common.)

Chris, sticking his head in a hole of boiling volcanic mud...I'm just happy what little railing there was didn't give way.

Volcanic Mudbath

This was the natural mud bath inside the crater. We decided the only way to get the full experience was to cover ourselves from head to toe. (By the way, I really am wearing a bathing suit)

Pretty...or just plain scary?

Our skin really was glowing after this. The only downside was I couldn't seem to get the sulfur smell out of my nose...or my bathing suit. Come to think of it, that suit still smells like rotten eggs! Oh well, losing one bathing suit to sulfur seems like a small price to pay.

It's SuperDad!

Happy Father's Day, Chris! He truly is our SuperDad (...and my SuperHubby, too!) Okay, I'll stop being super corny. We celebrated Father's Day with a fun cookout with Chris' parents and aunt, uncle, and cousin who were down from Pennsylvania. We couldn't have asked for nicer weather...a little hot, maybe, but much to be expected for Florida in June.

Here's everyone huddled under the shade. It's definitely starting to warm up nicely down here.

Breaking in the new grill

Chris cleaned off his new grill with a smile. I think he enjoyed "breaking it in".

Nana and Pop Pop

Kayden decided to help Nana and Pop Pop finish their cookies.

Luke really liked the barbecue salmon...yummy!

Okay...one more picture just because he's too cute!

It was a long day of fun in the sun, but we took little breaks under the shade of the umbrella.

Happy Birthday, Luke!

Luke turned one on June 1st. It's hard to believe his first year has already flown by.

Getting ready to blow out the candle

Actually, Kayden blew it out.

Mommy with the birthday boy

Ice cream cake makes the best pictures!

Bath time!

Present Time!

Well, I guess opening presents isn't all that exciting when you're one. Luke was content to sit and suck his thumb while Kayden opened all of his presents.

Luke did find one squishy ball that he really liked, though.

We just got back from our family vacation to St. George Island, which is off the panhandle of Florida. We rented a house just off the beach with another couple we know. We spent a week relaxing with the kids and swimming at the beach every day. We had a blast...and I think the kids had fun, too. :)

Beach Baby

Kayden is our beach baby...she could literally live at the beach. We had to drag her away every day.

Luke didn't care for the beach...even though we took a beach vacation. He was happy as long as he was fully clothed and away from all the messy sand. We tried to show him how much fun it was to get dirty and sandy and wet and make sandcastles, but he just got upset. I have to say it was pretty funny to watch.

We rented bikes for the day and had fun riding around the island.

Luke loves to swing!

...and swing!

Sharing Ice Cream

Kayden decided she would share her ice cream with Luke only if she could feed it to him...he didn't seem to mind.

We just recently watched Chris' brother, Bill's three kids for a week while he and his wife, Wendy went to Hawaii. I must say after having all five for the week, it almost seemed too easy to only have two kids to take care of. We had such a fun time with all of them. Kayden didn't want to say goodbye when it was all over.

The pool was the main attraction for most of the week. The kids went in just about every day. Of course, getting them to pose for a picture at the same time was impossible.

Building a Fort

The girls decided to make our living room into a fort...they did a pretty good job, huh?

The Three Musketeers

We took all the kids to Busch Gardens on one of the days. Kayden had so much fun with her cousins, Hannah and Elizabeth. They entertained her all week long...I thought she was going to go through withdrawal after they were gone.

Sleeping Beauty

Luke crashed after a long day of fun at Busch Gardens. As long as he has his special blankie, he can sleep just about anywhere.

We look pretty good with five kids, don't we? Okay, I guess there are only four kids...Luke was still sleeping in the other stroller.