School Kids!

Yesterday was Logan's first day of preschool! He was excited to go and wear his backpack. When we arrived he was a little shy about going in, but once he found the toys he was happy! There are 7 kids in his class. It's nice that his 2 buddies Kegan and Gavin are there too! Afterward, all he told us about his day was they went on a tour, and he did nothing! I think he had fun though, and is excited to go again! Today Meadow started Pre-Kindergarten. She loves school and was glad to go again. There are only 5 in her class. All we learned about her day was she "didn't learn letters."

Various Happenings

Ashlen loved her first bites of real food! Yummy runny oatmeal! Her arms shook with excitement and anticipation as I brought the spoon toward her mouth, then she grabbed it and shoved it in! Yup, another Cooke kid who loves to eat!
Then she decided she needed some vegetables. She had fun licking the grass and clover on a nice sunny day.

One evening we had a picnic dinner with my parents at the lake. It was buggy, but beautiful! The kids of course couldn't stay out of the water, and had a great time splashing around. Brennen ended up falling in, and cried and cried. Big sister Meadow rescued him and brought him to shore, where he immediately stopped crying, and went straight back in, only to fall again! Meadow rescued him a second time. After that he stayed out!

The other night our nice new neighbors bravely invited us all over for root beer floats! Anyone recognize their lovely house? Krista and Stephanie are renting our apartment now!

rest of our trip

Sorry all you blog checkers, It's been a while! We've been home nearly 2 weeks now, but here are a few more pics from our trip:

The seven grandkids

The grandparents, William, and David spent a day at the Kennedy Space Center. It just happened to be the day the space shuttle Endeavour was landing there after 16 days in space! They heard the very loud sonic boom as it came in, then on a tour to view the launch pad, they past it being towed in after landing!

The second Sunday there, everyone except for our family drove down to Naples to attend Pastor Kevin's church. William preached and introduced them to their ministry in Mexico. After that service, he and Katie spoke at a Hispanic church as well. We decided not to go because it was a three hour drive one way. That would have been hard on the kids, especially with Ashlen who screams on long drives! This next picture is not real good, (that's a spot on the lens covering Pastor Kevin's face) but it shows the whole group, who had lunch together, and then went to a nice beach. Jasen Wickert was also there visiting.

Our family attended a nice Assembly of God church nearby, then spent the day around the pool. It was really nice to have a whole day just as a family- something that rarely happens! toward the end of the trip the kids became much more brave in the water. Even Logan and Brennen, who wouldn't go in for a long time, were jumping in (with someone to catch them)!
We had a nice but long flight back, and Ashlen didn't scream this time! All the kids did very well. It was a wonderful trip!

Sea World!

We had a fun day at Sea World yesterday! Here are some pictures.The kids were trying to get a dolphin to come to them, so they could throw the ball.

Logan was really happy to see puffins! It seems kind of random, but he loves puffins!
We went to three shows- Shamu the killer whale, dolphins, and Clyde the sea lion. Ashlen loved them! She smiled and laughed through each of them! It was probably just the loud music and bright colors that she liked, but she was awfully cute! Here's Shamu posing for a picture. The shows are fun to watch! In the evening, to cool off, some of us went on the Atlantis water ride/roller coaster, which has a 50' plunge that completely soaks you at the bottom. By the time we got off, the weather had changed to a thunder storm! We got our ride just in time- after waiting over an hour in line, our boat was one of the last ones that went before they closed all rides. The storm was right above us and the thunder was so loud we thought a firework had gone off close by in the park! We cooled off alright!

All the electricity in the air has made Matthew's hair grow long! Black, and in braids too! How amazing!

A Visit to the Goulds!

Yesterday we drove to Sebring to visit Pastor Kevin and Sheila! They have a beautiful place and it was really good to see them again, and introduce them to Ashlen! The kids all got to experience Pastor Kevin's wild roller coaster golf cart ride. They loved it!
They even rented a bouncy house for the kids!

Eileen, Susan & Alan, and kids were visiting from England. They always enjoy seeing Christy.

Matt, Allison Maloney and Laura playing with Ashlen. We didn't know Alli was going to be there! She met Katie & William's kids for the first time!

We had a delicious dinner and dessert, and a very nice visit!

Unfortunately I didn't get a good picture of Sheila. We might be going to their church in Naples on Sunday. If so, I'll take one then!

The Beautiful Beach

Well, this isn't the beautiful beach, but this is to show what we drove through to get there! The whole way we drove in blinding, pouring rain with thunder and lightning right above us.
We finally arrived at Clearwater Beach with fine white sand and 89 degree water!! This was the warmest ocean water I've ever been in! The kids loved it and enjoyed jumping in the waves. Brennen thought the sand was yummy.

Ashlen had a milk picnic, and tried not to get a tan.
Ashlen stepping in the Atlantic Ocean! The sun was too intense so I didn't want to take her swimming.

My handsome surfer dude and David. The storm followed us. See it approaching?

Oops! A blurry picture. The kids all loved taking turns going out into the waves with Auntie Christy!

Disney World!

Our adventures continue! On Friday we spent the day (13 hours!) at Disney World! The kids really enjoyed it, even though we picked one of the hottest days of the month to go! This is my mom and Brennen on the Peter Pan ride. He loved it!
Meadow enjoying the spinning tea cups! We discovered she likes rollercoasters, and even went on Splash Mountain! She said that was the "most funnest" ride!

Meadow's big hope was to see REAL princesses. We went to "Story Time with Belle" (Beauty and the Beast), and she was one of the girls chosen to act out the story as a teacup!

And guess who they picked to be the Beast....William! Ha Ha!
We had a great day, and were so proud of the kids, who were still happy as we left the park at around 11 PM! Logan loved the lights parade, and enjoyed shining his light up toys.

Well, this isn't Disney World, but I had to throw in a picture of Ashlen's first swim! She liked being held upright in the water, but didn't enjoy the "swimming" very much! Today we went to Clearwater Beach on the gulf side, and Ashlen had her first dip in the Atlantic Ocean! Now I really need to take her to the Arctic this summer...three oceans in her first 4 months would be pretty amazing! Although, she wins the award for the WORST traveler of our family! She screams pretty much the whole time we're driving! I'll post about our beach adventure tomorrow.

Florida!

We are here in Florida thanks to Matthew's parents who are celebrating their 40th anniversary, and decided to take us all on vacation with them! Katie and William and kids are here, and my mom and Christy joined us yesterday, and my dad will be here tomorrow. The temperature has been around 90 and it's fairly humid. Here's Katie trying to read a story to the kids. The cousins were all very excited to see each other! Meadow and Lane are good friends.


For today's adventure we visited a petting farm. It was a pretty big place with all kinds of animals to feed and pet. The kids even got to ride a pony and milk a cow! I didn't get pictures of those unfortunately. Logan didn't want to touch any of the animals, but Brennen did everything! Here we were holding ducklings.

Brennen grabbed the poor thing by the neck!

Our swimming pool

This is the villa we are staying in. It's very nice! It has 6 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. There will be 16 of us staying here once my dad comes tomorrow.
In the backyard we have our own private pool in a screened in patio, with floats and pool toys! Here's David in mid jump. He loves to jump in and splash everyone. He also just learned how to swim!
Emily

Meadow floats around with her favorite floats.

Grandma Cooke and Lane

Goin' on Vacation

We left on Friday for a couple days in Seattle, then on to Orlando for 2 weeks!

Meadow had a whole row to herself on the plane. She made sure Giraffe was buckled in too!
The flight attendants gave the kids lots of special attention because they were such good travelers.

Ashlen was very happy on this flight, but on our overnight flight to Florida, she SCREAMED and only wanted to be held standing up! I thought she would never stop! Finally a flight attendant offered to take her for a bit so I (and the poor people around me) could get some much needed sleep!
The boys got their hair cut at Kids Cuts. It's something Logan likes to do in Seattle.

Brennen was very good for his first haircut!

We're in Florida now, and I will keep updating with pictures of our adventures. So, check our blog often and leave a comment so I know who's looking!

4th continued...

I meant to include this picture too! Auntie Christy also came to visit this weekend! It was her 10 year reunion so she rode in the parade. That's her in the blue shirt. My camera took forever to turn on, so I didn't get a very good shot.

Here are the friends we watched the parade with- Kristina, Jennifer, and kids. And my parents too. The Cookes were in the parade in the school bus.