Jurassic Park and Gilligan's Island

We kept pretty busy over the Labor Day weekend. On Saturday was the stake celebration of the birthday of the primary. It was hotter than freak but the surroundings were so beautiful that it was hard to complain!

To me it seemed right out of Jurassic park minus the dinosaurs. It was like a giant crater had crashed in the middle of the jungle and left a gigantic circle and they decided to build a park. The kids ate pizza and played games. Kudos to Jake for successfully completing an entire church activity (first time ever!)
Then on Monday we went to Gilligan's island with our friends the Rowletts from San Juan. (Yea- more friends!!!) It is about a 45 minute drive from our house and then you hop on a little ferry and it takes you over to the island.

Other than Ashley and I looking at least as good as Ginger and Marianne, Gilligan's island itself was a little disappointing. It was super crowed because of the holiday, but we managed to find our own little cove of the island, and it was very overcast. But it was very relaxing and we had a good time.
The coolest part is that when we were waiting on the dock for the ferry to take us back to the main land we saw dolphins!

Conversations with Luke

Jake and I have to take turns taking Luke (5 years old) to school because we love our morning conversations with him. We just never know what will come out of his mouth but apparently here is what has been on his mind lately:

*The eternal salvation of dinosaurs

*Why Jesus did not create a "Lagoon" here in Puerto Rico. (Lagoon is an amusement park in Utah).

*Old people watch old tv

*Who is the coolest person in the world and can dad please look it up on the internet?

*Concerns that dad has not bought the "ab coaster" for his big belly.

*If pirates came to our house could dad beat them up?

* After a visit with his great grandmother he says "She smells funny but I still like her."

Bishop Jake?!?

It's true! Jake was sustained the Bishop of the Ponce I ward yesterday. I am still trying to get used to it. Cycling through feelings of wanting to vomit, cry or just numb. He is handling it much better than me.
Of course my Jakey is special - but come on he's Jake, "crossing the line" Jake, moon my own mother Jake , "buy a new car without telling me" Jake, and and now Bishop Jake?!?
Truth is he is wonderful and he will do a wonderful job.

Another crazy thing about Puerto Rico

Have I ever told you that Puerto Ricans are afraid of the rain? I mean really afraid of the rain. They believe that if you even get sprinkled on that you will get sick. And they believe that if you are ever sick it is because you got sprinkled on within the last few days (or that there is too much dust in your house but that is another post for another day!)
I remember that once I was at a church primary activity it had been sprinkling a little before but when it let up I let the kids go outside. My friend told me that if any of the parents saw that I had let the kids out that they would be really mad at me. Another time I saw a friend who had a cold and when I asked her if she was sick she told me she was because she had to run outside to get her dog's food and in the process she got a little wet and of course was then sick. So rainy days are the absolute best days to go out because there are no long lines to wait in at the stores or banks, or anything else for that matter. Everyone is at home waiting out the rain.
And the really funny thing is that Puerto Rico is a tropical island in the Carribean. It is raining everyday on some part of the island. We have a tropical rainforest for crying out loud! You would think that they would be used to this by now!
But no. This morning I woke up and it was raining and I thought I bet they cancelled school so I am not even going to bother taking them. Sure enough my friend called and let me know that they were sending all of the kids home because it was raining. Glad I didn't go through the whole ordeal of getting them ready and taking them.
Of course rain means one thing for my kids- PLAY. I am sure the neighbors are ready to call me into to child protection services!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

Home from vacation one day and on to the first day of school! Jett started the 3rd grade and Luke started kindergarden. We actually have them at 2 different schools, which is a headache, but a decision we feel good about. They are both all in spanish but their teachers each speak some English too. Jett's spanish is really good and his accent is far better than mine. We just kinda threw Luke into to all day kindergarden in Spanish but feel confident that he will pick it up fast. In Luke's class there are only 8 other kids, including his best friend Manuel so we feel like he will really get a lot of one on one attention from the teacher. They both reported that they had a fantastic first day and made lots of friends. I mean who doesn't love a little gringo in their class?

Luke turns 5!

July 16th was my Lukey's birthday. It is amazing how important birthdays are to a young kid (and I was no different!). They just wait all year in anticipation and then it is over. I hope that we made this one special enough so that he waits atleast a month until he starts asking "How many more day until my birthday?"
I made about 60 cupcakes and took them to primary camp for everyone to have and sing Happy Birthday to Luke. Last night we invited 2 of his best friends and their families and went to the bowling alley and had a great time!
Luke was such a fussy baby and toddler that it is hard to imagine that he has turned out to be such a easy going great kid! We often wonder what is going on in his little world when we get such killer one- liners from him. One of my favorites is the time he announced " Jesus loves everyone but Satan and Hyrum." (Hyrum is this little boy in Jett's class that was always causing trouble.)
LOVE THIS KID!

Icecream = Romance

The other day I reminded Jake of those romantic days when we were first married and shared a car and he would get off from work before me and walk down to the store and have flowers waiting for me when I got home. I asked him whatever happened to those days.
Well last week he came home from San Juan and he walked in with something behind his back and told me had something romantic for me. It wasn't flowers but it was even better!
It was a tub of my most favorite ice cream in the world- Baskin Robbins Deep Chocolate Peanutbutter. (He drove to 3 different Baskin Robbins in San Juan to find it which I find very romantic!) I have been waiting for 2 years to eat some of this ice cream. Does my baby know me or what?!?