Family Vacation 2019: St. Augustine, FL

This year we traveled to St. Augustine, Florida (the oldest city in the US!) for our family vacation! The Winiarski's joined us and we had a blast sharing a condo right on the beach! Here are some snapshots of our week:

The kids loved playing in the tide pools! They splashed around and looked for little fish and crabs.

(Red marks on Max's face are from his goggles... not an injury.)

Early morning pile on Steve's lap! Sleepy faces and pj's for all.

One morning Max and I went down to the beach (just the two of us!) to play in the sand while the Dad's went on a run and Kirsten and the girls were getting ready for the day. We had a blast!

Learning a new game!

With help from the Dad's, the kids built an "aquarium" that they decorated and collected fish.

JUMP!!

Blast off with the Dad's!

Check out Natalia's face! This girl is fearless and LOVES the water.

We walked around downtown St. Augustine one afternoon to look at historic buildings. Many of the churches and Flagler College were open to the public (for free!). It was kind of dark inside, but we snapped this photo of a neat rotunda at Flagler College.

"Hey Mom! Take a picture of me in jail!"  (This was actually the entrance gates to Flagler College and not a jail. Haha)

Random cannons all over town!

Popsicle time!

Super-sand Man!

Max and Ben loved body surfing all week!

There was an awesome playground in downtown St. Augustine. Probably the biggest I've ever seen!

Max and Saskia wanted to take a "crazy face" picture. Natalia's reaction in this photo cracks me up!

Sunrise on the porch of our condo!

Max was really hot and tired toward the end of our walk around St. Augustine and grabbed the nearest hand he could find. Turned out to be Steve! Haha

On a ferry ride to Fort Matanzas!

Max completed some activities and earned a Junior Ranger badge!

We were all playing a guessing game and Max and Saskia sat together on the ottoman and Max had his arm around Saskia! So funny.

(For the record, the woman bending over in the background of this photo is not nude. Haha!)

Building a mega drip castle with the kiddos!

Family photos after dinner out on our last night!

Group photo at Fort Matanzas! (It was really hot and really humid!)

The kids decided to "meditate" while we were out to dinner on our last night. Let's just say it wasn't all that relaxing or serene of a mediation session. ;-)

Goodbye hugs after a fun week together!

May 2019

Here's a "photo dump" of all our non-graduation and non-vacation adventures in the month of May! (Vacation photos coming soon)

All signed up for the summer reading program at the library!

Out to breakfast for Mother's Day!

Max put his sunglasses on his hat and thought it looked cool, so he asked me to take his picture. :-)

Typical weekend mode!

Family fun at the park!

Spring festival at school! The upper elementary kids had a face painting station and Max chose a rocket ship!

Learning to make an origami frog

Last baseball game of the season!

Super proud of getting a game ball!

Montessori Primary - that's a wrap!

It's official! Max has completed the first cycle of Montessori schooling -- Primary (ages 3 -6). This fall he will be headed to the second Montessori cycle: Lower Elementary (ages 6 - 9), which is in a different building on the other side of the parking lot. It's a bittersweet time and we're so grateful for the experience of the last three years, and excited to see what the next three years has in store.

The teachers at MASS (Montessori Academy at Sharon Springs) truly care about Max, and many seemed a bit choked up and teary as we gave hugs, took photos, and celebrated this special time. Lots of things have surprised me about motherhood, but seeing people who don't "have to" love Max (a.k.a. non-family members) love him has been one of the biggest and most meaningful joys of being a mother. Of course we all think he is pretty incredible, but to know that others feel the same way and truly love him and find joy in him has been really special.

Here are some snapshots of graduation day, or "Bridge Ceremony" as it's called at a Montessori school. The students walk through the arbor to represent "bridging" from one level to the next. At the end of their walk they receive a certificate and tree from their teacher and the Head of School, then they shake hands with the teachers of the next level.  It's a really sweet ceremony!

Kindergartners preparing to sing a song.

The Blue Room kindergarten graduates! Left to right: Yajur, Evelyn, Riaan, Max, and Ms. Mili. Evelyn will be joining Max in the Lower Elementary classroom at MASS, and Yajur and Riaan are moving on to the public school for first grade.

Max's teacher, Ms. Mili, went to sit with the Blue Room kids while the kindergartners from the other classrooms were being recognized. We could tell she was fighting back tears and kept putting her arm around Max. So sweet!

All the kindergartners and their teachers!

Max and Ms. Mili, his lead teacher.

Max with his best friend, Riaan (Riaan's mom got a back-up certificate from Target - haha!).

Max with Ms. Liana who will be his teacher for the next three years in Lower Elementary! We wanted to take a photo of "the beginning" so we can take the same photo when Max graduates from Lower El in three years. :-)

Max with Ms. Rawla who was Max's teacher the first two years of his Primary Cycle (she moved up to Lower Elementary as an assistant teacher this year -- after teaching Primary for 15 years -- and will be taking a break next school year to get her Lower Elementary teacher certification.)

Max with Ms. Nancy, the curriculum director. (We also wanted to take a photo with the Head of School, Ms. Debbie, but she'd had an injury the night before and went home immediately after the ceremony.)

Max with Ms. Marla who runs the school... I mean the front desk. :-)  If you ever have a question, Ms. Marla knows the answer! One morning when Ben was dropping Max off at school he overheard Marla say, "It's going to be strange not having Max in our building anymore!"

Ms. Rubbina has been the assistant teacher in Max's classroom the past three years, and she and Max have a really close bond.

We all LOVE Ms. Rubbina so much and she has been a big part of our "village" (as in "It takes a village to raise a child"). We were all teary eyed giving hugs! Here is an excerpt of a really sweet email she sent me (in response to a thank you email I sent the teachers for putting on a nice Mother's Day program):

The last 3 years have been such a pleasure watching Max grow into the wonderful young man that he is now. I remember the little things he does often and how he has become someone who I am so proud of. He is completely reflective of the parents that you and your husband are. Not all parents appreciate the work that we do and it means so much for your love and support. I can’t wait until Max goes to Georgia Tech...he said that he will give me his phone number then and we will keep in touch :) so much love to you and your family on this blessed Mother’s Day. 

Love, Rubbina 


Proud parents with our boy!

After the ceremony the school had a nice lunch for the graduating families, then we went on a tour of the YMCA summer camp Max will be attending this summer (no photos, but it's awesome!). After a couple camp-related errands we took Max out for an ice cream!

Our big boy is apparently only so big because he conked out in the backseat while we were out. :-) 

We had dinner at home followed by a special popcorn and movie night (we watched "The Incredibles 2") then off to bed. 

Here are a few videos (if you are viewing this in your email you may need to click through to the blog website to view: http://lillyfamilylife.blogspot.com/):

We didn't quite catch them announcing Max's name, but here he is doing his special walk!

The kindergartners sang a sweet song: