Spring Break 09

Spring Break 09 was a blast, for the most part.  We went clear to freakin the end of the world to get there.  I don't think I have spent that much time in a car since my dad would make us drive everywhere on our family vacations when I was a kid.  We drove to mexico.  That's right, we drove to Mexico.  Three and a half hours south of Phoenix is a little town called Puerto Penasco, right on the beach in the Sea of Cortez.  Some friends of ours go there every year and absolutely love it so we decided to go with them this year.

The trip started out awesome, pretty nice weather, the kids had a blast and the hotel was much nicer than we anticipated.  We spent every second of every day on the beach and by the pool eating junk food the whole time.  

The "excitement" came Tuesday night.  Lets just say there was a Mexican hospital involved, a few catheters, a 10 hour drive with said catheter, a 2 hour hospital stay in Phoenix and a 5 hour hospital stay in Vegas and 2 nights of no sleep.  The trip could have ended better.  Everything is fine now but those two days were hell and the most pain I have ever been in in my life.

So here are some pics of the fun we had.

Hawaii 2008

Ok, so I have been told that I have to post some Hawaii pictures so I will. This is a little late (we went to Kauai on Oct. 23) but better late than never. We went to Kauai with another couple and NO kids. I had never been to this island before so I was very excited. All in all though, I have to say it is not much different than Maui. Same stuff to do for the most part, just a little less commercialized. Anyway, we had a great time. We ate way too much (like always), watched way too much "The Office" (every second we were in the room "The Office" was on, even if we were just going to be in there for a few minutes), and got a little too little sun. It rained everyday we were there. It didn't rain all day, so we did get some sun, but it rained a lot.

Here are some pictures of all of the fun things we did. Thanks to Jamie and Shawn for watching our crazy kids, we love you guys.

San Francisco

So, one of our favorite babysitters was coming home from college for a couple of weeks this summer and mentioned that if Greg and I wanted to go somewhere she would love to watch the kids for us. Well, I'm not one to disappoint anybody so we (of course) took her up on that. We decided to go to San Francisco. Why? We're not really sure, one of us mentioned it and we thought it sounded good so off we went. We were only there for a weekend but had a ton of fun. Did I mention it was freezing cold!!?

We went to a Giants game (we can't go anywhere without sports being involved somehow) and sat front row. I usually just go to games to people watch, but being on the front row was actually real fun and I really watched the game. Mostly because if a foul ball was hit it could have very possibly taken my head right off. I'm not kidding either.

The best part of the trip was after dinner the first night. We went to a restaurant (on someones referral) that was not right in town. After dinner we had to get to the game so we started walking, just waiting to spot an open taxi. The stadium was way too far to walk to and it was freezing cold outside so we walked to the busiest street around and tried and tried to get a taxi. All of the taxis that passed us were occupied so we kept walking in the direction we were supposed to be going just waiting for one to be open. Long story short, we ended up walking more than halfway there before we scored a taxi. This ended up being real fun because we were in a part of town that we would have never seen had we found a taxi easily. We walked by the design district, government buildings, the Opera House, an Asian History Museum, about 1,000 homeless people talking to themselves (why do they do that?), and a ton of cool shops. It was a great night.

The next day we went to Union Square for some shopping and ate lunch at a little outdoor cafe. A protest broke out right in the middle of the square where we were eating. I'm not entirely sure what it was all about but lets just say that I am a little miffed about the way the Tibetans are being treated by China. "Don't believe China's Olympic lies". Who knew there were so many people from Tibet in San Fran?

I love going on vacations, especially with just me and my husband. I recommend it to everybody. It is such a great way to keep falling in love with each other.

Cabin Fever

we spent last weekend at a cabin with some friends. we were up in Duck Creek and it was beautiful. the weather is great and the whole cabin atmosphere is so wonderful. my kids loved 4-wheeling. cole would just sit on the 4-wheeler while it was parked, just waiting for somebody to take him on a ride. then the helmet was too heavy for his little neck so his head would flop around and he still wanted to go!

we also went hiking, and my kids love to hike. we have done so much hiking this summer and the kids never complain. i don't know if i am just more brave or the kids are better, but i would have never even considered hiking with all of them a year ago. now we have a blast and even cole walks for most of it.

Denver

Busy, busy, busy. we love to get away from the vegas heat during the summer so we have been busy. last week we spent some time in Denver with my sister and her family. the weather was perfect. we were there for my nephews baptism. he is the first grandchild to be baptized and it was a great experience. i don't see my sister very often so when we get together we just want to do nothing and hang out and talk. so greg kept the baby in vegas a couple of days so i could hang out with my sister without him. one year olds are too high maintenance. greg and cole joined us in denver a few days later. both of my parents are from denver so we still have a lot of family there so it was great to see everybody.

now we will stay home for a week and then off to utah. it's just too hot here. here are some pics of the week in denver.



the pictures:


- the cousins
- everyone watching fireworks
- my sister and her family
- my parents

California Dreamin'

this past weekend we went to cali to get away from 107 degrees here at home and we accomplished it. i have to say it was even a bit chilly there. the weather was cool and cloudy and i loved it. we stayed at the hyatt on huntington beach and if you have never been to this hotel you should go. it is beautiful and right on the beach. we went with a couple of friends and the kids played on the beach the majority of the trip. it was very chilly and the kids complained a bit, but then we would run up to the hotel and jump in the hot tub and all was well.

we love traveling and i have to say it is getting easier and easier as the kids get older. the baby was the only one who was kind of a pain in the butt on the beach. not because he didn't like it, in fact he loved it, but the sand is incredibly annoying when you have a baby. but for some reason he was rubbing his face in it, and if i cleaned him off he would drop down to the ground and rub his face and head in it all over again. go figure. he loved it.

just for future reference. if anybody is planning a trip somewhere and thinks, "man it would be fun if another family came with us to hang out with" then call us, we are pretty much up for a trip any time, and we love going with other families. The kids have so much fun playing with other kids and lets face it, if the kids are having fun, then we're having fun. so let us know. here are some more pics of the trip.

Cabo Wabo

I love vacations, don't you? Nothing is better. Sure, it seems to be absolute chaos before leaving, making sure the kids are all taken care of, with their school schedule and sports schedule and nap schedule and on and on and on, and you even may wonder, "Is this worth it?" I answer with a resounding, "YES!!" The week of this vacation turned out to be complete chaos, not to mention it was the first time I was going to leave my baby over night with somebody else, I was very stressed and not sure it was going to be worth all of the work that surrounded it. And then we got there........

If this picture doesn't relax you, then you need help. We went to Cabo San Lucas with two other couples and had a most relaxing time. We rented a house right on the beach and a golf course. This is Greg in the pool right after an early morning jog. He didn't know anyone else was awake and my friend shot this picture.

We didn't relax the whole time, however, I am the type that wants to "do" while on vacation. This fact about me bothers my husband at times, he likes to "do nothing" on vacation, but luckily the people we were with wanted to "do" a little as well. We played some tennis, went zip-lining, race car driving, Wal-Mart shopping (I include this because it is quite an experience in Mexico), dinner eating and card playing. Nertz can get very physical. All in all, I would say that vacations (without the kids) are definitly worth all of the work that comes a long with it.

I would just like to say "Thanks" to Jamie and Shaun Muaina. They were so great to come down to Vegas and watch our kids. Our kids loved them and didn't even seem to care that we were gone. Which is comforting and yet quite disturbing. Jamie said that Maile fell in love with Shaun, and would just follow him around. She always had to sit by him and hold his hand and she never left his side. She said that Maile didn't even know Jamie's name the whole time, just called her "that girl", and stayed right by Shaun. It is a blessing to have good people you trust to watch your children, and we are very thankful for it. Thanks guys, once you re-group we may ask you again.

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!!

We just had the best time! We went on a Disney trip, 4 days on land and 4 days at sea. We flew into Orlando (Cole did not cry once, by the way) and spent 4 days at Disney World. It was a lot more crowded than I expected it to be. I figured we were beating the Spring Break rush, so it wouldn't be too bad, but it was more crowded than expected. But still not bad, we never had to wait in line for more than 20 minutes. We did all of the regular Disney stuff. Maile got a "princess makeover", which she loved. You should have seen her sitting in the salon chair getting her nails done and her hair done and makeup put on. She loved every second of it.

We went on this trip with some of my family. My parents came and my brother and his family. It was so much more fun to have cousins around for the kids to enjoy it with.

After we did all of the Disney World stuff, we went to Cape Canaveral to get on our ship. We were on the Disney Wonder and had a great time. If you have never been on a Disney cruise I would definitely recommend it. The kids (3 and older) can go into the "Oceaneers Club" any time they (or you) want and they have nonstop activities for them and they loved it. Carson and his cousin begged to go in there. We had to schedule babysitting for the baby, so we didn't get alone time without him very often but that was ok. There was so much to do for the kids that it was fun having them with us most of the time.

Our cruise went to the Bahamas and then to Castaway Cay, and then back. We had so much fun. I have to say, the cruise was anything you could ask for in a vacation for the family. It was lacking a bit in food quality, I would compare the dining to a Chilis or something like that, but don't go for the food, go for the kids. It was great. There were princesses walking around the ship, which made Maile's day, and Jack Sparrow and Captain Hook for the boys.

It was so nice to escape the monotany of the daily routine. But it is so good to be back and be able to sleep in my own bed. This vacation was definitely not relaxing, but it was a blast.