Summer 2012 Trip to California

This was the BEST vacation EVER! We flew into LAX and drove to Long Beach, CA where we stayed at the Hotel Maya for FREEEEEEEEE thanks to my accumulation of Hilton Honors Points.  We picked Jensen up from school on his last day of school and drove straight to the airport. Since it was the end of the school year and the hotel was under renovations, we pretty much had the place to ourselves. We had a great room on the harbor and the restaurant and pool were spectacular.

Our first day in California, we drove to Seal Beach where we met our surf instructors, Chris and Nema. After signing a few wavers, we sent the kids off toward the beach with a surf board.

Our surf lessons were RAD and we were all stoked to catch our first wave!

The coastline in California on our way back to Los Angeles

On our way into LA we stopped to see the Pier in Santa Monica and play on the beach

We also got to visit the Griffith Observatory which provided wonderful views of downtown LA and the Hollywood sign in the hills.

At Manhattan Beach, Jarrod and I relaxed on the beach and watched the surfers while the kids played in the sand.

Thanksgiving 2011 ~ Our First Family Cruise

We had a full day at sea before our first stop in Key West, Florida

Sunset from our balcony

McKenna enjoyed the towel animals

Leaving port the first night of our cruise

The kids enjoyed the beach at Key West

Second stop - Nassau, Bahamas

Playing in the sand at the Beach

Beach at Key West

We enjoyed relaxing and playing at the beach

Bike ride to the beach in Key West

McKenna and I loved our bikes...the boys...not so much.

Nothing like a picnic at the beach

This was a trip full of "firsts" for our kids and family. We have taken our kids many places, but they have all been by car. So, during Thanksgiving break, I planned for us to fly to Florida and board a cruise ship. The kids seemed to enjoy the adventure and now they can say they've been on a cruise. Needless to say, it was not Jarrod's favorite vacation. While he had fun, he has no plans on taking a cruise probably ever again in his lifetime...unless somehow one of his children can convince him otherwise.

Annual Family Trip to "The Cabin"

Memories from our trip:
1. Good snow, beautiful weather, and a snow storm arrives just as we're leaving. Works for me; however, Jarrod would prefer to be skiing instead of driving in the weather.
2. Amazing improvement of the kids this year while skiing. No more edgy-wedgies!
3. McKenna managed to avoid people for the most part, only running across the skis of one person...and no major wipe outs this year. She was able to stay in control MOST of the time. She even made it down Exhibition (a steep blue on the mountain face) which Jensen kept calling Expedition so we started calling it everything and anything that rhymed with Exhibition.
4. The lift lines were horrible the first two days; however, the third day was awesome. The weather was beautiful but the winds were pretty strong. KK stayed at the house with Nana, Bob-bob, Jef, Mars and Tristen. Jensen was so excited to have Mumma and Daddy all to himself and he did Great! Because of the winds, the lift lines were short to non-existant. Jensen went down his first black (the top of Eagle Glades) and he did superb. He was so stoked!
5. The most memorable moment of all time was when Jensen was in the loft and noticed the rat pellets. He then reported that it smelled awful and proceeded to snuggle up in a blanket...with a dead pack rat! I've never seen anyone fly down the loft ladder as quickly as he did! He then proceeded straight to the bathroom to wash his dead-critter infested hands. Of course all of the kids had to go up and look at the poor creature and then demonstrate the expression on it's face.

Fun in the Sun

We had an extra day out of school before Memorial Day weekend so we took the kids camping. We got to the camp site late Thursday night so we had to put up our tent and set up camp in the dark.

We had lots of fun and it was hot enough to swim. Gran-mommy came out to the lake on Saturday and we rode a paddle boat and ocean kayak. The park rangers came to the swimming area to talk about snakes and park safety. We got to watch them feed Cornelius the Corn Snake. The kids got to pet the snake and hold her for a few minutes. Not me - I was good watching!