Our Cruise

January 17, 2008

I have been meaning to post this for some time now, but life keeps getting in the way. Last Christmas my mother-in-law gave the kids presents saying that she would take us on a cruise. As the year progressed we never heard anything about it so I assumed it wasn't going to happen. About mid-November Mikel-Ann (my sister-in-law) won a four day cruise for two. Shirley started looking around and found one down to Cabo that we could all go on. Trying to avoid Forrest missing any school she scheduled the trip for January 1st. That meant that we got home from snowmobiling on the 31st and flew out the next morning. It was pretty crazy.

This is the third time we have flown with the kids and they are really getting the hang of it. The flight seemed really short and the kids did awesome. When we got of the plane we got our bags found our bus and headed over to the ship. I have heard horror stories of people waiting hours to get on the boat and then still not being able to go to their rooms. We were lucky it only took about an hour before we were in our rooms relaxing.

As soon as everyone was settled in we took a tour of the ship. At 5:00 we had a orientation for Kid Carnival. It was crazy. The music was really loud and everyone was talking. Eliza of course fell sound asleep. She must have been really tired because it was so noisy I could barely hear myself think.

After the orientation we headed off to dinner. On a cruise you can order up to three appetizers and two entrees. It is kinda of fun. The portions are small so you don't feel like you are eating your weight in food. Everyone was tired so we headed to bed early.

The next day was a day at sea. We dropped both kids off at Camp Carnival. Eliza seemed to be okay, but when Shirley walked by a couple minutes later she was crying. She just couldn't take it so she got her out. Of course she wouldn't even go near the place for the rest of the cruise. Forrest on the other hand loved Camp Carnival and would get mad if he was missing anything.

Since Eliza wouldn't stay in Camp Carnival she hung out with us.

We spent some time up on deck reading and then headed in for lunch. After lunch Forrest took a short break from Camp to come swimming with us.

Greg was nice enough to take the kids swimming so I could just lounge on deck and read my book.

Soon Forrest got cold and came to hang out with me. The kids got done with swimming and Forrest headed back to Camp while Eliza headed to the room to do her favorite thing.

She thought it was so fun to have the little DVD player all to herself. She would move it all over the bed changing positions as she would go.

Before dinner we had a quick round of miniature golf. The kids never got tired of playing this. Forrest always wiggles his bum before he hits and Eliza just likes to try and get the ball in the hole. It is a lot of fun. Forrest was getting pretty good by the end of the cruise. The bum wiggling must really help.

After a good rest we finally made it to Cabo.

Our first stop was a glass bottom boat ride.

We were able to see lovers beach,

the blow hole,

the arch and

divorce beach so named because it is on the Pacific side of the ocean. It is so rough that no one can swim in it.

The kids loved riding on the boat and we were even able to see some seals playing close by.

After our boat ride we headed to the beach.

The kids of course loved it.

Forrest had fun trying to build a sandcastle and playing in the waves.

Eliza loved lazying around in the beach chairs eating snacks. I really liked how clear the water was. Greg liked that we finally went to a beach that was warm. He had fun swimming around.

Pretty soon we were all getting tired so we caught a boat ride back to the pier and had a late lunch. After lunch we did a little shopping.

I didn't really want anything so I walked around and admired the scenery. I was surprised at how dry it seemed.

It was finally time to head back to the boat. Everyone had a good time. As we were sailing away the sun was just starting to set. It was really pretty.

We stayed out on deck as the land slowly faded into the distance.

The sunset was amazing. Hopefully we will be able to come back here really soon.

We put the kids to bed early and headed out to enjoy some of the ships entertainment. The hypnotist was pretty good. Or I should say the people he chose were really funny.

On our last day a storm moved in. The morning started off nice enough but soon it got really windy and even started to rain. Forrest spent most of the day at Camp, but when he was out he would play ping pong or miniature golf. I was just about blown away playing miniature golf, but he sure did have fun.

Eliza had a fun morning exploring the ship some more, but after lunch she crashed. She was so tired she slept for almost three hours. Greg and I took turns sitting with her while the other one went with Forrest. That night I packed everyone up and made sure we had an early departure time. We had three groups and each of us was getting off at different times. I talked to the front desk and they moved us to zone 10. That was much better than our zone 21.

In the morning we hung out in a lounge for about an hour. We were then able to disembark. Everything went pretty smoothly. The flight home was uneventful, it was when we landed that things got interesting. Our flight landed at 4:10. After getting our luggage, catching the shuttle, cleaning off the inch of ice on our car and then driving home we didn't get in until about 7:15. The kids had done great up until then. The whole drive home they spent the time trying to annoy each other and us. Luckily we all arrived in one piece. We are home for now and probably in about a month I will be caught up again.

Snowmobile Vacation 08

January 11, 2009

First off let me start off with another picture of Ann. You might not believe me that I can never get a good picture, but this was the best one I got of her while we were snowmobiling. Not pretty. Hopefully she will do better this year.

As you can imagine I have been looking forward to snowmobile vacation all year. I can't even imagine not doing it this. It really makes the holiday season last that much longer. As soon as we started packing up Forrest and Eliza were excited to go back to the Big Blue House. This year Forrest slept in the bunk rooms with the rest of the boys. On the first night Steven said that he was scared so Forrest invited him to sleep in his bed. Mind you it was a the top bunk, but they did it every night. It was a little tight, but they didn't seem to mind.

Or first day there Liz was gracious enough to take all the kids outside. I felt a little bad so I went out with her.

The kids had a ton of fun.

Forrest and Preston had heated discussions on who was the king of the hill. Even though Liz kept trying to tell them there can be three kings neither of them would budge and both thought there should only be one king. Forrest finally gave up and started to work on his snow cave/tunnel.

Eliza loves to be outside, but still wants to only wear summer attire. We can get her completely bundled up, but she refuses to wear a hat. Maybe she doesn't want to mess up her hair. Luckily for her it wasn't very cold and she never wanted to stay outside for very long.

One of the highlights of the trip for Forrest was riding the 120. He can now ride it completely by himself and he gets such a kick out of it. I was really surprised this year. All the kids that were old enough were able to ride the 120 by themselves.

Steven was probably the funnest. The first day that we were out the snow was really wet and heavy. The kids could go full throttle and still stay pretty much in in the tracks. The next day the kids went out the snow was fairly packed down. Driving around this time took a little more skill. Steven's first time out he went full throttle and was bouncing around all over the place. Greg finally had to chase him down and pull the plug. We let a couple of the other kids go around while Paul tried to explain to Steven how to only press the throttle down half way. When it was finally Steven's turn he started off really slow. Paul told he could go a little faster, but he wasn't interested. If he couldn't go full throttle it just wasn't any fun. I think he is trying to take over Janet's spot as family speed demon.

Eliza spent most of her time in doors. She loved jumping from the bean bags and just hanging out with mom or dad. I was amazed at how well she did up there sleeping. Once she would finally fall asleep she slept like a log until the next morning. That meant that Greg and I didn't have to share the bed with her. This is the first time since she was born that Greg and I didn't have a kid in the bed with us up snowmobiling. It was heaven.

By the end of the trip Forrest had finished his snow tunnel with Addison and Becca's help.

I made each kid pose in the tunnel so they could remember their hard work.

They dug the tunnel almost completely by their selves. Greg helped a little at the end, but they really did it on their own.

Everyone had a good time and we can't wait to go back next year. Here is a short video of the kids flying their paper airplanes. I was trying to get a shot of all the kids flying their airplanes, but every time I would hold up my camera Steven would yell at me "no pictures" I finally had to ask him why he didn't want his picture taken.

Finally

January 9, 2008

It only took most of the week to get everything back to normal. Greg and I have decided that we can't take another trip within 30 days of our first trip. Thankfully we don't have any trips planned for awhile. I need a break. Since August we have gone to Washington, Las Vegas, Bear Lake and a Cruise to Cabo. Hopefully now things will settle done a little.

I am a little behind in my blogging since we have been so busy. I haven't talked about anything since the week before Christmas. So of course I need to catch. If you would prefer not to hear the boring details of my life feel free to take a quick peek at the pictures and you can get on with your day.

On Monday the 22nd we had our annual Christmas party. The kids had a great time and loved all the presents they got. I of course had to take my camera along. I got the requisite pictures of kids opening presents and everyone sitting around eating, but I also tried to got a picture of Anne.

Every time I tried to take her picture this is what I would get. She is always scowling. Finally after much prodding I was able to get her to act natural and got my favorite picture of the night. Now if I can just convince her to smile all the time when I try to take her picture.


On Tuesday the kids had a half day of school and then we headed up to Heber City for the Polar Express. When we got up there it was really cold. Luckily for us we were dressed for it and had a big blanket to snuggle under.

The train ride was a lot of fun. We got hot chocolate and cookies, read the Polar Express and met Mrs. Clause. Finally at the end of the ride Santa came through our car and gave each child a bell.

Forrest got a real kick out of it, but Eliza wasn't to sure about Santa.

On Christmas Eve we headed over Greg's parents house.

First we went sledding. For some reason the kids weren't really into it. I think it is because Forrest had to walk up the hill. He much rather have the snowmobile take him up.

And Eliza, well who knows what was going on with her. Even with Greg carrying her around she just wanted to go inside.

Forrest ended up spending most of his time riding the four wheeler and towards the end was even driving it by himself. The rest of the evening consisted of lots of food, games and presents. Everyone had a good time and hated to go home.

Christmas morning was a lot of fun. I didn't take very many pictures this year because Greg decided to record the whole event. That should be fun to watch in a couple of years. The kids loved all of their presents and were sad when it was all over. We had a great week leading up to Christmas with a lot of fun activities. My next post will be all about Snowmobile vacation. I know you are on the edge of your seating just waiting to hear about it, but since I use this as a pseudo journal you will just all have to bear with me.

Wish You Were Here.

January 5, 2009

Actually I wish I was still there. We came home to snowy weather that took us two hours just to get home.

We are a little tired around here and my house looks like our suitcase threw up. And of course we have still have Christmas up. Does anyone want to come over and help me clean? Ya, I didn't think so. Well, I will have to fill you in on all the details once I have dug myself out and I figure out how to get the floor to stop moving.