The camera- on vacation

I didn't want to carry "the big camera" everyday in Disneyland. So I decided to limit myself to the beach and the day we were in the park on Elle's birthday. Here are some favorites (the sunset scenes are for my photo class homework):

Disneyland? Weren't you just there?

So when we were planning our November, we saw that we would be in St. George the weekend before Thanksgiving. And since Scott had taken Thanksgiving week off, we thought we would make a vacation out of it. So- why not drive to Disneyland? We would be half-way there already. We know, we know, we just went in the spring, but oh well. So we ended up going to St. George for 2 days (golf tournament), Disneyland for 3 days, and Mesquite for Thanksgiving. What a trip! Highlights:

Going on a trip is fun- It's even better when it is FREE!

We went to Cancun September 15-19th as the grand prize from our 24-hour race back in May. You can read all about the race in my blog entry from June http://our-charmed-life.blogspot.com/2008/06/how-to-win-trip-for-4-to-cancun.html . Before we left we were so worried about what the weather would be like while we were there. Hurricane Ike had just passed through the gulf and the forecast was for rain almost everyday. It turned out we didn't need stormpulse.com. It only rained one day- so we decided to go into the jungle that day and snorkel through some underground caves. While we were riding through the jungle in an open air "buggy" and getting soaked, we realized how fun it was to be on vacation with the Strausses. Even though it was raining, we all were having a great time and laughing. The rest of the week was perfect- we had sun and clear skies to snorkel, see some ruins, hang out at our resort, and visit Isle Mujeres. There were so many highlights that it is hard to choose what our favorite part was. We definitely loved being together with no kids to worry about. By the 5th day we missed them and were ready to go home or at least have them shipped to us so we could all play on the beach together. A big thanks to grandma Susan, grandpa Ron, aunt Kim, and Kylie. We didn't worry because we knew they were so well taken care of and probably having as much fun as we were. I think I know why people call vacations like this a "second honeymoon". . . Because usually our vacation pictures have mostly kids in them. This time all of our pictures are just of the two of us. They remind me of the pictures from our honeymoon.

The Uintahs are offically OPEN

We had a family reunion in probably one of the most beautiful camp grounds in Utah if not the world. Scott's uncle happens to be a die hard fan of Washington Lake and we love it as well. It helps to have him as a connection though because he was at the gate waiting for the camp host to open the campground for the season. Being the first in meant that he picked the two best spots for our families and we were able to reap the benefits. We were right on the lake and had the most spectacular views! We rented an RV from our neighbor (he has a business renting them) and Scott drove it up there like a pro ( I would have been so intimidated- it was 35 feet long!). Anyway, the battery wouldn't hold a charge- so we had no electricity the whole time- but the sleeping accommodations were amazing! It slept 10 and we filled it up with all of our family plus Grandma and Grandpa, Kim and Kylie. What a great weekend. The bests were: the boys fishing, Elle falling asleep in the hiking backpack, making the camp necklaces (Davis is pretty proud of his), catching frogs, shooting the b.b. gun (totally a boy thing), and yummy food. The worsts were: my camera battery died (is this a theme for this summer?) so I only have a few pictures from my camera. I used Ron's most of the time, but I don't have CD of them yet, Cam throwing up in the middle of night two and driving him down the mountain and then back the next morning when we figured out it was just too many treats, and of course, no electricity in the motor home. All in all we were so glad to be there and be together. We had a great time with the relatives and look forward to next year.

The boys doing what they love to do up there: fish!Kylie and Elle

Grandpa and Davis (check out that view- what handsome guys!)

Video players are heaven sent

For me this post is a little ironic. Why did I name a post about a trip we took to a National Park about a video player? We decided to take advantage of a week with no baseball and go to Moab. The problems began when we didn't commit to the idea right away. We kept going back and forth. Finally on Sunday, we decided to give it a go Monday morning. It had been an unusually cool June up until then. We happened to choose the hottest week of the month to make our trek into the desert with 3 kids. Okay- so we hurry and get ready to go. About 20 minutes into the drive we realize we forgot the hiking backpack. What to do? There is no way to carry our seriously squirmy and seriously strong 18 mo. old on any sort of hike. And on her own, well- she has only been at the walking thing for 6 months or so... There was no way Scott was going to turn around and go home. It had taken us long enough to pack up and get on the road as is. So we stopped in Lindon and bought a carrier. No harm- the one we were going to bring was on loan to us anyway. About 1 hour in to the drive we realize we brought nothing to entertain our kids. Serious mistake to drive any further than an hour with no video player. That thing is like magic. You put in a DVD and presto! your kids stop shouting at each other and zone in on the screen. Oh well. The true irony of this whole thing was that although we never thought we would make it through the drives (going there and coming back- at one point all 3 kids were crying at once), it was a great little trip. We loved being in nature (with no videos- talk about irony) and letting the kids explore. Even though we had been to Arches before, it was amazing all over again. The kids loved it! They even hiked to Delicate Arch (about 2 1/2 miles round trip). We were so impressed! The last of the irony- I went to this picturesque place and forgot my camera! Lucky for us we found a disposable- so we have a few pictures to show for it. We would do it again though- this time we would just bring our DVD player. Ha. Ha.

Spring Break!

We are spring breaking it in Mesquite- another long drive with the kids- but not bad now that we have figured out that snacks and movies buy a lot of drving time. We are visiting my parents while Scott works in Las Vegas (fun corporate meetings) and will finish up the week with a little camping at Capitol Reef with Scott's parents. As I write this, I realize that it sounds like we are never home, but really this month is an exception. Our normal is school, work, take-home reading, soccer, and play outside (the kids- including Elle want to be out as much as possible). Here we get to swim, ride the four-wheeler, take walks, and catch lizards. Anyway, we are enjoying our break from the norm- the only bummer is that Davis was laid up on the couch at grandma's with a fever today. Hopefully tommorrow he will be back to his lizard-catching self.

More travelog

One of the highlights of our trip was a show they call "Jedi Training". Our boys love Star Wars as much as the next little guy (you know, lightsabers- good vs. bad). So we decided to go to the show. The best part is that they call a few lucky kids up to participate in the program and eventually fight Darth Vader or Darth Maul. Both of our boys got chosen! I don't know who was jumping up and down more- me or them. Only Davis got to do the actual figthing at the end (I think they pull the youngest ones aside since it is pretty realistic- check out Darth Maul's creepy face!), but they both learned all the moves. It was so thrilling.











Elle loved it too.

We're back!

What a great trip we had! We loved being together and playing everyday. The kids are at such fun ages to enjoy all the "magic". It is the year of a million dreams- so they are giving away all kinds of things. We got free mouse ears and a "dream fast pass" (you can skip the lines on a few rides). Fun, fun- we felt like celebrities for "winning" something. We had great weather- a little overcast each day- and then sun. We were able to swim at the pool when the park was crowded and we spent part of one day at the beach. It was a nice break and I have to admit I was a little glad to hear that we escaped some bad weather here (although today we had snow off and on all day- what?)

Davis being cheesy (notice the mouse ears we "won").;Elle on the carousel- she was such a fan of the rides and wanted to go on everything.; Cam at the pool (he didn't leave the kiddie pool- it was warm and he could touch).










The kids on the beach at Newport
(I had them pose for this- I wanted to get one
worthy of enlarging- does it look posed?)

Disney- here we come!

Well- spring fever has gotten the best of us. We finally booked the vacation we have been talking about for a while- Disneyland. We are DRIVING - hopefully it will work out (3 kids+1 car+ 2 days of driving = happy family memories?). When we told Davis about the vacation he was happy until we told him we were driving. He promptly sat down and started to pout. Can you say "entitled?" Scott and I were beside ourselves. Thankfully he snapped out of it and is now looking forward to the trip. We are getting excited and can't wait to play and see some sun that doesn't trick us with a snow flurry (which happened today! Snowing while sunny- only in Utah).