Going to finally go on that big vacation

So with the new stimulus check in our bank account, we decided that it was time to go on a big vacation...without the kids. Love the kids, but sometimes they just need to go away and spend some time with their grandparents. Next November will be one of those times. We're going to go with Tim and Kara Bell. Tim is a buddy of mine from my mission. We met on a dreary Thursday morning in St. John's, Newfoundland and after spending 4 months in the same apartment in Moncton, New Brunswick we became BOFF...we made matching bracelets and everything. :)

Anyway, we've been trying to do trips to Utah and Seattle to see family, but with gas prices above $4 a gallon. It makes it tough to do those big road trips. So we're just doing the Mexican 7-night cruise out of Long Beach down to Puerta Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. Never been on a cruise before, I'm expecting that we'll have a lot of fun.

Family day at Disneyland

Well, with Allison's family all in town for the wedding on Saturday we all went to Disneyland for the day. Luckily, the crowds were small and the weather was good. Jacen and Kate got to go on most of the rides that they could. Jacen was big enough for the Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Star Tours, and even Splash Mountain. He was really brave! I remember being a little freaked out over the Matterhorn until I was about 8. Of course, it didn't help having to ride the skyway and see the huge frightening snow monster. No wonder I was freaked out. Anyway, it was a long day and someone had the bright idea to get in the Finding Nemo line at 7:50 right before the park closed at 8PM. It was a 45 minute line. So basically we were the last ones out of the park, and poor Kate slept through the entire ride.

The wedding on Saturday went well. Alex and Shauna got married at the San Diego Temple and had the reception back in Temecula. It was a grueling day though - 95 degrees and a photographer who took about 10 minutes between each picture. Sadly, we all missed Vati's 90th birthday EXTRAVAGANZA. Just really bad luck to have to have two of these things on the exact same day. It would be great to have all the kids visit Mercer Island...and plus Jacen needs to redeem himself for the first time he met Mutti and Vati where he immediately vomitted right on their entryway floor.

Kate turns 3/Jacen turns 5

Done with the big parties for Jacen and Kate. I don't have the pictures yet, but I will shortly. Kate had a magical fairy princess party that Allison got all crazy over. She hand drew the invitations and Kate had all her little girlfriends over. Then in May, Allison went crazy again over Jacen's party. It was a dinosaur party and Allison made huge plywood painting of a few dinosaurs including an eight foot tall T-Rex. Jacen had a great time and all his friends came and found the dinosaur egg pinata, and even dug up little dinosaur bones in the side yard.