Tuesday, August 4, 2009

It's Good To Be "Home Sweet Home"

After taking a break, and letting Emily blog for me, I am back to share our vacation with you. While Matt and I went on a fabulous Carnival Cruise to Catalina and Mexico for our anniversary, the kids hung out with family in So Cal. They had a blast! They really loved being able to spend time with Grandma Jill and Grandpa Nick and their cousins, Kyra, Camryn, and Maeli. They got to sleep in a tent, make "smarshmallows," have a spa night, etc. Daniel even got to go fishing with Grandpa! On the last night there, after Matt and I returned from our cruise, the rest of the family came over to celebrate my brother Chad's Birthday! It was a lot of fun. Good food, Great Company and Fun memories. Later that evening, I got to catch up with a friend and just relax.
But before leaving the next morning, we all went to my brother T.J.'s to see the new home that he and his girlfriend Erin are building. It is incredible! The kids each picked out their own rooms. Hee hee.

Matt and I had the best part of the deal though. We spent 4 days and nights doing whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted - no cooking, no cleaning, no kids! Well, at least not kids we had to take care of (but that's another story!). It was very relaxing. We went snorkeling in Catalina and met up with 3 dozen or so dolphins. It was amazing! Of course, the food and drinks on board were great, as were the shows and various activities. We almost hated to get off.

When we got off the ship, we spent the day down at HB with the kids and had tons of fun swimming and boogie boarding. The kids loved it! Except for the sunburns - it seems we missed a few spots here and there and they had a few places that were red later that evening. But, all is good now.

We are so blessed. We have always known that, but seeing the poverty and how many families live down in Mexico really made us appreciate even more all that we do have. I think we took away a lot more from Mexico than just souvenirs.

Summer Vacation

Summer Vacation 2

Sunday Shenanigans

So what did you do on this beautiful, un-winter-like, day? Our family headed up to a shooting range on a friend's property and took turn...