Spring Break 2011

We had a busy week of travel to Phoenix, the Grand Canyon, and Las Vegas. We did a ton and had a great time!

I'm going to start out this post with the absolute best photo of the week:


This next one might be our Christmas card photo for this year:


We flew from Houston to Phoenix on Monday night...usually we take early morning flights, but because we used miles we had limited selection and ended up with a flight at 8:00 p.m. I have to say I loved it! I had the whole day to get things packed up, Bella to the kennel, house cleaned up, etc. I was a lot less stressed than I usually am the night before one of our 7:00 a.m. flights! Might do it this way more often.

There are times when I'm grateful for personal electronic devices. Waiting for a flight is one of them.


We stayed at a cool hotel in Phoenix, The Buttes Marriott. Part of it was built into the side of a hill. This was our view:


Surprise! On Tuesday, we were able to have lunch with Tom and Cindi!


After lunch, we went to a spring training baseball game...Texas Rangers vs. LA Dodgers. We figured there's only a few places you can see a spring training game, so we should do it while we're there. Let me just say this...it was hot. Mid march and already 90 degrees.


Don't they look happy?


Lemonade and daddy's sunglasses makes it all better.


Funny story...when we checked into the marriott Monday night they had messed up our reservation. With the kids getting bigger it's harder for us all to fit in one hotel room so we had reserved two rooms and requested them connecting or at the least, next to each other. Well, they didn't even have two rooms on the same floor to give us. They told us to come back down the next morning and they'd get it set up how it should be. The next morning they offered us several options, one being the Presidential Suite. This was basically a huge living room area with several sofas, chairs, large dining table, etc. plus one bedroom with king bed and one bathroom. They were going to put roll away beds in the living room area for the kids. All this would have been fine except for the huge wall of windows that faced east that had no curtains or shades. The morning sun just blasted in. In addition, only one bathroom means longer lines for the shower. So, basically I turned that option down and we ended up with a Junior suite for the kids and a regular room for jim and I. Which was still better than any room the kids had stayed in up to that point. Well, Jim decided to tell the kids that they could have stayed in the Presidential Suite but mom said "no." Jackson was mad about that the rest of the stay! So, to commemmorate the story here's a photo of sad Jackson standing outside the doors of the Presidential Suite.


We were able to see my mom both nights we were in Phoenix. One night we went to Rawhide (faux) Western Town. They had gun fight shows, a stagecoach to ride, a mechanical bull, and a steakhouse to eat dinner. It was a little hokey but they kids enjoyed it.



The weather was so nice in Phoenix we spent one afternoon just hanging around the pool at the hotel.


On Thursday morning we left Phoenix early and headed toward the Grand Canyon. We stopped about halfway in Sedona and took an off road jeep tour on Tom and Cindi's recommendation. The kids loved it!


Some friends of ours from Kingwood were also "spring breaking" in the area so we met them for lunch. This was especially fun for Jensen since their daughter is one of her good friends.



After our day in Sedona we continued on up to the Grand Canyon and checked into our lodge in the park. That night we couldn't see or do much becuase we got there so late but we got up early the next morning for a scenic airplane flight over the canyon. This was really an awesome experience. I'm glad we did this first thing since it really gave you more of an idea of the scope of the canyon. Of course, 10 minutes into the flight Jensen was curled up in a ball fast asleep. $100 down the drain...




After our flight we decided to do a little hiking. I don't know if you know this, but there are no railings, or safety measures of any kind really, on the hiking trails down into the canyon. This was not good for me. Because have you met Jackson? Or Jordan? Or Jensen? So after a brief stint as a family hiking down the Bright Angel trail, which was still littered with ice in many places, and watching three people, one of whom was Jordan, slip and fall on the ice mere inches from the edge of certain death, the girls and I turned back and left the boys to their own devices.


Do you see how the sign says "icy trail, crampons recommended"? We didn't have crampons...whatever they are.


The girls and I decided to walk along the Rim Trail instead. This trail is about 7 miles in length and we walked about 3 miles of it. When we got tired (which was at about mile 1 for Jensen but Jordan and I kept pulling her along) we hopped on a shuttle bus back to our starting point. Jim and Jackson hiked down about 1 1/2 miles and then back up so I say we're even.


That night we tried to go view a famous grand canyon sunset but it was a little cloudy and sun was totally blocked out at the horizon. Oh well...maybe next time.


The next morning we realized we hadn't gotten any photos of the 5 of us together at the grand canyon so we headed out to find someone to take one for us.


After that we started on our drive to Vegas, baby!

We stayed at a new hotel called The Cosmopolitan. It was modern and very nice. I really liked it, but I think the kids would have preferred one of the theme hotels like new york, new york or Treasure Island.

The first night we saw The Blue Man Group. All three kids really liked it.


The next day we met another friend of ours from Kingwood for brunch at our hotel. the brunch buffet was awesome and we all stuffed ourselves...they had everything from typical brunch food to fried chicken to sushi...

After brunch we walked around the strip visiting some of the more kid-friendly attractions...the M&Ms store, the lion habitat at MGM Grand, the roller coaster at New York, New York with the last stop being the Stratosphere to ride some crazy contraption called X-Scream. At the top of a 107 story observation tower there is this ride where you get in the car and it basically dangles you over the side of the tower. Here's a photo from the web...I didn't take one.


The girls and I said "no thanks," but Jim and Jackson bought a ticket. We got up there and it was extremely windy and cold. At the last minute Jackson came to his senses and told Jim he changed his mind and didn't want to ride. So that was the end of that.

We made it back to our hotel and got ready to go to dinner and see David Copperfield. That show was pretty good and the kids particularly enjoyed when I was part of a group of audience members that he made disappear.


Here is the nightime view of the strip from our hotel room.


The next morning we had to be on the road early for our 5 hour drive back to phoenix to catch our flight home.

It was a great week!

2010 Recap Part 2 - San Diego

When we go on a trip I take a T-O-N of pictures. And I have a hard time consolidating these down for my chronological highlights folders so I keep my trip/vacation pictures in their own seperate folders and upload and print those seprately. In March we went to San Diego for spring break. Jim had to be there that week for work so the kids and I hopped a plane and met him out there. He had to work the first daybut after that he was on vacation. I had never been and I loved it! It was unbelievably sunny and beautiful every single day we were there. The only time we encountered clouds even was one late afternoon we went out to Coronado Island and it was overcast and windy. Other than that, sun and blue skies.

We did every touristy thing we could think of while we were there. Here's the photographic recap.

First stop Hard Rock Cafe for lunch while Jim worked.


The next day Jim was done with his work stuff so the vacationing started in earnest. We decided to tour the aircraft carrier USS Midway. I really thought we'd be there an hour tops...that the 3Js would get bored and we'd go do something else. Well, it turns out they loved it and didn't want to leave. We were there at least 3 or 4 hours...long past the time I was ready to go!



When we had seen all we could see we decided to go on a harbor cruise. We got this shot of the Midway from the harbor.

And this shot of the 3Js.

The next day we headed out to the world famous San Diego Zoo.

We loved the whole zoo but one of the coolest things was being able to see the Giant Pandas. We waited in line for a while because they limit the number of people going through the exhibit at any one time. They asked that you be quiet as you walk through so as not to disturb them too much. There was a baby panda asleep in a hammock. The mom walked out of her interior space straight toward us then proceeded to sit down with her back to us and munch on some bamboo. She sat that way the rest of the time we were in the exhibit.


The zoo was huge and we explored every inch of it. There are lots of elevated walkways so you can see down into exhibits. I haven't been to another zoo quite like this one. We loved it and had a great day!

After the zoo, we decided to take a drive over to Coronado Island. As you can tell from the above photo it was nice and sunny when we left the zoo, but by the time we got over to the island it had clouded over and was cool and windy. The kids played around on the beach for a little bit and I snapped a few photos but got too cold and went to wait in the car for them. This was the only bit of inclement weather we had on our entire trip.



I'll recap the rest of our trip in another post...not sure how many photos I can include in one post. I feel I might be stretching the boundaries with this one.

Lost Wii Controllers

When we went to the beach I had the brilliant idea to take the Wii for the kids, and the moms too, to play during their down time. It was a great idea I thought. We got back from the beach on Wednesday and today, Saturday, I just got around to unpacking the Wii and hooking it back up to our tv at home. All the parts to the Wii were in the box, except the two controllers. Somehow they got left behind. And this is going to drive me crazy for the rest of my days.

We have always traveled alot because we've always lived away from our family so I'm a pretty good packer, traveler person. And I pride myself on never (or very rarely) leaving anything behind. Ask Jim's mom...she'll tell you that with all the crap we bring to her house, we hardly ever forget anything when we leave. Jim will say it's because of his obsessive checking of the drawers, under the beds, etc., ten times before we leave. But in reality, it's due to my uncanny, superb packing skills. Nevertheless, we are somehow without two Wii controllers...on my packing duty...there's no way I can blame Jim for this one. At least, I haven't figured out yet how it's his fault.

I did e-mail the owner of the condo and she said she'd check, but there have been renters there since we checked out so I'm sure if the cleaning people didn't take them, those people scooped them up. Maybe humanity will surprise me and they'll still be sitting right where we left them. We'll see. In the meantime, I'll be obsessing over how I could have possibly overlooked them.

Back from the Beach

I was a tad bit apprehensive about taking a mom/kid vacation to the beach with 6 kids and only 3 parents (Brandy with Dylan, Heather with Cameron and Megan and Me with the 3 Js) but it actually turned out better than I expected. We stayed 3 nights/4 days and I left wishing we had one more day to spend there. We rented a condo on the far west end of Galveston island. It was a little remote, but very peaceful, uncrowded and a fairly nice beach by Galveston standards. It's not Gulf Shores but it's also not a 10 hour drive away.

The kids and moms thoroughly enjoyed themselves...ate too much (the moms not the kids), played an unending game of Phase 10, had lots of yummy frozen drinks (again, the moms not the kids), played the Wii, read, slept, sunned, dug holes in the sand, found seashells, tried to fly kites, snorkled in the muddy water, argued, made up, did I say ate too much?, snuggled under blankets, got close to nature (jelly fish, crabs and snails), watched the sunset, swam, watched movies, cemented their bond, oh, and did I say ate too much? :-) I'd do it all again in a heartbeat.

We're Back!

First, we had a great 4th of July day. We had just gotten back from Michigan the night before. We got up and went to the parade in the morning, then barbecued with neighbors in the afternoon, then set off tons of fireworks in the evening. At 4th of July parades, I'm always struck by the crowd and how so many people are wearing coordinating outfits. You don't see this for any other holiday and it cracks me up. I'm usually one of the few not wearing red, white or blue. On this holiday I'm always looking for something to wear but I just don't buy those colors for myself. Now, if brown suddenly became the color of choice for the 4th I'd be all set!

Our trip to Michigan and Indiana was great! We had awesome weather which gave us a break from our heat down here. Temps were in the 70s and 80s and while the kids were "freezing" most of the time, Jim and I were in heaven!





After spending the first couple of days with my dad, we headed up to stay with Jim's mom for a few days. The kids had a great time doing the usual stuff we do in Durand...go to the farm, climb trees, fish, play in the basement (continues to be a thrill for them), see some movies--Wall-E (thumbs down), Kung Fu Panda (thumbs up) and Kit Kittredge (big thumbs up) and generally just relax.


We then went down to Granger, Indiana to see the Tom Fujas and attend our nephew Ben's open house celebrating his graduation from high school. Ben has turned into a great person and he has a really bright future ahead of him. We're proud to be his God parents as well as aunt and uncle.

The party was great with all the Fujas except two in attendance. Our niece, Christine, introduced her fiance, Ben, to the whole family at the party...poor guy. They're planning a wedding in Chicago for the fall of 2009.



We spent the night in Granger to spend more time with Tom, Cindi, Kaity and Ben. The next day we headed to Notre Dame for a tour. It really is a beautiful campus...very peaceful. As of this moment (when she's 11) Jordan is saying that's where she'd like to go to college. It would certainly be a different college experience for her than the one I had. Notre Dame only has about 8,000 undergrads versus the 25,000 or so that were at Michigan when I was there. It seemed strange walking around the campus with her now and thinking that she could be back here as a student seven years from now. Suddenly, seven years didn't seem like very much time.


After the tour, we headed to New Buffalo, Michigan which is a cute beach town on Lake Michigan. We had a great lunch at a hamburger institution called Redamak's then went to the beach to walk around. The kids were bummed that we hadn't brought bathing suits, but after putting their toes in the freezing water, they were fine with keeping their clothes on! We weren't there very long before a storm rolled in across the lake and we had to head back to the car but not before we got a few great pictures (most of the good ones, taken by Kaity...she's a great photographer!).

After wearing out our welcome in Indiana :-) we headed back up to Michigan for a few last days with Jim's mom. We had a great trip and as always, it was sad when it was time to say good-bye.

Now, we're back in Texas and having a low-key week before the kids and I head to the beach for a few days of mom/kid vacation.