Before Hawaii, we went to New York!

I tell you, we did more traveling this summer than pretty much our entire lives combined!  We told the kids by the time we were their age, I had been to Disneyland once, the beach a few times and Lake Mead.  Marty had been camping a lot and to Seattle once.  (Our parents may know of a few more vacations we took, but pretty much that sums it up!)  

Anyway...Marty had to go to NYC for work and we decided we would join him for a week of it (although by join, I mean we shared a room, poor guy worked so much it wasn't really a "vacation" for him).  It was a lot of fun, a little crazy, we learned a lot and certainly didn't see all we wanted to, but we are glad we got to go!

The day before we left, I decided to fly to Utah and spend half a day with Amy.  Luckily (and possibly miraculously) I was pretty much already packed and ready, which has NEVER happened.  I am always throwing stuff together at the last possible second.  Definite tender mercy.  

On our way!!!  

 Toys-R-Us

 Lego Store

 American Girl Doll Store

 Taking a break from walking and looking through the 9-11 magazines we bought from some guy on the street.

 Our hotel right in Times Square.

 The only statue of liberty we saw (bummer, but we will just have to go back some day I hope!)

 Top of the Rock

 Wicked on Broadway!!

 A-MA-ZING cheesecake, eaten at midnight (which is only 8pm in California, so we figured we were good)!

 Weekend trip (with Marty, yay!) to Palmyra!  SUCH a beautiful (although really, REALLY long) drive through the most beautiful scenery in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

 Sacred Grove

 Hill Cumorah Pageant

Susquehanna river

Before we drove back into NYC we stopped at a waterpark for a few hours.  I'm pretty sure it was both of the kids favorite part of the entire trip.  Next year we're heading to Waterworld in Concord!

We definitely wore everyone out! 

 

The kids and I left New York and flew to Utah for the next trip we had planned!  (Which turned out to be preparing for and having Amy's funeral, but could be considered another tender mercy since we were already scheduled to fly into Utah the day she passed away.)

Hawaii in a nutshell

After the kids had been in school for 5 days, we took them out for 6 days and headed to Oahu.  We LOVED LOVED LOVED it there!  We had so much fun and our week flew by!
We stayed in Waikiki and the beach across the street from our hotel (Addison counted 180 (of her) steps from our hotel to the water) was AWESOME!  The kids loved the waves and had so much fun in their tubes!  There was also a sand bar that went way out in the ocean and it was so fun to be way out but still be able to touch.  We also saw big sea turtles every day (and I freaked out the first day thinking it was a sea lion and tried to save my kids until a cute Australian couple told us they were turtles).  They were so fun to spot and follow around the rest of the trip.

 We took a drive one day, trying to find a waterfall hike, but when we got there, we realized there had been a landslide years ago and it was closed.  So, we just had yummy food at the shrimp shack truck and hung out at the beautiful Kailua beach.

We went to Hanauma Bay to snorkle.  It was breathtakingly beautiful.  The kids were AWESOME snorkelers and hung in there with us pretty much all day!  That same night we went over to the Disney resort, Aulani, for dinner (notice Addison's Mickey Mouse dessert she is holding).  The resort was so beautiful!

This was back at Waikiki beach, there was a super yummy shaved ice place right there on our walk between the hotel and the beach, lucky for us!

Another day we headed to the Dole Plantation, Matsumoto's Shave Ice and the Polynesian Cultural Center.  

On September 11th, we went to Pearl Harbor (sorry there are two collages from that day).  The Veteran in this picture is 96!  I couldn't believe it.

Then back to our Waikiki beach and stayed for our last sunset.  boo!

 Of course Thursday morning before we flew home we had to spend a couple of more hours at the beach.  We are all coming back tan and happy!  What a great trip!

First Day Of School!!!

The kids started school a few weeks ago.  

1st Grader:

 5th Grader:

 Next year Addison will be in Middle School so they are excited to be going together this year!

 After first day of school treats-caramel apples, yum!

On a side note, we found out while we were in Hawaii that Carter is having to move to a different school because there are too many 1st graders in his class.  It is a MAJOR bummer!  :(

Auntie Amy visits!

Yay!  Amy came for the 4th of July and we had so much fun!  

I picked her up and we headed to dinner at Lungomare (girls night, yay!)  It was so, so delicious!  

 Of course as soon as she got to the house, the kids and the dogs never left her side.

 She was able to help bury little Turbo.  RIP

On the morning of the 4th, we headed to the parade in Clayton to watch Addison walk in it with the Girl Scouts.  So cute!  (and hot, but we survived!)

 Afterwards we came home to BBQ and swim.  Carter wanted his plate to be patriotic!

 The kids loved having her in the pool with them.

oh yes and let's not forget the super frightening location we chose for fireworks on the night of the 4th.  haha, we survived but it was a little sketchy for sure (and no pictures to prove it!)

 And then on Saturday we headed into the city.  It was kind of a nightmare with traffic (holiday weekend and the Bart strike was happening), but once we FINALLY found parking, we had a great time.

 Carter on stage, again, with the magician at Pier 39.

 Super delicious lunch!

 And the wax museum where they had a semi (or really, actually) creepy display of the last supper.

 And of course a stop at Ghiradelli for yummy, yummy ice cream!

We loved having you Amy.  Come back any time!  xoxo

(The night before she came, we went to the Singing Flag here in Concord which was pretty cool and had good fireworks so we were glad we went).

 Always a good time!  :)

too many things to blog about!

I have been wanting to blog, but honestly too many things to blog about and not enough time to give each post what it deserves.

So, sometime in the (hopefully) near-ish future, the following posts will appear:

12 hour visit with best friend Amy

crazy (but fun) NYC trip, including some church history

UTAH

best friend Amy funeral (blah!)

Redwoods in a great cabin and time with the Jones'

Wilcox family visits, and we celebrate Addison's bday a couple of days early with them and the Jones'

Addison's actual birthday...yay for 11!

blogging while I wait for clothes to dry so I can pack for one last trip where we leave our house at 4 a.m. (okay not really a post, just what I am doing at the moment)

and, finally our trip to Louisiana to see our favorite Elder Stewart return home from Africa (yay for Hunter!)

Oh ya, and the fact that I bought Addison a ticket to fly home from Las Vegas by herself.  She's so excited!

xoxo