Our summer vacation to Utah

As many of you already know, we spent a week in Utah in early July for a family vacation.  My sister's family also made in in from California.  We had a blast.  The kids love to hang out with all their cousins.  We did lots of fun stuff like . . . .

went to the Independence Day parade,

rode the rides at Lagoon (including Tate's first "big" rollercoaster),

zoomed down the mountain on the alpine slides in Park City,

played mini golf & Tate got his first hole-in-one,

raced on the go-karts

swam with the fishes,

pulled on a tube from the back of the boat,

and roasted marshmallows and slept in a tent!

It was 7 days packed with fun.  And mostly, it was nice to just be with everyone.  We miss you all!

What the fluke?

Did you know that the tail of a whale is called a "fluke"?  Me either.  Know what else?  Each fluke has unique markings and no two flukes are alike.  A whale's fluke is like his finger print.  Why am I giving you all these fluke facts?  Because I like to say fluke - makes me giggle.  In all seriousness, wanna know what else I learned while in Hawaii?

Whales: 
The whales migrate to Hawaii every year.  Whales also migrate to Japan and Mexico.  The male whales sing "songs".  Every whale sings the same song, BUT, the song is slightly different depending on the region where they migrate - the whales in Japan sing in Japanese, in Mexico it's Spanish, and in Hawaii it is very "Jack Johnson" like.  Ok, so the last part may not be completely accurate, but they do sing a different song depending on the region - at least according to a crew member on our SNUBA boat, who may or may not have been a pot head, so I totally believe him. 

Male whales create these "competition pods" to show off for the females.  At one point our boat was surrounded by a  competition pod.  It was pretty awesome.  5-7 whales, doing all the cool whale stuff you see on the Discovery Channel.  This is what is in the photo above (there are 4 whales on the surface). 

The spectacular views: 
Hawaii is as gorgeous as it looks in the photos - actually MORE beautiful.

And just when you think you have seen the best view, you see this. 

What is so special about this, you ask?  What?  You don't recognize THE rock? THE VERY FAMOUS rock?  The one and only VERY FAMOUS rock featured in the opening scenes of Jurassic Park.  That's right, folks, not only did I get to go to Hawaii, but I got to see a very famous rock.  Let the envy begin.

And last thing on my list of things I learned in Hawaii -

THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS AS THEY SEEM IN HAWAII . . .
For example, that very delicious cheeseburger you just ate at the cliche restaurant "Cheeseburger in Paradise" while over looking the ocean, sipping on pineapple daquaris?  Well, that cheeseburger may be delicious, but it will cost you about $60.

And those chips you picked out SPECIFICALLY to go with your picnic lunch consisting of all things "Hawaiian", because they seemed very, I don't know, HAWAIIAN?

You know, the "Maui Style" chips that you enjoyed while overlooking a very beautiful and scenic view of a very famous rock, eating a very delicious turkey and pineapple salad sandwich and drinking Hawaiian water?  Well, it turns out they were manufactured at a plant just miles away from where we live in Texas. 

What the fluke?

Back to reality . . .

We are back from Hawaii and we had a FANTASTIC time.  We stayed in Maui, relaxed (don't we look relaxed), had massages, went on a snorkeling/SNUBA charter, saw TONS of whales, drove the road to Hana, hiked for waterfalls, golfed (and watched golf), and the best part . . . . HAD ADULT CONVERSATIONS UNINTERUPPTED BY CHILDREN!  It was heavenly.  Check out the slide show on the left for some of our photos.

A Very Merry Christmas!

This year for Christmas, we travelled out to Northern California to visit Katie, Chris and the boys - and also the entire extended family (who drove out from Utah).  It was definitely a true Griswald family Christmas!  11 kids, 10 adults, 2 dogs, and 1 single family home (ok, and 2 hotel rooms).  The only thing that was missing was an RV parked out front and a yard full of gaudy Christmas lights and decorations.  We ate too much, and combined with the quantity of gifts under the tree, it was gluttony at its finest. 

But, it was definitely worth it and we made memories that will last a lifetime . . . which is what Christmas and family gatherings are all about anyway, right? 

We mostly just "hung out", but on one day we ventured over to a place called "Skyzone", which is basically a warehouse covered in trampolines, with a separate dodgeball court.  It was a blast.  After some gruelling games of dodgeball, where Josh was able to get retribution for all the torture I had placed on him as a child, the kids and adults were exhausted. Did you know that jumping on a trampoline as an adult is hell on your back, knees, and well, everything?

One of the highlights of the trip was an adults only night out in San Francisco.  We were staying in a suburb of Sacramento, so San Francisco is just a short 2 hour drive away.  We set the kids up at the house with plenty of pizza and movies, got dressed up in grown-up clothes and hopped in the car. We were treated to this view of the city as we were arriving.

Then, we ate dinner at this FANTASTIC restaurant in Ghiradeli Square at Fisherman's Wharf. Afterwards, we had tickets to see "Wicked". It was a perfect evening.

As we were leaving dinner, my brother Josh made a comment as to how nice it was to be able to sit and talk and have an evening without the kids.  My mom responded with how nice it was for her to sit and talk and have an evening WITH ALL her kids.  Funny how life is . . . .

What do you do when a zebra sticks his head in your car window?

Answer: Jump back, scream, then giggle . . . at our trip to the Wild Animal Ranch this scenario was tested several times, and in all instances, the reaction was the same.

Sure, there are signs like these all over the park.
And the large majority of the animals in the park have VERY LARGE horns. And many of these VERY LARGE HORNS are coming DANGEROUSLY CLOSE to the car doors.

But it is all worth it when you come away with a photo like this, and kids who can't stop talking about the time the zebra stuck his head in the window and dad made him smile. And about how mom and G-Ma would shriek and roll up the window whenever one of these FREAKISHLY LARGE BIRDS would approach.
For the record, ostrichs are quite possibly the creepiest animal ever (don't believe me - I promise you will change your mind when one is right outside your car window looking at you with those beady eyes).

And, the best part of the trip, G-Ma and G-Pa were with us! We had a blast.

Sure, we spent WAAAY too many hours in the car, but we also got to do this . . .

and see this

Oh yeah, and this too

(For those of you unfamiliar with Texas landmarks, it's the Alamo - you might recognize it from PeeWee's Big adventure. His bike was hidden in the basement)

Our visit to Utah, the cliff notes version

I had good intentions on giving a full synopsis of our 10 day vacation to Utah. But, being that it is now 2 months past due and I have much more current news to post, here it is, quick and dirty . .

On our summer vacation to Utah, we . . . .

rode the alpine slides at Snowbird

and rode the rides and roller coasters at Lagoon.

Then, we went to the Barton Ranch where we. . .

roasted marshmallows,

went on an early morning horse back ride,

were introduced to the world of cool, big kid toys by all the big kid cousins (Tate was in HEAVEN)went to a rodeo, and mostly just had a great time hanging out with all the aunts, uncles, grandparents, and of course, the cousins. Whew!

We also . . . spent a lot of time playing at G-Ma & G-Pa's house
and we even checked out the Discovery Gateway Childrens Museum. It was very cool.

Tate also rode on his first waterslides, but we were all more interested in getting wet than taking pictures . . . . check out the slide show on the right for more photos of the fun!

Back to the real world . . .

I guess it has been a week now since we got home from our 10 day vacation to Utah, and I think we have all just recovered . . . . WHEW! We had such a great time spending time with our friends and family. Tate had a blast and it was a rough transition back to real life. But, it was worth it. There were a lot of firsts for Tate on this trip and I only hope he is at the age where he might remember some of it . . . alpine slides, roller coasters, waterslides, mountains, endless playtime with his cousins. Stay tuned for the low down on all our fun adventures.

And Coy? Well, let's just say he went along for the ride, sometimes more willing than others.