Great Vacation Two

As you can probably imagine, there are hundreds of photos. I'll try to add some once we've downloaded them. Unfortunately for me, D decided to snap some shots of me in my bathing suit at a little water park in Henderson. It was stunning, and I don't mean that in a good way. I won't post any of those, most likely, but there are quite a few others that will make this little cyber-place a great deal more colorful.
After the National Parks we went to Las Vegas where we stayed with my cousin for a few days, and then with Dan's brother. I was surprised by how much more comfortable I was than I had imagined I'd be. The outdoor temperatures were between 105 and 108 degrees (mostly at the high end), but thanks to air-conditioning and lots of it we were happy as clams. By 10:00 p.m. it was down to about 95, and you could go running around without much trouble from the heat. Tuesday, we went to the Buffet for lunch, then to the Shark Reef, at Mandalay Bay. (I bet you can't guess what the kids chose - pizza, mashed potatoes, meatballs, and soft serve Ice cream for dessert.) The aquatic life was awesome. I was only sad that I couldn't get any photos of the best part - it was just too dark. Other than that, we didn't do much "downtown". When we got back to my cousins' we explored that little squirt park that I mentioned before, then my cousin and I went to the best Sushi place ever! It's fun to be a grown up! The plan had been that the moms would go and enjoy their Sushi, followed by the dads - allowing us the opportunity to avoid trying to find a babysitter for nine children. Well, little did we know that the little restaurant closed at 9:30 p.m. The dads were pretty disappointed, and had every right to be. I have to say that I was impressed by how well D took the disappointment. They tried another place, but it wasn't nearly as good. I tried to make up for it by running out for Cold Stone, I think that my cousin's husband had forgiven me by the time we left on Wednesday.
The children were great, and seemed very content with a swim every day. Both families had pools, and what a difference that makes! My older boys were very excited to to get to THEIR cousins' house. The children in that home are closer to their ages, and they had non-stop fun. They played "spoons" a lot, video games of course, went to the go-carts, and swam each evening. Even the baby loved the water, and was very excited each time she saw people putting on their swim suits.
When it was time to head home, on Friday, no one really wanted to go. That wasn't a surprise. What was a surprise to me was that as the parents, D and I weren't completely wasted. We all had a good time, there was very little fighting, the kids were respectful and well-behaved. It was much better than anyone, including myself, had imagined. We needed it, and the heavens have smiled upon us.
Right now, I've got to get some Sunday breakfast going. Life, as they say, does go on. . .and it's been going on without me for an hour or so. Hungry people will soon be making their appearance in the kitchen, and I'd better have a plan.

Great Vacation

So far, its been wonderful. There are so many things that I can point to which have made this fun for everyone. Zion National Park was lovely, as expected. We had dinner at the restaurant in the lodge. It was delicious and people were friendly. Aeryn was the biggest challenge. She didn't want to be contained, and who could blame her after being in her car seat for so long. On the shuttle bus, while eating and hiking, her theme song was "Born Free!" She wasn't interested in parental guidance. Oh well.
She was so dirty, the white shorts she was wearing turned brown. I'm talking completely brown-front, back and sides, not just a little circle on her tiny behind. All of the kids were dirty top to bottom. The hike was just wonderful, and absolutely stunning. I really enjoyed it, and although I'm not much of a hiker I was wishing we had more time to spend. There were some tense moments along the trail, but all in all it was very family friendly. We didn't get back to the room until about 10 p.m. and by that time, we were pretty well exhausted.
The next day, there was more driving, and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. On the way to the canyon, you pass through the Kaibab National Forest. There was a fire there recently, I think within the last year or two. The forest was beautiful all by itself, and the burned portion was quite a stark contrast. I was just amazed when we got there. We didn't have anything specific in mind, but we started to wander, and ended up at a trail called Bright Angel Point. It goes out into the canyon a waise, and the views are spectacular. Before we even got onto the trail, we met a woman from Mississippi, and talked to her a little while. She and her granddaughter were enamored with our children. She asked if we were Mormons, and told me about some LDS friends that she has - but they aren't the same as you, right? It was nice to be able to clear that up for her. Many people questioned our sanity, due to the fact that we had brought so many small children out onto that trail. One man even said, when he had gone by, "You're crazy." To which I replied, "I guess we are." Another woman noted that I was bringing up the rear and said, "Oh, so you got stuck with the baby." I said, "Oh no, not stuck with the baby. She is a reason to live."

For anyone that would like to see. . .

what I did to win that award, here is my website address, where I've posted photos of it.

http://abby.stampinup.net/Welcome.aspx

And they're off!

I came up with a pretty ingenious way to pack clothes for a large family going on a road trip vacation. I will discuss that further if it works. I guess I'll discuss it if it turns out to be a disaster, too. It seems pretty fool-proof so I have high hopes.
We are planning to leave this morning. All of the important things are done, and I'll let you know later what I forgot. The kids are all very excited. Q was so tired from Gramma camp that he just couldn't deal emotionally with the preparations for a trip.

Here are some cute E stories. Yesterday when I was working on some changes in my Stampin' Up website, she came up and began to talk to me about her son that had died. "I have a son, he died. He didn't die because someone killed him, he just died. I think that he had a heart attack."
I was trying to encourage her to go on, because she was being so "adult and serious" so I asked her what her son's name was.
"Superman." Totally deadpan.
Very hard not to laugh.
She was having a hard time waiting for vacation day. It was all she talked to her friends about. "If you come here tomorrow, I won't be here. We are going to be gone for EIGHT DAYS."
I love it. This is the first time that she's been old enough to anticipate a vacation, and it's cute. This morning, she came into this room and said, "It Friday now?" in her "happy baby" voice and a big smile on her face. (She sparkles when she smiles, it is a pleasure to see her happy.)

And now, it is time to get ready, get set, go!

Hectic Week

Tomorrow, my Q-tee pie is off to Gramma Camp. Thank Heaven for that because I've got to get ready for a family vacation. We are going down to Southern Utah, Zion's National Park and the Grand Canyon. We'll stay overnight in Kanab. When I called to make the reservation, I'm fairly sure the woman on the other end repeated "5 children" at least 4 times. Thankfully, there was one family suite left, with just enough beds for our little army. It will be Friday the 13th. (Just throwing caution to the wind here and hoping that there are no crazed killers on the loose near the lodge.) Stampin' Up! just happens to have their manufacturing facility in Kanab, so we'll stop there on Friday afternoon. I have high hopes for some fun. We haven't done anything big together as a family since before A was born. T was very excited when I told him what we have planned. He said, "I'll have lots of things to tell everyone when I go back to school." That's the goal.
When we have seen some natural beauty, we'll head to Las Vegas and stay there until the following Friday. Luckily, all of our family members have swimming pools of which I'm sure we'll be making good use. I think that I better get a huge bucket of Raspberry Lemonade mix from Costco - it is going to be HOT! I started making a list today of all the things that I need to remember to pack or bring. It's huge. (Somewhat like our family.) I'm sure of absolutely one thing. I will forget something. Never fails. Last time it was the sunscreen and swim diapers. I'll have three good days to get things done, and hopefully I'll have a clear head. I think that I've mentioned before how much simpler life without Q can seem. A is picking up steam in the precocious department, but she's still pretty small and just doesn't have the same capabilities that he does. Tomorrow has to be a run around day. The car needs and oil change, wiper fluid and probably at least a couple new tires. While I'm out, I'll go pass by a couple other places. I'm going to try to take all the kids with me. It might slow me down a little, but I want to be with them while they are out of school. Getting the boys out of the house is about the only way to keep their minds of the computers. I'm sure the car dealership isn't their idea of fun, but I think I might have a shot with the "maybe they'll have donuts" shtick. I have a Stampin' Up! delivery to make, which is sort of on the way to the dealership. My favorite paper store is downtown, too. We'll see. Lunch might be a good bribe. One of the other days has got to be a shopping day. I think we've got plenty of sunscreen, but I know we need swim diapers and wipes will be a must. We'll need lots of snack food in single serving sizes. Simplification is the word of the day. I'm going to try not to do what someone else has already done for me.
I bet someone could make a career out of planning other people's vacations. Like wedding planners, only more nitty gritty. I'd sure love to have someone to take care of my big to do list right now. I'd love to concentrate on all of the other things that are bothering me at the moment. I doubt there'll be any time for that, however. Not having time to think about the problems may be the best thing for me after all. Concentrating on stress doesn't make it go away. Hopefully, some of the stress will just leak out while we are wandering around Zion on Friday and checking out the Grand Canyon on Saturday and playing by the pool. I'll have to report on later on the reality of all my theories.
I'm just hoping to have some fun and make more good memories than difficult ones. Everything we experience in life seems to have a mixture of both. I'm hoping for some sweet stuff this time around.

Gramma Camp

My mother is amazing. She was thinking about how we, as children, spent long extended amounts of time with our grandmothers in the summer, and she wanted her grandchildren to have that - even though we live very close and see her regularly. She devised "Gramma Camp". This week from Tuesday at lunchtime until Thursday after dinner, she had the little princesses over - my E (6) and my sister's C (going on 3). They were having so much fun, that when we arrived on the Wednesday to celebrate the 4th of July, both girls ran inside saying, "I don't want to go home yet!" Believe me, that didn't hurt my feelings. At all. I'm not exactly sure what they did, I know E came home with a new sun dress that "they" made. I also know that Q (4 years) was extremely jealous. he had not less than three tearful episodes during E's camp time. We kept reassuring him that his time would come. And it will, although the plan right now is for the 4 year old boys will come home to sleep. Q and S are a handful, largely because Q is such a fantastic instigator of frightful fun. (Frightful to adults, that is.)
My father has always claimed that my mother is an Angel and I truly believe that she is. I’ve never known anyone more unselfish and loving. She is a Spiritual Rock and the person most like Jesus Christ that I know. (She probably wouldn't like that I said that, which just goes to further my point.) Lucky for me, she is my very own mother and the grandmother of my 5 crazy children. She says not only “suffer the little children to come unto me,” she adds “and let them have a really wonderful time!”