Day 5. Time to head home.

We woke up after our last night on the boat back in Port Canaveral Florida. One of the perks of having a suite is being able to get the process of getting off the boat expedited. We had a very helpful concierge that kept popping up all over the place helping us get off the boat. He made me laugh, it really felt like he came out of no where.

On our way to Kenny and Sherri’s we stopped to eat some breakfast. When we walked in and sat down Emilee asked me what was free. I chuckled and told her that nothing was free anymore now that we were off the boat.

Our plane didn’t fly out until late that night so we hung out with Kenny and Sherri and my parents. We ate dinner together and Sherri my mom and I went and got a mani/pedi.

The flight home seemed to go pretty quickly. I like flying at night. It is pretty seeing all the lights of a city when you land and take off. Ross picked us up again so we were headed home about 15 minutes after the plane landed.

There were a few presents from the kids to each other and Grandmas and Grandpas that we didn’t open before we left. Even though it was late the kids wanted to open them when we got home. Ryan and I decided to earn ‘cool parent points’ and we stayed up to open them.

It is pretty crazy how in a 24 hour period we were on a private island in the Bahamas, playing with cousins on the trampoline in Tampa Florida, then slept in our own beds in Kansas that night.

It was a fun packed, exciting vacation full of new experiences and places. We wanted to have a Christmas that our family could remember and I think we were successful.

Perfect Day at Coco Cay, Day 4.

After a good night sleep we woke up at Coco Cay. It is Royal Carribean’s private island. There is a water park, splash area, fresh water pool, several different beaches, shops, and places to eat. There is also a giant air balloon but it was to windy the day we were there for it to be open.

It was a beautiful little island. We were the only ship there so it was not crowded at all. The weather in the morning was a little cloudy and even had a few sprinkles of rain. This kept even more people on the boat instead of getting off so you almost felt like you had the place to yourself. Once the little rain shower passed through, the sun came out the temperature was perfect.

The wind was a little strong so they asked us not to put umbrellas up. On one of the beaches we relaxed at for a bit this caused a little problem with seagulls. There were a lot of them and they weren’t deterred by people. Like I mentioned there wasn’t a ton of people anyway. Emilee was walking back from the lunch area to our beach chairs with her little plate of food. I guess the birds picked her as an easy target because she was little and walking by herself. One seagull flew in and flipped her plate out of her hand and then the rest swarmed the plate on the ground. She was not happy to be bested by birds. When she came to tell me about it, due to the wind not allowing us to use umbrellas, we both got pooped on in our unprotected chairs. Probably by the same stupid birds that stole her food. Luckily after that they moved on to poop on the next people.

One of the little beach areas had a good little spot for snorkeling. Ryan took each of the kids out with him for a little swim to see what they could find. They saw a sting ray and some cool fish. We tried to make a sand castle but didn’t really bring anything to build with so decided to turn each other into sand castles instead. Allison was a mermaid and we told Matthew he was something cool but then made him wearing a dress instead.

The girls stayed at the splash pad during the little rain storm. I read my book under a chair and Ryan and Matthew went back to the boat for a bit. When the sun came back out we played in the fresh water pool for a bit. Ryan and I dozed off and when we woke up the kids were all dozing on the warm cement in front of us. Not to bad for the 26th of December.

There was wild chickens roaming around the island. We saw a little lizard (about two feet long) walking in front of us at one point. We followed him and he lead us around the corner to his big brother who was at least twice his size. Later the kids spotted an even bigger one in a tree while we were walking by.

We explored the shops a little on our way back to the boat. Emilee found the big conch shell she wanted as her souvenir and Allison and Matthew got a t-shirt or sweatshirt. It was a great day.

The kids were familiar enough with the ship that they decided to ditch Ryan and I for dinner and find their own. Poor Ryan and I had to eat dinner all by ourselves, it was wonderful. We found the kids sitting at a little pizzeria together when we done. It was pretty cute to see them sitting at a table together chatting it up while they enjoyed their dinner. Hopefully that will happen when they are older too. The girls wanted to go to the kid area again. Matthew went and played basketball for a bit then came back and hung out with Ryan and I. We were looking at pictures and walking around the promenade. Ryan disappeared for a while and came back with a grin on his face because he had booked another cruise for him and I next December. We all met back in the room and hung out there the rest of the night while we packed and got ready to head home the next day.

Christmas Day! Day 3.

When we woke up Christmas morning, Santa had left a few favorite treats-skittles and peanut butter Christmas trees. We also found our tickets to see the dolphins. Sometime during the night we had docked at Nassau. We went out on the balcony to see the view of the Island. There were three other cruise ships parked by us.

Christmas Morning. The sun was very bright, it took about ten tries to get all of our eyes open.

After breakfast we put our suits on and lathered on the sunscreen. Then we got of the boat and explored the market area for a bit before it was time to go to the dolphins. A lady talked Emilee into letting her braid her hair. I can’t tell Emilee I am going to brush her hair without her squealing that it hurts. This lady was not being gentle. I could tell Emilee was uncomfortable but she never said a word. She really liked the braids when she was done though. It is almost a month later and she still has them in.

When the hair braiding was done we found the place to go on our dolphin excursion. We had to take a tender (small transport boat) around to the other side of the island. We had some beautiful sights to see on the way. Atlantis of course. The kids thought it was cool to see a place they had seen on TV before. There were some big yachts by us and famous peoples homes that we passed. I only remember Oprah’s and my kids don’t know who she is so they weren’t overly excited about that. The water and views are just gorgeous so just watching the view around the island was relaxing. They dropped us off in a little cove area where we could play on the beach and swim until it was time to see the dolphins. There was some blow up water toys that the kids played on for several hours. Ryan and I played for a little bit with the kids in the sand and water, then we found some comfy beach chairs to take a nap and relax in. After we ate lunch I also found a souvenir shop that had a delicious pint of cookies and cream Ben and Jerry’s ice cream that I enjoyed while basking in the sun on the beach. The water was clear and pretty. A little chilly but not bad. When we got there the place was way overcrowded and I was a little grumpy that they basically marooned us in the cove with a million other people for four hours until it was time to go to the dolphins. After about an hour though several of the ships were leaving so most of the people left and it was almost like having the beach to ourselves. We were the last group to see the dolphins so we were pretty much the only people in the cove when we walked back to the tender. It was easy to forget it was Christmas Day being on the beach. The weather was gorgeous-it was the best weather of our trip. There was always Christmas music playing but we all mentioned that it wasn’t the typical Christmas atmosphere and feeling.

The dolphin excursion we went on was AMAZING. I think it was everyone’s favorite part of the entire vacation. You get to sit in the dock area and have fun watching the dolphins up close while you wait. Then when it is actually your turn you get into the water and the dolphin is swimming right there with you. Our dolphins name was Salvador, and he went by Sal. He let us rub his back and belly, and even feel his teeth. He did a little dance with us and he gave each of us a hug and kiss and took pictures with us at the end. When he gave Allison a kiss he came back for three more and then whistled really loud and did a little spin. She told everyone how the dolphin had a crush on her. It was a lot of fun. They took lots of pictures for us and even a video.

Our tender boat was cutting across the back of the cruise ships on our way back to dock. One of the ships was leaving and even though we were cruising pretty fast and could have easily made it, they laid on the horn and the police boat came out and was not happy. The boat leaving was a Carnival boat, the week before a different Carnival boat had crashed into another one of its own boats. I can only imagine how the steering crew were freaking out when they saw a boat in front of them after their company had already had a crash less than a week ago. I was never concerned about getting hit. It took us a lot longer to stop and back up then it would have to finish going across and we still had plenty of time. It was a little funny since it was obvious no one was going to get hurt.

Once we got back to the ship we showered and cleaned up then went to have Christmas dinner. They had a kids menu in addition the regular menu, Emilee was ecstatic she didn’t have to eat boring yucky food. The girls went to kid place for a few hours after dinner. Matthew went to the arcade for a bit again and then he went to play basketball so Ryan and I went to the variety show and watched a juggler and some singers and dancers put on a pretty decent show. We grabbed some hot chocolate from the suite lounge again and all met back in our room. We were all ready to turn in a little earlier than usual. We had a great time making memories with each other.

Then Finished in the Bahamas! Day 1-2. Day at Sea.

Monday was get on the boat day. It was really fun to see the kids excitement when we drove up and saw the boat for the first time. They were amazed at how big it was. The name of our boat was Mariner of the Seas. Once we went through security we went and ate lunch in the dining room. Emilee was not thrilled with the choices and I could tell she was a little worried about what she was going to eat all week. Everyone else thought it was fun to have some new choices. Matthew got his fill of shrimp while we were on the boat.

We walked around and explored the ship and saw what there was to do. There was swimming pools, hot tubs, a flow rider, water slides, mini golf, basketball, ice skating, unlimited ice cream and pizza, a virtual reality trampoline, rock climbing wall, an arcade, spas, lounges, kid play areas, shows, dancing, tons! I am sure I am forgetting something. It was about time to report to our muster station and have the required evacuation drill after we checked everything out. Once that was done our room was ready and we went and found out where we were going to live for the week.

We had a suite so all five of us could stay in the same room. It had a double balcony so you could lounge in the sun chairs or sit at the table. We told the kids our bathroom would be tiny but it was actually really big. Double sinks and even a bathtub. Ryan and I had a room area we could close of with a curtain and the kids had a couch that turned into a bed and a roll away bed that they brought in for Matthew. We met our room attendant. He was from the Philippines and his name was Daryl. I don’t think that is his real name but I think they can use a more American name that is easy for people to say. He was very nice and the kids loved him. We brought him a present from Kansas City for Christmas. We gave him a Royals baseball towel. The kids thought it was awesome that he made their beds in the morning and got them ready for them at night. They of course loved the towel animals he left for them to find each night. He called me Ms. Annie which with accent sounded like ‘Ann-knee’ which always made me smile.

We went to dinner that night once we were settled in our room. We decided to go to the Hibachi Grill restaurant. The kids absolutely loved it. I have never heard Allison giggle and laugh with such abandon before. The chef did a great job making the food in front of us while entertaining us. When he threw food at the kids to catch in their mouth he insisted the girls keep trying until they caught it. He was throwing pieces of eggs and it took Allison about seven tries before she caught it. Everyone thought it was hilarious. It was a really fun dinner and ended up being one of the highlights for the kids while we were on the boat. After dinner Ryan went to have a massage and the kids and I went to the Ice Show-which was awesome and very well done. We had front row seats and could have touched the ice if we wanted to. Some of the skaters came and interacted with us during the show. There was fun music and silly acts and some cool tricks. After that we went to the ‘family’ comedy show, that we should have known would not be very family friendly comedy. That is one part of cruises that is lacking…they seem to have a hard time finding an actual funny comedian.

Day 2 on the boat was our day at sea. It was also Christmas Eve. It was a little windy which made it kind of chilly sometimes but overall it was still a nice day. We took the kids to breakfast at the Windjammer Cafe. We continued the nick name ‘Facejammer’ Kenny came up with on our cruise the year before. Endless pancakes, french toast and waffles do not disappoint.

While we were at the VRBO Matthew found out that he had made the school basketball team. He was pretty excited. Ryan and I must have said something about how people usually put on a few pounds on a cruise because there is so much food so when he woke up after the first night on the ship he had Ryan go work out with him so he didn’t lose his muscles or get soft while we were on vacation. He was caught doing push-ups and lunges at random times throughout the cruise.

After breakfast we tried out some of the activities. Matthew and Emilee did the arcade for a little bit. Ryan took the kids rock climbing while I checked out the Promenade to see what they had for shopping on the boat. Emilee did the water slides. We tried to convince Matthew to try out some of the teen activities but he wasn’t to interested. We settled at the pool deck for a bit. Ryan and I lounged, read books, took naps and visited while the kids switched back and fourth between swimming in the pool and soaking in the hot tub. The ice cream machine is right by the pool so they frequented it for an ice cream fill several times throughout the day too. Emilee found a friend she met at dinner the night before so she was running around with her having a blast. There was a belly flop competition that we watched and laughed at.

When we were done swimming we went back to the room to get ready for dinner. It was Christmas Eve and their fancy night at dinner. We all dressed up except for Matthew who wore shorts and a t-shirt. We ate in the dining hall. They were serving spaghetti so the girls were in heaven. Emilee was thrilled to have ‘normal’ food. After dinner we changed our clothes and went to the ice skating rink for a while. They had twenty minute skating sessions which we thought would be short but ended up being more than enough time. None of us are that graceful of skaters. Ryan and I can stay up and go forward or stop. That is about it. Matthew looks like a fish trying to walk on land. As athletic as he is, it was no help to him for ice skating. Allison stayed pretty close to the side. Emilee was very excited to go, after about five minutes on the ice and falling several times she said she was done and ice skating was not fun because it hurts to much. After finishing ice skating with luckily only a few bruises and not broken bones or missing fingers we stopped at the private suite lounge and found some hot chocolate. We took it back to our room and watched the water from the balcony for awhile. When we walked in our room we saw that Bubbit had joined us on our trip and was sitting in the little Charlie Brown Christmas Tree we brought with us. The girls were amazed that he had made it all the way there. We got in our matching Christmas pajamas and snuggled up and watched Angry Birds 2 together then went to bed.

This is later in the week but I had to get a picture of the three of them crashed after having a day of new adventures.

Christmas 2019- Started in Florida

Earlier this year Ryan and I were reminicing about the cruise we went on in December of 2018 and talking about when we wanted to go again. We ended up deciding to do a cruise for Christmas with the kids and make some memories together instead of buying gifts. Santa thought it was a great idea and he supported the cruise idea with us.

We waited until right after school started then told the kids the plan. We told them in lieu of lots of presents this year we would do a big family present and go on a cruise together. Matthew was immediately excited. Allison got excited once Matthew was excited. Emilee didn’t really understand what a cruise was. She was a little concerned about the no presents part though. We showed them all pictures of the boat and places we were going to go and talked about what we wanted to do. Emilee was excited but every few weeks would ask what her hands were going to do on Christmas if there wasn’t anything to open. We also decided that we should go a few days early and go to Universal Studios while we were in Florida. None of us have ever been, and Ryan, Matthew and I were pumped to see Harry Potter World. Allison decided to read the books before we went so she would know what we were talking about.

After a few months of excitement and anticipation building up, the day to leave on our trip finally arrived. We left after school on a Wednesday. The kids missed the last few days before Christmas break officially started. Ryan asked Ross to drop us off at the airport so we got dropped off at the curb which was awesome. We checked everything we could except for entertainment on the plane and headed to security. This is the first time I have flown with the kids that they have all been old enough to carry their own stuff, and keep up with things through security. It was awesome. As we worked our way up through the line several people told us that kids under 12 don’t have to take their shoes off. Matthew was a little put out that everyone thought he was under 12 so he decided to insist he was 13 and take his shoes off. This meant he had to go through the body scanner too, where it flagged something in his pockets (a couple candy canes he didn’t take out) so he had the pleasure of his first pat down. On the way home he let them assume his age instead of stating it. Once we got through security we boarded the plane and called dibs on the window seats. I like flying at night. It is more peaceful I think, and the lights from the city are pretty to look at when you take off and land. Once we arrived we stayed in a hotel close to the airport for our first night. Emilee’s favorite part of going on vacations is staying in hotels. If we just went to a hotel room and stayed for a day or two and did nothing else she would love it.

The next morning we grabbed some breakfast and headed to Universal Studios. We spent the day riding roller coasters, attending Grinchmas, trying Harry Potter butter beer, Emilee picked out a wand, we found Bertie and Botts candy store and got a chocolate frog, every flavor beans, and Fizzbees chocolate. We also explored Hogwarts castle and did a couple Harry Potter rides. Everyone went on the Harry Potter ride that includes, playing quiditch, flying through the forest andbeing chased by a dragon the blows fire at you. It was pretty awesome but poor Emilee as you will see in the picture thought it was a little to realistic. After that she took her dad who got motion sickness and the two of them found some fun rides and things to explore in Dr Seuss town. The rest of us decided that Hogwarts castle was pretty amazing and it was fun to see the sorting hat, the fat lady and other things from the movie. The Hulk roller coaster was our favorite roller coaster. It shoots you out of a cannon and loops all over the place all while you listen to your own sound track of music that makes you feel even more pumped up. I felt like Iron Man flying through the sky.

After a busy day at the park we checked into our VRBO. The French Family came up to spend the evening with us. We went out to dinner then played games and ate lots of junk food.

The next day we returned to Universal and finished exploring everything we hadn’t done the day before. Mostly more Harry Potter stuff. We found platform 9 3/4 and rode the train to Diagon Alley. Dad and Emilee explored the shops and found some ice cream. The rest of us went inside Gringotts Bank and went on the ride through it. It is pretty cool how they have it set up. It looks like you are walking into a little shop and all of the sudden it opens up into a huge wizard town complete with a dragon on top of the bank that blows real fire every 20 minutes. It feels like you are walking around in the actual places from the books. We saw the night bus the secret hideout and lots of other things I can’t even remember now.

After we had seen all we wanted to see we headed back to our house. The French’s came back and stayed this time, and my parents came to stay too. My dad only stayed one night because he had to go back and work but my mom stayed the whole time.

The next few days were spent relaxing and enjoying each others company. The house had a little pool that the kids spent hours swimming in. When we came home from Universal, Santa had left a snorkeling mask for each of the kids because he thought it would be helpful for them to have on the trip. When they took a break from swimming at the house pool, we went to the neighborhood community pool and they swam for a few hours in that one. We saw the new Star Wars movie, played games, did puzzles, took naps. We went to church on Sunday so we could enjoy the Christmas sacrament meeting with lots of extra music and read the Christmas story. It was a great weekend. The goal of relaxing and having fun family time was achieved.

Sometime during our Universal Adventures Ryan found some crickets for sale to eat. Not chocolate crickets, or even chocolate covered crickets. Plain, regular, real, dead, crickets. He told Allison and Matthew that if they split the box and ate them he would give them $20. Allison would not be bought. Matthew was all for it. I couldn’t believe he agreed to it. I would have guessed maybe one cricket…MAYBE…but even that, I would have negotiated more than $20. Matthew said he would do it, and when Ryan said he had to eat the whole box instead of half since Allison wasn’t doing it, he was stillwilling to do it for the original $20. So to stop myself from gagging all over again I will just say he did it. I will include the nasty video for you to watch yourself. It was so gross. I was dry heaving the whole time. I still can’t believe he did it. Sometimes I just look at him and say, “I can’t believe you ate crickets.” So GROSS!!

Monday we packed up and headed for the next part of our vacation. A cruise to the Bahama’s!

Maverick Hollow

Since Ryan and I got married we have been switching off Christmas’s between our families each year. When we all started having our own kids some of us wanted and/or thought it was easier to stay home for Christmas so a few years back my family decided to start having a biannual family reunion in the summer as our ‘Christmas’ get together. It is a little easier to travel in the summer, a less crazy time of year, and we all seem to be more summer activity people than winter. It has worked out pretty well I think. We get a VRBO cabin or home that is big enough for all of us and we all stay and play in it for the week. We have picked different locations each time too which is also very fun to travel and see new places.

The first year we did Castle Rock Colorado. It was a fun place. Tyler kept telling us there was a monster in his room one night and we kept telling him to go to bed, there was no monster. Then we found out there was a bat flying around in his room…basically a monster to a little kid. We then spent over an hour trying to eradicate the bat. I went on a hike with the Caziers and my kids and we almost got washed off the mountain in a flash rain storm. We also rode horses and did some target shooting.

Two years later we went to Orlando Florida. The house we stayed at had its own pool and a huge community pool with a lazy river. Matthew swam for seven hours one day and ended up getting swimmers ear. He said it was totally worth it though. We also went to Disney World, Sea World, and spent a day at the beach along with all the swimming.

The third reunion we picked Gatlinburg Tennessee. It was a unique place. The house we stayed at was not as big as advertised so we were a little cramped. We also ended up with about 50% of us getting a stomach bug so there was way to much throwing up going on. Emilee even dumped her puke bucket full of puke all over the van, that was fun to drive home in. We still squeezed in some fun though. We did a lot of sight seeing in Gatlinburg. We went on a helicopter ride. All of us played at the rec swimming pool, and some played racquetball. Some of us went to the Dolly Parton Country Stampede dinner show. The dinner of soup potatoes, a whole chicken, corn, and dessert was all served with no silverware. The kids thought it was great to eat everything with their hands. We also did hiking, zip lining, and white water rafting. Lots of fun new activities.

This year we ended up back in Colorado. This time we went a little more north to Oak Creek. It is pretty close to Steamboat Springs Colorado. The name of the cabin we stayed at was Maverick Hollow.

After last time we made sure we had a home with enough rooms and bathrooms for each family to have their own private area. We left Sunday morning from DeAnna’s house after my Grandpa’s birthday party the day before. The cabin was pretty remote. There were other cabins around but I didn’t really see anyone else while we were there. You couldn’t see any other homes from our cabin. We all arrived and got settled on Sunday by about six. We made a big breakfast dinner (kind of a tradition) to eat together that night. Pancakes, hash browns, eggs, and bacon. The cabin was 5900 square feet so there was lots of room. There was a big loft too that most of the older kids slept in each night. We finished the night off with a fire and smores.

Most of the days we started with a walk/hike around the cabin with anyone that wanted to go and explore a little. We did that on Monday. There were lots of beautiful wild flowers. We saw bear tracks, deer tracks, lots of chipmunks and ground hogs. We only got lost the first day too. After our hike and breakfast we played some games then everyone got ready to go to the Stagecoach Reservoir, about a 15 minute drive away. Matthew explained to me that he was excited to go to the reservoir and swim because usually they are man made so there is not any fish to worry about touching when you are swimming. I smiled and let him swim without fear of a slimy fish touching him. He also didn’t notice the “fishing areas” and “fishing license sold here” signs on the way to the swim area. We rented a paddle board, and the Caziers rented a canoe so we played on those and swam the afternoon away. After we got home, showered, and ate dinner, we had a Family Home Evening together. It is another tradition we have done each time. Grandma and Grandpa taught us a lesson about recognizing miracles in our lives and ways that Heavenly Father helps us daily. When the kids were put to bed that night the adults did a white elephant party. This is another tradition we do each time we get together. There is a nice blend of ridiculous, silly, and semi-usefulness with the gifts. Ryan and I found our gifts at the Limon Colorado gas station gift store. It was a gold mine.

Tuesday we went to Steamboat and tried out one of the Alpine slides. Everyone went down except my parents, my mom had fallen down the stairs the night before and hurt her knee. The first time I went down with Tyler. He was a little nervous at first but had a fun time once we got going. The second time I went down on my own and raced Matthew. We switched back and forth going down but he ended up winning by a smidge (a small smidge) at the end. After the slide we all ate lunch together at Qdoba. We ate at a Qdoba several times as we were traveling. It is now one of my favorite restaurants. Another great place we tried was Which Wich. One of the best sandwiches I have ever had. We wandered around Steamboat a little after lunch. We found a fun little stream to play in a little and cool our feet off. It was freezing cold but it felt wonderful. That night after dinner we all played games and hung out together. Ryan and John played a few of their more involved several hours long games. The rest of us played Bananas, Cobra Paw, Avalon, Bonanza, and a few other quicker games. We had smores again that night. My dad also heard something early that morning and when he looked out the window saw 5-6 deer just outside our cabin. He found a salt lick that someone had set out for them so every morning and evening the deer would come to get the salt lick. It was pretty awesome. We saw a lot of deer while we were there on walks, drives, and at our cabin. They were almost easy to find.

Wednesday the Caziers minus Hannah and Tyler, and my parents went on a hike. The rest of us went to Kremmling to go white water rafting. My mom was going to come with us but her knee was still hurting so she thought a hike would be better then bouncing around in a raft. It was about an hour and 10 minute drive. The first half was a dirt road with gorgeous views and steep drop offs. Two huge elk jumped across the road in front of Kenny and went straight down the almost sheer cliff on the other side. It was pretty cool to watch them. Once we got to Kremmling I went to check us in and found out we were not rafting that day. We were rafting the next day. Grrrr! It was pretty annoying. We decided to go back to Steamboat and go tubing down the river there. It was more driving but we were able to make it before they closed for the day. Kenny and Aubry didn’t go because they said Aubry was to little. We should have just brought her anyways though, it was not that bad. It was a lot faster than any other tubing adventure I had gone on. Tyler got stuck in a ‘washing machine’ which terrified him while he was in it but when Ryan bumped him out he thought it was pretty awesome. We did a little souvenir shopping after that. Matthew got giant bear paw slippers. Emilee got a backpack with a little peak hole for a fox, deer, bear, and moose to poke their heads out. Allison got a stuffed animal- a guinea pig, now named Snuggles. Ryan and I each got a t-shirt. That night we played more games and hung out at the cabin when everyone got home from their hike or long round about drive to go tubing instead of rafting.

Thursday the Caziers and my parents decided that they were going to the Hot Springs Pool in Steamboat. Hannah wanted to do that instead of try rafting again with us so she went with them. They had a great time. They had several different pools to swim in that ranged from a warm pool, to bath water, to nice and toasty. The Cazier’s are pretty thin people so I think the warm water helped them maintain their body heat better than a regular pool so they loved it and swam all day. There was also some fun slides. My dad had a fun time but prefers regular cold pool water to swim in instead of a hot springs. Our cabin was on a vault system so we had to be careful with our water usage so they all took advantage of a nice long shower at the pools too.

Allison woke up with a stomach bug early that morning so Ryan and her stayed home from rafting and the rest of us headed to Kremmling again. Since our numbers dropped from 10 to 7 we decided to switch cars around a bit so we could take one instead of two. My parents took Kenny’s car and we took their van. The weather was a little over cast that day so it was a little chilly but we still had a great time. We went down a stretch of the Colorado River with class II-III rapids. Our guide brought along a five gallon bucket and several water guns. He was very good at instigating water fights with other rafts and guides and getting us wet. Everyone had fun going down the rapids. After the first one Aubry decided to put her head down on the raft while we went through the rapids. She preferred the smoother parts of the river. She also had no problem yelling, “Stop it! I do not like that!” when people splashed her. Overall I think she had fun. A little past half way through the trip they stopped at a place called Jump Rock. If you were over 90 pounds you could jump off the 25 foot cliff. If you were under 90 pounds you could jump off a shorter 10 foot cliff. Matthew and Emilee both gave the shorter one a try. They said it was the coldest water they had ever been in. I wish we hadn’t had to drive over an hour to get their twice to go rafting but we had a fun time.

On the drive home most of us dozed off while Kenny drove. About two minutes before we got home to our cabin a car passed us and stirred up some dust, as Kenny was driving through the dust a deer ran in front of him. He slammed on the brakes which locked them up and we started to slide/fishtail on the dirt road towards the edge. Sherri and I woke up when he hit the brakes in time to see the van heading off the road straight for a tree. Kenny turned the wheel and hit the gas to pull us out of the ditch before we slid completely off the road and to avoid hitting the tree straight on. The van turned enough that instead of hitting the tree it side swiped us and ripped off the side mirror and crunched the side of the car and shattered the back window that Matthew was sleeping on. This all happened in about three seconds. My first thought when I saw we were sliding was a prayer that we were not heading over a sheer cliff like most of the ride home was and if we were the trees would be strong enough to hold us. Once we settled and I realized we were still on the road and not seriously hurt we took stock of everyone. Sherri and I were fine, Kenny was shaken up a bit and in shock. Aubry was crying but not hurt. Matthew, Emilee and Tyler were all sitting in the back seat were the window had shattered so they had glass all over them. Tyler bit his lip and it was bleeding. Emilee was not hurt. Matthew was next to the window and probably hit his head on it. He had glass all over him head to toe. Luckily his eyes were closed (one of the first things he said was, “I think Heavenly Father made me fall asleep so my eyes didn’t get hurt.”) so none of the glass got in his eyes, he had a couple cuts on his forehead and elbow. The car still worked fine so once Kenny settled a little he drove the last two minutes to the cabin. When we got there Tyler and Aubry hopped out like nothing had happened. Emilee had to go shower to rinse all the glass off her. Matthew started to go into shock a little bit. He started to shake and cry. We helped him out and got him showered and fixed up and then he was already saying he had a cool story to tell his friends. It put a damper on our evening for sure. Kenny felt awful for the accident and the headache my parents now had to deal with since it was their rental car. We were all glad that everyone was safe and no one was hurt except the car. Being in an accident is scary, and if you are the driver it makes you feel even worse because you are responsible for everyone in the car. I told Kenny I was glad he was driving though because he stayed calm and new what to do to keep everyone as safe as possible. The van could have gone completely off the road, it could have rolled, it could have been a lot worse. We all said a prayer of thanks for our safety and I am sure there were many individual prayers said as well. My parents took the news pretty well. They were glad everyone was safe first off. My dad seemed to handle it well and said it would all work out when he saw the van. My mom looked like she switched from wanting to throw up, to wanting to cry several times before she processed it all.

After everyone was home and we settled down from the accident and had dinner and visited about the positive parts of our day, we decided to have one more fire and smores night. We took some group pictures too. We should have taken them the first day when we were clean and fresh but we went for a more natural, week in the woods look.

Friday was checkout day. My parents left first to get to the Denver airport early to turn in their now smashed passenger side van. Kenny and Sherri left next. Sherri and Aubry were flying on the same flight as my parents back to Florida. They got home about 11pm Friday. Kenny ended up driving their rental back because there was a mix up with the one way rental and they were going to charge them a ridiculous amount of money. He is extremely adverse to flying and usually finds one reason/excuse or another to not have to fly. Intentionally or not instead of flying, he drove from Colorado to Florida with only a brief stop to sleep for a few hours at our house. He got home at 4am Sunday morning. The Cazier’s left the same time we did. They got home about 7pm that night to Utah. We didn’t get home until almost 2 in the morning. Stopping to charge the Tesla adds a few hours. Allison was still sick on our way home so she was a trooper traveling 14 hours in a car with a stomach bug. Much to all of our delight after the first three hours she stopped throwing up and just wanted to sleep the rest of the time.

Just like that we all go from being together in a remote Colorado cabin to being back to our homes in Utah, Florida and Kansas in a few short hours. (A few more hours for Kenny but crossing more than half the United States in less than 2 days is pretty crazy) It was a very nice week. I am already looking forward to the next reunion in two years, wherever it ends up being. I am glad that my family enjoys being together and we make the effort to see each other when we can since we live no where near each other. Hopefully next time John and Rachel will be able to make it and we will have everyone together.

Grandpa Jones’ 90th Birthday

My Grandpa Jones turned 90 this month! That is pretty awesome. There was a weekend celebration held in his honor. Friday night was a dinner with his kids and their spouses. Saturday was a party in his back yard with games, water, cotton candy, and snow cones. One of the games they had set up was called Nine Square In The Air. It is a really fun game. It is perfect for a large group too. Nine people play at a time, it is fast paced so you don’t have to wait long, and we had people age 5 to 65 playing. Saturday night there was a dinner with everyone and then we took pictures. It was fun to see everyone and visit. Almost all of my Aunts, Uncles, and cousins were there. My brother John and his family and my Uncle Jareds three kids were the only people not there.

We left our house Wednesday afternoon and arrived in Oakley Utah Friday night. We stayed at Sam and Tiana’s house. They were both in the same mission as Ryan. We try and stop and see them every couple years. They have a little boy named Charlie that Emilee quickly became buddies with. We visited and had pizza and the next morning they took us to ride horses before we left for DeAnna’s. We stopped at DeAnna’s for a few minutes before we all headed to the birthday party. We got to see Allison for the first time in three weeks! It was good to see her and everyone else. Afterwards DeAnna hosted all of us at her house for the evening and then we woke up and headed to Colorado for our bi-annual Jones get together.

Riding horses at Sam and Tiana’s house.

My Aunt Kristin took pictures of everyone that was there after the dinner. She has a photography business that she does called Any Angle Photography. She is pretty good!