Back!

I'm back!

And I've got a lot of catching up to do!

Our computer has been broken for what feels like many, many moons.  First it was this (insert any random computer jargon), so Dave fixed it.  Then it wasn't that after all, it was this over here (insert another random piece of computer equipment), so Dave fixed that.  Then it wasn't that one either.  And so on, and so forth, until now we have a completely rebuilt Frankenstein's Monster-esque computer.  But it seems to be working well.

Unfortunately, Dave had to reformat our computer a few times and in the transfer, I'm certain many, many photos were lost.  All the more reason why I need to get this blog printed up.  I almost cried when I saw half our picture file gone.  HALF!  That is half of our married lives together!  All of Oliver, all of our holidays, basically all of our everything.

We were able to recover some, and so I'll just dry my little eyes and move on.

During Thanksgiving break we decided to make an enormous trip (via car) down to Florida.  I took five days off of Seminary, Dave took six days off of work and we just left.  We split each day into manageable chunks for the children, and all in all we had a pretty good time.  Thanks to whoever had the brilliant foresight to put a DVD player into a mini-van.

I'm gonna be frank here.  Sometimes Dave and I got tired, so we just let Gabriel take over.  He's a pretty good driver.  Only fell asleep at the wheel once.

The key to our trip was staying in a bunch of hotels!  Our first leg landed us in Virginia.  Second day we stayed with family (Dave's Dad) in South Carolina--yeah, I didn't take any pictures of the kids with their grandpa.  I suck. 

 On our trip out to Atlanta on the third day we stopped at a local town called Wilson.  It was supposed to be "historic" and "interesting", and ....well I'm not sure.  Whatever it was supposed to be, it wasn't.  It was actually a little creepy, and more than once we got the distinct impression (from the very few locals roaming that ghost town) that we weren't supposed to be there.  So we took a picture next to this mosaic statue and hauled buns (you know, like a bread truck) back to our car.

 We hauled slowly.  But with purpose.

 We stayed at the BEST hotel in Georgia.  It had two bedrooms, each with a separate bathroom, and a living room with kitchen.  The living room had a fireplace!  So we were able to tuck the kidlets into bed at night and enjoy a fire and a movie without waking up the kids (or worse, having them sit between us drinking our hot chocolate and eating our popcorn!).

Our whole purpose for traveling to Florida was to be there to see our Niece Ainsley get baptized.  But a very close second was being able to go to the Georgia Aquarium and see the whale sharks.  I've wanted to see these guys my whole life and that only intensified when Dave stopped for a port-call in Okinawa, Japan and got to see whale sharks at the aquarium there.  As a matter of fact, Georgia and Japan are the only two places in the world that have them.  And I couldn't wait.

 It so happened that it was Charlotte's sixth birthday (planned perfectly).  So we took the day off driving and visited the aquarium.  The picture above shows us looking at the whale sharks through a little port hole.

There he is!

 Oliver couldn't get enough of the fish.  The larger and uglier the better!

 Yes, they were amazing.  I love the reflections in this picture!  (We're in the tunnel)

We stopped and watched for "feeding time" at the big window.  I could have sat there all day.  Guaranteed.  But little ones don't like to just sit.  After a good amount of time, we moved on.

 This guy was a super trooper!

 Ever see the human bodies exhibit?  Where the skin is removed off of real bodies and they are preserved and usually splayed open in a very intriguing albeit uncomfortable way?  They had an exhibit like this at the aquarium except with marine animals.  I could have spent all day in there too.  But Charlotte had to pee, and to be honest, it freaked the kids a little bit.

 The highlight of our day was most definitely the dolphin show.  Much to our surprise it was just like a dolphin show at Sea World, except better!  And you didn't have the guy with the guitar singing before the beginning of the show.  You know the guy that always made you sing different words with your respective sections.... "you'll get one hundred percent....WET!".  Yeah I can live without that guy.

There was no photography during the show, so we took a quick picture before.  The stadium was HUGE.  We got inside about twenty five minutes before the show and the kids were about to go nuts, but once the show started there was nothing but "wows!" and cheers from Charlotte and complete undivided attention from Oliver.  In fact, I've never seen him sit so still for thirty minutes.

Charlotte loved the dolphins so much that she got a plush one on our way out of the aquarium, and frequently asks if we can go back to the aquarium to see the dolphin show again.

After the dolphin show (and the a fore mentioned exhibit), the day quickly began to unravel.  Oliver was trying to deny the fact that he was exhausted by running away from us and yelling and screaming (in excitement) at everything.  We almost strangled him.  Instead we strapped him in the stroller and he fell asleep two minutes later.  Charlotte got grumpy, the lines for food were way too long, there was no seating left except for the banquet hall upstairs (where there was a window peeky for the Beluga whales---wedding in this banquet hall YES PLEASE!  Can you imagine?  I can not.  I have no words).  We eventually gave up and left with two remaining exhibits unseen.  Including the arctic with my beloved Belugas.  But we got a glimpse of them, and that was enough.

Our quick run through the rainforest exhibit before we left.  There was just too much to see, and let's face it, our kids have no staying power.   Dave and I have decided we aren't taking our kids to Disneyland until they are at least twenty.

For lunch we took Charlotte to her favorite place; Chili's!  She loves the pizza and rice.  Then they brought her a little hot fudge sundae for a birthday treat.  Though she was a bit of a brat on her bday (It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!!), she was over the moon excited for all that happened that day.

The next day it was back down to business, and we finished our trek to Florida landing at my brother's house shortly before Thanksgiving dinner.  Gabriel was introduced to my family...

He loves his Uncle Steve and Aunt Presha and cousin Lil.  Even though it looks like she's trying to ditch him in this picture.

Whenever all the kids are together my brother Ron always reads to them.  This picture is a good exemplification of how that always goes; various children prostrated on the couches, the littlest ones periodically looking, the older ones trying desperately to pay attention and getting annoyed at all the cacophony of the younger ones...it's just great.

After the greatness of Thanksgiving day, we had a little birthday party for Charlotte with her cousins on Black Friday (while we stayed far away from the stores).

Look at us, outside in the beautiful warm weather in the end of November.  Yes.  Yes, thank you.

The first thing we did was clobber a pinata.  Charlotte kept asking me how you say "pinata" in Spanish.  I just could not convince her that pinata was a Spanish word.

There was no place to hang the pinata, so all of us siblings with spouses waited nearby for my brother to get pummeled in the junk.  Luckily that never happened, and everyone got a few good swats in.

If I were good at illustrator (or if I had that program), I would put a bubble above Steve's head saying "Yeah, I've got ten dollars on Ron getting a bat to the crotch before that Hello Kitty breaks"

I think it was Caleb (my oldest Nephew) who broke it leading to the crazed attack on the goodies within.

And Dave just being silly.  I love this picture.  He's lucky no one hit HIM in the crotch while he had that on his head!

Inside, Charlotte organized her haul of gifts and then opened them all up.

Then we all gathered in the kitchen to sing and have some cake.  (From left to right: Caleb, Andrew, Olivia, Ainsley, Charlotte, Luke, Jane---Missing from the picture: London, Oliver, and Gabriel)

Later that night we took advantage of the near proximity to the beach and took a stroll along the pier.  We even saw a jelly(fish) in the water!   (my bum is glowing!)

My brother and his wife joined us a bit later for a stroll and some playing at the beach.  Isn't she so cute!  She's one of my favorite people e.v.e.r.

Here's their little family (minus Luke).  Greg looks like a thug, but it's pretty much the only pic I have of him.

We let the kids take a little break and play at the playground in the sand under the pier.

Gabes got to squeeze his head into the family baby Dodger cap. (I love that face)

On Saturday we went to Ainsley's baptism, which was a very lovely event.  And we all ate way too many 8 shaped sugar cookies (super yummy), and butterscotch rice crispie treats (oh yummy).  I'm so happy for Ainsley and that she had such a wonderful day.

We decided to get an early jump on the day and left early on Sunday morning, putting us in Tennesee around 4ish.  Before we left we got some pictures of all the cousins together.  Here's my three.  Charlotte really needs some non-reflective lenses.

My three with Olivia and Lily.

Everyone together (Left to right, back row: Jane, Caleb, Lily, Ainsley, Luke, Olivia, Oliver, Gabe, Charlotte, Left to right, front row: London, Andrew)

The babies, London, Lily, and Gabe.  Gabe the fatty boom batty is bigger than his two year old cousin Lily.

Here we all are together.  A rarity in our lives.

After our long drive, seeing home was a sight for sore eyes.  Gabe chilled (literally) on the floor of the garage while we emptied out our overstuffed car.

It was a great trip and I'm so, so glad we could go.

That was my "thankful" this year, to see my family, and to be married to the guy who makes these kinds of things happen for me.

Yep, I have lots to be thankful for.