Vacations

I heart vacations!!

They are definitly a favorite thing for me!

Hotels, new places to see, museums, zoos, getting lost driving in cirlces.

All fun and exciting for me.

We didn't take a lot of vacations when I was young so we try to take as many as we can now that I have my own family. This particular vactation was supposed to be a "15 year" 1 week getaway for my husband and me. The previous year we had taken the kids to Disneyland and decided that we would extend just our tickets to year passes and go for the big 15. The kids were upset knowing they would not be returning. But it was soon forgotten in all the fun of the vacation and when our anniversary rolled around I made plans for all 5 kids to stay at a friends house and we were going away for the first time without them.

1 week of beaches, hotels and Disneyland! The happiest place on earth!!

The night before we were going to leave I talked with my husband, I just couldn't go have all that fun without the kids. So we bought tickets and decided to surprise them. The next morning I sent them off to school so I would have time to pack. We made the rounds at the different schools picking each of them up and getting the most opposite responses we could have imagined.

"Mom, you can't be serious,

I have a test to take today! I can't go!!"

was our favorite. Each one of them thought of something else they had to do! It was insanity! did they really not want to spend a week in California??

At Disneyland!!

We actually had to make one of them go. But after we left they all adjusted to the idea.

{Note to self: your kids don't like surprises!!}

So in the spirit of our module's assignment this week I created this video of our

15th wedding anniversary.

Hope you like it!

http://animoto.com/play/Toztm7QFTbvpPdVWNsyz8Q

Hiking brings out the best in kids!!

So one of my very favorite things is when all my kids get along.

I have 5 children. Andrew is 16, Brooke is 14, Anna is 12, Emily is 11, and Ian is 9. We are often with my friend Cyndie's family She has 4 children, Fantasia is 15, Zariah is 9, Audrina is 7 and little Lincoln just turned 15 months old. I will probably mention them often since I love them like they were mine too!

They all love each other, but man can they fight, and when the fighting stops,which is a rarety, the silence becomes one of my favorite things. Special things have to happen in just the right order for all bickering to cease. One event that can align all the mystical stars is hiking.

Even though school is not out quite yet, and spring has yet fully appear we decided to go hikimg. There is a place about 35 min south of our town called Red Cliffs. We have lived here for 16 years and never heard about this beautiful place. I saw some pictures and decided we had to check it out. True to form there was fighting while we packed the car, bickering during the drive, smart remarks as we disembark from the car. Rolling of eyes as we grabbed our backpacks and water bottles and tears as one of them realize they don't have water shoes... and then the miracle happened.

We started hiking on a trail and I could hear it. Laughs, chit chat, and playful racing off the main trail and back again. Even our little crier has stopped and is searching for lizards on the trail. It is the one time they help each other, carrying smaller ones and holding each others hands across the stream. Noone fights, pushes each other, or yells they hate me. it is truely a magical time.

For hours we hiked and played in the water, We saw lizards, flowers, and even some anasazi ruins that were thousands of years old. And then on the drive home, everyone was so tired they slept. Heaven on earth!

Wordle

So I fiddled around with Wordle. Not sure where we are supposed to post it so I am just putting it here for now. Interesting program, could be a lot of fun to play around with.

My kids are gonna love playing with this program!!

hhttp://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/3650006/Snow_in_May