Vacation-a-holic

I am officially a vacation-a-holic, and no I do not think that's a certified mental illness, but maybe it should be. As soon as I get home from one vacation, I'm off planning the next adventure. What can I say, I LOVE to travel. I think it helps break up the monotony of staying at home with 2 kids. I also love it when people come to visit (hint, hint to anyone living out of state). So now I'm trying to figure out how to go to Vegas to see Wicked sometime in the next few months before we leave. If anyone would be interested in going down there with us and trade babysitting and hang out, let me know. I'm also trying to plan taking Adam to Hawaii for his graduation gift...yes I told him, I can't keep my big mouth shut. Thanks to my cousin Michelle we might have a place to stay for free, and my parents can watch our kids, so all we need is way to get over there. Plane tickets are between $1,000 - $1,500 apiece, can you believe it?? It's too bad we aren't rich or we could go everywhere I want. These are only two of the vacations I'm hoping might work out in my not to distant future.

Roar!

I just love this picture...

And yes he really is that big...16.6 lbs, 26" (granted that was done at home so I am not sure how accurate it really is)

Colorado

What a fun trip!! We did so many things like blessing Paul, going to Santa's Workshop, rafting in Glenwood Springs, visiting with family, having a girls night and getting our nails painted, going swimming, and spending time with family. Thanks to everyone who helped make our trip out this summer SOOO fun.

Santa's Workshop

There's a place in Colorado Springs called Santa's workshop on the road going up to Pike's Peak. It's an amusement park designed for kids around a Christmas theme. We go as a family every year and the kids LOVE it. It's really nice because they have rides that kids as young as Sammi (and probably even a little younger) can go on by themselves. They also have fun things like "The North Pole" that is always frozen and reindeer.


My favorite part was a swinging ride. It was a bigger ride (I could even feel my stomach drop a little) but it was the first one we came to that all the kids wanted to ride. Adam took Samantha and she had her head burried in his side the whole time. As soon as she got off she ran up to me and said "one more time." I asked if she wanted to ride that big ride or we could go and ride some little ride. She wanted to go on the big ride again. Once we got going, the whole time we were on she was saying "little rides, little rides" Then once the ride stopped she put her hands up and yells "I made it! I made it!" I guess she didn't think that would happen. I guess she changed her mind though because as we were walking away she was pulling on my hand saying "one more time."

Sammi at the North PoleKelle and Grant on the swing ride
My Aunt Nanette and Samantha on a huge slide
Hailey, Sammi, and Grant on the boat ride
Samantha and Lauren on the plane ride
Samantha pusing her newest purchace (she refused to let it go)

Paul's Blessing

We blessed Paul on Aug. 10th while we were out in Colorado. It was so nice to have family there to participate. It was really special for me because my Dad (who we named Paul after) was able to preform the blessing. It was also really nice of Josh and Eilis to make the drive out to CO for it so we could see them (even if it wasn't for long). There was something on the lens of my camera so they look funny, but you'll get the idea. Luckily my Mom took a bunch of pictures too so I can get copies of hers.

Glenwood

One of the things we did while we were in Colorado was go to my Grandfather's 90th birthday celebration (he actually turns 90 in December, but we decided to celebrate early so everyone could come). My whole family was there plus some of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. I couldn't believe my grandfather (remember, he's almost 90) went down the water slide at the pool, played volleyball, and went white water rafting. He also got a chance to feed baby Paul and play with all the grand kids. My 4 year old niece, Hailey, said that the two people she wished could come live with her were Great Granddad and baby Paul. Here's a slide show of some of the pictures...