A Tale of Two Seasons

Here is Bear Lake at the end of May. We were surprised at how much snow was still there.

Jason's parents came and spent some time with us over Memorial day weekend. We decided to take them up to Rocky Mountain National Park. We had taken my parents there in October and really enjoyed the trip. We were surprised at just how different this trip would be. 

Here is the lake last fall.

There was piles of snow all around the lake. We were slipping around trying to climb some of the snow banks. Kaci was loving being in the snow. About half way around the lake the trail became all snow so we turned around and went back the way we came.

We also did the Alberta Falls hike. This one had snow but not quite as much as the other trail. The falls were going full blast with all of the run off.
We headed to the top of the mountain. The road only opened the day before. They had to basically scrape a path down the road. Snow was higher than the car.  At the summit, it looked like they had scraped out the parking lot. Can you see where Grandpa scraped Jackson and Chase's name?
Here is Kaylee with Grandpa causing problems in the background.
Jason scraped Kaci's name in the snow also.
It was foggy and misty so the pictures aren't that great but the kids thought it was pretty cool to see how high the snow was.
Here is Chase.
We went to the spot where we took this picture last fall and there was a wall of snow higher than the roof of the building at the top. Pretty crazy how much snow was up there still in May.
We had a fun time with Jason's parents. His dad does not sit still so lots of projects were done at my house. (Thanks Dad!) I think the only time he sat still was in the car and at church on Sunday. We will have to make this trip in July and compare our pictures!  

Jackson vs. the Hockey Stick

PE today was floor hockey. The hockey stick won!  5 stitches right above the left eye. At least he didn't have to go back to school.

Happy Birthday Jason!!

Hope you have a great one!

Just call me Jim!

Chase's primary teacher come up to me and asks me if Chase's middle name is Jim. A little worried I asked her why. Chase told her that he likes to be called Jim. When she calls him Jim he snickers. His teacher thinks it is funny that he wants to be called Jim so she continues to call him that. I asked Chase why and he said that he thought it would be funny. Jason and I got a kick out of it. As I was walking him to class today his teacher walked passed him and said. "Hi Jim, How are you today?" Chase got a big ole grin and said "Doing good." 

D O--R K!!

Jason and I went out last night. We hadn't been alone together for awhile so we went out and ran errands and got dinner. Jason wore his Ohio State sweatshirt. In the parking lot some guy rolls down the window and yells  O H and Jason yells I O. WHAT? Apparently, that is what you are supposed to do if you love Ohio State. I have been married to him for almost 15 years and I have NEVER seen this. "It happens all the time" Jason tells me. As we are leaving Smashburger (A new yummy hamburger joint that just opened up) it happened again. O H someone yells. Jason yells back  I O. I started spelling four letter words to him -- NE  RD  DO  RK  DU  MB- you get the picture. I guess that is why you go out on date nights. You get to see the dorky things your spouse does when you aren't around. 

Day 7 -- Castaway Cay

I think I prolonged writing about our last day because then the cruise would be over ...  again. Castaway Cay (pronounced key) is Disney's private beach and it is awesome. The place is HUGE and beautiful and a lot of fun. Disney really outdid themselves with this place. We parked at the family beach and played. The sand was awesome. They had places to snorkel. The food was really good -ribs, hamburgers, hot dogs, all the diet coke you could drink etc. They had a soft serve ice cream machine that had chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream that was TO DIE FOR! It was windy so Jackson couldn't go para-sailing but we had a blast anyway. 

This may be our Christmas card picture if I can't come up with anything better!

Kaci enjoying the yummy ice cream.
The kids loved playing on the sand and Disney loves that every parents comes and buys a stupid $9 pail and shovel.
Grandma loved being on the beach and went snorkeling with Kaylee.
Here are the girls.
Grandpa loved the diet coke and reading in the shade.
Isn't she cute?
Kaci continued her picture taking quest with all of the characters. Here are chip and dale.
Here is Minnie.
I love this picture with Mickey because it had has the ship in the background.  
We had such a great cruise. It was a truly once in a lifetime event and we loved it!!

Day 6 -- Ship day

Still not as warm as we would like, but we could not get Kaci out of the pool. That girl loves to swim. All the other kids were off doing different things on the ship but Kaci swam and swam. She did take time out to visit the princesses and eat but that was about it.

As we were headed back to our room to bathe and get ready for dinner, Daisy Duck came out. Kaci was excited to see her.
Here are Kaylee and Minnie all dressed up and ready to go!
This is how you received your ketchup every night.
Chase ordered the surf and turf off his kid's menu that night. He informed me that shrimp was okay but that he only needed to eat one. He also let me know that "Mom, this is roast not steak. The menu said steak." How sad that my 7 year old knows the difference. The kids ordered steak, fries and rice almost every night. Kaci even asked for steak on a couple of nights. (They were real steaks off the adult menu and the kids liked those.)
I just thought that this picture was funny. I love the look on Chase's face.
Here we are all with Mickey. 
We had a great day on the ship, just relaxing and enjoying our time together!