Oceanside California Trip Travelog

We had such a great time in Oceanside California.  We went with the Overly Family.  Every family member was there except one which we missed you Devin (Greg's Oldest boy)
We took 211 pictures on the trip!  So I will just share some of the best to tell the story of our trip.

Saturday--Arrived to Oceanside about 5:00 pm after leaving Smithfield at 5:00 am--We had no troubles driving.  The kids were really good and we ate breakfast in the car and lunch at a Las Vegas gas station parking lot.   It was so hot in Vegas we found shade from a pole in the parking lot.  Next time we are hoping to find a good rest stop to eat at.  But you never know when you need to stop so that's where we were.

This is Mt. Soledad.  We had quite the driving adventure getting here but it was beautiful and nice view of the LDS San Diego Temple

Sunday--Went to church in Oceanside.  The ward was great and had lots of visitors.  The primary told us to come back anytime because all the kids were great.  We went on a Sunday drive to Mt. Soledad and then saw Seal at the Children's Pool in La Jolla.  We had fun climbing around on rocks on the beach and eating dinner in the park.

Beautiful View of a Seal at Children's Pool

Monday:  We spent the day on the beach.  I didn't take one picture of us on the beach because of the sand but we had so much fun.  We built an awesome sand castle with lots of cousins contributing.  We buried all the kids that wanted.  We boogie boarded and splashed around in the water.  I read in the shade.  Kids were so occupied just playing in the sand I was amazed how much fun they had.  Traeden got pretty shaken up after getting toppled by some huge waves, so he was pretty cautious about getting too far into the water.  I really wanted to get him excited about boogie boarding but no luck, maybe next time.
Tuesday:  Old Town, San Diego.  We had such a marvelous experience at the Mormon Battalion Museum.  My kids loved the tour, the movie, panning for gold, building block buildings, and riding the toy horses.

Traeden and Josh dressed to be a Battalion Member.  

Outside the Mormon Battalion with Cathy and Nathan

Tuesday night the boys went to the Padre's Baseball Game and the girls did foot massages and went out for dinner.
Wed.  Each family did their own thing.  We went to Balboa Park.  We spent most of the day in the Natural History Museum and had a great time there.  They had a great exhibit on Penguins and polar bears.  Then one on Dinosaurs that was great.  The movies we watched were fantastic.

Walk like a Penguin

That night we stayed for the Concert in the Park.  The Catallics were playing and it was great fun.  Abi and I danced and we all sang along to the oldies.  We then had dinner at Darband 5th Ave. Grill.  This was a Persian Restaurant close to Balboa Park.  It was such a cultural experience and the kids loved the food.

Thursday:  Day at the beach , Overly Family Olympics (Minute to Win It), Oceanside Sunset Market, and Bonfire on the beach.

Devin doing the orange swing-knock over bottle challenge!

Friday:  This was our travel day.  We got up and left about 8:00 am.  We had a long wait going through the customs checks.  I think they were looking for people selling drugs?  We stopped in Mesquite to mail the parking pass we forgot for the beach house.  We ate PB&J sandwiches in front of Smiths in Mesquite.  Very hot!!  Where is that nice rest stop we were going to stop at?  =)

Sitting on a bench in front of Smiths eating lunch

We had a great time and the best was the memories created for the kids being with cousins.  They had such a great time being with family and those memories are priceless.
For more pictures of our trip you can visit our picasa website.
Hope the link works!

More Pics-Slide Show in Belize

I just got our disk of pictures from the waterproof camera we got for Cave Tubing. What an awesome excursion. We booked our excursion through cavetubing.com. They were really fun. The water was really low during some of the river so they would yell, "Cave Tubing" and we would yell back "Butt's Up" This way they could find us in the dark cave and it was also a warning to keep your bum up. The rain forest we walked through was magical. I loved every minute of the hike up to the caves. Our guide showed us some awesome trees, he even stirred up a termite nest and invited the brave to eat one. We saw Poison Oak, Coconut trees, Inside out tree and lots of other foliage. The caves itself were really cool. Lots of Stalagmites, stalagtites and Columns. It was really wierd to see water bottles that were up at the top of the caves. When the river was so high the water bottles got lodged up at the top. Anyway enjoy the fun pics (I just wish the pictures would really capture how beautiful and green it really was).

The Amazing Cruise

We took over a hundred pictures of our cruise. Most of them won't mean anything so I have to be choosy.

We had the greatest time! We went on the Carnival Dream Ship which is less then a year old. Its the largest ship that Carnival has. We went to the Western Carribean. Our Ports were, Cozmel, Mexico, Belize, Isle of Roatan, and Costa Maya.

We have been married for almost 12 years and this is the longest time we have been away from our children ever. We have taken two other trips in our married life, one was to see David and Bonnie in D.C. which was a really fun trip without kids. Then this summer we went back packing in the Grand Tetons for three nights. So this was a late 10 year anniversary gift to ourselves. We really had to splurge to afford this trip but now that we are home with all the memories and reconnectness as a couple-it was worth every penny.

Here we are in the Carnival Lounge ready to sign up to get on the boat! We have no idea how much fun it will be but way gity with excitement!

Out of order but this is us in the airplane. I'm reading and Devin is listening to tunes and the TV. We also had fun doing Trivia on the Delta Flight. This was my third flight ever and the most turbulence I have experienced. The landing was a little scary too but we survived.

The men in their matching Clark Patrol T-shirts. Clark (back row in the middle) needed a patrol to keep him in line. His bishop wanted to be sure he kept his clothes on. =)

Lots of Iguanas in the Mayan Ruins of Tulum. Devin got a picture of me kissing one. Their pretty good kissers.

First Formal night on the cruise. Dinners were so much fun. It took two hours to eat dinner with appetizers, main course and dessert. We just visited and enjoyed eating the yummy food. My favorite was the Prime Rib and also Lobster.

Zip Line on the Isle of Roatan. This was our favorite Port. We zip lined in the morning (I was a little nervous so the group had me go first. After the initial screaming I really enjoyed it!) After we went to a private beach. It was absolutely wonderful.

Our group at the Isle of Roatan. Look how beautiful the background ocean and green is!

Costa Maya--We rented a golf cart to travel to the nearby fisherman village. We ate Conch Shell at a local "restaurant" It was cooked with butter and garlic. This day was unplanned and we really enjoyed going where the cart took us.

2nd Formal Night. Devin looks so great in a tux. We saw this chair one night and thought it would be fun to get our picture in it.

The whole group with our amazing waitress Ramona. She has been with Carnival for a long time and she gave us such great service. I was so impressed with all the staff on the ship. They were so accommodating and always ready to served. The ship was so clean and beautiful.

On the ship we enjoyed going to most of the Comedy shows, the musical shows (especially Dancing in the Streets), Karaoke, playing cards with the group, hot tubing and going down the water slide, taking midnight walks on the outside decks (sometimes the wind was blowing so hard you could barely walk), hot cocoa with ice cream before bed, learning the Thriller Dance, and dancing in the Caliente Disco Dance Room.

We are so glad we went and are so grateful for my parents and Brenda and Ryan for watching our kids for the week. It was nice not to worry if our kids were doing well. We knew they were in good hands. Our kids really missed us and by the end we were very ready to be home as a family.

If you are going on a cruise anytime soon, make sure you budget for the ports (excursions). I had no idea how much money you spend on the excursions. You could just stay on the boat or just walk around but you really wouldn't get to see the beautiful places you are visiting if you don't schedule to do something each port. Also plan on bringing lots of cash for tips. If you go to the bank you can get a book of ones. It a hundred dollars in a tight pad of paper. Then you just rip them off when you need them and they are much more compact. Of all the things I did to prepare to go on the cruise, the funnest was getting a pedicure. I wore sandals all the time so it was fun to have cute toes. =) We didn't tan and we were just fine. We just made sure we always had sunblock. If you love to swim or get in the hot tub you really should have more then one swimsuit. Then the other one can be drying while you are wearing the other one. Bring a couple good books to read for the plane ride and just for down times in the sun. I would bring a couple Book of Mormons. I brought one and gave it to our waitress and wished I had another one for our tour guide in Roatan. We didn't use our Visa card hardly at all because most places didn't take a credit card. So be prepared to pay most everything with cash. It helped us budget too. When the cash was gone we were done. Take your journal. You will not want to forget some of the amazing first time experiences you will have. Just by not drinking alcohol we probably spent half the amount of those that do. I was taken back by how many and how much people drink. It was eye opening to me. I'm grateful I didn't have to waste my money on it! =)

Getting Ready

So we are counting the days of leaving for the cruise! It will be here before we know it. I've been getting clothes together, I've bought some, borrowed some and that has been fun! Devin and I want to get fit and trim, and with this much time left we can't do too much but we sure are trying. I went the gym everyday this week!

I am feeling a little nervous about my kids. I know they will be in good hands but 7 days without them will be a long time. I just hope they don't get too homesick, or have an accident where they get hurt. I think that is just the worrier in me but I hope once we are away I can relax and know they will be just fine. Lots of praying!

Last weekend the kids and I went to spend some time with the Overly's. We did a lot of talking about the cruise and what everyone is bringing and wearing, and wow it will be so exciting. We went sledding and everyone had a great time and we had no broken bones in the end. =)

Devin stayed with my family to do some electrical work on the house. They are changing out old lines for new ones in my old bedroom and the bathroom. Then they will start putting in subflooring and insulation. It will be nice, I remember my room was pretty cold at night. Devin really felt he should be their to help on the three day weekend and they got a lot accomplished thanks to him, and my two brothers.

So we are planning a Disneyland trip. This was the Christmas present we gave the kids this year. We aren't going until October but we want to get dates and a hotel booked. For those of you who have gone to Disneyland before with their kids, how many days would you recommend going? Do you have any suggestions for us? This is our first and probably our last so we want to have a great experience.

Happy 4th Weekend

The Roscoe and Elnor Titensor Family reunion was this weekend in Afton Wyo. They do this every other year. My parents, our family, and Danny's family went to Lava Hot Springs on Friday. It has been so long since I have been there. Both Danny and I were reminiscing of the last time we were there, we thought Lava (the town) was so much bigger. I remember how hard it was to walk through town-it was just so far. Well now that I have four kids who walked it, I'm sure that is exactly how they will remember it. We did the river on tubes which was a blast. We rented a double tube and then a quad tube which holds at least four adults. We all took turns watching the babies so we could all go on the river. Traeden loved the river most of all. He was so into the adventure and had a great time. Conrad was pretty nervous after the first run when he got covered in water. He said, "Can we stop please?"

After the river fun we had dinner and went up to the hot tubs. Wow I don't remember them being quite so hot. It rained the entire time we were in the tubs, which helped cool us off. The kids liked it but you just can't stay in the pool for a long time because it was so hot.

Our family tented and slept really well, despite the various interruptions of drunk people coming back to their sites most of the night. I could not believe how many young adults, (they looked like kids to me) were there with their friends, drinking and smoking.

Saturday day we got up and drove to Afton for the reunion. Every reunion we hold an auction. Devin helped bring up items that people made or donated to auction off to help pay for the next reunion. There was quite the variety of items. We got to some chimney cleaner, fire place gate, and fire place tools. My dad was the auctioneer and asked for a starting bid and then someone said, is there a story behind this bid. No one claimed to brought it and then we all realized that Devin brought it up on mistake and it goes with the fireplace in the pavilion. We all got a good laugh at that.

After the reunion we went to the Afton rodeo. This was so much fun for the kids. Both Traeden and Conrad participated in the ribbon pull where they chased baby calves and try to catch the ribbon off their tail. Those calves were really fast. They even gave cash prizes, of 50, 25 and $10 to the winners. Every participant got dollar bill and Conrad's age category got a cowboy hat too. One downer is all the kids feet got covered in mud, as it had rained the night before. They did this by age category and the oldest group had quite a bit bigger calf to chase. At the end of the pull one of the girls got chased by one of the calves and started bucking the girl with her head. She lost her shoe in the run-it was pretty scary and exciting. The rodeo ended with a fireworks show. We had great seats and the kids loved it. Samantha did a little yip after every blast, it was so cute. Hope you all had a happy 4th of July!