Months ago Jenna had the idea to stay in a yurt at Petite Jean. We booked it so far in advance we really weren't counting down the days until it got here. There's something about camping that brings you together. I don't know if its the outdoors, being unplugged from our plugged in lives, or that you are just trapped together. I doubt it will be the same when they are teenagers but I pray it will be. Gallery below.
Oregon 2015
What an amazing trip. We crammed in as much of the Pacific Northwest as we could but still left feeling like we missed a lot. I'll document the different adventures we had one by one. The trip started on a high note with Campbell flying for the first time that she can remember. The look on her face as we took off was awesome. Then we landed at Amanda and Sue's resort. It needs a name like Shangri La or something. Then we hit the coast, we hit the woods, we hit Nike, we hit the waterfalls, we went to the kid's first concert, we brewed beer with an airshow flying overhead, and mostly we recharged our batteries. Our hosts were amazing and for the second time in as many trips, Jenna was checking job openings in case we decided to stay :)
Branson-Spring Break 2014
We were able to get away at the end of Spring Break for a few days in Branson. It was the first time we've gone with the passes to Silver Dollar City. In fact, I was the only one in the family to have never been to SDC. We stayed in a condo on Lake Taneycomo and it was both beautiful and relaxing. We watched people fly fish in the mornings and had dinner on the patio at night. We had an indoor pool to keep the kids busy during the down time. On day 1 we ate at Joe's Crab Shack and hit the Landing and wrapped it up with the Titanic museum. Day 2 we went on a bike ride from Table Rock Lake to the Marina and had a picnic on the lake. Day 3 we hit SDC and got our money's worth. The kid's hit one area of rides hard and then Noah got up his courage to ride Thunderation, his first roller coaster. He comes from a long line of roller coaster people so the pressure was on. He was crazy nervous by the time we got to the front but he didn't bail, even though a kid his age bailed right beside us. The day ended with a thunderstorm at 430 so it was a mass exodus. Couldn't dampen our spirits though because the kids had a blast.
Pretty pretty princess
The first morning on the boat Campbell went to the Princess meet and greet. I'm sure it was called something more clever than that but I can't remember. We checked Noah into the Oceaneer Lab to make Flubber and off we went to join our starstruck princess.
Arrival Dance Party
The "official" dance party kicked off a little too loud for Campbell and we were so rushed to get there. Afterwards though the music kept playing and we broke out into our own launch party.
Galveston
Galveston has changed a lot in the 16 years since I was there. The beach was much prettier than I remembered and the boardwalk was packed with people and resorts. When we took the shuttle to the boat the next morning we saw the Galveston I remembered with the refineries and rigs. Nice to see these things can coexist with each other.
The Disney Magic
We got back to land yesterday and we still have our sea legs. There will be plenty of time to put lots of pictures and videos up but I wanted to briefly put a picture of us all in front of the boat. This was taken in Cozumel right after getting off the boat. I like this picture because 1. we are fresh and 2. you can see the insanely blue water. Loved every bit of Cozumel.
Upgrade
Packing for the cruise
We left the confines of our home this morning and started our journey south. Cam cannot wait until the "big boat." As we were packing up, she kept fussing at Jenna to "get in your seat Momma!"
This is how I found her at one point in the morning.
Too difficult to imagine
One of the hard things is limiting the number of photos in photo gallery. Personally, I'd put them all up but that is a waste of space and bandwidth. The default limit on this site is 30 images so I try to adhere to that. Picking out the 30 then becomes an exercise in how much editing is necessary. Short version is I'm working on it.
I'll share this photo with you now because I've flagged it as a favorite.
Oregon-Summer 2011
Last week we embarked on a new adventure to the West Coast. We flew into Portland to Amanda and Sue's to be joined by The Jordan's, Powell's, and Magga.
We were the only one's in the group yet to visit here and I think we were 'digging it the most.' We were there for just a day before heading to Pacific City for the 4th. I acclimated to calling it the 'coast' instead of 'beach' right away since it was unlike any beach I'd ever experienced. I'll break the trip up into parts with more posts, but I think this picture sums up the trip pretty well.
;)
I'd credit whoever took this photo, but I found it on my computer and have no idea who took it so speak up if you know.
