Summer Vacations in Pictures: Disneyland

So off it was to the "happiest place on earth" with the family and maternal grandparents. Of course the boys didn't know it yet. They just knew we were staying in a hotel, and, you would have thought that fact alone was cause for all sorts of rejoicing. Because, lets face it my boys love staying in hotels, and when they found out our two room suite had a bunk bed, well it was time for extreme celebration.

After we arrived in Anaheim we gave the grandparents some time to themselves and managed to hook up with some family friends, the Ploogs. We met together at Ruben and Beth's house which wasn't too far from the hotel. All of them were there, except John and Marilyn, the family patriarchs. It was a good evening with barbecued hamburgers, socializing, and oh, so many kids. The boys had a blast sword fighting, playing Star Wars, and who knows what else while the adults had a chance for real conversation with the kids busy distracting one another.

The next morning, though brought about the main attraction: Disneyland.

We had a great day of hanging out and riding rides. So much so we had to take a late afternoon break for the boys to catch their breath. We returned, but not before having dinner at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney. In case you've never been to the Rainforest Cafe it is a amazingly decorated rainforest themed restaurant that raises awareness and money to help prevent the deforestation of our planets rainforests. The food is expensive but very good and, hey, you're not only helping to protect the Amazon, but you're also paying for the ambiance wateralls, elephants, periodic thundershowers, and an animatronic Gorilla that was positioned right behind our table. About every ten to fiftenn miutes the gorilla would start to move and make noise. It was quite funny . . . for everyone except Matthew.

Unfortunatley, the presence of animatronic gorilla meant the Little Buddy had to be consoled every ten to fifteen minutes. He was not a fan.

But the boys were fans of the land of the theme parks. Garrett went on practically everything he was big enough to ride. Here's the evidence of him on Splash Mountain. He also rode Space Mountain, Grizzly Bear Rapids, Star Tours, Soaring over California, and The Tower of Terror. He loved the Tower of Terror and kept asking if we could go ride it again.

Matthew, on the other hand was too short for thrill rides. This was OK as he was quite happy riding less extreme attractions. Of course the beauty of Garrett's age is that he enjoyed all the rides, the thrill rides and the kiddy rides.

Of course Disneyland is more than just rides its also characters and ambience. The boys also enjoyed this aspect. Here is Garrett with Mickey . . .

And here is Matthew with Pluto . . .

And here we all our enjoying our grand adventure together.

And that brought our Summer vacations to an end. Although we might have liked them to keep on going we could hardly complain after all the good times we were able to share together this year.

Summer Vacations in Pictures: Beach Camping

After a few weeks at home, the second leg of the summer vacation series began. It can be seen here on Lori's blog.

Lori and the boys left a week ahead of me, traveling to San Diego. After a couple quick days at
the grandparents, Lori, her parents and the boys headed out for a week of beach camping. I flew in a week after the rest of my family had left, but not before the boys had enjoyed a trip to Sea World, the San Diego Zoo, and many afternoons in the Sun at the beach.
Let's just say they boys love the beach. While Matthew is more content to play in the sand and get his feet wet, Garrett attacks the waves with abandon. I'm sure if we lived near the ocean I would barely know my son. He'd spend all day, every day trying to catch the perfect wave. For now he's content to attempt to learn how to boogeyboard and to persuade his grandpa to take him in a tube (with lifejacket) out on the waves.

Of course there was all kinds of fun to be had. Lori's brother and sister and law joined us at the campground for the same days I was there. My own sister and her brood came by for a day and delighted the boys with extra attention and the catching of small ocean crabs. We played (sort of) football and frisbee and generally ran about having a good time.

Like I've already said, if Matthew's smile was any indication the beach was a hit. Of course there was lots of time spent up at the campsite. One night Matthew entertained the gang by making all sort of strange, laugh-enducing faces. The pictures really don't do the evening justice.

And so when the last morning arrived we would have been very sad, but we knew we had one more stop on our Grand Vacation Tour: Disneyland. This, however, was something the boys did not yet know.

More pics

And here are some more pics with the family, just because . . . The boys

Garrett and me

Matthew chillin on the beach

While you can't choose your family of origin, these are the four crazies that married into our family on purpose.

Julie and Dan

Jolene and Wade

Jana and Chris

Mom and Dad with the boys

Summer Vacations in Pictures: Part Two, Oregon

After journeying north from Shasta City we arrived in Oregon (wife's blog here). The week consisted of parks (playing wiffleball with Garrett and family in the park where I once played Little League), visiting friends, and the Enchanted Forest. Of course there was the beach. We stayed at a cabin in Neskowin for three days. While there we played at the surrounding beaches including Pacific City and the giant Sand Dune.

Really though, the trip was about family and spending time with my parents, sisters, brothers in law and all their children.

The four of us

About to jump . . .

Acting silly . . .

Hanging with Mom and Dad.

Of course it all came to and end far too soon. So to take the edge of the return home we stopped at a KOA in Idaho and treated the boys to a night's stay in a TeePee.

Summer Vacations in Pictures: Part One, Tahoe

This is the first leg of a four part series documenting our summer vacations, mostly in pictorial form. We had two summer vacations. The first was a nearly two week excursion that went from Utah to Lake Tahoe, to Oregon and back home to Utah again. The second was trip to Southern California consisting of beach camping and Disneyland.

Today we are looking at part one of the first vacation. Tahoe. I'm not going to remotely attempt to sum up the trip with words. That is more adequately done here on my wife's blog. Here are just some more pics with a few linking comments.

Following Sunday services we packed in the Santa Fe and travled out to our campsite at D.L Bliss in Tahoe. We arrived late, set up the tent in the dark and then spent most of a week enjoying what the lake had to offer. Halfway through this time we moved to another campground (per previous reservation) in Tahoe City. It was a perfect setting to enjoy time together in God's creation. You can see some of the beauty captured in this early AM photo taken by my wife our first morning at the lake.
We spent the 4th at the Lake observing fireworks from the distant South Shore. They were spectacular even as far away as we were. Earlier in the day Garrett made a couple friends from a nearby site. They spent time playing, waving flags and eating smores.

Part of the fun of camping is getting away from it all. Its amazing how much wonder can be found in a campground stump when it is not competing with television or handheld video games.

One of the highlights of our trip was Sand Harbor. It's probably our favorite beach at the lake. Sure, the day use fee is excessive put there is crawdadding amidst giant boulders . . .

And there is jumping off those giant boulders into the cold blue waters . . .

Garrett also enjoyed this facet . . .

We also played at local parks, met friends, ate out, cooked over a camp stove and even saw a bear.

Of course when the time came for the next leg of our adventure we left the lake, but not before stopping to camp in the shadow of another one of God's scenic creations (Mount Shasta).

And if the scenery wasn't enough the boys got the added bonus of staying in a Kozy Kabin at the nearby KOA. It was a hit.

Starquest

This week we had a 3 day Vacation Bible School at our church. This required robots, and aliens, and space rangers. Lori, but her theatrical talents to good use hid her hair and elongated her ears to become Soora, the Alien navigator:
I donned a mustache and jumpsuit that was vaguely reminiscent of my Father-in-law's from several years back. I was going for Prefontaine or Tom Selleck, but I think I was probably closer to Mario--as in Super Mario Bros. Here I am with my arch enemy Dark Matter. Mr. Matter's character was different but his name was stolen from the Space themed VBS held at MVCC Ramona a couple years ago.

And here we are, Soora and Captain Stargazer. Ah, life among the stars (and planets).

And here is the rest of the cast: P.A.L (the robot), Reynolds (our mechanic), the aforementioned Dark Matter, and one of our Junior cadets, Garrett.

It was a great week (three days) with a good turnout. We had fun and a lot of kids had a chance to hear about Jesus.

Hare . . . er hair today gone tomorrow

With the weather getting nice it was time for the boys summer haircuts. Due to the fact that the boys love spending their summer afternoons at the pool with their mom and that we will be camping in a couple short weeks we decided to go for low maintenance.

Of course Matthew really likes his hair short. I think this is probably because he hates having it picked out. However, he was very proud of his short new do.

Here's another before. You can see Matthew's unshorn mane as he sits on my shoulders using my head as a drum:

Here is the after. When he saw himself, he proudly proclaimed, "I like it." It's hard to tell in the pic but he has a little hair, we certainly didn't bic his dome.

Garrett, also, needed a summer cut. Here he is showing off his stylable hair just before the trimming.

And here is the after. No more spikey bangs or faux-hawks. It's kind of a summery farm-boy look sure, but its cute and easy.

So here's our two boys, set for summer. This should have been the end of the blog. But alas, it continues.You see, Garrett's hair was just long enough to still need attention every once in a while. I figured we'd re-trim his head just before we launched off on our summer vacation. Lori starting thinking maybe she could take of just a little bit more. She didn't discuss this idea with me. I was out mowing the grass. There was very little to start with, so we were left with only a bit.

She explains this all on her blog. How things happened. I give you . . . .

Garrett . . .

While my youngest son can rock the nearly bald look, I'm not so sure about G. My first thought was he looks like a chemo patient. He actually has some hair, its just so blond that the small amount looks nearly transparent on his scalp.

At least he likes it, and the crew cut is fun to rub. And who knows if he decides on a future in the Marine Corp or as an actor playing Lex Luthor he already will know the shape of his cranium.

OORAH