California!!

Yes, we FINALLY made it to Disneyland.  When we first thought of moving to Arizona, living only 5 hours from Disneyland seemed so wonderful.  But then the economy tanked and funding a trip just seemed impossible.  But we are starting to get ahead again and thought we better take the opportunity before our kids didn't want to do it anymore.

We had a wonderful time (even though I couldn't stop thinking about how MUCH those tickets cost! - seriously, does it really have to be THAT expensive?!)  We "hopped" between the two parks and tried just about every ride.  (You will NEVER get me on the Tower of Terror!)  We enjoyed the shows and walked and walked and waited in line and waited and waited and ... - (and it wasn't even that packed - it must be truly AWFUL on a busy day!)

Of course a trip to California wouldn't be complete without going to the beach!  We went whale watching in the morning - unfortunately, no whales :-( - We saw many, many dolphins and a few sea lions.  Being out on the ocean is beautiful.  It's too bad I missed most of it - I spent most of the ride with my eyes closed wishing my breakfast would make up its mind if it wanted to stay in my stomach or not - blaa!  

The kids had a great time playing in the ocean.  That water was COLD!! 

 But they didn't seem to mind.  You will notice I am not anywhere near the water - ha!

We also had dinner at a Pirate theater.  We had a blast rooting for "our" pirate - the one in purple!  (Yeah, he had a name, but I don't remember what it was).  

Arrrgh!  It was an awesome vacation!

Too much excitement

Well, July was certainly not a dull month!  The first two weeks we were on vacation.  We spent a few days in Colorado.  We had a great time and then went on to Omaha to visit family and attend a wedding.  It was so good to see all the family, but sad that I didn't get a chance to see everyone (especially my friends!).
Then at the end of the month we went camping.  We went to our favorite spot at the Blue Ridge Reservoir.  This was the first time we brought the dog.  He wasn't real excited about always being chained up.  But at least he wasn't alone in the back yard or running away!  We always seem to have some adventure while camping.  This time we met a rattle snake - yikes!  It was hiding under our cooler.  Thank you Heavenly Father for watching over us and not letting it bite anyone!
Then when we got home from camping, I opened the freezer to put the ice packs back and a frozen 2-liter bottle of water fell on my foot - breaking my toe - ouch!!!  So after hobbling around for a week on crutches, I am now hobbling around in a wooden shoe.  It is highly fashionable - ha!
Why do I freeze a bottle of water you ask?  It's all the chickens fault!!  It gets really hot here in the summer (I know that's hard to believe!), so to keep my girls cool, I put a frozen bottle in their water each morning. - yes, they are spoiled!
So as you can see there has been just too much excitement in our house for one month!!