Family vacation 2008 was in Mesquite, Nevada - a cool 100+ degrees every day. We spent lots of time in the swimming pools - and air conditioned rooms - and we had a great time. All of our children and grandchildren were there - except Brian, Melissa and Cameron - who had a last minute crisis and couldn't get away - they were missed, but we will catch them next time. It is always so much fun when we are all together - and we are always reminded about how lucky we are to have such wonderful children, in-law children and grandchildren - and how blessed we feel to be a part of this amazing family. Vacation 2008 family photo - (back rows) Ken and Cyndi - Mike, Dianna, Kingston - Chris, Matthew, Paula - Amber - Neisha, Isabel - Jason, Erin / (front rows) Wade-O, Jonathan, Caleb - Jaden, Isaac

Yes - even the adults had fun coming down the water slide.

Family game night included 20 of us playing card games and board games in one hotel room - it was great fun to see all the competitive personalities come out.

We spent most of our time sitting beside this wonderful swimming pool - you can see the waterslide and waterfall that the kids enjoyed so much. Between Wade and Isabel - they must have gone down the slide hundreds of times.

Snack time at poolside - we got the kids out of the water for a short snack break - but not too far away from it - they wouldn't even take off the water wings for a few minutes because they were back in the water before you could blink.

A fun round of miniature golf - although obviously not too serious when you had to play and hold little ones in your arms or by the hand througout the course.

We had a picnic lunch by the side of the pool each day - it was great - we just sat out a lot of sandwich makings and everyone helped themselves - a favorite with the little kids was Uncle Jon making funny faces out of their balogna.

More fun and games.

Grandchildren are a joy indeed - here is one picture of each of the 6 grandkids who were with us for this trip - there isn't space enough to publish all the fun shots we took - but you get the idea. Caleb (age 6) chilling by the pool after a long day of swimming. He was turning into quite the little fish by the time we left.

Wade (age 3) loved to swim - and swim - and swim . . . and jump in front of all the people waiting to come down the waterslide!!!

Isabel (age 3) is poised and ready to shoot her squirt gun at anyone within range. She is taking a momentary break out of the water - which didn't happen often.

Jaden (age 2) trying to decide if he is ready to get out of the pool or head back in. He is such a funny little boy and such a joy to be around.

Matthew (age 14 months) loved the water - especially with dad ready to catch him at all times - look, no water wings for him.

Kingston (age 5 months) just made everyone smile when they looked at him. What a beautiful and happy little baby. I even cheated and got to snuggle him for about an hour at midnight on our last night there, when Dianna thought he was asleep - I couldn't help myself.

We had a wonderful surprise when Chris and Paula decided to bring the boys to California for the weekend - and escape the heat of Southern Utah. We laughed, played, spilled milk, read books, picked up endless toys - and loved every minute. We spent the 1st day at Heritage Park and swimming in the pool at Amber's house. The kids loved being together and Caleb was known to say: "mom - Isabel follows me everywhere". The next day we went to the Discovery Museum - then to the Irvine Spectrum to ride the ferris weel - called the "big wheel" because we sat in large baskets that hold up to 6 people instead of regular 2-person swings. On Saturday we went to ride the big "Orange" helium balloon (for the 2nd time) and had a blast - headed out to ride a fun train around Irvine Regional Park and spent some time at the zoo - then on to the beach for a hot dog cookout with all the kids. I have never seen so much sand covering children - but they were in heaven. Thanks you guys for having such amazing little ones who bring so much joy into life. This helium balloon is the first attraction/activity designed for the new "Great Park" that won the bid to replace the El Toro Marine Base when it was sold to the city. The balloon reaches heights of 300 to 400 feet (depending on wind) - it has a single cable in the middle and you ride in a basket that is shaped kind of like a donut so you can look down through the middle. You can see for miles around you and especially view all the things they are already beginning to build. Eventually (about 15 years) the park will be bigger than Central Park in New York - and will include a canyon - lake - golf courses - wilderness park - museums, and much more.

Caleb was a little tentative being up so high - but he loved the adventure of riding under a big balloon and being able to see the ferris wheel he rode in the day before - which is a few miles away from the balloon.

This is a special "history walk" - they have used one of the old runways and developed a chronological walk through some of the history of America and especially the marine base. This will continue to grow as the great park grows. It is awesome to see how much of the base they intend to keep and re-use (i.e. runways will become parking lots - and cargo jet hangers will become museums). This was truly a great adventure - and it is free to the public.

This is a picture of the basket you actually ride in - it is shaped like a donut with a big hold in the middle. It is completely safe and enclosed by netting - but open to the air so you can see a lot and take lots of pictures. And NO - you do not get motion sick going up in the balloon - that was one of my fears but other than a slight jerky movement when you take off and land - the ride is perfectly smooth with little to no motion at all. It was awesome.

This is a night time view of the balloon. We actually went at night and saw the city in lights - but couldn't see too much of what is going on around the area - so we went back the next morning and took another ride in daylight to see how the ground actually looks. Both were great adventures and equally fun.

We spent the morning at Heritage Park - a great island paradise for kids where they can run and play on equipment that is designed just for them to enjoy. There is water surrounding an island and the kids loved the ducks, turtles and swans who finished off a loaf of bread from our picnic. It is not easy to get 4 children to even look at a camera at the same time - much less smile - but we think they are pretty special. This is one of the play areas inside a building called the "old north church".

One little Matthew Monkey climbing up stairs and looking through rails - I think Matt got 4 or 5 bruises on his face while we were here because he was determined to climb and slide and do whatever the big kids were doing - the trouble is that he has only been walking for 4 weeks so he bumped into lots of things as he toddled after the others - but he is tough and always came back for more adventure after a comforting hug from mom.

This is a Jaden Monkey - one of the cousins Matt tried so hard to keep up with. It was pretty funny to see Caleb in the lead - with Isabel and Jaden running after him - and then Matt trying his best to keep up. You can imagine that we laughed a lot.

Caleb loved feeding the ducks and throwing pretty much anything he could find into the water. If you look closely to Caleb's left you can see a turtle. We tried feeding him - but whenever we would throw bread toward him, the ducks would "swamp" the poor little guy in their efforts to get to the bread first.

Isabel - Jaden - Mattew and Caleb in a concrete boat on the island. It's a great boat for climbing in and on - but I wouldn't want to take it out on the water - especially with such precous cargo.

The Discovery Museum is a wonderful place for kids - full of lots of things to experience and do from a hands on approach. We sat in an earthquake shack - experienced hurricane winds - layed on a bed of nails - saw dinosaur bones - dug in sand for fossils - climbed a rock wall - and much more. It is a great place to spend a day - but maybe we shouldn't pick a day when summer camp programs were there with hundreds of kids in groups of 20 or so trying to see and do everything at the same time. Caleb loves Bob the Builder - and both boys loved all the things there were to build and experiment with from tractors to tools, it was great fun.

Matthew is driving a vehicle alone for the first time at 14 months old and loving it - just wait until he is 16.

Matt also loved "planting" carrots and onions in the garden patch . . .

. . . while Caleb maneuvered up and across a rock climbing wall in record time.

You have to love family portraits - even if they are in a bright yellow submarine - that's Paula on the left - then Matthew (with Jonathan holding him up) - Chris and then Caleb.

A fun time at Irvine Regional Park gave us an opportunity to ride a train - see a zoo with animals specific to Southern California - a black bear - coyote - ocelot - etc. It was fun to watch the boys run and point and get excited about the things they saw. The train was really fun - it runs for about 15 minutes and takes you on a tour around the park - then you can go back (on foot) and see all the things you passed on the train like the lake and the zoo.

All the boys enjoyed looking at the train engine - Grandpa Hoagy just loved being one of the boys and hanging out - although for some reason Caleb kept trying to use grandpa for a punching bag.

Matthew was a little hesitant about the horses - but he petted them - and Caleb enjoyed his Icee more than getting too close to the horses.

One of Caleb's favorite characters is "curious George" a monkey that swings through the jungle - so this is an appropriate activity for all little monkeys - swinging on a vine was great fun.

Caleb loved the train engine and although it looks like he was doing a dance - he was actually pretending to be a train engineer - his enthusiasm for everything he does is wonderful.

Beach Boys Concert in Chicago

Aunt Tina and Uncle Pat took Ken and I to a Beach Boys concert on Monday night. It was great fun and although the pictures aren't great - you get the general idea. The park is an outside amphitheater where people can buy seats (very expensive) or just get general admission tickets (much less expensive) and sit on the grassy areas surrounding the theater. We took lawn chairs and a picnic and had a wonderful time. One of the best things was "people watching" which is always hilarious - there were people who obviously come to these concerts on a regular basis because they brought their tables, chairs, flowers, candles, etc. The music was wonderful and the evening was perfect. I know this is not a great picture - I had to hold the camera up over other people just to get a shot - but if you look closely you can see John Stamos (Jesse from "Full House") who was a guest drummer at the concert. The music was wonderful - sorry about the blurry photo.
Here we are with Aunt Tina and Uncle Pat at the concert. We were relaxing and having a wonderful evening just visiting and listening to great music. Pat and Tina - thanks so much for taking us.