Skate Night

The elementary school PTA sponsored a Skate Night on Monday and we decided it would be fun to go. The skating rink is actually one that has been around so long that David skated there as a kid! They have definitely made improvements and tried to update and accommodate newer trends. They offer 3-D laser tag, a nikelcade, a waterpark (in season), and a food court. They also allow anything, and I mean anything, with wheels to be on the skate floor. We skated with scooters, strollers, big wheels, bikes, in-line skates, skate shoes, and good 'ol rollerskates. We all tried rollerskating with varied degrees of success. David and I were able to skate like pro's. Austin caught on pretty quick, but had trouble stopping. Ethan inched his way around a few times cautiously. Evan trekked around a few times and then opted for his scooter. And McKinley dangled between David and I, flopping forward and backward pretending she could skate. On her own she didn't fair as well and eventually opted for her scooter too. But the most important part was that we all had fun. We laughed a lot. We played the roller skating games. We speed skated. We did the YMCA skate. We did the funky chicken dance. And played red light, green light! Aaah, the memories!

Sunday afternoon nap!

Shooting

Over the winter break the guys decided it would be fun to get all their guns and go shooting. The day they picked ended up being SOOOOOO cold, but the bundled up and loaded their guns and headed out to Pelican Point in Utah county to a shooting park. They built a fire and tried to stay warm between shooting their guns. They all had a great time, even though they were really COLD!

Fencing Lessons

As a early birthday present Grandma Libby signed Ethan up for fencing classes. For Christmas Ethan received several swords and so we thought this would be an extension of that interest. His first lesson was on Wednesday and it was an interesting night. The instructor is a very accomplished fencer from the Ukraine and he is a funny character. He had the kids laughing and working and trying new things. He had a great time and looks forward to the next lesson.

Mom's Birthday!

We celebrated Mom's birthday in the dining room that night. She was surprised by her birthday cake and the whole dining room sang Happy Birthday to her! It was great!

Salsa and Salsa

Our first excursion we picked was called Salsa and Salsa and we thoroughly enjoyed it! It started with an hour bus ride tour through Merida, the capital of Yukitan. We stopped at a church and toured the town square as well. Then we walked to a restaurant and prepared to make our salsa. They even get us cute hats! After making and eating our three salsas we cleared the tables and took some salsa dance instruction. Needless to say we were pretty horrible, but we still had a good time. It was a nice day trip!

Mom's Birthday Cruise

My sister and I decided to take my mother on a 5 day cruise for her 60th birthday this year. The plans were made when I was still living in Texas and so we chose to cruise from Galveston. Instead of being able to drive to the port, we all had to fly out, but it was still a great place to cruise from. We left on Monday and had a full day at sea. It was warm and sunny, a great change from Utah/Washington weather! We had a great room...a upgraded large balcony suite that was awesome. We spent a lot of our time on the deck and had the door open the entire cruise to hear the ocean and water and feel the breezes.We spent a lot of time relaxing, reading, sunning, and visiting. It was a lot of fun. We also spent time eating and changing clothes from swimsuits to clothes to dressy clothes to swimsuits to pajamas! We really enjoyed ourselves on the boat!

Wednesday night was the formal night in the dining room and we enjoyed getting all dressed up for our dinner. We had a great family with us at our table and enjoyed each night getting to know them. We also had a fantastic waiter who was entertaining and lovable. He had been working on the cruise ships for 7 years, 10 months a year straight with 2 months off. We hope our friends send us a copy of the picture we took the last night of all of us together.
Our first stop was in Progresso Mexico, which is a 4 mile long port on the Yukitan peninsula that has been built just so cruise ships can come there. The city of Merida is the actual city to visit there and we booked an excursion there called Salsa and Salsa, where we made 3 different kinds of salsa and learned some basic salsa dancing after a brief tour of Merida. It was a great excursion and we enjoyed our time there.
The next morning we awoke in Cozumel Mexico where we had booked another excursion of 3 reef snorkeling. I was nervous about snorkeling because the only time I had ever gone before was on my honeymoon in Cancun and I had gotten very sea sick. But I was prepared with my drugs (actually I took them the whole cruise) and was fine. It was really neat to sea the reefs and the fish that were in the crystal clear water in Cozumel.
The last night of the cruise Mom was sick so Vicky and I had a night by ourselves. We went to a horrible show that was so funny we were laughing outloud (only it wasn't a comedy). Then we took in some comedy and called it a night. We dressed up for dinner again that night just for fun!
All in all it was a fabulous vacation. We were prepared for a relaxing time and a no brainer vacation...which it was. It was a great time to visit and laugh and have the memory of sharing this time together!