Vacation with the Cruisin' Cousins

Summer is here! This year we decided to take our usual spring vacation in June so that Kylee and Shelby could go with us. We had such a great time! On June 6th we picked up Kylee in Spanish Fork (on her way home from Flaming Gorge with Grandma Teri) and drove to Mesquite, Nevada. The next day we drove to Long Beach, California, were we boarded the Carnival Splendor cruise ship. What a huge ship! We had a great view of the ocean from our stateroom balcony.

Shelby and Kylee practicing their survival skills.

We explored the ship from top to bottom (not a small feat!) and decided to stay. Every night we had a formal dining experience. It was fun picking our appetizer and entree every night! The girl's favorite was cold strawberry soup. Grandma's favorite was the Melting Chocolate Cake....so goooood! Grandpa, of course, went for the prime rib. Since the buffet was always open, we were always eating. The girls were were always running upstairs for another chocolate ice cream cone.

There were several swimming pools and a water slide that were popular with Shelby and Kylee.

Our first stop was at Auroa, Oregon, were we visited a maritime museum and an old Victorian house. We also drove to a high hill where we could see for many miles. Our next stop was Victoria. We took a shuttle into to the downtown harbor and visited the wax museum and the Parliament building. We found a game shop that provided a lot of fun and laughs. Then back to the ship for more food! The third stop was Vancouver. It is also a very pretty city. We took a taxi to an aquarium and saw the 3-day-old baby beluga whale, as well as all the other fishes. Back to the ship to...you guessed it...eat dinner! Most evening we went to a show in the ship's showroom. We had a lot of photographs taken, both on and off ship, by professional (?) photographers. We took a few naps, watched some TV, read a few books and generally had a very relaxing and enjoyable time. The granddaughters were such fun to be with! They were always happy and smiling and turned everything into an adventure.
On Sunday, the 14th we arrived back in Long Beach and had to say good-bye to liberal eating habits and lazy days. We stayed that night in Long Beach and Shelby and Kylee spent the afternoon on the beach. The next day we drove to Las Vegas and stayed in the Stratophere. Tuesday we visited the Stratophere needle, visited awhile with Tracy and Jackie and then started the 8 hour trip home. It's always nice to get home, but sad, too, because our grand adventure was over.

Grandpa relaxin' at one of the pools.

Kylee in Aurora, Oregon
Shelby in Vancouver, Canada On the beach at Long Beach, California

In the Statosphere Needle in Las Vegas

Merrill April 2009

I am hoping that I will soon be up to date with the Merrill family blogs for 2009. I got January then February/March. Now I am working on April. Sorry I am so slow, but it is better late than never ... right? Easter weekend we got together with family and had all sorts of activities. We started off with the Merrill/Simmons cousins for bowling and an egg hunt. Moving on to egg decorating, then Easter morning and ending with dinner at Tami's house with the Williams families.

Spring would not be complete without soccer. Here are the highlights of the season.

And nothing beats a cool spring day than playing in the water ... one way or another.

Memorial Weekend - Hatch/Hayman Style

Here is our annual Memorial Weekend camping trip to Southfork. We try to get our favorite spot every year. Basically, this has meant that Gregg gets to start camping early in the week to ensure our spot is secure. Southfork doesn't take reservations for the spot we want. So, Gregg takes the trailer up early and gets our sacred site. Stacy, Ron, Dena and Jim made the weekend that much better. Ron and Stacy shared the site, while Dena and Jim were across the way. What a great weekend!

Kendyl has absoultely no fear of anything. While the rest of the campers hung out in the trailer during Sunday's rainstorm, Kendyl went out and thoroughly enjoyed the water nature was providing her! She even tried to "wash" her hair in the stream of water coming off the awning!

As we all know, I am not a fan of cooking......except when we are camping! I made a huge breakfast on Sunday morning. So, a Kodak moment was appropriate. Huge breakfast.....as in quantity.......! There were four bottles of Shake 'N' Pour pancakes, two packages of bacon, twenty sausage patties, a package of hashbrowns, a dozen scrambled eggs and tortillas. Yes, it was all consumed......by just our family!

A night around the campfire.....making our Smores! Yummy!

This was one of the many walks around the campground. Kendyl learned a new phrase on this camp weekend. She was allowed to hold onto Lilly's leash and she would say "Hold on Tight!". It was so cute!

Kendyl loves the dirt. She would scoop up the dirt and sift out the rocks (her favorite thing). She would then put the dirt in her pockets and save the rocks.

What is a weekend of camping without hours of Phase 10? This year we tossed it up a little and played Phase 10 Twist! I do believe I was the ultimate winner......

We had a great weekend and love our annual kick off to Summer!

Merrill February & March 2009