St. Augustine

on our way home from Orlando we popped through St. Augustine, hit the beach for a little bit and the whatever fort is there. Cole, my history fan, loved it. We did learn some cool stuff about the psychological warfare they used. I need some psychological warfare.

pooped out

educating us

kids didn't mind playing in the water w/o suits

more vacating

the fireworks were amazing

giddy with exhaustion

racin'

dancing at disney

Dumbo

Vacating

Ryan, Andrea and the kids came down to do Disney and other fun Florida things with us...here are pics in reverse order and more to come to prove it... dancing at Disney a Hannah sized door

feeling Singing in the rain? Ryan obliged

no comments or autographs

the disc landed on the zero

a beached pixie

shuffleboarding

Savannah/Tybee Island

A couple of weeks ago we decided to meet my very pregnant sister, in the middle, from her home in Charlotte and Savannah was the place. We wanted the beach so we stayed on Tybee Island, little rinky dink, but it was the beach. We had a lot of fun. We all loved feeling Melissa's baby move (priceless since that won't be happening for us again). Fun fun on the beach, with the exception of the jellyfish that were abound aplenty. We went back to Savannah for lunch on Saturday. Relaxed and enjoyed each other. Here are pics from the weekend. These are not in order, because I'm blogger picture post challenged.

Totally in her element, she said Mommy, I really really really want to very very bad bad bad stay at the beach all day. I think it's not fair that her skins starts to burn at the thought of stepping in the sun no matter what we do :(.

At the top of the Tybee Island lighthouse, all little ones and bout to deliver a little one people walked all the way up!!!!

Tybee Island Museum, totally in his element

Anya loved Cole and apparently all boys according to her mom, Cole ate it up.

See

Typical Anya

at the top of he lighthouse. Hannah's wondering why Melissa was clutching the side of the wall. It was a little scary, but very nice too.

Loved driving down this street in Savannah, lots of big old beautiful houses with big old beautiful trees.

out last day, very windy, cold, sandy flying, while Hannah, Cole and I headed back to the car...Laura could have cared less, I swear that girl is a fish

We got ice cream at Leopold's...it was family owned from way back, but the son of the original owners went on to be a big hollywood producer and many stars have passed through here...apparently Forrest Gump was filmed in Savannah, a picture of Forrest sitting in Savannah was on sale for $300...I think I have that same picture on my VHS cover.

Hannah got chocolate, but there were other very cool flavors, Brandon and Cole got Japanese Cherry Blossom ( I have lotion of that scent and it tasted a little like my lotion, still good). Laura got rose petal and it tasted just like a rose, but not so much that it wasn't good. Melissa got a vanilla shake (boring .... but very delicious)

Awww, couldn't resist :)

more to come, keeps not letting me upload....

Bout time

for recapping, we went to Disney a couple of weeks ago as a gift from my dad...the kids loved it, esp the hotel that had free popcorn, Hannah was a big fan of that. It was fun to be together, we all had a good time. The older kids were so exhausted they put themselves to bed w/o dinner...not a peep. :)

Back to our trip

Working backwards now I suppose. These were the first pics in put in a collage so there.

Brandon and I honeymooned in Yellowstone almost 11 years ago and were excited to share it with the kids. Well, you know how some plans can go. The kids wanted to stay at the cabin and watch tv. The drive was too long there and even inside. I remembered loving the waterfalls so that's where we headed first. Along the way we saw a ton of buffalo, well probably a few ton.

We go to the waterfalls and a shower came down..it was already cooler than we anticipated and Cole forgot his jacket at the cabin. Well we strongly encourage him to come with us to the falls lookout and it starts raining but we trudge ahead we quickly see the falls all the while Cole is beyond miserable then as we head back to the car it begins hailing on us. We were drenched and pelted by the time we made it to the car. Two minutes later the rain was gone..for the day. Go figure. Cole didn't get out to see the lower falls. Laura my fish could have whatever happen when it comes to water and she wouldn't care. She was unfazed. Hannah was in the stroller slightly traumatized, but we survived.

We went back the 2nd day determined for the kids to see Old Faithful. It was cold and they were happy the pavement was warm, that's the crust of the visit.

We've decided to go back when they turn 21ish and can really appreciate it.

It was so beautiful. When I go back I would like to stay inside the park and have a good time seeing it all, just driving along the rivers was breathtaking.

Wydahotana

That's what Brandon's coworkers call where he's from, cause it's somewhere out there amongst those western states. We had a good time, experiences all kinds of weather. LOTS of pics, the task seems daunting to blog about it all....I'm going to give it a shot! Well mostly pics with a few comments where necessary. Here goes!


First stop SLC, UT

Susan picked us up then we headed to Temple Square and met up with our wonderful babysitter Miss Kristine, who's hanging out there for the summer and two missionaries who served in Tally but are home now, James Costello and Brady Nielsen. They were fun to hang with, the kids enjoyed their youthful energy...



We had a picnic lunch that Susan made for us, yummy. Then we headed to the north visitor's center and saw cool paintings and the Christus, then watched a video that moved you to different rooms that were decorated for different stages in life, it was about families being together forever (very well done).




We went back to temple sqaure the next day, Joseph Smith memorial building, conference center and headed north to Ogden to have lunch with Brandon's Aunt Barbara. We made it to Pocatello in time to eat at Tastee Treet...yummy.

It was good to see everyone again.

and due to picture editing issues we'll add more later :)

A Visit

from Grandma and Grandpa Porter...so much fun. I love the way they play with the kids. We went down to Orlando and picked them up. The day before they arrived Brandon and I went to the temple, we went as a family to Downtown Disney and ate at the Rainforest Cafe which was fun. I had the best salad with some awesome pecans. It may not sound like much but I saw someone else eating and stopped to ask them what they were eating (no manners, but it looked that good) and they said they were loving....I did too!



Jungle Chop Salad - Romaine and Iceberg lettuce, black olives, cucumbers, carrots, red cabbage, candied pecans, blue cheese crumbles, dried cranberries and grilled chicken tossed in a raspberry vinaigrette dressing.



Hannah didn't like it when it "rained" in there. She was afraid the elephants were going to come after her.



We stayed in a hotel for two night, the first night was not fun at all cause we were in a room with two small double beds. Hannah and I did not sleep so I knew they had a semi family suite so I said Brandon we gotta upgrade and they upgraded us for free. The suite had a full/queen bed and the a closed off room for the kids with bunk beds and a twin with their own tv. They loved it!



Anyways we took a tourist packed trip home in which we visited the Desere Ranch, an orange grove cause Rhoud wanted to pick an orange from a tree and let me tell you it was an excellent orange. Oh my! Then St. Augustine cause Susan's wanted to go there for some time, we just stopped for a bit but it was nice, the sun was setting, we'll visit there again. And then we stopped by my dad' where Linda had a scrumptious dinner made. So we made a three and half our trip home into a twelve hour trip. Not like us at all, very adventerous. The kids did well thanks to our rigged dvd player and Grandma and Grandpa playing games with them.