VaCaTiON

As many you know, we took a 7 day cruise on the Carnival Vicory last week. We had a great time and ate some great food! We stopped in San Juan, St. Thomas and St. Maarten. Here a few pictures...

The beautiful St.Thomas...

It was just a wee bit crowded .... you had to be a earlier riser to get a chair!

Formal night.... it was kind of fun to get all dressed up.

San Juan... We didn't get there until 6p, so we just walked around a little bit. Our boat is behind us.

Jet skiing in St Maarten. The kids LOVED it! That is now what Colby wants to do when he 'grows up'.

Hanging out at the closest to the front of the boat as you can get.

Say good-bye to the FUN BUS ...

I never in a million years thought that I would say "I'm going to miss that car!" I did not want to drive a mini-van.... EVER!! It took me several months to start liking that car, but we had some fun in it...piling 2 families in it and all getting out like a bunch of clowns in a vw bug! It was fun, but the lease is up and it's got to go.

Say HELLO to .....

SUZUKI XL7 .... I know, I said the same thing, "a suzuki"?? I've never even been IN a Suzuki, and actually didn't know they even made cars! It has the 3rd back seat and leather seats and of course dvd player (can't live w/o that now that we've had one)!! It will take some getting used to... the kids aren't used to opening up their own door, and have nearly dented up Calvin's car several times! I have to park away from everyone so that don't fling their door open and hit another car! I guess I'm a little spoiled as well, I actually have to open the hatch back...I can't just push a button anymore. :o( Anyway, Darin and Kevin, say goodbye to the FUN BUS!!

Had a FAB time at Disney...

Kaitlin, Rylee, Karlee and Kathryn

Colby would not get in the picture (imagine that!) The cars were running and were a bit loud and he freaked out and would not come near them!

Karlee and Rylee

Raining at Animal Kingdom...

We were lucky enough to go to Disney last weekend. Thank you Kari for inviting us to stay w/ you in that mansion of a house! For Christmas a friend from IA got to go to Olrando for like 12 nights w/ her extended family. They rented a 7 br house w/ 5 full bathrooms and a heated pool and hot tub in the back yard. It was huge!! We went to MGM the first day and Animal Kingdom the 2nd day. It was a good thing we brought our rain panchos ( the ones we spent like 40.00 on the first time we went to Disney) because it rained on us again.. down pour this time! We got our moneys worth out of those darn panchos.

It's a ZOO out there...

Our backyard looked like a petting zoo the past few days. The kids were out on the back porch practing their Heelys (what was Santa thinking!?!) and some ducks came up to the back fence. We had some bird seed so we put it in a bowl and they went crazy over it! I guess they went and told their friends because before we knew it, there were birds everywhere! A little later a momma and her babies showed up and Colby thought there were 'adorable'. Isn't he sweet! HA HA!!

HAPPY New YEAR

Joe and Laura Cabutto were in town visiting their family and invited us over for New years eve. We hung out there for awhile and then came home and did some fireworks and sparklers in our back yard and popped some bubbly at midnight ( sparkling apple cider). I think Colby was the only one that liked it... he said "we need to do that again!"

Fun in the Snow...

Oh my gosh!!! We had SNOW much fun at Seven Oaks in Boone! If you live in the area and have never been... you've GOT to go!! We went night snow tubing and it was a blast! The first picture below does not do the hills justice! There were 3 'runs' for tubers and they were over 1000 feet long and super fast! I mean loose your hat fast, and tears coming out of your eyes turning into icicles on your face fast! It was like 19 degrees out but we didn't care. Thanks Mindy for thinking of this great idea (even though I thought you were insane at the time). I really didn't think my kids would be able to hang in the cold weather, but they absolutely loved it! There was a lift that you hooked your tube to and it took you up the mountain (hill). Not bad for a little Iowa fun!

Rylee and Alison

Alison, Mindy and Ken

Colby, Rylee and Britton

Colby

We miss you GRAMMIE!

The funeral went well. A lot of people showed up to celebrate Leah May Fengel's life. She was quite the spunky lady, and we'll miss her alot! I got to see cousins and relatives that I have not seen in 8 plus years. All of the grandkids were pall bearers and it was quite an honor. We love you Gram!