Vacation #2 was awesome!  We had such a blast in Disneyland, Legoland, Sea World and the beach in California.  It definitely wasn’t a “relaxing” vacation, 5 days of theme parks does that to ya, but it was MAGICAL! 

Mema & Papa Powell came out and we all drove to Cali in our new minivan (it had to be long road tested right?!?) with no incident.  We stayed at our Condo in Anaheim and had 3 gloriously busy days at Disneyland.  It was slightly overcast which made standing in lines bearable for us and the kids.  We also were told about a website called RideMax which was worth the $15 bucks it cost to stand in the minimal amounts of lines possible, it is very cool!  Monday was great (magical to see Spencer and Josey’s, as well as Mema’s & Papa’s, reactions for their first ever visit).  Tuesday was extremely busy (Senior Day) so we left at noon and relaxed and then came back at 4 and met up with Kim Haddock and the kids in California Adventure then stayed for the fireworks!  Wednesday was heavenly (10 major rides accomplished in the first 2 hours of being at the park!) 

Spencer’s favorites: Buzz Lightyear (we went on this several times back to back), The Matterhorn, Big Thunder Mountain, and Star Tours.  When he got off Star Tours he said to me, “Mom did you see me take off and go into outer space?” I told him I thought I saw something take off and he turned to Chris and said, “She saw us go into space!  IT was awesome!”  Rides he didn’t like so much: Tower of Terror and Splash Mountain…when asked if he wanted to go on these again he would quickly say no! 

Josey loved the rides!  She kept pointing to the rides and would say “RIDES!” over and over again.  She loved the “neigh neighs” of the Merry-go-round and Dumbo.  She went on the Tea Cups with Mema and even had to spin the cups much to Mema’s dismay.  She loved the Tiki Room birds and flowers and anything Pooh Bear!

We did a character breakfast on Tuesday morning with Minnie Mouse and friends and we got to be up close and personal with about 10 of the characters.  Spencer got their signatures which he thought was cool.  Josey was doing alright with them until Tigger touch her cheek with his nose.  After that she would scoot as far back onto Chris’ lap whenever they would come to our table! Josey loved Goofy the best and didn’t want to leave him in Toon Town.

My most magical moment was the fireworks Tuesday night.  As we were standing underneath the fireworks and the music is playing a song about “believing” and a real life Tinkerbell is flying through the air I watch my kids standing around me and throught back to six year ago when Chris and I were standing in Disneyland childless and wishing and hoping that someday we could bring our children here and that moment it had all come full circle!  I had a good cry through most of the fireworks so grateful for my little family and my blessings!

One of Chris’ favorite moments was taking his mom and dad on the Indiana Jones ride.  His mom is claustrophobic, and almost didn’t make it on the ride, but talked herself into it.  Chris said that when the boulder came crashing down at the end his mom almost had a heart attack!  Then she couldn’t get her buckle off fast enough and shot out of the car like a bolt and Chris and his dad couldn’t even catch up to her in the tunnel to get out.  Chris kept telling her that she needed to do one thing every day that scared her…she said that that was more than she needed! 

Legoland was fun…although the lines were very long to ride the tinyroller coasters, but it was nice to have a more relaxing less hurried day than doing things in Disneyland.  Spencer loved riding the cars, helicopters and airplanes, and especially loved The Dragon roller coaster.  He and Chris went on it back to back!  I was amazed at all the things that they built full sized out of Lego’s!  I loved the city skylines that they had in miniature with real working subways, boats and lights.  It brought me back to my childhood and playing Lego’s with my brothers!

Our last day was in Sea World.  It was overcast and mist/drizzled rain for most of the morning, but was so amazing for the kids.  They LOVED all the different animals, and really loved the shows!  Again we had a more relaxing day here.  Spencer had to do the Shark exhibit twice.  We couldn’t leave until we saw the penguins, the polar bears, and the turtles!  I loved being able to touch the bat rays with Spencer.  He wasn’t too sure at first, but really thought it was cool after a little warming up.  He was bummed he couldn’t ride any of the rides there (1 in too short), but was super excited when he got to build his own Shamu stuffed animal as his souvenir. 

I am so glad we decided to do this vacation this year!  Our kids were at a really great age for the the magical parts of it.  Everything to them was real and so amazing!  It was so fun to have Mema and Papa Powell with us and for them to experience Disney for the first time as well!  We walked everybodies’ legs off and tired everyone out, but it was a great way to do it!  Can’t wait to go again!

Off to Highlands Ranch, CO for the graduation of our oldest niece and nephew from high school.  We spent two nights there.  It was so great to be around some of Chris’ family again.  We haven’t seen the Sutorius’ since our last “reunion” two years ago and Brent, Jill and Ethan flew in from Ohio for it too.  We rode the light rail into downtown Denver and walked the 16th Steet Mall in the rain.  Ate dinner at ESPN Zone so the guys could watch the nailbiting buzzer shot winner by LeBron James and the Cavaliers.  I was really impressed with the cleanliness of the downtown area.

We then drove to Estes Park (about 1 1/2 hours NW of Denver) and spent time with everyone in our condos.  It was cool and cloudy most of the time we were there.  Decent weather in the morning, then would rain in the afternoon and usually at night.  We walked the quaint little main street.  The guys and Corrin all went river rafting in the 40 degree river and had a blast while the girls and the kids went for a hike around Lily Lake and ate lunch at the historic and haunted Stanley Hotel.  I had a bbq pulled elk sandwich for the first time and it was surprisingly good!  Not gamey tasting at all.

We rode the aerial tram to the top of  a mountain and the kids fed peanuts right out of their hands to the chipmunks who are REALLY tame.  Spencer was so scared they would bite him that he dropped the peanut the first time one came close.  Even Josey got in the action and was so ticked when they ran out.  The kids wanted to go swimming just about every day even though it was an outdoor “heated” pool that didn’t feel much warmer than a cool bath.  They had fun and the adults sat in the hot tub!

Our last day there we went horseback riding and had a great time!   Spencer loved that our horse’s name was Fun.  He didn’t like it so much when I made Fun trot and said, “don’t do that again Mom.”  But I did it again   We also drove up to the top Visitor Center in Rocky Mountain National Park (11,784 feet above sea level) saw a lot of snow and a lot of Elk.  It was really pretty.  The mountains there are so different than the mountains in Utah.  We had such a great trip!  Check out the rest of our trip picts in the Photo Albums.

Easter was so great this year!  We spent a whole week focusing on Jesus and his last week of his life before he atoned for us, was crucified and then resurrected.  It is amazing to me what children at such a young age can comprehend and understand.  We made edible Empty Tombs…

Spencer loved this one! We dyed eggs with the Lawsons. We went to the city Easter Egg Hunt, we made “Cinnamoms” as Spencer calls them on Easter morning, and the kids searched for their eggs. 

We went to Grandma and Grandpa Teeters house for Easter dinner and took some family pictures with Grandma’s beautiful flowers.

So Chris totally surprised me for my 33rd birthday and flew us along with our good friends, Greg and Melissa Lawson, to San Francisco to see “Wicked”.  We flew out Friday morning, got our rental car and found our hotel (Hotel Monaco) in downtown SF. After getting settled we walked to Union Square got our trolley pass and started on our way.  The trolley was packed, so we decided we would walk until we could catch one that wasn’t quite so full, well after walking up and down the hills the whole way to Lombard Street we were a little tired. 

We caught a trolley back to Union Square then went back to the hotel to freshen up for dinner.  We ate at this delicious Italian Ristorante called Finos that was delicious!  The appetizers of bruschetta and “Italian Frechfries” were both so good it was hard to save room for dinner.  I had the chicken with avacado, panchetta, and cheese with a Marsala sauce, roasted vegetables and potatoes that was melt in your mouth divine!  After dinner we walked the 12 blocks (in my stilettos I might add) to the Orpheum Theatre to see Wicked!  Wicked is so incredible.  It was so fun for me to watch Melissa watching it for the first time (I got to see it two years ago on my birthday in NYC)! The cast was so good…we had the standin for Elphaba and I was worried until she sang her first song giving me goosebumps and knew that she was going to be amazing!  Patty Duke played Madame Morrible the headmistress of the school and was really good too.  We then walked the 12 blocks back to our hotel and Chris gave me a much needed foot massage!  Saturday morning we got up early, ate at this yummy crepery hopped aboard the trolley to Fisherman’s Wharf walked around there for a bit then went back to the hotel to check out.  After checking out we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge too fun! We headed back to Fisherman’s Wharf for Clam Chowder and Fish ‘n Chips bought souvenirs for the kids then headed back to the airport.  It was so much fun! I can’t wait to plan the next weekend getaway with the Lawsons…Pittsburg maybe?  Who knows!

So have you ever seen those Chevy Chase Vacation movies…this trip felt like one of those movies!!  I called it our “comedy of errors” trip!  If it could go wrong…it did!  Luckily we were in a beautiful setting, wearing either a swim suit or shorts and sandals.  Luckily too that most of the time we had a sense of humor and there were moments of bliss interspersed in all the chaos!

(At San Cristobal Fort, Old San Juan)

Spencer and Josey experienced the ocean for the first time…what fun!  Check out the video of Spencer playing in the waves…he LOVED it!  He really loved digging and playing in the sand.  He also loved the FREE-dom he had with minimal rules and no bedtime.  Josey did not love riding in the car…in fact, she threw-up twice in the brand new rental car.  She loved the ocean as long as the waves didn’t spash her in the face and on one outing she even fell asleep in her floaty on my shoulder.  They both traveled so well considering we spend a lot of time on planes and in cars.  They were troopers!

The two days we spent at the Villas were my favorite days of the trip!  After the day before spending 6 1/2 hours in a car driving 90 miles across the island to Rincon, we passed up spending  more hours on a boat scuba diving to be lazy and play on the beach and in the ocean with our kids…it being Spencer’s first ocean experience!  Those moments were the BEST of the trip.

The view from the patio of our Villa in Rincon.