Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Spring Break in Gulf Shores, Alabama!
My Sister lives in Gulf Shores with her cute family! They life in a beach house close to the bay side! So their just a block or so from the actual beach and right on the bay! My Sister in Law flew out from Utah, and drove with me and my 3 kids to Alabama! I'm sure she was wondering why she didn't just fly straight out to Alabama! haha She is pregnant with her first, so it was definitely some great prep for her! The kids actually did pretty well! Once we past Dallas we hit really really bad weather. Actually saw a tornado off the freeway at one point. But the worst was the torrential down pour for seriously like 3 hours straight! We stopped in Madison Ms that night and stayed with my dear friend Nichole Sorensen and her cute fam! It was so great of them to have all of us for the night! The in the morning we drove the rest of the way to Gulf Shores. The first few days the storm that followed us decided to stay. But we still had a great time and ended up with a few sunny days at the beach before we headed back to Oklahoma.
This is the bay, its nice you can fish and Kayak and swim and not have to fight the waves.
Playing in the waves
the kids putting on a play! They had so much fun together!
Alligator Alley!! Here is my Niece Taylor holding a baby Alligator
Reece and Braeden decided to give it a try!! Braeden is holding the big guy, he did so good!
JaNelle Jen and I
Kids building a sand castle
I love this picture of Sophie and Owen!
So this snake was actually in Oklahoma not Alabama as you might have thought! It was the day after we got home, and I was on my way to pick up Reece from School, and saw it too late and ran right over it! Then 3 more cars ran it over after me! I turned around so we could get a closer look, My sister in law took the picture, it really was HUGE! Like around 4ft. long! It didn't have a rattler otherwise I was sure it was a rattlesnake! But this is it after 4 cars ran it over! It it was still alive! You can see where it was kinda flat from the tires! It slithered off the road and was gone!
This is the bay, its nice you can fish and Kayak and swim and not have to fight the waves.
Playing in the waves
the kids putting on a play! They had so much fun together!
Alligator Alley!! Here is my Niece Taylor holding a baby Alligator
Reece and Braeden decided to give it a try!! Braeden is holding the big guy, he did so good!
I love this picture of Sophie and Owen!
So this snake was actually in Oklahoma not Alabama as you might have thought! It was the day after we got home, and I was on my way to pick up Reece from School, and saw it too late and ran right over it! Then 3 more cars ran it over after me! I turned around so we could get a closer look, My sister in law took the picture, it really was HUGE! Like around 4ft. long! It didn't have a rattler otherwise I was sure it was a rattlesnake! But this is it after 4 cars ran it over! It it was still alive! You can see where it was kinda flat from the tires! It slithered off the road and was gone!
Friday, May 11, 2012
HAWAII ROCKS!!!
Oh Hawaii, How much I miss thee! lol So Ross and I just got back from Oahu, Hawaii! Our first trip there but certainly NOT our last trip back! We went with another couple, some really good friends of ours from church....the Lancaster's! We planned this trip with them after we found out that we were both coming up on our 10 year wedding anniversary's and we were both thinking about celebrating in Hawaii. So we just decided to plan to go together, and we had a blast! I hope their not too sick of us! haha
We flew there on a Saturday morning and got to Hawaii about 3 in the afternoon, but like 8 our local time. But even though we were all pretty tired we tried our best to stay up as late as possible to get acclimated to their time as quickly as we could. We stayed till Thursday night and flew out at 10 pm. And from the time that we arrived, until we drove to turn in our rental car, we were going non-stop!! We toured probably most of the island and visited and played at many of the beaches including the famous surfer's spot the North Shore! Ate and the famous Shaved ice place called Motsumoto's, and it was actually REALLY yummy!
We went to Pearl Harbor and got to see the Memorial of the USS Arizona, which was really neat! We toured the Dole Plantation and ate some really yummy Pineapple Ice cream! We went to see the Oahu Temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which was absolutely beautiful! Also went to the Polynesian culture Center, where all the islands in the South Pacific are featured! While we were there we saw shows from Samoa and Tonga I think it was. Lindsay and I made bracelets in Tonga, which was really fun! Then we got to go to their Luau, with some more entertainment while we ate. They even brought the 4 of us up on stage with other couples there who were also celebrating anniversary's and ones that were newly married, and we got to say how many years we were celebrating, and dance together onstage while being serenaded by the band! Then they have a big show that's after dinner, an hour and a half long, but it was beautiful! Showcasing all of the Islands, through song and dance, and a beautiful story told!
We also were able to go on a Catamaran just the 4 of us, for a couple hours out at sea, and went snorkeling. The captain called it the turtle car wash area, where these huge turtles plant themselves on the ocean floor and the fishes come and eat all the gunck (for lack of a better word) off of their shells, then they move on and the next one moves in! I thought that was so funny! We actually only saw 1 big turtle, but also got to see a huge school of Dolphins swimming right by our boat, and some other neat fish!
We were spoiled with massages, and yummy dinners every night! The last day we were there we were told about a more secluded waterfall that you could hike just about 30 minutes to, so we decided to give that a try! Let me just say that Ross was the only smart one, and wore tennis shoes! The rest of us wore flip flops, and it was a pretty intense HIKE up a mountain! Actually the fist half was ok, I thought Oh this is a piece of cake! Then we were crossing rivers and hiking up really steep areas of the Mountain! But after about 45 minutes we made it to a small but beautiful Waterfall! Even though I was dying and sweating like crazy, Lindsey and I opted not to get in the water due to bacteria warnings posted everywhere! But there were a few other people there, and they acted like it was no biggy, so of course that didn't stop the boys! Aaron decided to jump off the 40ft cliff into that water, and Ross being a little more cautious opted for the 15 ft jump! They both survived (aside from Aaron's watch the busting off his wrist) and without infection! According to a local, he said that the bacteria comes from the wild chickens and pigs poop. and when the rainy season hits it rushes down the mountain with the rain and settles in their rivers. But It was not the rainy season, although it did rain while we were there, and as long as you didn't have any open wounds your good to go! haha But that wasn't a good enough reason for Lindsey and I! Man the walk, or Hike I should say was brutal! I was hot, and tired, and sore, and hungry and had to pee, and I think I ended up with a little heat exhaustion. I had a bad headache and was nauseous the rest of the day! But it was neat to see it! We had a blast! We will be going back, and next time I will just spend all my time being lazy by the beach!!
WARNING: LOTS OF PICTURES TO FOLLOW!!
seeing the beautiful sites!!
haha I just noticed the sign!
nope don't know her!
Don't know them either!
Tried to take a picture of the blow hole! It was so cool! You can kinda see the water spraying up out of the rocks!
It was sunny, and yes my eyes are pretty much closed! haha
I love this picture with all the pops of color, then the light house way off in the distance!
Ross and Aaron playing! Well actually looking for volcanic rocks to take home to the boys!
Ross taking a "mental" picture! haha
Dole
Those are pineapples in the ground! I guess I thought they grew in trees! haha
North Shore Beach, That's Ross in mid air! Aaron just took his jump and is in the water! Then Aaron bought a shirt that said " I jump off rock and survived" haha we didn't notice until we were leaving that it said Jump and not jumped! We had a good laugh!
Ross sporting Lindsey's hat
This is Aaron getting ready to Jump! I didn't get a pic of him :( In my defense he waited forever...and my screen went to sleep, so I missed it!
Aaron sporting Lindsey's hat! haha
I think we saw 3 or 4 rainbows in the 5 days we were there! And those are just the ones we saw! So beautiful!
Sunset at our resort
Not sure what Aaron is doing here! King of the Mountain? or Rock? haha
Our Temple in Oahu, Hawaii! Isn't it BEAUTIFUL!!!
Beautiful statue of Christ in the visitors center @ the Temple!
Temple grounds were beautiful!
at the Polynesian culture center
Those drinks in an actual pineapple were soooo good! Like a frozen non-alcoholic daiquiri! Mine was Mango!
View of our Resort from the Catamaran
Captain James
So this is THE Black Pearl from the Pirates of the Caribbean Movies!!
Looking so cute in our Yellow! haha
I had the Swordfish this night...It was AMAZING!!!
We had some yummy treats! If you've never had a magnum bar I highly recommend them! Soooo yummy! We also had a running inside joke about them, maybe I'll tell you if you ask! haha
On our HIKE!
The waterfall looks smaller in this pic that it was.
View from our Balcony
We had such an awesome time! Cant wait to go back! Thanks Aaron and Lindsey for such an awesome time! We love you guys!
We flew there on a Saturday morning and got to Hawaii about 3 in the afternoon, but like 8 our local time. But even though we were all pretty tired we tried our best to stay up as late as possible to get acclimated to their time as quickly as we could. We stayed till Thursday night and flew out at 10 pm. And from the time that we arrived, until we drove to turn in our rental car, we were going non-stop!! We toured probably most of the island and visited and played at many of the beaches including the famous surfer's spot the North Shore! Ate and the famous Shaved ice place called Motsumoto's, and it was actually REALLY yummy!
We went to Pearl Harbor and got to see the Memorial of the USS Arizona, which was really neat! We toured the Dole Plantation and ate some really yummy Pineapple Ice cream! We went to see the Oahu Temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which was absolutely beautiful! Also went to the Polynesian culture Center, where all the islands in the South Pacific are featured! While we were there we saw shows from Samoa and Tonga I think it was. Lindsay and I made bracelets in Tonga, which was really fun! Then we got to go to their Luau, with some more entertainment while we ate. They even brought the 4 of us up on stage with other couples there who were also celebrating anniversary's and ones that were newly married, and we got to say how many years we were celebrating, and dance together onstage while being serenaded by the band! Then they have a big show that's after dinner, an hour and a half long, but it was beautiful! Showcasing all of the Islands, through song and dance, and a beautiful story told!
We also were able to go on a Catamaran just the 4 of us, for a couple hours out at sea, and went snorkeling. The captain called it the turtle car wash area, where these huge turtles plant themselves on the ocean floor and the fishes come and eat all the gunck (for lack of a better word) off of their shells, then they move on and the next one moves in! I thought that was so funny! We actually only saw 1 big turtle, but also got to see a huge school of Dolphins swimming right by our boat, and some other neat fish!
We were spoiled with massages, and yummy dinners every night! The last day we were there we were told about a more secluded waterfall that you could hike just about 30 minutes to, so we decided to give that a try! Let me just say that Ross was the only smart one, and wore tennis shoes! The rest of us wore flip flops, and it was a pretty intense HIKE up a mountain! Actually the fist half was ok, I thought Oh this is a piece of cake! Then we were crossing rivers and hiking up really steep areas of the Mountain! But after about 45 minutes we made it to a small but beautiful Waterfall! Even though I was dying and sweating like crazy, Lindsey and I opted not to get in the water due to bacteria warnings posted everywhere! But there were a few other people there, and they acted like it was no biggy, so of course that didn't stop the boys! Aaron decided to jump off the 40ft cliff into that water, and Ross being a little more cautious opted for the 15 ft jump! They both survived (aside from Aaron's watch the busting off his wrist) and without infection! According to a local, he said that the bacteria comes from the wild chickens and pigs poop. and when the rainy season hits it rushes down the mountain with the rain and settles in their rivers. But It was not the rainy season, although it did rain while we were there, and as long as you didn't have any open wounds your good to go! haha But that wasn't a good enough reason for Lindsey and I! Man the walk, or Hike I should say was brutal! I was hot, and tired, and sore, and hungry and had to pee, and I think I ended up with a little heat exhaustion. I had a bad headache and was nauseous the rest of the day! But it was neat to see it! We had a blast! We will be going back, and next time I will just spend all my time being lazy by the beach!!
WARNING: LOTS OF PICTURES TO FOLLOW!!
Dole
North Shore Beach, That's Ross in mid air! Aaron just took his jump and is in the water! Then Aaron bought a shirt that said " I jump off rock and survived" haha we didn't notice until we were leaving that it said Jump and not jumped! We had a good laugh!
Ross sporting Lindsey's hat
This is Aaron getting ready to Jump! I didn't get a pic of him :( In my defense he waited forever...and my screen went to sleep, so I missed it!
Aaron sporting Lindsey's hat! haha
I think we saw 3 or 4 rainbows in the 5 days we were there! And those are just the ones we saw! So beautiful!
Sunset at our resort
Not sure what Aaron is doing here! King of the Mountain? or Rock? haha
Our Temple in Oahu, Hawaii! Isn't it BEAUTIFUL!!!
Beautiful statue of Christ in the visitors center @ the Temple!
Temple grounds were beautiful!
at the Polynesian culture center
Those drinks in an actual pineapple were soooo good! Like a frozen non-alcoholic daiquiri! Mine was Mango!
Captain James
So this is THE Black Pearl from the Pirates of the Caribbean Movies!!
Looking so cute in our Yellow! haha
I had the Swordfish this night...It was AMAZING!!!
We had some yummy treats! If you've never had a magnum bar I highly recommend them! Soooo yummy! We also had a running inside joke about them, maybe I'll tell you if you ask! haha
On our HIKE!
The waterfall looks smaller in this pic that it was.
View from our Balcony
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