Cruise Day 2- Key West, Florida

This was our first stop- Key West. It was nice to get off- even after just one day! We walked around and went to a little beach here.

Just off the ship.
Rylee took her "scary doll" that Aunt Erin gave her for her birthday (her favorite toy ever!). Whenever I took her picture she would say, "Did you get my scary doll?" She wanted her doll to be in every picture too!

Fortunately, this was the only alligator we saw!

Rylee and Bradley- what a pair!

At the beach- the first time in the Atlantic Ocean for me and the girls.

Matt didn't have his swimsuit so I was the one in the water- I actually liked that better. I could have fun while somebody else took pictures for a while!

Getting buried in the sand.

Matt enjoyed searching for treasures. He found this sponge thing.

The girls loved sitting by the window and just watching the water.

They had a Camp Carnival for kids on the ship. They had activities most of the day each day, but Rylee just went a few times. The first time she made a Cat in the Hat hat and a painting- she called it her "artwork."

Most of us waiting for us to take off from Key West.
(Missing Don, Grandma, and Grandpa)

A band played and Rylee made Bradley dance with her- what a good cousin to dance with her! They both had quite the dance moves! I got it on video too! One time Rylee was dancing by herself kind of crazy and I asked where she learned her dance moves and she said Grandpa (my dad) and then later she would dance and say she learned that from Grandma (my mom)! So funny since I've never seen my parents dance like that before!

The little girls danced too.

Ready for dinner.

Coloring kept the girls a little busy during dinner.

The housekeepers left us a towel animal every day- this was the first one. Rylee got so excited to see what we were going to get. And she asked what everybody else got too. Stephan and Oma got an elephant, but Rylee was a little disappointed that we never got that one.

They had a bed they pulled out from the ceiling- the girls liked playing on it, but most of the time Matt or I were sleeping in it. We usually all slept in the king bed together.

Matt found this butterfly in the hall and brought it to our room- it was beautiful.

Cruise Day 1- Off We Go!

Don picked us up to drive to Salt Lake for our flight at 12:50 AM (Yes, it was in the middle of the night!!). We drove down with Don, Grandma, and Grandpa Blatter. It was dark but the kids didn't want to sleep. We got to the airport and waited awhile there before boarding.

Once we got on the plane and the lights went out, Rylee went to sleep. But Ashlyn fought for a little while before finally falling asleep. A few hours later we had a layover in Atlanta. That airport is HUGE- we had to ride a subway to get across the airport to our gate.

Then we flew to Ft. Lauderdale. It was a little crazy, but we finally got on the ship there. We ate lunch and explored a little bit before sailing off. We were exhausted but excited to go.

I realized I forgot the stroller when we got out of the car in Salt Lake, so this was how Ashlyn got around in the airports most of the time. By the end Rylee also rode like this.

Stephan and Lucy had their stroller, so Ashlyn wanted to lay underneath in the basket. Funny girl!

Drawing at the airport.

Ashlyn is ready for her first flight.

This was Rylee's second airplane trip- she went to Hawaii when she was about 18 months old. So she was a pro!

The view of Ft. Lauderdale from the ship.

On the ship.

Bradley, Mercedes, and Rylee walking down to our rooms. Ours was right next to theirs. They were such good friends the whole time- and Ashlyn too!

We're on our way- Florida in the background.

We're Back!

Ashlyn and I just got home from our cruise. We had a good time, but I am glad to be home to RELAX!!! I'm still rocking like I'm on the ship- crazy! We flew out of Ft. Lauderdale this morning (3:00 our time- so I've been up for 18 hours with maybe a few minutes of sleep here and there. It's been a LONG day!) to Denver. Our flight was delayed and then it was overbooked, so Matt volunteered to stay with Rylee in Denver. They will fly back tomorrow. I'm just so glad to be home and even to see all this snow! It's a little more than I would like, but I love Idaho!!! I have 1,143 pictures to go through, so it may be a little while before you see anything from our adventures!

Family Pictures 2010

Unusual Weather

Our roses are still blooming.

We were playing outside today in short-sleeves- and it's November 3! I don't remember that ever happening. We aren't complaining though! I guess this is making up for the very late start to summer. But we did have a cold week a couple of weeks ago so I put away the summer clothes and got out the winter clothes. I know the warm weather won't last, but we are going to enjoy it while it's here!

Talk

Rylee gave her first talk in primary on Halloween. She did a great job! She didn't want to stop coloring for me to take a picture though- so this is the best I could get!