'Who in the world am I?' Ah, that's the great puzzle!

The Chatterbox has done Children's Theatre the past 3 years and could not wait to try out for this years production of Alice in Wonderland. Imagine our surprise when she was cast as.......

ALICE!!!

I am so proud of her and can't wait to see her on stage again.

The Rest of the story

I have been meaning to post the rest of the vacation pics but blogger has been extremely difficult. So here is the rest of the vacation in one post.

We visited my brother in law's boat (submarine) and got to take a tour. He had been deployed for 7 months and returned home the day we arrived in San Diego. I don't know how they can live in such tight quarters for so long. After that we toured the USS Midway, which is an aircraft carrier turned into a museum.

Next we headed to a small shopping area and ate supper. Then kids had a chance to do a little shopping.

The next day was spent hanging out at Jaci and Jeff's.

We had an amazing bbq, with ribs, shrimp n bacon, pepper poppers and...

Jaci suprised me with an ice cream cake for my birthday.

We spent one day at the pier.

I also went to the Sub Ball to take some pictures of Jeff and Jaci and a couple they were with.

We spent another day at the beach and some of us headed down towards the Mexican border to visit the awesome outlet stores.

We also had a day that we were going to go to Old Towne San Diego, but after driving around for 45 minutes trying to find parking we headed back to the hotel for a nap.

We headed home on day 12. We drove back through Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

We made one stop at the Meteor Crater outside of Winslow Arizona. I would have loved to have gotten off of the interstate to travel on Route 66, but we were following Bryan's parents and they needed to get home.

Day 6

On day 6 we headed out to the tide pools. When we arrived we saw that we were a little late, since the tide was headed back in. We were able to find a few sea "creatures" in the pools and the kids had fun climbing on the rocks.

Next we headed to Cabrillo National Monument and The Old Point Loma Lighthouse.

The kids (and big Kid) had the chance to try on the armor and chain mail.

Afterwards we met up with Jeff, Jaci and the girls, headed to the NEX to pick up supper.

Vacation Day 5

We headed to Coronado Island for a little shopping and lunch before heading to the beach.

D wanted this for his souvenir, but it wouldn't fit in the van.

We spent the afternoon on the beach. The older kids braved the cold water and actually swam for about an hour. While the little ones and adults played in the sand.
We had fun burying Badger Boy and Jeff. I also buried the girls and made them into mermaids.

Day 4

After spending a little time driving the strip and getting souvenirs we hit the road for San Diego. I can say that I will never find myself wanting to live in the desert. I longed for green grass and trees. It was depressing driving by houses with no yard to speak of.

We finally arrived at Jeff and Jaci's at about 6pm and enjoyed a little time playing in the park and visiting.

Vacation Day 3

On day 3 we headed out to the Grand Canyon. I am thankful that I had the chance to view this beautiful place but have no desire to ever return. I learned that I am indeed still afraid of heights and my children running around only magnifies that fear by 100%.

This is where I prefer to take in the view.
The passengers of the party van!

Next we headed to Zion National Park
We all hiked to the waterfalls, with a few going a little further. We couldn't have asked for better weather, slightly cloudy and 70 degrees.

After Zion we headed to Vegas. We arrived late (11:30 p.m.) and had to check into our hotel (Hard Rock), drag 7 sleepy kids through a busy casino, get showers taken, sleeping arrangements settled, and Bryan still wanted to take a trip down to see the strip.
The next morning we woke up and decided to head out to a breakfast buffet, only to find out it closed 15 minutes before we got there. Bryan, John, and I each put $1 in the slot machines. John and I walked out -$1 but Bryan left $100 richer.

Vacation Day 2

We spent the night in Green River Utah and headed out the next morning for Bryce Canyon. As I was just getting onto the interstate I noticed my wedding ring was missing. I knew I had put it in my camera bag and when we looked down at the bag the zipper was wide open. To say I freaked out is putting it mildly. I whipped a U-ey on the interstate and headed back to the hotel. Bry and I spent about 30 minutes searching the hotel and parking lot, but we didn't find it. I felt horrible and thought the day was ruined, but after about 30 more minutes driving Bryan notices the ring on my keychain!! I'm not sure how it got there, as neither Bryan or I remembers putting it there. I asked Bryan if he was testing me to see if I really loved him by how I reacted if I thought I lost it. He said he wasn't but that I passed.

As we drove on I noticed a strange noise coming from the back whenever I turned a sharp corner. We decided it must be the brakes and worried about traveling up into the mountains. But just as sudden as the noise started it stopped.

We decided to take scenic Hwy 12 to Bryce Canyon, which resulted in Teresa and my anxiety levels to reach dangerous levels. No one warned us that we would be driving across the peak of a mountain with no gaurd rails and only enough room for two cars.

Bertus and Carin left for San Diego after Bryce Canyon, and the rest of us traveled on to Kanab for night.

Vacation Day 1

We took off on May 21, headed through Colorado and into Utah. We had a few days to hang out in Utah before Jeff's boat came in so we decided to visit some of the national parks.

Heading through Colorado we ran into a little snow, but Bryan and I were the only ones to brave the 30 degree weather to play in it.

The first stop was Arches National Park, which the kids loved. Gorgeous location and wonderful weather.

Seven of the nine kids posing in front of one of the arches we hiked to.