Saturday, September 06, 2008

Summer Vacation?

One week before we were to leave on our three week California/Utah excursion, I found out I was pregnant. Even though I was exhausted and throwing up daily, we still sojourned the 24 hrs. to California with only one trip to the Emergency Room after having a reaction to the anti-nausea medicine I was taking.

Ken and the boys seemed to enjoy themselves, but don’t let my smiles fool you…I was miserable.

We stayed with my Aunt Della who lives about 15 miles south of Disneyland. It was so nice to visit with her, be in a home atmosphere and not have to pay for a hotel. The boys especially loved helping Aunt Della water all her hundreds of plants outside.

My cousin is a storyboard artist for Disney and he was able to get our whole family in for free. We saved hundreds of dollars! Thanks Mark!


At about four o’clock in the afternoon, Cameron was running around the Donald Duck boat in Toon Town , tripped and fell and this is what happened (I hope this doesn’t make you queasy):


They whisked us off in the ambulance for yet another trip to the Emergency Room. Four hours later, a very brave Cameron was all stitched up.

The next day, we got another free day at Disneyland (I guess so we wouldn’t sue them).

We also went to the beach a few times and the boys loved to body surf, build sand castles, catch sand crabs, and boogie board (Wes especially loved the beach—he would definitely be a beach bum if we lived in California). I was surprised how freezing the water was and how cool the temperature was at the beach. I am such a Texan now; I can barely stand weather under 80 degrees.

Then we were off to Utah! After several throw ups and one flat tire, we finally made it to Ken’s sister’s house in Alpine, Utah in way over the 10 hours it was supposed to take. We had fun visiting with the Alpine crew and Grandpa Crow even took the boys out on his fishing boat a few times (but never came back with any fish…Oh well, I would have puked at the smell).

We had a great time at a Family Reunion for my mom’s side of the family. She has 9 brothers and sisters (including her) and with all their children and grandchildren, there were a lot of people. We stayed up at a camp in Heber that the church owns. It had nice cabins to sleep in (which is nice since I am not much of a camper) and great kitchen facilities.

We got to ride canoes and paddle boats on a lake and do a challenge course which included this zip line:


We even got to interact with wildlife. There were ground squirrels everywhere that would eat from our hands and we even saw several deer (but no bears...darn:)

Since the whole family was in Utah, my sister’s family decided to have Nikolas’ blessing while we were there. With all that Nikolas has been through in his life already ( he has a chromosome disorder), it was a very emotional blessing. Kim (Nikolas’ dad) did a beautiful job and Nikolas has really thrived since he received his blessing. Here is a picture of him on his blessing day:

The boys got to go and play with their cousins Troy and Conner at a “water park” (the water just comes out of holes in the ground) in downtown SLC. We can tell Troy definitely had fun:

Nanny (my mom) offered to drive the 20 hours home to Texas with Ken and the boys so that I could fly home in only 2 ½ hours (much less throwing up). It was just me and my dad for a few days (which was kind of fun) and then I met them down in Texas. Nanny ended up staying with us for about a week and cleaned our house and took care of the boys. Thanks Nanny!!

Ken and the boys enjoying a nice swim on a hot summer day (Wesley is waving from under the water).

Ken’s family went to Europe for a few weeks, so we got to babysit their dog Nicole. The boys loved it, especially Carter:

We had a small party for Carter’s 3rd birthday at Chuck E. Cheese. He loved it!

Wesley got very inspired by watching the Incredible Hulk previews. This happened in a brief two minutes when I went inside to check on the other kids. Yes…he’s tough, yes…he’s scary, and yes…he is green! We don’t like to make him angry!

11 comments:

Scrappy said...

Wow, what a busy summer!
I am sorry you were sick the entire time. :(
It was nice to see everyone at the reunion. I wish it had been a little longer so I could have spent more time with the family.
What a nice mom you have to drive home so you could fly. That is so awesome!
Congrationlations on your pregnancy, I hope everything goes well and that you feel better soon.

The Martone Memories said...

Fun vacation, even though you were sick. I loved that book your Mom was reading in the picture. I need the title so I can go buy it for the kids!

Unknown said...

Wendy, you are such a good sport and good mom to be willing to do all that sick! I made a similar trip six years ago when halfway to the Grand Canyon I found out that I was pregnant. And sick! Sounds like your boys (Ken included) had a great time though. What a great trip and a lifetime of memories for them. Had to laugh about the fountains in Gateway. I got conned by the kids to actually get in and I forgot just how cold snowmelt water is, since ours here is lukewarm at best this time of year. It was invigorating to say the least. I love that trip, but hate the drive. Glad you posted though. You are ahead of me- I haven't done a summer post yet.

Lisa said...

Wendy,
Congratulations on the new little Crow! What a lucky baby to be sent to your family! It looks like you guys had a great summer. What fun family memories! I miss seeing you more often. Hope you're feeling better!

Shelly Kenison said...

Wow looks like such a fun few weeks. I can't believe you were here in ALPINE and didn't even call. I am sure you were busy but it would have been fun to see you guys. Congrats on your pregnancy hope all is going really well.

Beam Family said...

The second Disneyland picture of your whole family is really cute. Wow, I didn't realize how bad Cameron's wound was. When we finally saw him he looked so much better. Poor thing. Conner is still talking about the "yoo". By the way, I think we are going to come up for the BYU/TCU game.

Shauna said...

Fun pictures Wendy! ...Except for poor Cameron's face! How many stitches did that take? So glad that you're feeling better than you were!

Robyn said...

It was great to see all the pics that went along with the stories you told me! What a trooper. I don't know if I could have done it.
Miss ya!!

Matt and Stephanie said...

All the pictures look great, and you hid well your true feelings! :) It was fun to see you; wish we could have had a little more time to catch up. I'm excited for your baby news and I hope the nausea passes very soon.

Stephanie
DiapersAndDivinity.com

Anonymous said...

your boys are soo stinkin' cute...even with stitches, bless Camerons heart all to peices! Poor thing. Looks like you guys had a blast! How are you feeling lately, I think of you often.

Leanne said...

That's definitely a vacation you will never, ever forget, wasn't it? For about 25 reasons instead of just a few. . .totally crazy. Hope Cameron's wound heals. That looks so painful. Congratulations on the baby!! Maybe there is finally a girl in store for you guys! :)