Dinner Menu

Guess what we ate for dinner tonight?

Zucchini TACOS!

And I bet you would all eat them nowadays and LIKE them!

Sorry no picture. I was too busy eating my delicious tacos :)

stuff Sara says #whatever

I'll post a picture later. I definitely need to pay attention to the music in the car. On our way home from Cinderella, I was listening to Death Cab's Transatlanticism and during the chorus I heard a tiny little voice singing, "I need you so much closer..."

Happy Anniversary to Nick and Laura

Here's a picture of Laura giving us the finger. Happy Anniversary. Have fun at the circus!

Oregon-bound?

This is the place Erin found in Oregon.

Maybe we should print these pictures out and put them on the fridge to keep us inspired. I think this is going to be so perfect. At least, I hope so. If we do end up in Oregon, I hope we can take a road-trip to Crater Lake. After all, it's on my bucket list. I remember Grandpa Bill once told me it was one of his all-time favorite places to visit. Since then, I've always wanted to see it.

Feel free to continue to find other cool places if you'd like (as runner-up, I like the second Tahoe link Erin put up).

Hotwire

http://www.hotwire.com/hotel/details.jsp?actionType=2&inputId=hotel-results&searchId=5393991168&selectedSolutionId=75866768963&selectedPGoodId=93586255040

I don't know if this link will work, but I was looking at Hotwire and selected the area where King's Island and Great Wolf Lodge are located and found a hotel for $59 a night. But it's without knowing the name of the hotel, and I don't know if you can still go to Great Wolf Lodge to swim without staying at the hotel. Plus that seems like most of the fun, staying in the place where the water park is.

Or we could just go to Salt Lake, but I worry about a few issues with going there (like actually having enough beds for people to sleep in, and sitting around too long all day not really doing or going, having enough vehicles to transport people to destinations, etc.). However, I also think it could be good, and I've thought up a few ideas of things the kids could do (like make a deluxe movie theater experience where they make movie posters, sell tickets, run a concession stand, and finally watch a movie in the theater room. Or Samuel and I always like to cook, so we could make a fun meal and have the kids make the place like a restaurant and make menus, take orders, etc. They could help make a fun dessert, etc.)

I like the idea of a cruise because I would love to be at a beach right about now. I like the idea of retreating to separate rooms at the end of the night and having not to worry whatsoever about food. That's a plus. Besides, if we did something out of California, then we wouldn't have to worry about so many plane tickets. BUT, and this is kind of a big But, Nick is HUGELY concerned with cruising with small children. Something about open waters and losing babies overboard with ships not having to be accountable for it. And Eliot is probably at the most unruly age, meaning highly mobile and active, must also highly disobedient. The older kids are probably more able to follow directions than he is and thus wouldn't get lost overboard, and the younger kids are much too young to plan an escape from their parents (well I guess Mia is moving these days, and she'll be a year old by then...). Also a cruise that has a lot of on board time with not a lot of port time that isn't a Disney cruise, might not have enough activities to keep kids entertained all day. There are always swimming pools, I guess...

So whatever. I think Great Wolf is actually the best idea if money weren't an option. But if it is a hindering factor, then these are my thoughts on other options.

My Pitch for SLC

I was just thinking...what if instead of going to Cincinnati, you all came to my house instead? Here's what we could do if you came here...

Lagoon (amusement park...in case Danny didn't know)
Raging Waters or Seven Peaks
the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point
the natural Hot Springs
indoor swimming pool with toys (the water will be warmer than our neighborhood pool I think)
Jungle Jim's (Caleb and Agnes both love that place- it's an amusement place for ages 2-7 with kiddie rides)
Wheeler Farm
I can come up with other stuff too.

Here's my reasoning- even though the airfare will be greater, we won't have any hotel bill, therefore we'd have more money to play with on fun stuff.
You may think this is a consolation prize, but really, it could be a lot of fun!
Plus, those who can stay longer would be free to do that (Karen?)
We need to start giving this a lot of thought because if we do this in June, we only have about 5 weeks to put it all together.
Please give me your input as soon as you can.
Love to you all,
Mom

It's a GO!

Danny called me this morning. After we talked about why he called, we talked about the vacation. He said he can at least take 2 days and a weekend. So, do we want to get started on the 19th or what would work best for you all?

Now we just need to make it all work within the budget! Pack a pbj!