LEGOLAND!

We spent two days at Legoland. The kids were in heaven. Their two favorite things...legos and cousins!

The kids were able to attend Obama's inaguration into the white house. With the rest of the lego spectators.

Our family vacation...Full of fun with many moments of chaos and a touch of insanity, but most important- wonderful togetherness memories.

Cousins and the 4th of July

We loved being with the Teares to celebrate the 4th of July. All the kids were in the Tehachapi parade. We even convinced Nicole to ride in a stroller dressed as the statue of liberty and play the keyboard. She played the Star spangled banner, the entertainer (which I thought sounded like the popcycle truck coming down the street), the StarWars thoneroom song and some others that she has for memory. It was awesome and hillarious at the same time. The other kids were on scooters and roller blades. Ylfe and Shawn also had their guinea pigs in the wheel barrow. Sweet! What a memory.

From the Redwood forest...to the San Diego waters

My favorite site to see on our way down to California was the Redwood forest.

I loved it. It was so beautiful.

We visited the San Diego temple for the first time. Breathtaking! And had a blast at the beach with the Teares.

Oregon Caves and the Wildlife Safari

We recently returned from our family vacation to Legoland California. Let me start by saying that a roadtrip with 5 kids borders insanity at some points and at other times you look around and you can't help feeling totally overwhelmed with joy. There were many moments of chaos packed in a van with snacks, pillows, crumbs, diapers, carbage (car garbage), tv-dvd cords, and everything else. We stopped at a few sights along the way. The line from National Lampoons WalleyWorld vacation popped into my head a few times...

"Or perhaps you don't want to see the second largest ball of twine on the face
of the earth that happens to be only 4 short miles away."

All in all we saw some amazing things and created some amazing memories.

Our first stop was touring the Oregon caves. Dave and the three older kids went on the full 90 minute tour of the caves. Squeezing though tight crawl spaces and up and down steep stair cases. Even though it was 90 degrees outside, as soon as you got to the cave opening it was like an air conditioner blasting you. It felt so good. The temperature in the caves was about 40 degrees. Lauren, Kurt and I got to go into the first "room" of the cave and then we went back to the lodge and Lauren worked in this work book and certified to be a Jr. Ranger. When she finished her work book this little old lady tour guide said "I'd like to announce that Lauren has become our newest Jr. Ranger!" Then every one in the little gift shop clapped. It was hilarious. Then Lauren had to repeat a ranger pledge. Something like..."I promise to preserve and protect nature. And to obey the rules of the park and have a good time." It was great.

We also stopped at the Oregon Wildlife Safari. You drive through this park and there are giraffes, buffalo, zebra, ostriches, rhinos, elk and many other animals along the way roaming free. It was amazing. We got our van washed by two elephants that sprayed our car and then the cutest part was when they pick up sponges with their trunks and washed the window. It was adorable!