What's New With The Carter Family

That's right folks.  You heard right.  We FINALLY made it to LEGOLAND, California, for a secret, hush hush, family   >>mostly for Jem<<    vacation!  It was AWESOME in so many ways....but let me start at the beginning :)  So first of all you should probably know that Jem had NO IDEA.  None whatsoever.  Not that we were going anywhere, much less that we were going to LEGOLAND.  In fact, we woke up that morning and "pretended" to drive him to school.  Only we didn't take the exit.  And when he kept asking us what we were doing, and where we were going....we simply told him that we were going to spend the day together as a family.  And then we drove to the parking garage at the airport.  And then he realized something was UP because we were all getting out of the car and we had luggage.  SO FUN!  We ended up telling him that we were going to spend a few days in San Diego, since he had the ...

After a few days of fun with Grandpa, Jem and River got some company -- US!  Brandon, Fin and I drove down to Idaho a day after the Skinners did, and spent the week enjoying some gorgeous warm weather, and the company of family.  It was warm enough to put the pools out (I bought a baby pool for Fin and Piper to use, and a slightly bigger kiddie pool for Jem and Riv), and of course as is customary we ate out every day :)  I like that tradition!  My favorite place was Texas Roadhouse, which we only get to enjoy when we're visiting Brandon's dad (as they don't have one where we live).  Here are some photos from the trip.

We took an end of summer trip Vancouver, Canada, with our good friends The Bakula Family. It was a really fun end to summer break, and we packed in as much as we could into the three short days we were there. Some of the highlights include: Stanley Park Aquarium, Capilano Suspension Bridge, 218 flavor ice-cream shop, swimming in the pool, LOTS of eating out (Brandon tried 'poutine' for the first time). Some of my impressions of Vancouver - thousands of highrise apartment buildings in the city center (kind of like a mini New York only maybe not so mini), very expensive prices for EVERYTHING, in dire need of an interstate system (always driving around on small residential roads to get anywhere), beautiful architecture in the city center, Asian signs on EVERYTHING in Richmond (where our hotel was located). It was a GREAT vacation with April, Burke, Matthew, Ryan and Adam! Will definitely have to go back again sometime, as there was so much to do there that we didn't have a cha...

Literally ONE day after arriving back home from Italy, Brandon hopped back on a plane (with Jem this time) and headed to Indiana for a quick 2 day visit. They were there to celebrate a very special occassion - Brandon's Great Grandma Nickels' 100th Birthday! She looks AMAZING, and as you can see from the photos below, her party was a family celebration. Almost everyone was able to make it, and it was wonderful for Jem to meet so many of Brandon's side of the family!

This past June, Brandon got to go on another business trip to Italy. He was there during the summertime, and he says it was very hot - much more so than here in WA. On the weekends (which he had off) he was able to do some sightseeing with a few other co-workers that were there. One of the places they went to was Florence. Even though the architecture was amazing, Brandon says that Florence smells like a mixture of trash and urine. Nice. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for revisiting, is it?

Day 18: Going Out: take a picture when you're out on a date...take your point and shoot, just get a shot of the two of you. This picture was taken on our "10th Anniversary", when we celebrated by going on a cruise to the Caribbean. I made it a point to take both of my cameras with me, but whenever we went on a water type excursion I only carried my point-and-shoot. Sure, it doesn't take as great pictures as my dSLR, but it's more important to get a picture - any picture . This shot reminds me of the wonderful & relaxing time we had on that vacation, and I'm so glad I had my little point-and-shoot camera with me on this outing!

We went on a 2 day trip to Leavenworth over the New Years weekend. We travelled with our neighbors and good friends, The Fatlands....and had a great time! Thankfully the driving conditions over the pass weren't too bad, and we had no need for chains :) Once we got to Leavenworth there was snow EVERYWHERE - it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! It was lots of fun being in this little Bavarian town all lit up with lights at night....and it was fun to experience Tube City (although it was a little TOO scary for me to try more than a handful of times haha!). Can't wait to go back :) Thanks for making it such a fun trip Carson, Kate and DJ!

I decided to make a little photo montage, showing more of our photos from the cruise. Enjoy!

For our 10th anniversary, Brandon and I took a weeklong cruise to the Caribbean. It was an AMAZING vacation - I don't know where to begin to describe it! Our room was nice, but our balcony better! The food was good, and never ending! The shows were nightly and entertaining - we saw a magician, acrobats, comedians, broadway style shows, and an ice-show. Let's not forget the Love & Marriage game show *LOL* and the belly flop competition! My favorite part though had to be all of the ports of call - getting to step off the ship to visit these countries and partake in some exciting activities was AWESOME! Our Ship, Freedom of the Seas. This is officially the BIGGEST boat in the world! Felt like it too - I still couldn't get my bearings, even after a whole week onboard! Our first port of call was Labadee, Haiti. This is Royal Caribbean's own private spot in Haiti - and we did lots of fun activities here! One of those activities was jet-skiing around the coast of Haiti. Fo...

We just got back from our camping trip to Lake Chelan. It was very nice up there, beautiful scenery, and a lovely lake. The water was a little on the cool side....though it didn't stop us from jumping in and enjoying it! The best part of the trip was just getting to do NOTHING. Lay in the sun, swim in the lake, eat out (we were only a 10 min drive to the town of Chelan), sit by the campfire, make s'mores, read a book, eat ice-cream, take the kids to the playground.... I'm really glad that my niece River was able to come with us....she is such a sweetheart to have around, and of course Jem adores getting to spend any time with her! I am glad that we are back though....there is nothing like sleeping in your own bed, the smell of clean sheets and a nice warm house! That tent was awfully cramped *LOL*.

This weekend, Brandon and I took a drive down to the Oregon Coast. We took the scenic route - and got to go over some great bridges and drive along some gorgegous coastline! We stayed at the centrally located Seaside (at the Inn of the Four Winds) which was just lovely - it was right on the boardwalk, steps away from the sandy beach. We drove up to Cannon Beach (10 mins away) and saw the giant rock formations in the ocean....we visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory....we got to eat out a lot (some good - "Pig N Pancake" and some not so good - "Guidos")... and best of all we got to just sit and relax on that beautiful sandy beach. It was definitely too short of a trip...next time (and I would LOVE to go back) we have to stay longer!

This past August, Jem and I were lucky enough to be able to take a month long trip down to Australia! It was Jem's second time there, and he was VERY excited to be able to see his Nunna, Papou, Uncle Con, Bouz Nunnu and all of the friends and family I've spoken so much of. We were able to spend time with my beloved Tzia Rose, Bill's girls Jaymie and Alex (who will always have a very special place in my heart), and my bestest friend from high school and beyond, Joanne. I am so glad that Jem got to spend some time with these very special people. Here they are below..... Jaymie and Alexandra... Joanne... My Tzia Rose... We got to visit with many other friends and family during our trip - thank you to everyone who came to see us or met up with us, we really loved seeing you again! Jem and I have some pretty awesome memories of our holiday - going to the beach to collect shells with Papou, playing cards for money (haha!), my dad's awesome (did I say AWESOME?) greek salad, f...