Worth Making Memories

A couple years ago Jason found out that the annual American Medical Society for Sports Medicine conference would be at the Dolphin Resort in Disney World this year.  Ever since he found out he's been wanting it to be a big family vacation.  I was reluctant for a couple reasons.  I'm not a huge Disney fan.  (Please don't stop reading until I explain.)  Disney does everything fantastic.  In fact no one does it better.  My complaint is how expensive and overcrowded it has gotten the last 20 years.  Gone are the days where we would go to Disneyland with minimal crowds for a reasonable price.  Instead I feel like I spend a boat load of money to stand in line all day while my kids get bored of waiting and start to fight. The other problem is that the conference always falls one of the last weeks in April.  It's always after spring break but right before AP tests, end of year testing, track season and the rest of the spring sports.  It's an awful time to drop everything and go on vacation.  For this reason Jason usually travels to these conferences alone.  But he was persistent in trying to convince me to take the family. I finally relented on the condition he fly out a few days before us and we make a quick trip so the kids only missed a couple days of school.

For the most part Disney turned out much better than I had anticipated.  Yes, we spent a ridiculous amount of money but the crowds weren't as horrible as they could have been.  I think we hit a nice window after spring break, before school was out and before the heat of summer hit Florida.  The weather was nice.  The few rides with extremely long lines we skipped but there was still plenty of things for everyone to enjoy.  And most of the time the kids got along really well.  It was some really great family time to spend together knowing things would soon be changing with Andrew preparing to leave for a mission.  However, it didn't take long before everyone was so exhausted tears were starting to flow, the money was all gone and it was time to go home.  Enjoy a few highlights of the trip.

Hawaii - One Last Family Trip

My request to my husband was that before Andrew left on his mission for two years I wanted a big family vacation.  When I asked Andrew if he had any suggestions he immediately asked if we could go to Hawaii.  It sounded perfect to me.  I was thinking Maui or Kauai.  My husband wanted to go to Oahu to tour Pearl Harbor.  But Andrew wanted to see an active volcano.  So I booked the trip and hoped the volcano would be active while we were there.  I got more than what I bargained for.  A few weeks before we were due to leave a major volcanic eruption started.  Not the typical calm eruption from the Kilauea Volcano.  This was a major lava flow that was destroying homes and evacuating neighborhoods.  New fissures were opening up daily.  Ash was spewing from the crater and earthquakes were a frequent event.  The National Park was shut down and the evacuation area kept growing.  Suddenly the volcano was too active and I worried about our safety and if there would be anything open that we wanted to do.  We decided the money was already spent and we might as well go to the island.  Kona was far from the volcanic activity and although the air quality was terrible due to the continuing eruptions we hardly knew anything was going on.  We had a fabulous time exploring the beaches on the Kona side of the island. We loved snorkeling with the fish and sea turtles, playing in the sand, watching dolphins, and body boarding.  The one thing lacking was some sunshine with the constant haze and cloudiness overhead.  We were even able to visit the Kona LDS temple.  It was Kaitlyn's first time being able to go inside a temple and do baptisms!

The last few days on the island we headed up to see the top of the mountain Mauna Kea.  It was crazy driving from sea level to over 13,000 ft in less than an hour.  We were finally able to get above the hazy air for a bit.  Then back down the mountain we went to the Hilo side of the island.  We decided to bail on our place to stay in the town of Volcano due to the daily ash eruptions.  Instead we found a charming little house to rent in Hilo complete with a pond the kids could paddle board and canoe on.  We loved the lush vegetation on the other side of the island even though there was a lot of rain that came with it.  We had fun exploring a lava tube and viewing all the waterfalls.

Other than the haze we still hadn't seen any action from the volcano.  I felt sad because that was the whole reason we had picked the Big Island.  We finally heard from some tourists that there was a company that had started doing boat tours out to where the lava flow was entering the ocean.  I had some hesitation knowing my tendency for motion sickness and the ridiculous cost of the boat ride but we finally decided it was our ONLY way to view the volcano.  We woke up at 3 am to catch the 4 am boat from Hilo.  We boarded the boat and headed out the bay in Hilo.  As soon as we were out of the bay I realized my mistake bringing Skyler on board.  It was a ROUGH ride!  Just minutes into the ride he was saying he wanted to get off and NEVER do this ride again!  But at this point we were stuck on the boat for the next 3 hours.  As soon as we had exited the bay we could see the glow in the night sky from the eruption even though we were still miles away.  It was incredible how it lit up the whole side of the island.  Fissure 8 was putting on quite the show spraying lava several hundred feet into the air.  After over an hour speeding up the coast we arrived at the area where lava had been flowing into the ocean.  It was incredible to see lava rock coastline that hadn't existed days ago literally being created right before our eyes.  The flow itself had slowed to a trickle and we couldn't see much lava actually flowing into the ocean but the smoldering fresh lava rock and the lava spraying from fissure 8 was a sight I'll never forget.  I was hoping when we slowed to view the eruption we would get a bit of a respite from the rough ride.  But instead the boat rocking back and forth on the big waves at a slow speed was worse then riding over them and crashing down at high speeds.  Many people on the boat were getting sea sick and soon Skyler and I joined them.  In retrospect I think I'm still glad we did it but from now on I'm keeping my sightseeing adventures on land!

 This day turned into what felt like the longest day ever since it started at 3 am and we were taking the red eye flight home.  We went back to the house and packed up then headed to the south side of the island to drive back to Kona and see some areas we hadn't seen yet.  We spent most of the afternoon at a black sad beach which ended up being one of my favorite outings of the whole trip.  The beach was gorgeous with the black sand, coconut trees and sea turtles resting on the sand.  Skyler thoroughly enjoyed playing in the sand.  We all had fun watching the turtles and the teenage boys kept entertained trying to break open coconuts.  As I sat on the beach watching everyone having so much fun the tears started to flow.  It was all over.  Not just the vacation but it suddenly hit me that Andrew would be leaving in a matter of weeks.  Almost 19 years and it was gone in the blink of an eye.  Although our trip didn't end up much like we had originally planned it really was perfect just to spend the time together knowing we won't have that for a while.

   

New York with Jared

A few years ago we took Andrew to Germany to visit my brother.  We told the other kids that we would take them on a trip when they were junior high age trying to make it somewhat fair that we left them at home.  It was Jared's turn and with my brother now living near Albany, New York we decided to go visit him for a week and spend Memorial Day weekend in New York City.  We arrived in New York and stayed overnight before heading to the city.  It was great to see my brother and his wife again and see the beautiful house they own.  We met their beautiful but very large dogs but found them to be some of the gentlest dogs I've ever seen.  Once they get over the excitement of guests arriving that is.  If you weren't prepared you could actually think a small bear was running up to you.  Jared was delighted to try out Ethan's tractor before we left his house.

We tried to leave for the city early enough we could avoid rush hour traffic but either it's always rush hour in New York City or everyone was trying to get in and out of the city for the holiday weekend.  The drive in was a nightmare and for some reason Jared thought it was a great time to become the world's best (or I might say worst) back seat driver.  Needless to say I was thrilled to hand over the car keys to the valet and not touch them again until we left the city.  I think Jason was thrilled to drive Cecilia's "butterfly mobile" through New York City.

  We had just enough time to take a walk through Times Square before heading to the Yankees game.

We arrived back at the hotel late then Jason and I were up early to go for a run in Central Park.  We were surprised to find so many people out and about at all times of day and night.  It really is a city that never sleeps.  We felt a bit out of place running through Times Square to get to the park but as soon as we arrived at Central Park there were lots of other runners.  We enjoyed the views of the massive park and the city.  Once back at the hotel after a quick breakfast and shower we were off to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  We were finding quickly that lines were long everywhere and a lot of tourists were there for the holiday weekend.  We were glad we had bought our tickets in advance.  The Statue and grounds were incredible and we enjoyed the history on Ellis Island.

Later in the afternoon we made a quick stop at the 9/11 Memorial.  It was touching and a somber place to visit.  We would like to have visited the museum but were running out of time.  We walked over to the Brooklyn Bridge and found it as crowded as everywhere else.  We walked our legs off that afternoon since the subway didn't go a lot of the places we were going.  We finally just headed back to the hotel and found a nice little Italian place around the corner for dinner and were glad to be off our feet for a bit.

After dinner we walked over to the Lion King.  The show was fantastic and we all enjoyed it.  And Times Square all lit up at night was incredible.

It was close to midnight after the play but knowing that we would be leaving the next day we had to fit everything in.  Since nothing was closing down anytime soon we headed to the M&M and Hershey stores and then to the Emipire State Building.  Finally at the Empire State building we were late enough that a lot of the crowd had dispersed and the wait wasn't too long.  And the view of the city at night was pretty spectacular.

Before leaving the city Sunday we attended church in the same building as the Manhattan Temple.  Then we made a quick stop at Grand Central Station.  That was something I never would have thought to do that my sister in law suggested.  I was glad we did because it was quite impressive.  Then we took a quick walk down 5th Avenue and stopped for a bite to eat in Little Brazil.

We spent the rest of the week at my brother's house and planned on spending the time exploring the beautiful countryside but the weather didn't want to cooperate.  It rained the rest of the week.  We were starting to go a bit stir crazy and finally went to a movie one afternoon.  We enjoyed the time we got to spend with Ethan and Cecilia although they were under a lot of stress at the time and I felt like house guests weren't helping the situation.  We attempted to take them fishing one night but didn't have any luck.  Cecilia was quite happy the next day when it cleared up enough for Jason and Jared to try a stream and they brought home a nice trout to eat.  We were able to drive to the Catskill mountains the last day we were there and enjoy a hike to a waterfall.  We also just enjoyed the beautiful property my brother lives on.  Eight acres with a forest and stream.  Along with driving the tractor Jared learned to drive and ATV, played fetch with the dogs in the river, caught frogs in the pond and identified maple trees in the forest.

Copacabana at Midnight and a Win for Team USA Basketball in the Semifinals

We loved the breathtaking views of the ocean from our hotel and the USA House but one thing we learned quickly in Rio is not to stay on the beach after dark.  With the short daylight hours in the middle of winter and our packed schedule there wasn't as much time to enjoy the beach as we wanted.  The beach was quite the happening place though.  Crowds of people sunbathing, vendors selling to tourists, people trading pins.  The mild winter weather made the beach still quite comfortable most days.  One of the events we really wanted to go to was beach volleyball.  The arena had been built right on the famous Copacabana Beach.  Tickets were hard to come by and expensive when you could find them and many of the games were being played before we arrived in Rio.  I was finally able to find some tickets for the men's semifinals.  I had to pick between two evening sessions and since I bought the tickets before the tournament started I had no idea who would be playing in which session.  In the end I picked the 11:00 pm start.  It was late but I wasn't sure how transportation would be and if we would make it back from track and field in time for the earlier game.  It ended up being the wrong choice.  We missed watching the USA and Brazil in the earlier matches.  The matches we saw were Italy vs Russia and Cuba vs Russia. Going to the beach that time of night wasn't a problem with so many people and security around.  Jason had a closer seat than us due to the limited number of tickets and I couldn't buy more than four together.  He had a great place to watch in the bottom section.  The kids and I sat up near the top.  It still wasn't a bad view of the game due to the size of the outdoor arena that had been built.  What I loved about our seats is that we could look over the top of the bleachers and see the waves crashing on the beach.  What an incredible view to experience the beach like this at midnight!  The games were a lot of fun, even if they weren't teams we really cared about.  The Brazilians really know how to have fun at beach volleyball!  The music, the dancing and the atmosphere was unmatched in any of the other events.  Both matches went to all three sets and it was past 1:00 a.m. before it was over.  Kaitlyn finally gave into the fatigue and fell asleep on my lap sometime during the second match.

The USOC gave us some basketball tickets and Jason a few hours off to see Team USA play in the men's semifinals.  So we made the long trip out to Olympic Park again and this time Jason got to come with us.  The US played Spain and handled them easily.  The crowd seemed to be cheering for Spain (maybe going for the underdog?) but we had fun cheering them on to a win to set up the final game where they would win the gold medal.