Florida!

So, we've been back from our big family trip to Captiva Island for almost 2 weeks. I feel very lazy for not posting anything sooner. We had a blast. Who wouldn't have fun when all you do is eat, sleep, and play on the beach for 7 days??? That pretty much sums up our trip. We did take a shelling/snorkling cruise one day to Caya Costa which was amazing. The company we went through had a private boat for us, kayaks, snorkel gear, chairs, towels, shelling nets, and these Sea Doo propelled diving aids. The Sea Doo things were pretty cool. They looked like fans with handles and they propelled you through the water. My grandpa and his wife Brenda also came down from Tampa and stayed with us a couple of days. It was fun to see them and they definitely loved playing with Dominik.

If anyone is looking for a fabulous, low key, quiet vacation, I would definitely recommend Captiva. We had a beach house and it was PERFECT! Thanks again to my parents for a wonderful Christmas present!

Here are some pictures from our trip!

Easter

One word. Exhausted. I feel like I have barely been home in the last couple of weeks, and its true, I haven't. We had a fabulous Easter in Albuquerque with all of Bruce's family. It was so nice to get the cousins together. They really do love playing together despite the huge age gaps-Mullen-almost 12, Logan-6, Dominik-17 months, and Gabriel-17 months. Well not such a huge gap between Dom and Gabe, but you get the picture. We surprised the whole family by flying Julie, Mike, and Gabe down from Billings. If you could only see the look on Bruce's mom's face when they arrived at the house. It was priceless!

We were busy doing all sorts of stuff-Friday-took the World's Longest Aerial Tramway up to Sandia Peak http://www.sandiapeak.com/. Bruce and I had done this before when he was working in Albuquerque. I totally recommend it if you ever go. It's pretty cool, but if you get cold easily, I'd wait until summer. we went at 4:30pm and it was 44 degrees at the top with ginormous wind gusts!

After the tramway, we went out to eat at Tucano's Brazilian Grill http://www.tucanos.com/. This was truly an experience. Bruce had been here before (of course) so he knew what it was all about. Pretty much you have a block of wood and one end is painted red and the other is green. When the green side is up, the waiters will keep bringing you over all sorts of meat to try. And they won't stop until you put the red side up. It was kind of overwhelming because you wanted to try so much, but then waiters were at your table ever 30 seconds. I felt like I had to race to eat my food. I finally convinced Bruce to turn it to red for 10 minutes just so I could breathe! haha They also had the most extensive salad bar that I've ever seen.

Saturday we colored eggs and just hung out. We needed it after our exhausting meal on Friday!

Sunday was Easter and of course at more and more food. It was great to spend it with family!

Now that we're done with that, off to trip #3, Omaha on Wednesday!

Oh and on a side note, Dominik's new words are "ow" and "uh-oh." He totally understands that if he hits something it's an "ow" and if he drops something its and "uh-oh." But the uh-oh's are starting to get annoying, especially when he drops he food off of his high chair!

Ok so I slacked on the last part of the trip

So sue me, we were having a lot of fun and the internet is not the best when you are driving up, down, and through multiple mountains. So I will give a quick run down of the rest of the trip:
Tuesday- got up, went swimming at Chico. Dom loved the warm water of the hot springs. Drove through Yellowstone. Saw 2 bears, ate a delicious lunch, played in Yellowstone Lake (just our feet), made it to Cody just in time for dinner!
Wednesday-Bruce, Mullen, Logan, Ben, and I went to the Buffalo Bill Cody museum. Dominik stayed home with Grandma
Thursday-went to the Buffalo Bill Shoot out downtown. Went to the Rodeo, met up with Bruce's friend Matt and the rest of his wedding party
Friday-went for a picnic and fishing. Played in the COLD river, watched Bruce and Ben jump off a bridge into the water, went to Matt and Jessica's rehearsal dinner
Saturday-Matt and Jessica's gorgeous wedding
Sunday-went picnicking, swimming, and shooting in the mountains with the whole family.
Monday-went to breakfast with the family before heading on our way to Moab. Drove through a nasty storm in UT (we later found out it was the remnants of a tornado! SCARY). Made it to Arches National Park at 6 pm. Still kind of stormy. Not really impressed with the park. Drove to Moab, every hotel think looks nice has no vacancy. Finally stop by this rustic place, Big Horn Lodge, we get the LAST room and it turns out to be the best hotel we stayed at throughout the trip!
Tuesday-get up head to Canyonland National Park. Pretty cool, but only went in 1 entrance, the other probably would have been cooler but we didn't want to back track an hour to get there! Made it back to home sweet home at 6 pm. Whew, I'm exhausted!
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Montana

We had dinner with Bruce's aunt Marie, his cousins, and their kids tonight. We are staying at Chico Hot Springs tonight. Got in a little late, but will check out the hot springs tomorrow morning. The picture is of the hotel.

Tomorrow we will be going back through Yellowstone and heading towards Cody, where everyone will be waiting!
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Yellowstone

Made a quick drive through Yellowstone today. We did manage to catch Old Faithful at the perfect time, 10 minutes before it went off! We are now off to Livingston, to visit with Bruce's aunt and cousins. Should be a great time!
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Somewhere outside of Vernal, UT

We're in the middle of a bottle and he likes to stop and pose :)
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Lake Powell and the rest of Saturday

We were here on Saturday. We ate lunch in the truck overlooking the lake, near Glen Canyon Dam. It was pretty hot and I really wanted to go in the water, but time didn't permit.

Last night we stayed in Torrey, UT at a cute little motel called Austin's Chuckwagon Inn. It was a small room, but all we needed for the night. The town was really small, but had a great burger joint that satisfied our hunger after a loooong drive. It also sold beer, which actually determined where we were going to eat (remember we were in Utah!).

More to come later. Nothing but driving today. We'll be in Jackson tonight!
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Pretty rainbow in Utah

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Grand Canyon

It is soooo pretty. We made it in 3 hrs from our house. Took lots of pics. Next stop: Lake Powell
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Annnnnnd we're off

We departed slightly behind schedule this morning, but it ok. We pulled out of the driveway at 3:34am. The iPod is on shuffle-we have 11,657 songs and we are going to listen to it straight through. We are cruising along. It will be a long day as Dominik decided he didn't want to sleep last night. He was up at 11 pm, 12 am, 1:30am, and 2 am. Just a little fussy and nothing a pacifier couldn't handle. But it sure makes for a tired mom and dad.

First stop-Grand Canyon.
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Messy eater

Well we've begun to introduce cereal once a day to Dominik. As you can tell from the picture, I think more gets on his face than in his tummy. Needless to say, mealtime is always an experience!

We also just returned from a trip to Nebraska. We had a great time, as did everyone else because they got to meet Dominik! While we were there Dominik had a little bit of a bug, but he was a trooper and pulled through. When we got back home though, Bruce came down with an upper respiratory infection and probably strep (the culture came back negative, but he had all the symptoms). He was home from work for two days. So knock on wood that I won't be the next one to take a hit. I'm not sure this mommy could take it!
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®