Mobile Blogging...

Thought i would try and blog from my phone...here goes!

Here is a picture from Smathers Beach in Key West, FL. It was the first port in our cruise and we had a great time! More to come!

Huh. It added two pics...one of the family at the maimi seaquarium after our swim with the dolphins (all dolphins in captivity in the united states are bred there).


Also a fun pic of my man on day one after we put him in the front of our splash mountain boat...pretty wet!
I have no idea where the pics will show or if they will or how large they will be.

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Pam's Pics...

Pam was nice enough to give me her pictures...so every picture in this post was taken by her...enjoy! They aren't all in order...they start with out Mexico adventures and bounce around. I was trying to get it all right but blogger doesn't make it easy enough.



We docked in Cozumel and took a ferry to the mainland in Playa del Carmen. I arranged for a tour with a man my parents recommended, Helaman. Because the Book of Mormon is like the Bible of the Americas (so it is ancient writings by prophets who lived in the Americas during the sameish time period as the Bible which is a record of the people in Israel) having a tour of these ancient ruins by someone who is aware that the inhabitants of these civilizations were decedents of the people who wrote the Book of Mormon was really interesting. Many of the same glyphs and symbols aligned with description in ancient scripture.


A watchtower in the distance, behind another priest's house.  There are 4 watchtowers, and they each have a little tower (to the left here) where the rising/setting sun shines through at a specific date each year.  So cool.






Some really interesting engravings, including the Descending God (Helaman identifies as Christ).


This is a closeup of a preserved painting - you can see it in the picture above. 




Here is the whole group!




The site was about to close, but we had just a few minutes to visit this absolutely beautiful beach.


We couldn't resist swimming for the last 10 minutes. :)




So fun, and so sandy!




On the boat...this was a massive dessert buffet on day three of the cruise.

These are Pam's words...
I loved spending time on Deck 3, instead of the top deck, which was crowded and noisy.  Deck 3 was usually pretty deserted, so the kids could run around and play.  Also we saw some great stuff in the water!  We saw a pod of dolphins, jumping and playing.  We saw a sea turtle, Matt saw flying fish way out in the open water, of which I was a little skeptical (just because I was surprised they would be so far out in the open ocean), but then we all saw lots of them the next day.  No whales.

Off in the distance you can see a bit of Cuba.

There was a waterslide for the kids to enjoy...


The room stewards really worked hard to earn their tip...one such effort was these towel sculptures they would leave in the room daily.

Pierce did take this nice picture of Grandma & Grandpa eating lunch. 

Bats at Animal Kingdom...picture by Pierce...


Then we went to Dino Land USA.  It's so much fun!  Zoe loved the Triceratops ride.


Pierce, Mattie and Zoe on the beach in Key West.



Sunday, February 13th at a park by Deland, FL after we went to church in Deland.


There was an alligator across the spring - Chris wanted to get closer but I don't think he found a good way to do it.


Manatees are hard to photograph from above :) - but here one is!


The water is so clear, it's just beautiful.  There were lots of manatees.

February 13th in Orlando, after seeing the manatees.
After we checked in to the Disney hotel, we took a bus to Downtown Disney and had dinner at the T-Rex Cafe.  (Really fun, really loud.)  On our way back to the bus the kids found Buzz Lightyear.

February 14th...Valentine's Day!!
The next morning we went to Magic Kingdom!  Mattie told me later that it was her favorite park to spend time in, or maybe she just felt like there was too much fun stuff to do in just one day.  I agree!  We got to a lot of the rides, but no shows, no parade, and we were on the back side of the castle for the fireworks, so we only got to see half the show.  But it was such a fun day!  Zoe wore her Snow White dress, and was a princess all day long.  Here all the kids are in front of the castle.



Mattie, Ruby, and Pierce on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster. 

The Christison Family...

Part 2: Magic Kingdom, February 14th, 2011

I loooooove Disneyland! I know this is technically the Magic Kingdom, in Disneyworld, but I just love that familiar park with all the fun rides (missing a few good ones in Florida)! We had a great time! This was also our Valentine's Day!

We had only one princess with us this year, Princess Zoe Rose, and she was Snow White, only a LOT cuter.

Bibbity, bobbity, boo...the Fairy Godmother was the first character we got to meet. Alice was very unsure.

Not quite as unsure as Zoe, though. Snow White didn't have anybody waving a magic wand for her, sheesh, Cinderella had it easy!

Mattie, Zoe, Matt, Pierce, Pam, Chris and Perry (that you can see, there were others) exiting the Snow White ride...with SNOW WHITE!

Okay, so sometimes I have to be in a picture or two. Here we are on I have no idea which ride...a fun one, for sure.

Chris and Alice got SOAKED on Splash Mountain!

I was thrilled to meet up with my friend, Emily Veenstra, her daughter Ava and husband Eric at Magic Kingdom!!! Emily and I were roommates in college, she is super dear to me and it was wonderful to meet sweet Ava and to catch up after so many years. I wish we lived closer to each other!

Here we are with Eric too...a little blown out, I'd say!

Chris and Alice on the Merry Go 'Round.

Part One: Manatees, February 13, 2011

We arrived in Orlando around 4PM, at roughly the same time as our entire party...and that wasn't even planned! We rented a massive, 15 passenger van and got a bite to eat. After that, we went to the hotel and the kids went right to bed (the time change was brutal, and we needed to adjust right away because we were going to be heading to Disney at 8AM on Monday...which is, oh...5AM our time. I would have gone right to bed as well, but Pam, Sam and I had to hit the store for food for Sunday's excursions.

Matt served his mission in Florida and so in the morning, we went north to visit a ward he served in, in a city called Deland. After church, we went to Blue Spring State Park, which is a manatee refuge! It was really fascinating, there were hundreds of manatees in the most beautiful blue-green water. The water was perfectly clear. There was a nice boardwalk we walked, observing the wildlife. We saw an armadillo, a handful of crocs and some turtles and fish. It was a really nice afternoon together.

It is really hard for me not to edit these images so they are prettier and truer to the magic we saw, but I am already 2 months delayed on this post and so if you want to see the beauty...see Pam's post, which I will post after my vacay posts.

We saw only one manatee that poked his nose out of the water. The others all just stayed below the water as far as I ever saw.

Ruby and Mattie always hold hands. I just love it.

Such clear water!!

Zoe was having fun walking ahead and then running back toward the group. She was the youngest child in our group and so fun and entertaining and full of very endearing little girl charm. I've been out of that stage with my kids for long enough to think that basically anything she ever said or did was pure magic.

So Magic Kingdom is next...