2012 Maui, Hawaii Trips!!!

Paradise

Food, Family & Friends

Delta, Utah Rock Crawling Competition

Colorado River, Moab Utah

Three Sisters!!!

Tera, Tamara, and I kayaked the Colorado River in Moab, Utah. It was an awesome weekend! Tamara decided that she was a princess although I'm pretty sure Mr. Blue's girlfriend Togo was the princess of the kayak..

Disneyland Christmas 2011

When Murray was in the hospital last summer the doctors said he had about a 10% chance that he would make it through the surgery. We were trying so hard to convince him to stay strong, we promised him that if he was SUPER TOUGH he could have a huge birthday, anything that he wanted. He wanted Disneyland, we promised and he didn't forget. December came and we went to Disneyland as a family. It really was a blast, we were all so happy to have Murray there with us even if he was in a full body cast from the chest down!

Coyote Gulch

I thought that Coyote Gulch was awesome. Dave and I have talked about going back sometime without the kids, just to make our packs lighter. We REALLY appreciate how everyone pitched in to help us out. Camren had a GREAT time, he is always so proud of himself when he makes it somewhere cool. Even though he doesn't say anything in public he is always VERY thankful for all of the help that he gets. He somehow knows that it is more work to get take him places. He never forgets to thank Dave and I for the extra help that he receives.

Our Baja Peninsula Cruise

On our Baja Peninsula Cruise we had three stops. The first one was at the bottom of the Peninsula, Cabo San Lucas. The Pacific Ocean is on one side of Cabo and The sea of Cortez is on the other. At the tip of the peninsula there are two beaches, Lovers Beach and Divorce Beach. From Lovers Beach you can see the famous arch that the wind and water has carved into the rock. Lovers Beach is calm and beautiful while Divorce Beach is rough and too wild to get into the water.

Cabo has a "Yellow Submarine" it only submerges halfway. The bottom half has windows to view all of the sea life below and the top half stays above water where you can view the beauty of the arch.

If you ever find yourself in Cabo, I suggest a ride on the "Love Machine" out to lovers beach where you can snorkel and sun tan. But don't spend all of your time on the beach, there is a lot of shopping to be done, and the stories you hear from the children trying to get you to purchase their goods might just be worth the price they are asking.

Our second stop was in La Paz. La Paz had the clearest water and the most beautiful beaches that I have ever seen, plus the water was warm. When googling La Paz before our trip I found that it is commonly rated in the top 5 places in the world to scuba dive. I don't dive but I do snorkel and it was amazing.

We took a boat out into the ocean for about 45 minutes, then we suited up and dove in. Half of our group was scuba diving while the rest of us snorkeled.

We actually swam with sea lions. They were so close that all it would have taken was a stretch of my arm and I we would have been touching. We had the opportunity to swim with hammer head sharks which I foolishly declined. Looking back on it now we were probably in more danger of being shark bait swimming with the sea lions than we would have been with a few hammer heads.     

After diving for a few hours we all got back on the boat and went to the beach, where we collected shells, and played in the water until the bus came to take us back to the ship. I have been told that La Paz does not allow too many ships to come to their city. I am grateful to have had the pleasure of visiting. Of all of the cities I have been to in Mexico La Paz was by far my favorite. 

Last and yes least of all was Ensenada, Mexico. I should point out that when I say least it does not mean that I did not enjoy myself. I am returning to Ensenada in less than a week from today.

In Ensenada we decided to pay for one of the ships excursions, we went to La Bufadora (the Blow Hole). La Bufadora is the largest blow hole in the world. The spout is created is created when ocean waves and air are drawn into an underwater cave located in the cliffeside, and the trapped air and water then explode upwards. This interaction not only creates the upward-shooting spout, but a thunderous noise as well. The water often shoots more than 100 feet above sea level.

The excursion started with a bus ride to the Blow Hole. We had a tour guide who reminded me so much of my mother that it was hard to concentrate on what she was saying and not just stare at her in wonder.

Our guide told us a lot about Mexican culture and traditions. Especially their Christmas traditions. She was well spoken and obviously well educated. Although the city was not my favorite I found her to be an excellent guide.

We drove through the city of Ensenada, there were a lot of apartment buildings and many farms along the way. The homes varied from very dingy to very colorful, but most looked to be very minimal. Cloths hanged on porches to dry and children played barefoot on the street. Our guide told us that it is not uncommon for Americans to retire in Ensenada, the weather is warm and the rent is low. Americans can rent a home that is suitable to their customs for as little as $1200 a year.

Along the road to La Bufadora there was more shopping than you could imagine. Bartering with the salesman proved to be a lot of fun, and we came home with more than we needed.

The Everglades National Park

Learning about how Florida's wetlands were created is a must! It makes everything about the park just a little bit more interesting...

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everglades 

The park had a board walk just a couple of feet off of the ground, alligators lay sunning themselves all through the park. We took a fan-boat ride through the swamps.

There were tons of birds and little critters scampering through the plants. We could see alligators and their young as they bobbed out of the water to observe us.
  

 At the end of our tour we each got to hold Snappy the baby alligator!