Pumpkins and Wrestling

 Our annual trip to the pumpkin patch yielded only two photos since I forgot to take the camera with me.  But it was still a successful trip.  We rode the train, made it through the straw maze, and came away with four lovely pumpkins.  We carved two of them last night and we'll take pictures once we get the other two carved.

 Today was Gideon's first competitive wrestling match ever.  It was a tournament at Idaho Falls high school.

 I'm not sure why he was laying on the mat (that's Gideon in the orange shirt and navy shorts.  Anyway he's so funny because he would run laps and laps and then lie down and then get up and run more laps.

 I got tapped to keep stats at one of the tables, so this is the only one of Gideon's matches that I even got to watch.  But I'm glad I got to see this one, it's the one he won.  It was close for a while, but then Gideon got the kid on his back and started racking up the points. 

 Of course, Gideon has an advantage over most of these other kids.  He's actually got a super experienced coach in his uncle Cody.  And Uncle Cody was glad he came too, because he got to referee a little bit, which he loves.

In the end, Gideon took 4th place in his age/weight division.  Not bad considering this was his first competitive sporting event ever.  And it gave us a good gauge on what we need to work on.  Gideon knows what he needs to do and understands the sport, right now what we need to work on is his "attack."  He's a little timid and not very aggressive. But he'll get there.

The Impromptu Road Trip

 Do you ever just wake up in the morning and feel like you have to get out of town or you're going to lose your mind.  Well that was me on Saturday.  I honestly felt like I was falling apart and losing my sanity.  So when Travis called around 10 and told me they'd been rained out for the entire weekend, I pitched the idea of meeting us halfway somewhere in Montana.  Actually I didn't really give him a choice.  I said, "I'm booking a room do you want to meet us in Bozeman or Billings?"  So an hour later the reservation was made and the kids and I were in the car headed north.

 The colors were kind of pretty through Yellowstone.  But it was so cloudy, the camera didn't really capture it that well.   Still it's not a bad drive, although Gideon kept saying "this doesn't really look like a park mom."  I kept having to tell him that National Parks a little different than the "parks" he's used to playing in.

 We stayed at the Microtel Inn in Bozeman.  Not the fanciest place we've ever stayed, but they had a heated pool AND a hot tub.  The heated pool was actually perfect.

 After swimming, we had a pizza party party in the room.  And then went swimming some more.

 This morning after breakfast we had to hit the pool as soon as it was open, then we hung out in Bozeman with daddy for a little while and got some lunch before heading home.

 We did get caught in some pretty major snow between Big Sky and West Yellowstone on our way home today.  It wasn't bad, just slowed us down for a while. But it was lovely to look at.

 This is the picture I promised Travis of the colors coming out of Ashton, they're actually so much more vibrant in real life.

It was a lot of driving for 20 hours together, but definitely worth it.  We've already decided that we'll do it again the next time Travis winds up with a weekend off.

Best Vacation EVER!!!!

 So here's the great thing about a Disney vacation, everything is Mickey Mouse! Even the waffles.  

 First of all, we had the coolest hotel room ever!!!  Just ask the kids or just see for your self!  

The kids loved the pirate room and really the whole resort was awesome!  Plus with Disney transportation to and from the airport and in and around all of the Disney world resort, we were saved the expense and hassle of renting a car.

 Our hotel also had the best pools EVER!!! This kids' pool was naturally a favorite. 

 In fact they enjoyed it so much, we never even made it to the big people pool, which was pretty awesome in it's own right.

 Yes, that's Parker getting caught in the big splash.  she would sit under the thing and wait for it, then the minute the bell sounded and bucket started to go she'd scream and jump and run away.

 I have no pictures of our day at the Magic Kingdom because our camera got lost in Tomorrowland sometime between 5:30 & 6:15pm.  And I've called back to Disney twice and it's never been found or turned in.  Which is a huge bummer, because this was Trav's first visit to any Disney park and I did have some really cute photos.  The great thing about going to Disney September is that the weather is milder and there are NO lines for anything.  We walked straight on to almost everything.  Including my two favorites, Pirates of the Caribbean and Space Mountain (which I rode twice.) Gideon loved everything but the two he still hasn't stopped talking about were Buzz Lightyear and Splash Mountain.  And Trav's favorite was the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It was a fun day, and then we got up the next morning and caught our transport out to Port Canaveral to board the Disney Dream. 

 Our stateroom was decorated for birthday which Parker especially loved and kept calling it her birthday party. 

 The fun thing about Disney cruises is that you eat at a different restaurant every night, but your servers travel with you, so you have the same wait staff every night.  Our first night we ate at Animator's Palate.

 The kids fought over the top bunk, but we usually let Parker fall asleep up top and then put her down in the bottom so Gideon could sleep there. 

 When we woke the next morning we were pulling into Nassau.

 The annual birthday girls picture!  I can't wait to have a full album of these pictures when she's all grown-up.

Breakfast was great and then we saw a bunch of princesses in the lobby!

 And Parker got her wish of meeting Minnie Mouse and giving her a kiss.  And on our birthday even!

 We ran into Peter Pan on our way up to change clothes to go swimming in the ship's pools and splash park (which I have no real pictures of.)

 After swimming, the kids wanted to go play at the kids' clubs and Travis and I were able to go sightseeing in Nassau on our own.

 At Ft. Charlotte

 Ardastra Gardens and Zoo

 Toby the Macaw even gave me a kiss for my birthday!

 As we were picking up kids to go down to dinner, we ran into Chip and Dale in the hallway!

 All of the food on the ship was phenomenal, but I'm glad we got to eat at Enchanted Garden on my birthday because I truly think it had the best menu on the ship.

 Poor Gideon didn't make it though, he was out before dinner even arrived.  Then they brought Parker and I a birthday treat and sang to us and he even slept through that!

 The staff were nice enough to cover his food and let us take it back to the room.  And since it was Pirate night there were bandanas and gold coins waiting for all of us.

 After dinner we went to see the "Villains Tonight" live show, which was awesome, even Travis enjoyed it and he's not big on Broadway style shows.

 After the show, Parker and daddy were way to tired for anything else, so Gideon and I went to Pirate party on deck by ourselves.

 It was super cool because we got to meet Captain Hook and Mr. Smee first and then to the Captain Jack show up on deck.  We watched Jack Sparrow elude capture again, and they had fireworks and a dance party where the pirates came out and danced with the kids.

 There was seriously so much to do onboard the ship, I can't even tell you all of the activities and events they had going on all day, everyday. One of my favorite days though, was our day at Castaway Cay! It really is paradise with Disney service!

 The kids couldn't wait to get through breakfast so we could go to the beach!

 And on our final night aboard we got to meet Mickey Mouse, that was the one thing the kids were bugging us about all week long and we finally did get to meet him.

Anyway, as you can tell, this was literally the BEST family vacation EVER and we're already trying to plan our next one!