Happy Easter!

Sort of an uneventful Easter for us unfortunately due to my mobility problems. We had our egg hunt indoors and I made Carlos hide the eggs afyer I had filled them last night. The girls still had a blast and were very excited to find the Easter Baskets the Easter Bunny had left.

After Carlos's sister left for the airport, we all got dressed and drove down to Orange County to visit with Carlos's mom and take her out to dinner...Vietnamese Food! For those of you who are unaware, few places are open for dinner on Easter Sunday...unless you belong to a culture that does not celebrate Easter! Too tied to be more detailed, sorry.

Back from the Family Cruise

We had a fabulous time, but I want a relaxing vacation now just for me!! We did a short cruise to Mexico, with stops in San Diego, Catalina, and Ensenada. The girls loved it but I was kind of surprised that they loved the kid's program and wanted to spend more time there than with their parents! They even wanted to cut short any visits off the ship to return to the kid's program. I even was yelled at once for picking them up prior to closing!

Of course no cruise can start without the standard Muster drill (or the mustard drill as we call it). The girls may not look like they enjoyed it much, but believe me they flirted with all of the staff and the young women standing next to us the entire time.

I may have a few more photos from our room in my digital camera, but I had this one from my phone. needless to say the room was small. However, the girls did not seem to mind and loved the upper bunks (for playing primarily, because many nights we still ended up with extra visitors to the tiny lower bunks!

We ate every meal that was offered in the formal dining room (because mommy likes to be served) and the girls had a great time for every meal. Only one other family showed up each night at our large table and they had a boy and a girl around the same ages as our girls. Every night was a party. (Of course, I brought plenty of paper and crayons to pass any down time.

We skipped San Diego, but did take the boat over to Catalina. here are a few photos from the tender (unfortunately no one cooperated for the group photos). I know I have many more beautiful pictures on my digital camera of Catalina and hope to post some later once I actually upload those pictures!



Carlos and I spent every day at the pool, but the girls only agreed to come one time!!! the preferred to play in the kid's club!!!



One final shot is from our last dinner on the ship. Sofia was so tired from her week of fun she fell asleep on the table before dinner was served. the staff were so nice they made her a bed right at the table with two chairs and some extra linens.

Mammoth Memories...

Well we are back from Mammoth and pretty sad to be back to normal life. I never really aspired to live in an area up North with cold weather and snow, but I can now see why it appeals to many people. Mammoth was beautiful. Gorgeous mountains with so much untouched white snow and beautiful majestic trees.

The drive up was easier than I thought. All highway, no need for chains at all. No twisting mountain roads or carsickness! We found the condo easy enough and it was right by the main street of Mammoth. It was beautiful and pretty spacious. We got settled and did some shopping and spent the night in our temporary home.

Saturday, we spent the day playing in the snow. We found a big hill and did some sledding. We made a snow Shrek. We took a hike and explored the area. The girls had a blast!

Sunday was our ski day. It was chaotic but still lots of fun. The girls and I had an all day ski lesson and Carlos took off on his own to get in some quality ski time. I never really was able to see what Sofia's ski lesson was like since my lesson was held in a different location. However, I did run into Emma on one of my runs down the hill.

Monday, we had some adult time with some snowmobiling and I was a little terrified but it turned out to be fantastic. The scenery was gorgeous and speeding through the snow was exciting. I did need some time to warm up and I know Carlos was thinking, "How can she go so slow?"

Tuesday, we were supposed to go dog sledding, but the man who ran the dogsleds injured his back, so we ended up taking the girls out on the snowmobiles. It was clear that both my girls are built for speed. Neither had a bit of fear and both would have been happy to spend the day speeding through the snow.

Sadly, after our snowmobile adventure, we had to run back to the condo and pack up and head out of town back to home. Back to reality and laundry!