Condie Family Reunion

This last weekend our family went up to Zion Ponderosa Ranch just north of Zion Park for a family reunion on Naquel's mothers side of the family- The Condies. We were pretty impressed with the location as the pictures below will show.

They also had a lot of fun things for everyone to do: Zip lines, Tennis, ATV's, Horseback Riding, Basketball, Hiking, and Connor's favorite, Pool

The main attraction at the Ranch, though, was the swimming pool. The kids had so much fun

In the picture below, Brooklyn was so excited about going down the slide that she failed to realize what was at the bottom.... a whole lot of scare.

We also took a hike down to the Narrows in Zion.

And Brooklyn bit her tongue

Anyhow, we had a lot of fun and look forward to going back that way again.

Disney Vacation 2009

With everything going on, and all of our individual busy schedules, we figured it was time for a little vacation. Originally, we were going to take the boat out to Lake Powell, but after some fall through in family attendance, we decided to take the Lake Powell trip in October and take the kids to Disneyland. Looking back, we are so glad we did so.

We found a great deal on a nice hotel that was walking distance from Disneyland. The kids loved it because it had a bunk-bed with trundle so it was really cool for them. The hotel also had a nice pool, so the kids had a whole lot of fun. At the end of the trip, the kids kept on saying " We miss Disneyland... we miss Disneyland... dad, when are we going back?'

As excited as we were, we ended up getting to to park around 7:30 AM to find out that it didn't open until 9 AM. so we ended up waiting around until then to get into the park.

When we finally got into the park, they still made us wait another 15 minutes before we could get on the rides. The kids were more patient than their dad. We were first in line, ready to rush to Space Mountain.

We went on a lot of rides, while I was busy fiddling around with my camera.

The kids also had a lot of fun at the afternoon parade. Brooklyn was going crazy when she saw all the Disney Gang. They even invited her to go out and dance with them.

Here she is dancing

There was Goofy

And some Cow Girl lady...

Donald

Pooh

and last and most anticipated.... MICKEY

I wish we would have taken a family photo together, but these will have to do.

We ended up staying in Disneyland until about 8 p.m. and then we went back to the hotel where the kids wanted to go swimming for a few hours.

The next morning we went to Aliso Beach north of Laguna and just played on the beach for hours. The weather was so perfect... warm, yet a cool breeze kept us from getting all hot and sweaty. Naquel got some sun, the kids played in the sand digging holes and chris had a lot of fun taking pictures of anything that moved.

Chris got his big lens out to take pictures of some really cool skimmers

All in all we have one awesome vacation, and the kids can't wait to go back again. Bye Mickey, we will miss you!