The Whole Oxygen Mask Thing...

Dave and I were invited to the most Spectacular Birthday Party EVER! :)  My Dad turned 70 and Bev threw him an amazing party.  All of his children and spouses were invited to go on a Cruise with them.  What an amazingly generous gift we all got for his birthday!  

We were so excited. But, we have 5 kids.  How do we do this?  Oh yeah, Dave's amazing parents! They flew out and spent 8 exhausting days with our kids. The kids had an amazing time with them. There wasn't a single minute of our vacation that I felt nervous or worried about the kids. I knew they were in competent and LOVING hands.  Every time we called we heard laughter. :)  It was such a blessing that they were willing to come and do this for us. 

Our first stop was Sally and Jason's house.  The Peel family went to church and Dave and I napped. And nobody woke us up. It was Awesome!  (Our flight left Philly at 6 so we had a very short night!)  We enjoyed Halloween  California style and loved watching their kids flitting around the yards handing out candy. They have such wonderful kids and it was so fun to see Sally and Jason.    The next day we went to see Dave's Grandma Steimle.  She is such a sweet lady.  We got to see her new place and eat lunch in her dining room. (Couldn't help but notice the 45 different varities of walkers!)  You can tell that everybody loves her!  Every time we get to be with her feels like such a treat. She is such a positive cheerful lady. 

Then Sally drove us to our ship.  When we got to our room we had an invitation for the official Birthday Kick Off Party!  It was such a total JOY to see my siblings.  I haven't seen Will in almost 2 years, Jenny & Eric, and Amy & Chad it has been 4.  We saw Angela and David 4 years ago and Heaven knows when we saw Joel last. Plus, we were able to meet his darling new wife Alicia.  I kept crying.  It was just so fun to be in a room with all these amazing people!  

Jenny worked really hard to create a memory book for Dad. It was beautifully done.  We enjoyed Pumpkin Pie, (Dad's favorite!) and watched the sunset and the land disappear.

The next morning... Wait. I have to tell you how cool it was to sleep in.  It has been nearly 12 years since we actually slept in last. (well, at least me ;))  Even though Dave and I were not accustomed to Pacific Time and woke up at 5:30, it felt like we had slept forever!  What a treat!  The next day we spent on Catalina Island.  It was so nice to just wander around together.  My pictures are severely lacking in Joel & Alicia and Bev & Angela... I think because they ditched us and our GPS tour for shopping. :)  We ate a wonderful meal (probably my favorite of the whole trip) and laughed and had fun.

The next day was spent in Ensenada, Mexico. We had a great time shopping and being touristy at La Bufadora.  La Bufadora is one of the biggest blow holes in the world and was really really cool. Water shoots out of this little under ground cave (or something like that... I need to learn more.)  My favorite part was when we were posing for a family picture and we had our backs to it and we all got soaked. Awesome! 

The next day (are you tired of this trip yet? Tough. I'm not. It was awesome!)  We spent the day on the ship.  We played mini golf, read, relaxed, did music trivia with the cruise director and played shuffle board on the Lido Deck. :)  Really, it was so fun just to hang out together and get to know each other again. I have an amazing family.   Plus, we all wore matching cruise shirts and people asked us for directions and what time the black jack tournament started.

 Our last day of vacation was spent in Disneyland. Holy Cow! It was so much fun!  We had a great time going at our own pace, doing fun rides our little ones would hate (Space Mountain! I LOVE Space Mountain!)  We got soaked on Splash Mountain and loved the fantastic fireworks. It was so hard to say goodbye to everyone and head back to our hotel. So hard.  I was really weepy. I think mostly because I had anticipated this trip and spending time together, and it was Over! :( 

When we came home I realized why they tell you on the plane to put your own oxygen mask on first before helping people around you (your kids).  If you can't breathe you aren't of any use to anyone.  This trip kind of felt like a giant dose of oxygen. We both came home feeling so refreshed and like our marriage was fresh. I had no idea how much Dave and I needed time together.   It was hard to be away from our kids, but it was GLORIOUS to spend time together and relax without the pressure of day to day life!  A million thanks to Dad and Bev, and Linda and Alan who made it possible!