We arrived in Flagstaff around 5pm and figured we’d eat some dinner and have plenty of time to see the Grand Canyon, but failed to account for two things. #1 Arizona doesn’t observe daylight savings so the sun sets an hour earlier than we were thinking and #2 I takes nearly 2 hours to drive to the Grand Canyon from Flagstaff. Our hotel has some nerve putting “Grand Canyon” in it’s name. We figured it was a 10 minute drive.

We skipped dinner and went straight to the canyon and arrived about an hour before sunset. We really had to rush to see what we could, but feel like we covered a good chunk of it considering. It would have been nice to spend an extra hour or two there. We finally ate dinner a little after 9 at what I assume is the only restaurant in the park. Took nearly 45 minutes for us all to get our food so it was pitch black out by the time we left. We pulled over on a turnout at one point to get out and look at the stars which was real nice. We had to leave the hazards on so our eyes couldn’t fully adjust but it was still pretty impressive. The drive out wasn’t much fun in the dark, but thankfully we made it back safely.

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We stayed at Excalibur because we thought the girls would get a kick out of staying in a castle and it was one of the cheaper options. During check in we were pulled out of line by the hotel staff (we assumed they were opening a new line) only to be given a pitch to come check out a timeshare for show tickets. Told them no and then had to start over in a 20 minute line to check in while parked in a space with a 15 minute limit. I had to take the girls to move the car while Jeanette finished waiting to check in. During our 2 day stay in Vegas we were stopped at least 20 more times for a timeshare pitch. The other MGM owned hotels were doing the same thing. They also called and left ads on the voicemail in our room every night that we couldn’t delete without listening to the whole thing, and couldn’t ignore because there’s a big red flashing light on the phone right next to the bed. They have no laundromat on site (or any of the big strip hotels). The only option they provide is to have them wash your laundry at $1.50 per pair of socks, $7 per shirt, etc. We could re-buy all of our clothes for less. I had to go to a Travellodge slightly off the strip to do laundry instead. We will never stay here or any of the hotels owned by MGM again (Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur, New York-New York, MGM Grand, Bellagio, CityCenter, Mirage Monte Carlo or Circus Circus).

Really though the whole strip was much worse than previous trips. Everything that use to be free was now excessively expensive:

Mandalay Bay didn’t have a free preview of the aquarium any more.
The free tram is now a paid monorail.
The people movers have been removed.
The free white tiger exhibit is now expensive.
The Mirage volcano goes off hourly instead of every 15 minutes.
The Treasure Island show is every hour and a half now and has switched from a battle with the British Navy to pole dancing on a boat with fireworks.
The awesome FOA Schwartz closed.
The 4 story Coca Cola store is now 2 stories to make room for an Outback Steakhouse in the top of the coke bottle.

We still tried to make the best of things and it had it’s moments of fun. Mostly because it seemed so big and amazing to the girls. I don’t think we’ll be back for a long time though.

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It wasn’t until about a day before we left I remembered hearing horror stories about people waiting in line all day and only going on 3 rides and I started to panic. Did some quick research and found we were going during the busiest two week period of the year. I didn’t have time to really plan things out like I’ve heard you should, but I did download a few iPhone apps that were suppose to help.

The only tip I knew was to go left when you first enter the park and go clockwise to avoid the crowds, which makes a surprisingly big difference. We’ve been doing this everywhere for years. I guess people are genetically mispositioned to go right. Otherwise we had no plan other than being opportunist and going with whatever wasn’t busy at the time. It worked out well, we did pretty much everything in both parks and with one exception didn’t really have to wait long. I think if we had a plan we would have felt obligated to stick to it and wouldn’t have worked out as well. I’m sure it would have also sucked all the fun out of it.

We all had a really good time and the girls got to meet all their favorite characters. The weather was real nice too. Much better than Disney World I’m sure.

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That night we headed down to Santa Monica to check out the pier and 3rd street promenade. It was pretty and made for some good people watching. We didn’t stay out too late because we wanted to make it to Disney first thing in the morning.

On Monday we went to Hollywood. Ate lunch at a place called uWink where you order and pay on computer kiosks at the table rather than dealing with a waiter (totally my idea from 5 years ago, though I’m told Ma Bell’s was similar but with phones). It was fun and the food was quite good. We played trivia games with all the other people at the restaurant while we waited. Afterward we checked out the Kodak and Chinese theaters and the walk of fame then cheesed it up at the wax museum.

Next we went to the Griffith Observatory which took way longer than it should have to get to. TomTom insisted it was at the top of a nearby hilltop neighborhood. After driving around an extremely tight twisting road for 20 minutes we finally asked a guy walking his dog who pointed us the right way. He said we were the 3rd car to ask him on this walk. It was a nice view from up there, but unfortunately the observatory itself is closed on Mondays so we didn’t get to go in. We could barely make out the Hollywood sign from there through the smog. We headed over to the Universal Citywalk for dinner which was a great place to end the night.

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We arrived around dinner time, and after scoring some free Sea World passes for the kids ($140 off) at McDonald’s we decided to go swimming, which turned out to be a bad idea considering it was 66° and the sun was setting.

The next day we went to Sea World which was AWESOME! The weather was perfect, the shows were great, the crowds weren’t too bad, they had souvenir cups that you could get $1 refills with all day and we had time to see everything. Definitely one of the better parts of the trip. The only down side is the spray on sunscreen we had didn’t work at all so we all got burned pretty bad. We bought some lotion the next day.

The last day in San Diego we went to the zoo which is overhyped IMO. It was big and they had panda bears, but otherwise just your average zoo but with more hills and five times the price. After the awesome shows the Albuquerque zoo put on we decided to check out the cat acrobats show here, which turned out to be two guys and two girls jumping on a trampoline in cat suites rather than tigers doing some tricks. It was quite disturbing. The rest of the shows were similar. At one point they took a wolf by me on a walk through the zoo. They yelled at me “Sir, we’re coming through with our Alaskan wolf.” to which I replied “Ok.. So should I take a picture with it or run for my life?”. Turns out they just wanted me to take a few steps out of the way.

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The science center itself was pretty neat, but there seemed to be one adult for every 6-10 kids and they tended to shove themselves in front of us at every exhibit which really sucked the fun out of it. The baseball game was great! I found a tip on foursquare that if you stand by the organ during the 7th inning stretch they’ll put you on the jumbotron. Sure enough it worked, Katrina and I made it on there, but unfortunately we didn’t get any pics of it.

Here are the pics and videos. Sorry about the blurry/shaky videos, I’m still getting the hang of using the zoom and focus rings at the same time while holding the camera steady.

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The first leg of our trip was Albuquerque, NM.  We only stayed one day there and visited the zoo, aquarium, botanical garden and Sandia Peak.  Dinner on top of the peak was the girls Father’s Day present to me. Here are the photos and videos from that day.  There are two pages of photos so click next. Double click the videos to watch full screen.

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This photo was taken a year ago, today. Last January, we were still living in our 1-story, 3-bedroom home in south Broken Arrow, OK. A lot of our color scheme in our new home is the same (shades of gray), although the furniture in our living room is new. Alyssa was a little too young to stay up & ring in the New Year with us then, but Jeremy, Katrina & I played with the Bendaroos she got for Christmas last year, making a nice “mural” on the top of the Disney Princess tent the girls had also received as a Christmas gift, to pass the time before the ball drop on TV.

This was the only non-”house-related” photo I could find for the month of February. It shows how big Aly was getting — growing out of her crib. Jeremy turned the big “3-0″ & we also celebrated our 10th Valentine’s Day together — the anniversary of the date he proposed to me!

In March, Kat took after her Mom, in talents/hobbies by graduating from a 6-week course in clog-dancing. She, her Nana Annette & I still dance together, performing in shows in our locale. Pretty soon, she will be celebrating her 1-year anniversary of clogging!

April brought about 2 Birthdays, mine & Katrina’s. She had a TinkerBell-themed party to celebrate her 7th Birthday at our local Pump it Up inflatable playground & even Alyssa had a great time! A couple weeks prior to that, she had her first 2 baby teeth removed. Long story, but basically, they wouldn’t come out on their own & the adult ones were not coming in correctly, so we had to go through the oral surgeon route. She was a trooper, though & enjoyed a nice banana split breakfast & some great presents from the Tooth Fairy, after all was said & done.

In May, Aly got to experience a new first — getting her hair cut! She was surprisingly still & quiet & seemed to enjoy looking at herself in the mirror. This was her reaction to the whole thing! We were really proud of her. I think it helped that “Mommy” & “Big Sis” got theirs cut at the same time…

June came & our new home was getting closer to completion by the week. This photo shows the paint color that Kat had picked out for all 3 upstairs bedrooms (our master is downstairs & matches the gray in the rest of the house). Needless to say, we were all getting excited… Katrina also went with her Nana & I that month to her very first clogging workshop in Grove, OK. The adults had even competed & won the gold in our division, for our categories! All of us had a great time!

The hot, Oklahoma summer was actually rather rainy this July. We went to watch the Tulsa fireworks display at the Arkansas river & it was cut short, we originally thought that was due to impending storms, but found out later, something had failed to go off, so they were unable to continue… No one was injured, just a fluke happenstance. In the middle of July, Kat & her Dad were able to pull her first baby tooth that came out on its own! This was a big deal, especially since those first 2 gave her so much trouble, she had to have them removed under anesthetic just a couple months before. Then, on July 30, Jeremy & I signed the closing documents & began moving in to our new home. It was raining cats & dogs that morning, when we picked up the U-Haul, to load it, but by the afternoon, once we got our keys, all was clear & sunny again, thankfully.

August meant a new school & a new grade for Katrina. She was more than excited, to say the least. We had found out that our new home was only 2 houses down from the bus stop! Our previous home was only 2 blocks away from her last school, so riding the bus was never an option. This made things so much cooler (not to mention, easier on Jeremy & I, transportation-wise). She continues to enjoy being a bus-rider & a big, 2nd grade student, with lots of new friends in her class & a great teacher this year!

In September, Jeremy & I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. While Grandma Linda watched the girls, he & I went on a long weekend vacation to Branson, MO. I had wanted to ride on the Branson Belle riverboat since I’d first seen it, as a kid, when I had a clogging competition in Branson. So, we got tickets & had a nice dinner & show cruise, as the sun set.

October brought about many of the “Fall Happenings” I mentioned in the previous post. This was the only picture I could find that was from a different event, not mentioned before — a trip to Woolaroc, a local museum & wildlife refuge, that we took the girls on, one weekend when the weather was cooperative. Gotta love a nice, sunny, dry, Oklahoma fall day! Just to recap, also during the month, Alyssa turned 3 & had a Curious George-themed Birthday party at our new house & the girls both dressed up as “candy corn witches”, when we went trick-or-treating with their cousins & other family members on Halloween. We took a trip to the pumpkin patch & Aly got to help create her first ever Jack-o-Lantern (see pics in previous post).

Our family Thanksgiving dinner was hosted by us this year, at our new home, as well. This was the first turkey I’d had the privilege of baking on my own & I have to admit, it was not bad, if I do say so, myself! We enjoyed having the company of those who came & are grateful for all our relatives, even those who were away, and/or live in areas to far from here to be able to join us on such an occasion. We’ve had a lot of blessings to be thankful for this year, as you can see…

And, the month of December will not be forgotten, of course! So many things happened, it’s been the “icing on the cake”, so to speak! Each of the girls had a special performance; first, Kat got to play “Frosty the Snowman” in a clogging performance with her Nana & I, out at Woolaroc, the place I mentioned above. Then, Alyssa was in the Preschool Christmas musical, “Don’t Be Scared” at our church. Her little group (all the 2 & 3 year olds) sang about 5 songs, which she participated so well in! We took the girls to see Santa & this year was the first one that Aly didn’t get upset — she even asked him for a specific toy for Christmas! The girls & I made Christmas cookies — 10 plates worth — & shared with family, when we went to visit each side. We’re hoping to finish the last of them off sometime this evening, before the ball drops on TV. Christmas is a true time to remember our Saviour & be grateful for the many ways God has so graciously given to us, out of His abounding love. We pray that all of you had a wonderful Christmas & like us, are anticipating the New Year with peace, love & joy in your hearts!