Second Honeymoon?

Well, sort of.

Rewind 3 Years: For honeymoon, we went to California. (It was actually a trip that we already had scheduled before we decided to get married. It seemed fitting to get married the day we were supposed to leave on our trip... LOL!) We were married at 1 PM on a Wed afternoon and then went straight to the airport to fly out. We had purchased a plane ticket for Nate, but with our change of plans to get married, Charley and I flew out, and Nate drove to California with our close friends, Stacey & Denise. It worked out that Charley and I had Wednesday night and all day thursday by ourselves and then Nate arrived Friday morning. Wednesday night (our wedding night) we got into Anaheim late, around 8 PM. We had annual passes, but decided to wait for everyone to get there before we went to Disney. So we walked across the street for dinner at Ruths Chris. A very high class steakhouse that you definitely only visit on special occasions. The next day we went to Knotts Berry Farm and then to a Dodgers baseball game that night.

Now back to present time: My husband is very sentimental. He loves the little things. For our sealing, he wanted to recreate that honeymoon for us. Turns out we have a $75 gift card to Ruths Chris, and it's still off season for Knotts. So that's what we planned.

We left Idaho late Saturday night, to drive home. We made a couple stops on the way out of town and got home around 2 AM. We had to be to the airport at 5 AM to catch our flight. On the drive back, Nate wasn't feeling well. He had terrible allergies and was having a hard time breathing. He also said his ear hurt. So I didn't feel comfortable leaving him at a friend's house, and I couldn't call family at 2 in the morning! So, we decided to take him with us. We went home, unpacked our Idaho stuff, repacked for California, slept for 2 hours, then it was off to the airport.

We arrived Sunday morning around 9 AM. Checked into the Knotts Hotel and crashed!! We were so tired that we slept right through the baseball game. It's ok, much needed rest. We just had a nice relaxing day. That evening we went and ate at Ruth's Chris. We went there for the first time on our wedding night, and have been every year for our anniversary since. The food & the service is amazing.

This is what greeted us at our table:

Little heart shaped confetti. Nate went with us last year, and he was there again with us this year. He loves the place. So fancy for a kid. He was most excited about the dessert that came with his kids meal:

And Look what they brought out for us...

I love how they make your experience there so memorable. From the ambiance to the food to the service to the little things that make you feel important. They even call you by name!

The next day it was off to Knotts. We love theme parks and roller coasters- Knotts is actually one of Nate's favorites. I like it too. It's smaller, but has that "country-ranch" feel to it. It wasn't busy at all. In fact, we had done everything we wanted in 3 hours and then left We got a great deal through the internet- $129 for the room and two tickets to the park. Just had to buy a child pass for Nate. So we feel like we got our moneys worth.

This is the first ride we rode. Of course, it's a water ride, and you get SOAKED!! Good thing we had all day to dry off. Just looking at the hills makes me wonder how the boat doesn't flip over on the way down...

After Knotts we just got something to eat and headed back to the airport. It was just a quick 2 day/1 night get away. Something familiar and inexpensive. And it really was even nice to have Nate there. I know he had a good time, and it was a great time with just the 3 of us. We did have a couple bumps at the airport- something wrong with the cabin temp on the airplane, and the captain hurt his back- so we sat on the runway for 3 hours until they fixed it and found a new captain. But overall, we had a great time!

Oh, one last thing-- You know the Disney fans that we are... We are always on the lookout for "Hidden Mickeys"... This is the one we found in our rental car...

Beaches & Baseball

I love Disney, and I also love the other fun things that are around town once you're there. Our favorite place to go eat is Popeye's Chicken. We eat there twice every time we go. Something about their chicken strips and cajun red beans and rice that I love. I also love to go shopping at Sketchers. Don't know why the shoes are so much cooler in cali? Not like there's not sketcher stores here, right? HAHA.

I also like the beach. We had the opportunity to meet an old friend & neighbor, Kristen at her stompin ground this time... Laguna Beach. We met at a cozy little restaurant on the beach, it was gorgeous! You could overlook the beach from our table on the patio. She looks great, and it was fun to catch up with her.

Another one of our loves is baseball. We really like the Dodgers, but since they were on the road last week, we saw the Angels.

Funny story with our tickets!! We bought them from stub hub. We got a great deal on some great seats. They were row WC. Come to find out, when we got to the stadium and tried to find the seats, they were on the wheelchair row, and seats didn't exist. They were just spaces where you bring your own wheelchair. NICE!! Luckily the usher showed us to an empty row where we could sit, so it all worked out.

Note to self: Never buy seats on the wheelchair row! They are BYOC (Bring your own chair). The angels had a great game and it was fun just being there.

A Quick Jaunt...

... to my favorite place!!

Well, after our 1200 mile round trip drive over to Montana, the next day we turned and headed out on the road again for my favorite place... Disney!

Charley's parents were flying out for a short three day trip, and we (ok, mostly I) wanted to tag along. I felt like it would be good to get Charley out of the house. We left after work Tuesday night and drove through the night to get to the airport in time to pick up the inlaws Wednesday morning from the airport.

This is the very first ride we went on! I've decided it's my new favorite attraction. I even had to take a picture of the score, or Charley would never admit that I beat him. (Twice for that matter). LOL.

It was three short days in Disney, but we sure had a good time. It was definately HOTTER than we thought it would be, but still worth it. A lot of the rides were closed down for refurbishing, and they were also getting haunted mansion & space mountain ready for Halloween.

I love Disney!! It's so much fun, no matter what age you are. This time was a little unique. Four adults and no children. It's a different park when you don't have kids with you. Although we missed the kids, it's still so much fun to just get a few days away.

As long as I can keep going back to Disneyland, I'll be a happy camper! (And we will live Happily ever after!!

Labor Day in Montana

Charley's family reunions are usually Labor day weekend. Normally everyone meets in Filer and goes white water rafting and then to the Filer Fair. This year, everyone headed to Montana. Charley's oldest brother, James purchased property in Montana and invited everyone to come see the property & camp. This year everyone was able to make it except for Danne's family & a few of the grandchildren. There were 29 total Blackwoods there!

Here are some pictures that were taken on James's property. It was huge and the view was awesome. They are planning to build a cabin on it, but for now, it's nature.


After, we all headed to a campground to spend the weekend. Nate was excited to go camping since he hasn't been for a few years. He also knew there would be several cousins for him to play with, and he couldn't wait to sleep in a tent. He thinks that's "real camping" since we've been spoiled and have taken the trailer the last several years. Here's a picture of the tent we borrowed from Craig & Heather. It was HUGE! Sleeping in a tent actually wasn't that bad! Good thing we had air mattresses! We had a total of 5 tents, a tent trailer, a large RV motorhome, and one corner of the campground to ourselves. There was so much to do! Nate & some of the boy cousins spent a lot of time playing with Heath's dogs:
They played catch:

We shot BB guns

Charley tried to burn his fingers off:

And of course, we don't go anywhere without our laptops:

We even had a family picture taken. This is everyone assembling in one place for the picture.

Luckily Travis had his tripod & camera there so we could set the timer. Everyone had to gather around to make sure we got "ONE" good shot.

Here's a picture of some of the kids. (Keep in mind I have 5 of these pictures, but this is the one where everyone is looking). This is Braden, Brogan, Peyton, Nate, Jordan, Mylie, & Madison.

We ended up leaving Sunday afternoon. (We were going to leave town again Tuesday and needed to get home so I could work two days). We had passed "Blackwood Road" on the way in and wanted to stop by on the way out and take a picture, so we did. (Actually, Charley wanted to steal the sign, but he couldn't reach it!!).

We left early enough so we could drive through Yellowstone Park on the way. Although we got there just before dark, the drive was beautiful. There is so much wildlife, and they come right up to your cars!
We also stopped at Old Faithful and watched it "erupt" It was dark, but it was still neat to watch. I haven't been there since I was a child, and this was Nate's first visit to Yellowstone. Definately something you need more than a few hours to drive around. We're going to add it to our list of places we want to go camping.

It really was a great weekend. A lot of driving (1200 miles total in two days) but it was well worth it to spend time with the Blackwood family.

Weekend Getaway...

We haven't been to Idaho for quite a while, so we decided to go last weekend. We didnt' have the kids, but there was a pageant going on in Glenns Ferry that Charley's parents wanted to go to since it was the last year the pageant was going to be held.

We left late Friday night after a BBQ at the park, so we didn't get to Filer until around midnight. We spend the night at Charley's parents then drove to Glenns Ferry saturday morning. Once we got to Glenns Ferry, there was so much traffic that we missed the pageant. It was ok though, we still had a good time. These cute benches were along side the road once we go to town, so we made Charley and his dad jump on one for a picture! (They are such good sports!).

Later in the afternoon we met up with Carlos & Denise in Twin Falls. Carlos had to work late Friday, so they left early Saturday morning. As soon as they got into town we went to see the scenic Shoshone Falls.

We also met up with the family for a birthday dinner Saturday night. (Happy Birthday Danne!). Then it was off for an evening camping at Miracle hot Springs. Miracle has these awesome camping domes that we stayed in. Very affordable, and nice! They have heat and electricity, a bbq grill, patio, chairs and tables, with lots of trees and privacy. We definately want to stay there again!! They also have the natural hot springs heated pool, and the private hot tubs that you can reserve by the hour.

See this awesome hand shaped chair next to the camp dome? They were so funny! We all had to get our picture taken in them. (They are actually pretty comfortable to sit in too!!).

After visiting with the rest of the family on Sunday, it was time to drive back home. It's always fun when we go to Idaho. It's close enough to go for the weekend, but far enough that you feel like you are getting away.

Parasailing... An Aerial View...

The highlight of our vacation... Can you believe I actually did this?? Well, I am so glad I did! It was awesome! It was so pretty and believe it or not... peaceful... I would have never have done this by myself though! These tandem (side by side) parachutes are pretty cool. You sit on the boat and you're lifted up... about mid flight they slowly bring you down, dip you in the ocean, then bring you back up. Talk about a rush!

And this is my survival picture! You know, the one you take after the fact with the big smile on your face to show everyone you did it! I would definately do it again!

Scenic Hawaii...

Here are some scenic pictures of Hawaii. I took a TON! And I'm not normally a scenic photo kind of gal! LOL. It was just so pretty, I couldn't help myself.

These pictures were all taken from our condo. Either from the balcony, or by stepping on the back patio. We stayed at the Grand Waikikian at the Hilton Village. It was gorgeous! There was a lagoon right outside the back patio and shops that encircled the group of hotels.

This by far is the best vacation we have taken! We loved every minute of it, and can't wait to go back. Four days just isn't enough! We did try to extend our trip a couple days, but it would have cost a small fortune ($1100.00 in plane tickets to be exact), so alas, we came home. Guess I will start saving now :)