EJ's trip to Vegas with Dad

EJ and Dad just got back this morning and had a blast. I will let EJ write a post later today or tomorrow but I thought I would share a picture or two. EJ loved the Pontiac Solstice that they rented. :) He was in Heaven. Here are some pictures:

The Pontiac Solstice they rented:





EJ and Dad Saw Blue Man Group Last night:


Doesn't the blue man's eyes freak you out. They do me. :)

Trip to Europe

I never blogged about our trip to Europe that was back in the end of October. James had to go on a 2 week long business trip to 3 cities in Europe and it was too good of opportunity for me to pass up going.

Our first stop was to Berlin, Germany. I remember going to berlin the summer between my 10th and 11th grade as a foreign exchange student (I studied German in High School). It was the summer that the Berlin Wall had come down separating East and West Germany. I remember being on the East side and notice how everything was gray and drab.

The Wall was still up and the infrastructure was not their. Going back there 17 years later, their was a definite uplift to the city. The wall is mostly down now except for Tourist attractions areas and business is booming in the Eastern part of Berlin. It was amazing to see the transformation.

Here is a picture of the Berlin Wall. Now it is covered in artistic graffati. It was truly amazing to see.

One of many elegant bridges in Berlin.

One of the Berlin Parliamant Buildings
A Berlin Cathedral

Stockholm, Sweden......
Our next stop was in Stockholm, Sweden. This was my favorite place of all. I would not even mind living in Sweden someday. Besides the fact that you get free college education and get money every month for each child you have until they are 18, just sweden in general was an amazing place. Some of James business partner took the time over the week and weekend we where there to actually take us on a tour of stockholm. We toured the Royal Palace, saw the guardman change, and even saw the museum of the boat the warship VASA that had sunk from one of the kings. The nice thing about Sweden as compared to Germany was that everyone spoke really good English and so it was not hard to communicate as it was when we where in germany. English is a mandated language taught in elementary school there. Along with sightseeing we went out to a great restuarant that served authentice Swedish food and we had a plate full of Reindeer. Yep you heard me right. We ate reindeer and some fish eggs that are a delicacy there. Here are some pictures:

Our wonderful tour guides and friends
Changing of the Palace Guards

Model of Ship Vasa (The Ship was huge)

The Palace

Copenhagan, Denmark....
Our last stop was in Copenhagen, Denmark. At this point in our journey we had been away for 10 days and were starting to get tired of travelling. Copenhagan was my least favorite place. Mostly we just hung out walked the city, visited a Museum, shopped and rested. This was the place where Hans Christian Anderson was born. There was statues of him everywhere. There was not much to do in Copenhagan. Here are some pictures:
View of Copenhagan Beautiful Waters around Copenhagan

Had a Blast on our trip

We are back in to the dark and rainy Northwest. On the last day of our trip we kept on saying we did not want it to end but in the end we where glad to be sleeping in our own bed in our own new home and back with our family.

Our trip was a blast.

I think the best time I had was our motorcycle ride in Roatan Honduras and cave tubing in Belize. I was so extremely scared to go on the back of that motorcycle. If you know me well enough you would know I get anxious about things like that. I loved feeling the wind on my face and seeing the countryside of a very 3 world culture. Being in a 3rd world country helps you put your own life in perspective as you realize that we are so very blessed. We saw children dirty with no shoes, dogs that where so skinny that it was sickning, and people begging to sell you something just to make ends meat. It was very humbling.


Our first stop was Roatan Honduras. I described above a little of our experience. We travelled all over the island. We were on the island that the show fantasy island was filmed at. Do you remember that show? It's a classic. We ended up separating with all our motorcycles and moped. Paul, Mary, James and I ended up riding our motorcycles to the other side of the island and going to lunch together. We made our way back in the rain and meet up with all our friends back at the little town. We went snorkeling and James actually found a lobster under the water.

Our second stop was in Belize City, Belize. I loved the accent there as everyone either spoke Creole, Spanish or English. It was fun listening to the natives speaking Creole. I felt like I was in Jamaica. James and Paul decided to go scuba diving and so Mary and I joined, Tami, Darrin, Chad and Carrie to go cave tubing. Our tour guide was wonderful. He was the funniest person. We hiked up to the top of the river and tubed down through a few cave lazily soaking up the water and having a grand ol' time.



Our next stop was to Cozumel Mexico. The funniest part about this stop is that we ended up having to take a Ferry over to Playa De Carmen. This is the same place James and I went last year on our cruise. This has grown up in Playa de Carmen just from last year. Business has boomed there. We signed up for a tour through http://www.helamantours.com/ and saw the ruins of Tulum. We actually were going to take that tour last year on the cruise we took but back out of it at the last moment. We saw Tulum and learned about Tulum with a lds perspective on things. It was quite interesting and half of us where wishing Bro. Dent was there as he is a scholar of the scriptures. It was pretty cool.


Our last stop after having our 2nd day just cruising, we ended up on Norwegian cruises private Island in the Bahamas. It was such a nice day that we all just laid out, played beach Volleyball, went snorkeling. And yes Tami did see a shark, I believe You Tami! :) James saw 2 baracudas that actually started to circle him. He got really nervous. We saw some beautiful colorful fish and stingrays that where come so close to the shore is was quit obvious that they where use to people. A few of us stayed to the very end as we did not want to day to end as our cruise was ending the next morning.

It was a blast. Thank you- Bevin, Angela, Paul, Mary, Chad, Carrie, Tami, Darrin, Conrad, Ashley, Troy, Hiroko, Mike and Cathy for a wonderful time. We had a blast Karaoking(and yes I sang, but I really do suck royally:) ), going to dinner, going to the shows, going dancing. etc. and going off and exploring out side our little country. We love you guys.


I will add more pictures to this entry at a later date as it is 11:13 pm and I have to go to court in the morning. Yep Court. The drama of the last 3 years continues and not on our accord. We got a court doc. the day we got home, nothing big, the person wants to change a few things in the order like being able to drive by the house she told the court I don't "own" anymore in the old neighborhood (anyone that knows me knows that I own that dang house, wish I didn't but I do) and stupid things like that. Why can't these people just get a clue that we have left, don't want to be bothered by them and they need to just grow up and move on with there lives. The sad part is this person and her crownies now have our address and I have seen one of her friends driving on a cross street where we live (and if you know where we live you would understand that there is hardly any possible way she was "just driving by" as I live way out in the boondocks) and last week while we where gone on the cruise, TJ said that there was someone in our driveway taking pictures of our house and when TJ approached they took off. I called King County assessor office on a slime chance they where reassessing and they said no Ugh. MOVE ON I say MOVE ON. This is rediculous don't you think. Ok I will stop complaining as my kids are so happy here and if you ever are able to seen our place we are far out there in a little paradise. Wish us luck tomorrow. ok Gotta go snuggle with the hubbie. :)

-Kari