Laughlin Vacation

March 28-31 found us in Laughlin, Nevada. My mom and grandpa came down to see my mom's cousin Shirley, and so we drove over so we could visit as well. We had a great time, and as always, were so excited to see our Nana. Gabby was happy to go to "Nana's Hotel" and swim in the swimming pool. However, the pool wasn't heated and we ended up "swimming" in the hot tub instead. Whatever works. We also went to a town in Arizona called Oatman, which is about 13 miles east of Laughlin. There are donkeys wandering the streets and you can feed them carrots from your hand. Gabby loved seeing them. She was not shy to go right up to them and pet them or feed them. It really suprized Jay and me. Historically, she has been shy and skiddish around all animals, so to see her go right up to the donkeys was a pleasant surprize. Here are a few pics from the trip:

Gabby and the donkeys.

Nana and Sasha with a donkey. Sasha seems so uninterested. I think she was just trying to not get licked.

Oatman used to be a big vacation spot, I guess. This hotel is not an operating hotel but it used to be. I guess Clark Gable came here on his honeymoon. Or his wedding night. I can't remember which.

Gabby feeding the donkeys. They love carrots!

An Old West cowboy show. They were shooting their guns at each other. It was quite loud. Sasha didn't like it much. They didn't have mics on though, and it was hard to hear them at times. Gabby could not make out what they were saying. She was sitting on my grandpa's lap during the show. She turned to him and said, "What are they talking about?" "Oh, just cowboy stuff" was his reply. He thought that was funny.

Another funny note on this show...the premise of the show is that these outlaw cowboys are fighting over some stolen money. It starts with these to men and an outlaw woman. The men were trying to get the woman to give them the money. She wouldn't, so they shot at her. Then she dropped the bag of money and ran off. Once she was off stage, a little boy from the audience ran to where the woman had dropped the bag of money, picked it up, and ran back to his mom. The actors were totally taken off guard by this and started laughing. Obviously not part of the act. You could tell the mom was kind of embarrassed. I thought it was funny, and brave of the boy. Either trying to help the woman or just wanted the money. ha ha :) It was fun.

By the Colorado river, which runs past the casino/hotel where we stayed.

A 4th of July Ventura Weekend

We went to Ventura for the weekend while my mom was in town. Here are a few pics of our outings:

Gabby and Nana in front of some pretty flowers at the old mission in Ventura. There was a mass in progress at the time so we didn't go in. Gabby and her silly poses. Already working the camera!

The mission again, with the three pretty ladies! :O)

We walked out on the Ventura Pier. It was built in 1872 and used to be a wharf, where goods were shipped to and from Ventura. Now people just fish from it and walk out for the view. Again, Gabby exercising her right at goofy poses.

Happy Family!

At the end of the pier we saw a guy catch a little shark. It was cool to see for a minute, but I couldn't stand there and watch too long. They were debating about whether or not they should keep it or throw it back.

When we were walking back we saw the guy gutting it at the fish washing station. At least it wasn't for nothing. Being there made me realize that I really don't have the stomach for fishing.

My mom took this picture of Sasha in the car. Precious little one! She is such a good traveler. We have been blessed with two really good babies who are great to travel with! Good thing. They wouldn't make it in this family otherwise! :)

Disneyland Trip

Here are our pics of our Disneyland trip. We went Feb 1st and 2nd. Jay's cousin Roger came and hung out with us there the second day. We had a blast. I'm only sad about the fact that I didn't get a picture of Gabby's favorite part, feeding the ducks with Roger during lunch! She just loved it, didn't want to leave. I didn't think about taking their picture until the next day, but that would have been the best one, since Gabby was just loving the ducks.

We didn't really do all the traditional Disneyland things. Mostly just went around meeting the characters. That was Gabby's favorite part. We went on a few rides, the Whinnie the Pooh ride and Pirates of the Carribean. Gabby fell asleep during the Pirates ride, but I thought it was cool. They've updated it to reflect the movies and have a Captian Jack character who looks just like Johnny Depp. Pretty cool. We rode the train around the Disneyland park, something else we've never done, so that was fun. We spent most of our time on the Disneyland side, only going to California Adventure for the Electric Light parade the first night and then again on the second night to check out the Muppet Show 3-D (Gabby didn't like it) and the Crush interactive show, which was really cool and Gabby really liked that. We have one more day left on our three day pass to use by March 1st, so we'll try to go down one more time to take advantage of that. I'd like to go see more of the California Adventure side.

Laguna Beach vacation

So we took a little jaunt down to Laguna Beach to visit Roger for Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend (I know it's called Human Rights Day now, but come on! It seems so wrong to have changed the name). It was so relaxing, fun, warm (not that we're terribly cold here, but the 40s can get to you after a while). We went down Friday Jan 18th after Jay got off work and came home on Monday Jan 21st. We mainly just hung out at this posh pad where Roger is staying, played with the dogs who live there. Gabby didn't really like playing with the dogs so much. They are bigger than she is so I can understand some of her hesitation. But they were the nicest dogs around, so gentle. I should have taken a picture of them, but I didn't think about it until after we left. Anyway, Gabby just couldn't get used to them. She finally relaxed a little on Sunday night and was able to play with Dali a little; Salvador is a lick-monster so she was more wary of him.

Gabby has taken to wearing my sunglasses every time we are outside. They are of course too big for her, but she cannot resist, and it's so cute that I cannot resist either. :O) I took a picture of her wearing them in the car, it turned out a bit blurry, but I'll post it anyway. She is a jem. :)

So we went down to the beach, which Gabby was also complaining about, but it wasn't really her fault since we decided to go before lunch and she was really hungry. She doesn't do well on an empty stomach. Anyway, so we didn't get any good pictures at the beach but we did take one by a fish mural. We went over to the Newport Beach Temple on Sunday and walked around a bit there and ate at a yummy New York style deli. That's about it as far as activities go, but it was nice to be able to sit around and not have to be anywhere or have any activities that we had to be doing. Just chill and spend time together, that's a great vacation! :) Next up...Phoenix, or Disneyland, or St. George. Any votes?