Cedar Breaks

One way to make up for weeks without Dad is to plan a fun get-away trip.

Last January David was doing trade shows back-to-back.  He was home for just a few days, and during that time we planned a ski trip to Cedar Breaks.

I packed the snow clothes, bought the food, bought the lift tickets, and make the arrangements for the condo. We literally picked him up from the airport and whisked him away to the mountain.  After the holiday weekend we brought him home long enough to shower and repack his suitcase before we took him, again, to the airport.  It was short, but it was worth it!

  Ethan and Nataleigh took a refresher ski class.

Jacob was a good sport, but I don't think skiing is going to be his thing.

After the mountain closed the kids went tubbing.  

As soon as the sun went down it was cold, cold, cold.

While the crew tubed, I stayed in the warm car with this hunk of love.  

He was just starting to smile.  What a doll!

 In the condo we played games, finished this world puzzle, and simply enjoyed being together.  It was exactly what we needed to help us get through another week of Dad on the road.

Cruise memories

As the boat carried us home we reflected on the memories of the past week including...

amazing towel animals delivered to our rooms daily by our housekeeping staff,

Jacob under the table with his iPad escaping the noise of the dinning room, 

enjoying the sun with loved ones,

great cousin time,

dancing check to check,

lounging,

great company,

door decorating,

learning to make famed towel animals,

having so much fun playing cards that the guy next to us asks to join in,

making the best of the time inside our cabins,

enjoying the Piano Bar's "Piano Man" until the wee hours of the morning,

a retreat to the nursery for the little ones,

jumping for joy,

smiles as we unload our chartered bus,

playing chess with pieces almost as tall as Jacob, and

secretly delivering the Seven Days of Crusin' to our family. 

I wanted to do something special for the family and wanted to get my kids involved.  My neighbor, Kathryn, shared what she use to do with her high school leadership students when they went to State.  She would decorate everyone's hotel door and find a way to leave them treats.  That gave me the idea to do the Seven Day of Christmas.  I've always wanted to do the Twelve Days of Christmas, and maybe this was my chance to modify the idea a bit. My kids helped me and David come up with the gift ideas for each day.  We wanted to give the families something that would be useful.  We organized the gifts to coincide with various planned activities.  For example, we knew we would be parasailing on one day, so that's the day we delivered sunblock and chap stick.  David helped me format the tags which I then cut out with my two new punches. My kids had so much fun sneaking the gifts to each cabin door and pretending they didn't know who it was from.  

Here's a glance at the specifics:

 On the FIRST day of crusin' my true love gave to me,

A Great Way to Communicate 

(white board and markers--which we used a lot because we had no cell phone service)

On the SECOND day of crusin' my true love gave to me,

TWO Sun Blockers 

(sun block and Chubby Chap chap stick)

On the THIRD day of crusin' my true love gave to me,

THREE Family Games

(pieces of Uno, a puzzle, and scrabble. 

The idea was that we would have to come together with all the pieces in order to play the games.  Worked great.)

On the FOURTH day of crusin' my true love gave to me,

FOUR Mexican Candies

(We found these coconut flavored, green, white, and red candies at a nearby store in St. George)

On the FIFTH day of crusin' my true love gave to me,

FIVE Gold Coins!

(It fit too perfectly with the song to not do this.  We found these coins at the same store mentioned above.)

On the SIXTH day of crusin' my true love gave to me,

SIXish Life Savors

(Trying to keep to the nautical theme--get it-- a life savor. Ha!)

On the SEVENTH day of crusin' my true love gave to me,

SEVEN+ days of memories

(We gave everyone a flash drive that contained all the photos taken from all the cameras during the week.  This was a labor of love.  We sorted, edited, and formatted over a thousand photos.  The result was a gift I think all the siblings appreciated.)

 I'll admit it was a lot of work, and it did take up an entire carry on, but it was well worth it.

This is one of the last sunset photos we took from the boat.  The entire experience is a memory we will always cherish.  I can't thank my parents enough for the opportunity to be together.  They are so good at cultivating experiences and this is one for the history books.

Ziplining in Puerto Vallarta

With such a large group, transportation from one place to another--especially in a different country-- takes a lot of effort. We debarked the ship in Puerto Vallarta, then took taxis to the designated pick up for the bus to the mountains of Mexico.  I appreciate the hour long bus ride because it gives me a chance to catch up with siblings as we saw the sights of Mexico.

The further we drove... 

the more remote our surroundings..

We finally arrived at our destination.

After we got our gear and orientation we were ready to go.  Can you believe these two little things braved the zip line?

One at a time we all started our ride.  

The entire tour was on more than two miles of cable in a series of 14 zip lines.

Many of the lines were over 1100 feet long and over 300 feet high!

  

 Above, Jen flies in the sky,

Below, Brianna shows her enthusiasm as she zips through the forest.

There was a lot of hiking involved, but this kid was up for the challenge.

From the bottom, all we could see were people the size of specks zipping across the sky.

 

Brooke was one of the daredevils who zipped upside down and backwards.  Nuts!

Dad's red shirt made him easy to spot agains the canopy of trees.

Surprisingly, this was not one of Tyson's favorite activities.  Don't get me wrong, he's always up for adventure, but these heights made him a little uneasy.

 Brianna and Mackenzie racing home.

 It was beautiful to look down and see the river below.  Caution: looking down may also be scary.

We were really cautious about the water in Mexico, but it was hard to keep the little ones from dipping their toes in the cool water.  Each group tour took about 1 1/2 hours.  That means the little ones waited below for more than 3 hours.

Brittany and Brooke.

  

Mackenzie had a great time.

 On this line we couldn't even see from our platform to the next.  

It looks like Mackenzie is being swallowed up in the thick trees.

This time one of the tour guides filmed Mackenzie as she zipped upside down.

Ethan and David 

 A few years back my family took a trip to Hawaii and went zip lining there.  I was pregnant with Jacob and didn't go.  I felt bad to miss the experience and was happy to have another chance.

 Brooke was in good form.

Mom and Dad had a good time, too.  One of the fun things was looking down from up above and seeing the family below.  Jacob was completely mesmerized watching each family member ride in. 

After a full day we were ready for the bus ride back to the ship.

Naturally there were lots of tired kids who slept the whole way home.

Spontaneity is a hallmark of the Scott family. 

As we were riding home on the bus someone started talking about shopping in downtown PV. Before we knew it, half our group had convinced the driver to let them off in the shopping district.  They enjoyed the sites and sounds and Jen found the cute dresses she was looking for.

As we add in-laws and grandkids to the mix our family dynamics change.  

It is a great blessing that we all get along well and genuinely enjoy each other's company.