CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE

Monday September 27th

Today is our first full day at the park. The entire family, all 34 of us, joined together to experience California Adventure. The kids were super excited.

We had no problem getting them up and out of bed that morning.

Robbie wanted to be in charge of breakfast, which I had no problem with. He got up early to make us all some delicious Mickey waffles and bacon.

Although we were all together in the park, we did not move together as a group. My parents wanted to divide the grandkids down into smaller groups and take them to areas of the park that they would enjoy the most. This worked out great. We had three groups of 6 and the youngest three stayed with their parents. While Granny,Gramps, Jake and Mer took the youngest group of kids to a Bug's land, the rest of us made plans on what to do.

The first ride of the day was Soarin Over California.

The ride is awesome.

Here's 2/3 of the cousins with McQueen and Mater



Lee enjoying a snack





Kimmie found these pilot goggles at one of the gift shops,
silly girl looks like she has bug eyes.




Lee and Malcolm found a t-shirt very fitting to their personality






Becky and Ches
By mid morning it was already getting really hot.
We went on the Grizzly River Run and enjoyed getting wet.





Malcolm and Rickie were the "monsters" trying to scare Emma,
Kimmie, Olivia, and Hanna at
the Monsters Inc. ride




Kimmie and Hanna in line at Monsters Inc.
We decided to go on the ride several times, there was no waiting
and it was nice and cool inside the building





Kimmie saw Stitch on the way to the bathroom.
The boys were really mad they missed this character.

We stopped and had lunch over by the Muppet's Sound Stage.

We packed sandwiches and fruit from home.

Lee, Rickie,Malcolm, Erica, Ali, and Robbie during lunch break.

Don't they look a bit wilted.

By this time the temperature had reached 100 deg.

After lunch Granny, Gramps, Jody and Matt took these six off to the "big" rides like

The Tower of Terror and Screamin.

The rest of us went to see the Muppet Show and then off to the Pier for some rides.

On our way to the Pier we came across these fountains.

At random intervals water would shoot up.

Everyone was super hot, so decided to stop and get wet.

The kids had a blast.

Getting wet and cooling off was a huge attitude adjustment
for our tired and hot little ones.

Ches should have played in the water, he was soo miserable.

I didn't mind the heat as much as Ches.

It was just like the "good ol'days" of our family vacations in July.

The day we were in California Adventure had record breaking temperatures.

The high was 111 deg. It hadn't been that hot for over 100 years. The high temp. drove most of the visitors away, so we did not have to deal with long lines, which was nice. But some of the rides closed because it was too hot.

On the Pier we saw Woodey.

Again the boys missed out.

Kimmie and Ches enjoying the Carousel

It was a super fun day. I got to ride Screamin for the first time, and loved it! Ches is not a fan of the big rides so he got stuck on kid duty alot, but he was a good sport about it.

After dinner at the Taste Pilot Grill the middle group of kids went with Granny, Gramps, Becky and Weston to go play, and the rest of the group went to Bugsland and the Tower of Terror.

Ches, Andy and I stayed with the kids while the other adults went and experienced the Terror.

All in all it was a lot of fun spending the day with the family.

Being such a big group, we moved through the park slowly, but that's OK.

It wasn't about getting on all the rides, it was about being together.

If it wasn't for the heat it would have been a perfect day, but hey, no family vacation is ever perfect.

BEACH BUMS AND FAMILY DINNER

Sunday September 26th

Sunday was the perfect California day. The Flippen sinners, I mean the residents of the Flippen house, decided to go to the beach. (unlike the rest of the family who went to church ;) We went to Seal Beach. Ches had to stay at the house to do his homework and Steve was in SL, so Cassie, the kids, and I set off on our beach adventure after breakfast. We only got lost once, but we made it. Seal Beach is a beautiful beach, it was clean and not very crowded. We were all excited to spend some time in the water and playing in the sand. I had told the boys about how fun it is to body surf and swim in the ocean. It took a little convincing to get them to go out into the water. The water was really cold and they were surprised at how powerful the undertow is. They also had splashed each other with the water and got the salt water in their mouths. They kept spitting and gagging,it was hilarious.

Kimmie, Porter and Hunter playing in the sand by the parking lot.

Rickie is not sure what to think of the ocean.

We spent a few days swimming in Bear Lake this summer and the boys had assumed that swimming in the ocean would be very similar. They quickly learned how different it is.

Robbie gagging on sea water

Kimmie playing in the sand with Porter and Kenz.

The sand was a real pretty color; orange, white and black.

Kimmie did not want to be in the water. She was afraid of getting stung by a jelly fish.

Oh the joys of having older brothers.

Safe on shore =)

I did convince the boys to venture out into the water with me to body surf. The waves were real big, perfect in my opinion, but the boys were a bit intimidated. Eventually, they figured out how to ride the waves. They had so much fun playing in the ocean.

After a few hours we needed to head back to the house so we could start cooking the chicken for family dinner. The kids were not happy to leave, and to be honest, Cassie and I didn't want to leave either. When we got back to the house, we had lunch and then decided to go swimming until it was time for the party.

The pool in the back yard was so nice, it would have been perfect except it had no shallow end for the little kids to play in.

Sass and Kenz having fun in the pool.

The boys!

Ches had fun playing a diving game with his boys.

For family dinner/party, we went over to the house that Granny and Gramps, The Watkins, and A&M Fraser were staying at. We had a yummy meal of chicken wing chicken and rice, and pie for dessert. As always, it was crazy fun. We celebrated the September birthdays (Lee, Rickie, Steve, Ali and Jake) It was a super fun day!

Gathered around watching presents being opened.

Jenna giving Kimmie hugs

Rickie got a nerf gun from his Aunts and Uncles
Can you tell how excited he is?

Robbie took a picture of everyone taking pictures

Lee and Granny

CALIFORNIA 2010

part 1

Keeping up with a blog is much harder than I thought it would be. One of these days I will get better at it.

About 5 yrs ago my family decided to go to Disneyland together~ all of us~ 14 adults and 21 kids,(ranging in age from 14-1 yr old). It didn't seem like a crazy idea at the time. In fact, most of the adults were in Disneyland when we decided to go again (three were missing). The family really wanted to have a real special trip together, just like we had when we were growing up. So we've spent the last 5 yrs saving & planning the ultimate family reunion. After much stress and negotiations, it all came together. It was a fabulous trip!

Our family set out on our trip on Thursday the 23rd of September. Ches and I did not want to drive straight thru to California. The idea of 15 hrs in the van with our kids did not sound like a fun way to start a vacation. We left town after Ches got off work. We headed to SL to sleep at my parents and then got an early start the next day. We drove to St. George UT, and stayed at a hotel. The kids were so excited. It was Kimmie's first time staying in a hotel (that she could remember) and she could hardly stand it. When we got into town, Ches and I wanted to go shopping at the Outlet Mall in St. George. (We love outlet shopping :) After the third store Rickie tells me that shopping was the worst thing ever to do on a vacation and begged to go back to the hotel. We made them keep going and bought them fudge at the chocolate store to appease them. We did go back to the hotel and had a fun time swimming while Ches finished up some homework.

Saturday morning we got up early and enjoyed the hotels buffet and then hit the road - on to California.

Happy Travelers

Everyone had their own MP3 player or Ipod to take on the trip. Before we left, I took all the music out of the van so we could download the music. Unfortunately, I forgot to put any music back, so for most of the trip we were all plugged in to our own musical world. So weird.

This is the giant bear at the chocolate store in St. George



The drive thru the canyons in northern Arizona is so beautiful.

We made really good time. The kids were so great, they wanted to get to Anaheim just as quick as Ches and I. We arrived in Anaheim around 2pm and check in wasn't until 3 so we went out for ice cream till we could check in. Then we did a bit of shopping for food and hit the Disney Outlet store. Rickie liked shopping here. After dinner we decided to go to California Adventure to see the World of Color show and ride some rides.

Waiting in line for the tram to take us to California Adventure

We went and looked around at the World of Disney store ~ Kimmie was in heaven with all the fun toys. She had a hard time picking what to spend her money on.

Once we got to the park we headed to Bugsland to ride some rides. Since it was sort of Kimmie's first time we let her pick the first rides.

Then we went to the Pier to get a place to watch the show. Kimmie and I snuck in a ride on the carousel while we waited.

Rob and Lee waiting for the show to start

The World of Color is an amazing show. We all loved the music and dancing water. My picture is not that great (stupid camera) but the show was the perfect way to start off our Disneyland Adventure.

This is the backyard of the house we stayed in.

I wanted to include some pictures of the house we stayed at. All the families decided to rent three houses in Anaheim, that are in the same neighborhood. It was such a great idea. We all had plenty of space. The kids had space to play and we were able to save money on food and laundry expenses. We shared the house with Cassie and Steve and their three kids. The house was perfect for us. Our back yard had a pool, a hot tub, and a tiki grill.

The garage was converted into a giant toy room. We had a hard time keeping the kids out of here. It was nice to have a place for them to be.

This is the Flippen House we spent the week in.

Happy Birthday Robbie!

Today is Robbie's 12th Birthday.

Victor Robert Barnes was born at Jordan Valley Hospital at 4:08 pm

He was 6 lbs 11 oz and 19 inches long

He was so tiny, and so sweet.

Having his first bath

One month old, such a sweet smile from my sweet boy


1 yr old


2 yrs old


3 yrs old

4 yrs old

Robbie was my silent trouble maker. He would quietly sneak away from his brothers and get into mischief. He loved getting into the fridge or pantry and helping himself to the treats he found inside.

6 yrs old


Robbie has so many good qualities.

He is

Compassionate

Loyal

Spiritual

Intelligent

Strong

Observant

Friendly

Tender

Funny

Creative

Steadfast

Impartial
and

Crucial to our Family

Robbie loves to be outside with his friends
October 2008

Robbie favorite band is Jeremy Buck and the Bang. One year, during the concert, Jeremy had the boys come up to be his drums. Robbie thought that was the greatest.

Spring 2009

Robbie is such an amazing brother. He is always looking out for his brothers and sister.

Summer 2009

Last year Robbie was chosen to read his DARE essay at the graduation assembly. He was soo nervous, because he hates being the center of attention. But he did an excellent job.

May 2010

Robbie has a major sweet tooth. He Loves swiss rolls the most. He made me this cake for Mothers Day. It was yummy.
May 2010

September 2010

Robbie is an amazing person.

I can't believe how quickly he has grown.

I am so proud of him and the choices he has made in his life.