East Coast Christmas

Well, Hans and I are back from break with my fam. I'll say that only one of us is really happy to be back. The other one misses her family quite a bit :( However, the trip out was definitely worth it! I had such a great time being with everyone and we did sooo many interesting things! We flew in on Christmas Eve, and then my sister and her kids came up on Christmas. Christmas at my parents' house was, as usual, amazingly perfect. Beautiful decorations, yummy snacks, a delicious Christmas dinner with perfectly-cooked turkey. I could probably do that every day. No joke.
So then the day after Christmas, we went to Mount Vernon (George Washington's Estate). I'd been there before, but it was cool to see it again now that I'm older and can appreciate it more. It really is beautiful...right on the Potomac and surrounded by acres of fields and forests.

After Mount Vernon, the girls went shopping while the boys went to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum. Luckily my dad was on top of things picture-wise (much to Hans's dismay, I'm sure :)  )

Tuesday, we went to the Holocaust museum. It was a really cool experience; they have a lot of really interesting stuff there. Then at the end, they had a video of Holocaust survivors telling their stories. They were so sad to hear, but so amazing at the same time. 

Wednesday, the kids left. While Rachel and mom were taking them to the airport, dad, Hans and I went to the National Museum of American History. I think this is a really cool museum. They've got all sorts of things from American culture throughout the years. The first thing that we saw was the ACTUAL AMERICAN FLAG that inspired the national anthem. Tell me that's not so cool! I couldn't get any photos because it was a low-light room to preserve the flag, but trust me when I saw that it was awesome. We also saw stuff like the original muppets, Lincoln's hat, and old trains and cars. There are a ton more photos of this on my facebook, but here a couple just to give you a peek:

Lincoln's hat:

Sweet old car:

In an old timey train station...which one is real?!?

After the American History museum, mom and Rachel met us at the Spy Museum! This museum is also very cool. Unfortunately, it's not free, but it's kind of worth it. You get to see all kinds of sweet stuff that's been used by actual spies! And there are interactive activities where you can pretend to be a spy. You also have to assume an identity a the beginning and remember everything about your identity so you can be tested on it later. It's a super fun place and I definitely recommend it to anyone visiting DC.

The next day, Thursday, we set off for New Jersey to visit Missey et. al. and to go to New York. Along the way, we got to stop in Gettysburg for Hans. Hans has been wanting to go to Gettysburg pretty much his whole life. He said it was like going to Disney World for him haha. First we got to go in the museum, which included a movie, a cyclorama (which was actually a HUGE painting covering the whole round room, that was painted in the early 20th century by a French guy. Too cool), and a bunch of really neat old stuff from the battle. One of my favorite things was a pair of opposing bullets that had collided in MID-AIR!! How cool is that?

Part of the cyclorama painting:

Fused bullets:

After the museum, we went out to see the battlefield. The museum took a lot longer than we'd expected, so we didn't get to see the whole battlefield, just the Confederate side and a tiny bit of the Union side. It was really neat to see the landscape where the battle took place and to see all the different monuments for each Confederate state.

Hans scoping out the battlefield:

The Virginia monument:

The Georgia monument:

After only a few short hours in Gettysburg, we continued on to NJ. For anyone who's thinking about visiting Gettysburg, IT IS A FULL DAY'S TRIP. Don't expect to just spend a couple hours there, like we did. The museum takes at least 2 hours, and we were rushing. Then the driving tour takes something like 3 or 4 hours, and I'm sure that doesn't count you stopping and looking around. There really is a lot to see.

So we got into NJ and were able to spend some time just hanging out with family. Then the next day (Friday), we went to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, which I was really excited about because as many times as I've been to NYC, we've never thought to do that tour. Unfortunately, we were already pretty museumed-out by the time we got to Ellis Island (I'll be honest, I didn't know it was a museum), so we only spent maybe half an hour there and didn't really take full advantage of it. But it was still cool to see.

So then after Ellis Island, the boat took us over to the Statue of Liberty. This ended up being a kind of poorly-timed visit because the Statue is currently being renovated, and no-one is allowed inside. Still, it was awesome to see it up close. I took about a billion pictures (duh). It was also really neat to see Manhattan from across the water.

The other cool thing of the day was that we got to see the New Jersey 9/11 memorial, which I didn't even know existed. But it's there, right by the terminal for the Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty tours. We were originally going to go to Ground Zero, but apparently you need tickets, and none of us knew that until the week before we left, which is too late. So it was cool that we at least got to see one of the memorials for 9/11. It was a really pretty, but relatively simple memorial with all the names of NJ residents whose lives were lost inscribed on it. And in front of it, they had pieces from the actual structures of the towers.

Saturday, we went into Manhattan. For any of you that were keeping track, Saturday was New Year's Eve. Yeah, we went into Manhattan on New Year's Eve. That wasn't on purpose, it was just accidentally poorly planned. Luckily, though, we went in the morning and it wasn't TOO crowded, although people were already starting to gather in Times Square (imagine just standing there ALL DAY just to get a good spot for the party....crazy!). So anywho, we walked around for a bit, then got lunch at this random little deli/sushi place, and THEN we went to see WICKED!! For anyone who hasn't seen this, I highly reccommend it. I mean, it's definitely not Phantom or Les Mis, but it was definitely a good one! Interesting plot, great set and costumes, and really amazing singing! Overall, definitely a must-see.

So after the play, we drove Rachel to the airport (sadface) and then returned to Missey's house to wait out the new year. And I must say, this new year definitely started out better than last (if you don't know that story, ask me, I won't go into it here).

Then Sunday, we drove home. I think we ended up driving a weird way (thank you, weirdie GPS), and so found ourselves driving through Philadelphia. Well, this was very exciting because I didn't think we'd be going this way, even though I'd asked if we could, because another one of Hans's life goals was to eat a Philly Cheesesteak from Philly. So as soon as I realized where we were, I quickly looked up a list of good cheesesteak places (ah, the wonders of a smartphone), and navigated us to not just any old cheesesteak place, but the cheesesteak place that started it all! Pat's King of Steaks...how cool is that?? The guys who started this place actually INVENTED the Philly Cheesesteak. Another Hans Life Goal accomplished...with bonus points!

Yes, that the line wrapping ALL THE WAY around the building. Philadelphians take their cheesesteaks seriously!

Hans's first official Philly Cheesesteak:

So that was pretty exciting. Other exciting events on the way home included seeing the Ravens' stadium and the Eagles' stadium (which was literally right next to the highway and had a game going on when we passed it. Win.), making three total NFL stadiums that we saw on the trip (we passed the Giants' stadium while in NJ).

Monday was our last day in VA :( but it was definitely not wasted. We went shopping and SHOOTING! That's right, folks, I actually shot a gun. My dad took us to a shooting range and we all took turns shooting his old 9mm and revolver from his cop days. And I won't lie, we're all pretty good shots. Although right when I was really getting the hang of it, we ran out of ammo for the 9mm and had to switch to the revolver. Let me tell you, shooting a revolver is just not fun. Hans liked it because it was smaller and fit his hand better, but I very much disagreed. Since it's smaller, it's got a lot more kick to it, and it hurts when it pulls back :( But that's okay, because we had fun anyways, and now I know how to shoot a gun. Dangerous :D Ha.

So anyways, then on Tuesday (at some unearthly hour of the morning), we flew back to UT. Sad, sad. But it really was an amazingly fun break! If only real life could be like that all the time :)

Where the heck did November go? Oh right...it went to Mexico :)

So it's suddenly December, which came much too fast, given that half of my November was missing from real life. Not that I'm complaining. At all. Hans and I were ever so lucky enough to spend the last week and a half of last month on a cruise to Mexico with his family. All eleven of us. And can I just say that I had a blast? Really. I think I could get used to living on a cruise ship permanently. And not just because your room gets cleaned for you twice a day, or because you can eat all the food you want, any time you want, without having to pay extra for it, or because there are lots of fun free shows and stuff to do, or because that bed was probably the most comfortable thing I've ever slept on, or because you get a new towel animal in your room every day. Mostly it was just being able to wake up the next day and be somewhere NEW. I think that is awesome. For anyone who doesn't know me very well, I'm a traveler. I always have been, and I always will be. That doesn't necessarily mean that I just travel all the time (although I have been to my fair share of awesome places), it just means that I have this need within me to travel. Cheesy-sounding? Maybe. But true. So spending nine days going from beautiful Mexican city to beautiful Mexican city was fantastic (although truthfully, some parts of these places were not so beautiful...but we'll get there).

So now for a recounting of the adventure.

Our ship departed from San Pedro (LA), CA. So the adventure starts with a rental car and a ten hour drive. The family was split into three groups. In our car were me, Hans, Reinhard, and Freya. We left at around 3 pm and stopped in St. George for dinner and Vegas to stretch our legs. From Vegas, it was only about 5-ish hours to San Pedro...which put us there, oh around 2:30 am. The rest of the fam had decided to stop at a hotel in Barstow (middle of the desert, about 2 hours from San Pedro). But since we're cheap and we also wanted to make sure we were there on time (I, for one, have a tendency to oversleep), we just drove straight through. We followed the directions almost all the way to the pier...not quite all the way, mostly because it was dark, very foggy, creepy, and to get to the pier you have to drive through like industrial/cargo shipping piers. So basically I just thought we were lost and we'd wait til morning to find the actual ship. In the meantime, we needed to find somewhere to park and sleep, since creepy-pier-in-shady-area-of-town wasn't quite doing it for us. So, on my almost-dead phone, we found a Walmart location in nearby Long Beach. Well, maybe that area is nice in the daytime, but at night it was just short of terrifying. The fog and the modern, light colored buildings made me feel like we were in some creepy si-fi movie with Big Brother watching us or something (yeah, okay, that was nerdy). Along with that, the only person we saw until we got to Walmart was a man in an overcoat pushing a baby in a stroller...at 3 am...but really it ended up being his garbage bag full of belongings...
So anyway, we got to Walmart...and it wasn't like a normal Walmart with a huge parking lot and a friendly, welcoming design, it was like a city Walmart, with pay-parking garages and a ton of shady-looking people hanging out in front. So, needless to say, we decided we'd try a different Walmart. We ended up about 20 minutes away in Torrance. I don't really know anything about Torrance, but it seemed a heck of a lot friendlier than early-morning downtown Long Beach. So we parked towards the back of their typically big Walmart parking lot and tried to get some sleep in our over-crowded Chevy HHR. Hans and I didn't sleep great, but I'm pretty sure Reinhard and Freya were out. In fact, I'm sure they were. So a little before 7am, Hans and I joined the crowd (yes) of people waiting for Walmart to open, then went inside and picked up a few things we needed, along with breakfast from McD's (mmmm, McGriddle....). And then at 8:30-ish, we drove back to the pier, and eventually found our ship, the Carnival Spirit. We parked and waited for the others to show up at our designated meeting time (10am). Two hours later, we were finally getting all of our stuff out of the car to wait some more in front of the terminal while Hans, Pete, and Raiden drove the rental cars back. ANOTHER two hours later, we finally began the boarding process. We pulled out of the port after it was dark, and were accompanied by a small (herd? flock? school?) of dolphins. Good luck, right? Pretty much :)

So the next morning, we awoke in Ensenada. Unfortunately, our excursion had been cancelled because of...inclement weather...?

Yeah I don't really know either...I guess maybe it was a tad not-hot-enough for a resort...but oh well, we made the best of it. Raiden, Hans, Freya and I ventured into the town to check out the shops. This was my first taste of the persistence of Mexican vendors. And really, they are persistent. I heard everything from, "Hey, come in and buy something you don't need!" to "Hey, I need your money, too!" But it was fun anyways. I loved looking at all the little Mexican crafts and such.

Oh and PS-coolest sighting of the day? Sea Lions! Apparently they're like everywhere around Baja California, but there just happened to be a big family of them just outside of the entrance/exit to the ship!

The day after Ensenada was a Sea Day. Basically just a day stuck on the ship. They do have activities, but to be honest, most of them aren't that great, and it was too cold for the pool. They do have some fun comedy shows at night, though. AND. K event of the cruise...no just kidding, but it was pretty monumental for me...they had this thing called Superstar Live, which was basically karaoke with a live band. So I went to watch, and then I decided that I wanted to do it. SCARY. I don't sing in public. I don't even sing in front of friends or family members, unless it's to the radio or something. But I decided I needed to get over my fears and just do it. So I went back to the room to grab Hans, and signed up to sing Mercy by Duffy. I was the last one to go, and I'm pretty sure I rocked it :) I mean, I was totally frozen to the spot the whole time, and I could barely hear myself above the band, but the crowd was cheering and Hans said I did really well, so I'd like to think that my foray into public performance was successful. Score one for Kristin. (I wish I had a picture or video to prove that this actually happened, but I don't, so you'll just have to trust me :)  )

So after the Sea Day, we had 2 days in Cabo San Lucas, which was my favorite town, not counting resorts. We had to tender into the dock (take a smaller boat from the ship, which was anchored out a little ways), and it was just a cute little seaside town.

And the scenery was completely gorgeous. Cabo is famous for its rock formations.

We spent the first day in Cabo at a resort. The pool was FREEZING, so we spent the day laying in the sun or in the HAMMOCKS (win!), and eating lunch at the beachside buffet. (Also, FREE 5-minute massage. Excellent).

The resort:

View from my hammock:

View from the restaurant:

Lunch:

The beach:

The next day, I went horseback riding on the beach with Freya, while Hans went parasailing with Reinhard. To get to the ranch where the horses were, we had to ride a bus for an hour across the peninsula. It was kind of terrifying...we were driving through desert and half the road was made of dirt. And I don't mean like a normal dirt road, I mean like, this thing was apparently being constructed, so it was like red dirt + the scariness of construction zone driving. But eventually we made it. First we rode through some cactus-y area to get out to the beach, then we rode down and back up the beach and back to the ranch. It was fun, I just wish we could've gone faster :)

After that, we went back to the ship for lunch, then ventured back into town for some shopping! I found the Hard Rock Cafe, where I bought a city shirt (unfortunately, it looked exactly the same as the Nassau city shirt...part of the island tour collection I guess...oh well, such is the price of collecting...), and we also came across Johnny Rocket's (Dad's fave)! 

Then, after a quick photoshoot on the beach (just a short walk through a slightly-scary military compound), and a half-hour wait in line to get back on the tender, we were back on the ship and leaving beautiful Cabo. (PS-check my photo blog in a couple weeks for that photoshoot!)

The next day, we landed in Puerta Vallarta. Our excursion here was to Las Caletas, a little strip of beach and jungle that included sea kayaking, free lunch and unlimited drinks, parrots, and monkeys! To get there, we took an hour-long boat ride, the purpose of which was to show us the BEAUTIFUL city. All the buildings were set on the mountains that rose RIGHT out of the ocean. It seriously was so cool to see.

We also passed through some more cool rock formations

Once we got to Las Caletas, we ate a delicious Mexican lunch, then checked out the animals. We actually got to hold the parrots and the cute monkeys!

Hans even kissed the parrot! Ick!

After that, we lazed on the beach, played in the water, went kayaking, explored the rainforest, and discovered about a million crabs!

Then, on the way back to the ship, our crazy boat crew performed a Grease medley and a Queen medley, complete with costumes. Very entertaining, if I do say so myself.

Grease:

Queen:

Our last port was Manzanillo. We were supposed to stop in Mazatlan instead, but apparently tourists were being beheaded or something like that.....yeah.....so instead we went to Manzanillo! Which, might I say, is kind of a trash hole. Or, as the next night's comedian put it, "That was some raggedy sh**." Luckily, we got to go to another resort. And this one was seriously amazing. It was like a tropical paradise next to a beach, with as much free food and drink as we wanted.

Hans jumping into the pool:

On the beach:

Beach Beds!

(Part of) the pool area:

View from the bar:

Inside the (very ritzy) Aztec (or Mayan?)-themed hotel:

Once we left Manzanillo, it was a two-day sea voyage home, with not much in the way of events, except for Thanksgiving dinner with the whole fam...

...western family photos (the real one of which I don't have because you had to buy it)...

...trying some frogs' legs (not terrible, but not something I would order again...they just tasted like tough fish)...

...and watching sunsets...

Once we got back into San Pedro, it was just a quick 11-hour (?!? I don't know where those 2 extra hours came from...) drive back to Orem, where we were greeted by dead trees, frigidly cold air, and a very fat, very happy cat :)

Vacational success? Most definitely.

~~I know this post was very long...but I hope you enjoyed it anyway :) ~~

~~For more/better pictures, see my facebook~~

My hubby the champion!

So for those of you who don't know, Hans has been participating in a tackle football league for the past year or so. Well, he'd had some rough luck with a couple of his previous teams, but this season he was able to get on to the new UVU-sponsored team with a bunch of other guys who were actually pretty good at football...and guess what? They went undefeated and won the championship! Woohoo!! Anyways, I think that's pretty cool. My husband, the UTFL world champion! Or something like that ;)

Here are some photos for your enjoyment. Don't mind the mustache, Hans just grew it for the championship. Some kind of football fashion statement. I couldn't explain it to you.