Our Cruise

True Vacation

Brad and I went on a 7 day cruise to the Western Caribbean. We planned this trip about a year ago and it was so wonderful to truly relax. Our ship held 3,000 passengers and had an ice-skating rink, in-line skating course, movie theater, water slide, rock wall, work out room (my favorite thing) putting green and Broadway stage. It was amazing. The dining room was unbelievable and there were 3 dinning rooms on the ship. Each night there was of course an fun animal left on the bed made of towels. We saw Broadway shows every night on the stage in an theater that held 1,500 people. The service was unbelievable. I had a steak for 7 nights in a row (I'm not very adventurous) and Brad enjoyed trying new things and often times ordered 2 appetizers, 2 entrees and 2 desserts (it was gourmet food so the portions were smaller than a normal restaurant or so that is what we tell people). Our server for dinner was from India and said they stay on the ship for 6 months and work everyday and then get 2 months off. I felt guilty enjoying myself so much when he was working so hard. We took the elevator only 1 time the whole 7 days and so we did an awful lot of walking. We would actually have races up the stairs. Brad was winning in the beginning but that is only because I had to wear cute shoes on my cruise and couldn't skip steps as fast as him. We met some really great people Kristin and David Pratt and Bea and Bob Ball who sat at our table with us. It was so fun to get to know them. We did a lot of fun things together and enjoyed teaching them the game Greed. It is a dice game and I would carry the dice in my purse and we would play whenever we were together and whenever we could find a table.
Brad loved having his new camera on the cruise. He took about 500 pictures. It was crazy and he even bought a yellow fanny pack (the only color the cruise carried) to carry his spare lens. There was a bit of teasing going on from our new found friends since he truly did look like a full blow tourist with his fanny pack, big camera, baseball hat and backpack. I just tried to walk a few feet in front of him so that people wouldn't think we were together. Of course I am just kidding and I am proud of Brad and his new hobby.
Brad and I are early to rise early to bed kind of people but we ended up staying up until at least 11:00 every night. There were so many activities each night. It was truly an amazing vacation that we both desperately needed. I had contemplated taking our kids on a cruise someday until I heard about some kids on the ship that ended up spending $1,000 on video games without their parents knowing it. I will think again about taking those people that live in my house and call me mom.

Spring Break 2008

Spring break was a blast this year. We actually went somewhere. Hannah and Brad were on a school ELP fieldtrip that ended at the San Diego Zoo, so I packed up the other kids and my mom and headed to San Diego. We picked them up at the zoo and spent a few days visiting the Bird family. We took the kids on a hike and then flew kites in the park. Connor was so upset that his "Car" kite might fly away. Tears were shed but luckily the park that we were flying the kites at had a playground and that made life better.


We took our kids to a family fun park called Fiddlesticks. Bumper boats, race cars and goofy golfing. What a fun day! Thank goodness we had a gift certificate and coupons. We brought Mitchell's friend Annika who is going to marry someday with us. She is loved by all in our family and brings a calmness to Mitchell and a smile to his face. Of course when you take 6 kids to a fun park you are bound to forget to take one of their pictures. Sorry Hannah we do love you and know that you were with us having fun but no picture to prove it.

Brads Picture Masterpieces

Brad loves to take pictures and it is amazing what he can do with a little digital camera. Just wanted to share a few favorites.

Has Mom Lost Her Marbles?

So I was sick of the fighting, yelling, biting, hitting, screaming and just being plain mean in our house so I came up with a plan. It was going to be expensive but so would counseling so I decided to give it a try. I gave everyone 10 marbles. Everytime they were unkind they lost a marble and at the end of the day they would be paid $.05 for each marble they had left. If they were really good the whole month they could earn $14.50. They of course were excited by this figure but in my heart I hoped they wouldn't quite reach it. I would need to pick up a second job to pay for their happiness. This little marble plan has been working quite well. I have not lost a single marble. It has nearly been 7 days. That is the longest I have ever gone without yelling at my kids. Mitch isn't far behind. He only lost one. And this nearly broke his heart. Connor isn't doing so well and I decided that he isn't getting any money. He can just have his marbles back if he will stop crying when I take one away. Bethany is at least trying. She went 3 whole mornings without waking up crying. That is how we know that she is awake. Mornings are not a happy time at our house. Hannah and Elli have been playing together. It is a mothers dream come true. I have actually been hearing words like thank you. I didn't know that my children knew those words. Hopefully after a month this will become a habit. It is just nice to be nice!!

The Missing Worm

Bethany came home one day from kindergarten with a learning backpack from school. It was filled with activiies she could do at home and then take back to school. The catch is that if she lost any of the pieces it would cost $20.00 for the backpack. Of course we had good intentions of not losing any of the pieces but Bethany and her brothers found the plastic worms inside the backpack just too irristable. Behind their parents back they took the plastic worms outside and began throwing them in the air as high as they could. It was good times for them I am sure. Of course we did not know any of this was going on until we were weeding the flower bed and found 2 plastic worms. We then realized there was still one missing and that darn worm was going to cost us $20.00. I prayed for 3 days that we would find the worm. I offered a $5 reward for him but he was nowhere to be found. I gave it one last effort and made my children put on their jackets since it was a freezing 50 degrees outside and begin the final hunt. After pleading with Heavenly Father one more time Brad announced he had found the worm. A rush of gratitude ran through me. My children didn't understand my excitement but I knew that we had a little help finding the worm since it was stategically placed on the roof of the house. How it inched its way up there I will never know but now he is with his other worm family. Bethany has been banned from bringing another backpack home. That is just too expensive of a learning project for our family.

Words of Wisdom from the Wilson Children

• Bethany said that she wanted to save her money so that she can go to Disneyland to see the fakish realish princesses.
• So Connor was playing "Hide & Sink" with his friend Tyler and Jacob. It was sooo fun!! He also loves to eat "auchos" not to be confused with nachos!