The Kinsey family reunion at Bear Lake

We just returned from a great weekend with the Kinsey family.  It was wonderful to spend a few days with my parents and sibs and their families.  Thanks, Mom and Dad!!  We had a great cabin with 7 bedrooms right on the lake, but (tragically and inexplicably) there were only two and a half baths!  That is the only thing I have to whine about, so I’ll do it right up front.  Two and a half baths in a 7 bedroom cabin that sleeps 30 people!  How is it possible that the builder thought that would be OK?  Whining rant over.

The weather was perfect, the location was beautiful, we had an absolutely wonderful time.  I didn’t get pictures of our day at the beach, but the water near the beach was actually warm, which I was not expecting.  We played with the kids on the beach and in the water, and it couldn’t have been a better day for it.  We took turns on the boat that we rented (thanks Dad, Jeff, and Jared!); this was Emily’s favorite thing.

The kids loved our “cowboy dinner” and play at Pickleville Playhouse (thanks Michelle and Steve!), but poor Samuel was so tired, he fell asleep in my arms about halfway through.

Uncle Greg took some of us on a hike on the Limber Pine trail in Logan Canyon.  Alex and Melissa, who were inseparable the entire weekend, were the leaders.  We followed them and they didn’t lead us astray.

  

  

Blowing bubbles with Grandma out on the deck:

  

Jared with baby Peter:

Melissa and baby Peter; “He likes me! Look, he likes to hold my finger!”

Melissa with Alex:

  

Mandi and Sam (um, you were supposed to smile!):

Emily and Sam do a little better here:

Jared and Mandi, still struggling with that smile thing:

Jared spent one morning climbing to Minnetonka Cave and got this picture with his cellphone while he waited for the others to arrive in their cars.

More pictures:

  

  

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Feel good video

HIGHER RESOLUTION.

makes you want to go on a road trip, doesn’t it?

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The things that warm this old guy’s heart

Melissa just ran into the house and announced “Daddy, I can ride a two-wheeler now.”

She was beeming from ear to ear as she took me outside where she hopped aboard her old bike — the one without training wheels that she refused to let me help her learn on — and proceeded to ride circles around the cul-de-sac.

Sweet!

Maybe Emily will be a little jealous and get with the program now! 😉

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Is it possible for life to get more busy?

It seems like every day is filled with activity. I don’t know how Bart and Iris did it, with seven kids, because four is just about killing me! 😉

Between swimming lessons, preschool, Jared’s work, Shana’s work, Mandi’s traveling and everything else that’s going on, I might join dad and Jason in the white-hair club even sooner than expected — I’m already getting there!

Last weekend was wonderful. Shana had a great time getting out with the kids and hanging at Cherry Hill with everyone. She does such a great job of holding things together while her crazy bike/tri geek hubby goes and plays silly games in a spandex.

Speaking of which, I loved racing in Cache Valley. It really is Paradise.

There was a rumor of one of the triathletes drowning or having a heart attack or something. For obvious reasons, that was a little close to home for me, but despite the Logan newspaper saying the man died, it also said he was breathing on his own and being at the hospital for observation.

Anyhow, this is shaping up to be another crazy week. I think we like ’em that way.

Mandi, who returned to us from Europe on Tuesday, is off to girls camp this week. Our ward had this camp while she was hobnobbing with the Euros, so she is attending with one of her school friends. In a couple of weeks, she’s gone for another girls camp. She’s really going to be one camped-out little lady by the time August rolls around.

We also have the Kinsey Family reunion at Bear Lake on the weekend. They rented out a huge house/cabin and we’ll be there will all manner of cousins, aunts and uncles from the other side of the family. We don’t see them as much so it will be very good to hang out on the beach, ride a boat and chat with them.

Our kids will obviously be having a great time and we’ll load them up on raspberry shakes and take them all to Pickleville for a show.

I’ll try to stay sane with a daily ride around the lake or up to Minnetonka Cave early in the mornings before the rest of the gang is awake.

As busy as I feel we sometimes are, I realize our life is very blessed and I don’t think I’d have it any other way.

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Mandi in Europe: Days 7, 8 and 9

Editor’s note: Pictures coming later.

Day Seven: Transfer to French Riviera via Avignon and Pont du Gard

Another busy day of travel, BUT there happened to be a miracle that almost made my day. The milk was slightly chilled that morning! Not quite like they had been meant to be that way, more like the nasty milk had once been cold but it had been left out and had began to get warm. We rode for a while, and visited Avignon. It was pretty cool; we got to see the Popes Palace, which was this pretty nifty castle place. But we had to leave early because the town was shutting down all of the shops and tourist attractions for a bike race that was going on (if you want to know about that, talk to my dad, he is obsessed or something with these sort of things). Then we were back on the road again, my butt fell asleep on this ride, I remember how uncomfortable it was in Nice.

Well, once we arrived at Nice, we walked around, saw the sights, visited shops, and saw the Mediterranean. This was my favorite stop so far. We were able to visit the coast that day; it was our first time being able to actually SWIM in the ocean the entire trip. The water was so amazingly awesome!! I loved it. 

We had barely been swimming for about an our when a boy from the tour (I’m not going to say names because the guy was a royal idiot the entire trip) swam to me and my friend Rachel (the “wild tiger”) and starting laughing at Rachel because some guy just stole her bag. We thought he was joking and didn’t pay any attention to him, personally I thought he was trying to get close enough to us to dunk us under and make us pass out (I’m not exaggerating when I say the guy was a sick moron and honestly would have loved this). But then we looked over at the beach and saw Michelle crying and screaming, the chick was having hysterics or something. Turns out Michelle and Rachel both had their bags stolen. For Michelle it was more serious, her passport and her money were both stolen while Rachel’s passport had been at the hotel.

Rachel’s money and camera were in her bag too, but she didn’t react quite the same as Michelle. I was standing right next to her when she found out, and I doubt I would have heard it any other way. Under her breath I could barely make out, “CRAP, my new lip gloss was in that!” I thought it was hilarious. I was also rooming with her that night. At about 1:00 a.m. I could her yelling out the window, “—– YOU — SON OF A —– FRENCHIES!!!” (She had found out her ipod was stolen too.)

Day 8: Transfer to Florence via Pisa

That day was the same as usual, except I noticed people were holding on to their bags a bit more securely. We drove to Pisa, and along the way were able to see some of the white marble high up in the mountains, from far away it looked like snow. We arrived at about midday, it was extremely hot and I didn’t enjoy the B.O. some of the people were leaving in the air.

The tower was cool, very… off balance. It didn’t quite meet up with my expectations though. It was big, yes, but not as big as they make it seem. After more time on the road we arrived at Florence. It was so beautiful, everything just seemed so amazing. We went to see the main square that night. There were street performers, dancers, singers, street venders, there was EVERYTHING. I couldn’t get enough of it. I loved hearing the beautiful music played float through the air, the gorgeous art that stood before us, and the large crowds babbling on like it was nothing. I LOVED IT.

I was able to walk into Chanel and feel totally lost in my surroundings, taste my first Italian ice cream (very delicious), haggle among the street vendors for some jewelry; it was just an amazing experience. By far, my favorite day of the trip. Period. Of course, the walk back to our hotel wasn’t half as charming as the walk to the square. There were no surprises that time, everyone was worn out, it was a pity to have to leave while we were having so much fun, and our feet were quite sore. The sleep that night was, as always, very welcome.

Day 9: Guided Sightseeing Florence

We got to enjoy another awesome day of Florence, YAY! We walked to the main part of the city, saw the famous bridge, visited a leather factory (yeah, not so cool. They pretty much just told us how it was made and encouraged us to buy their products.), and heard history about the city. But it wasn’t the same as it had been the night before. Don’t get me wrong, it was still really cool, but the street performers, the vendors, the music, the excitement was gone.

We got to see the David, it was very cool and I found out that his pupils are shaped like hearts!

In no time at all, it was dinner. But there was a small problem. The idiot (I believe I mentioned him in day eight) was lost. We couldn’t find him. This kid had always been getting distracted and almost getting separated from the group at every stop. He couldn’t ever remember the meeting place, always tried to find us in the stupidest ways, and the kid wasn’t even doing it to e funny or anything, the guy was a genuine idiot.

A girl in our group, Jessica, had been using the phone booth when she saw him walking down a deserted alley looking for us. He wasn’t doing it because he wanted to see what was down there; he honestly thought we might be seeing something cool. Jessica had to argue with him for a few minutes to convince him that we were waiting by the replica of the statue of David, which we had been using as a meeting place all day. After that he tried to ditch her to find us (stupid boy!).

But Jessica’s not a total moron like him and ended up catching him and dragging him back, he had dirt all over him when she finally got him back to us. After that he had to have a teacher with him at all times, it didn’t help much, he kept turning around thinking we left him.

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Mandi in Europe: Days 5 and 6

Day Five: Guided Sightseeing of Barcelona; Walking Tour

After another disgusting breakfast we boarded the bus again for a tour of the city. We went and saw the Olympic ring, a bunch of old statues and monuments that were pretty cool, and all of Barcelona’s famous architectural masterpieces. It was especially amazing when we went to see La Sagrada Familia. It was so amazing to see it up close. Every little bit of it is symbolic, and it all takes so much effort to have it all so perfect. The work done on that building is truly one of the most remarkable things I have ever seen. My dad says it looks like mud. I told him we are all entitled to our own opinions, but to keep in mind he’s the one who needs glasses while I have perfect eyesight.

My favorite part was when we went to Gaudi’s park. We got to see his old house, see some of his work, and hear about some of the things he did in his life. Our tour guide definitely made the tour as special as it was. She was so passionate about Barcelona’s history, it felt like we were all listening so much more intently than usual in order to feel things the way she felt them. The two best parts for me were seeing this really cool tunnel thing and visiting the famous lizard. The tunnel was all sideways; it looked like it had been tipped over. The lizard was just awesome.

There was this Spanish guy trying to pose in all of my pictures, it was very annoying, but I finally got one where he wasn’t completely blocking the shot (after about two minutes of failed attempts). We were ale to hear some of Barcelona’s history, learn some Catalonian words (the people in Barcelona actually speak Catalan instead of Spanish, but that’s a different story), and see a beautiful view of the whole city. I’ve got to say, Barcelona is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever seen, and it was one of my favorite stops. Dinner wasn’t bad that night; we just had a meal already prepared for us at the hotel. It felt amazing to go to bed that night.

p.s. There was a nude bicycle group passing us at one point. I tried not to see anything, but they were everywhere. I closed my eyes after a moment and ran into a bike (the guy was stopping for a drink). I ended up just looking at my shoes for the following five minutes. (I kept my camera safely in my bag, so no pictures!)

Day 6: Transfer to Provence via Carcassonne

That day was mostly a long bus ride. We sat there for hours looking at how the land was changing the further we got along. There were more trees here, everything was green and overgrown. When we crossed the border I was surprised. That was it? It was just like one of those stops you take when you enter California, barely more than a minute long break.

 Riu explained how select European countries banded together and sort of made a whole new country, although it wasn’t exactly like that… We stopped in Carcassonne along the way, our first stop in France. There was no toilet paper or soap. You can imagine all the fun, 18 girls spazzing out about how unsanitary it was, a French couple came rushing in because they thought someone had been injured. The guys in our group just laughed and peed in the bushes.

Well, we went into this really cool castle place; it was like a medieval mall. Our group saw a haunted house and everyone wanted to go. I got so scared, there was a guy in our group who was right in front of all the girls the whole time, I don’t think he’ll be able to wear his jacket again; we stretched it out WAY too much. We had lunch, and went on our way again. when we arrived in Provence we decided we wanted to see the city at night. It was strangely empty.

We went for a walk and my group of five ran into another group of “nice” French boys. One of the girls with us was wearing very short shorts. A man from the French group walked up to her and began saying she was beautiful and that he was in love with her. At first we were too stunned to say anything, our eyes were rounder than you could possibly believe. The girl he was complimenting just stood there, transfixed. But we all snapped out of it when he called her a wild tiger. I remember laughing the whole way back to the hotel.

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Mandi in Europe: Days 3 and 4

Editors note: Here are Days Three and Four of the Mandi World Tour. I’ll try to post a couple of pictures from her camera that relate to each day’s activities or memories.

Day Three: Guided Sightseeing Madrid

We woke up to our wake up call at 6:00 a.m., as we would every morning. Our breakfast was this nasty cereal with room temperature milk. But this milk was the worst milk I had ever had. It was extremely creamy and it tasted like yogurt. Eew. I ended up waiting until we got to Madrid to have breakfast. We drove around Madrid, seeing the same sights as we had seen yesterday, but it was still really cool. Then we went to the royal palace. It was a huge building, beautiful, and the patio was larger than the actual palace, although it might have been part of the palace. . .they just called it “the patio”.

There were paintings in every room, gorgeous tapestries, beautiful furniture and decor. I was a little too groggy to really enjoy it though. . . I was jet lagged, hungry, my feet hurt, and there were no bathrooms in the palace. By the time we got to the queens smoking room I was miserable. But the tour was soon over and we were on our way.

After a stop at the souvenir shop and a visit to the restroom we hopped back on the bus and visited a statue made in honor for a famous writer who was from Spain. He wrote some donkey book that I hope I never have to hear about again, seeing how we had to sit on the ground (where pigeons kept landing on us) and had to hear about it for more than a half hour. After this, we drove around some more, had dinner, and promptly went to bed as soon as we got back to the hotel.

Day Four: Transfer to Barcelona via Zaragoza

I woke up that morning and began packing my bags. Why? Because we were leaving. After downing that horrible breakfast (it was the same thing again) we left. The bus ride over to Zaragoza was very fun. We got to talk, joke around, and just have a good time. We stopped in Zaragoza for some food and we were able to see the chapel there. It was such a cute little town and I really enjoyed it. 🙂

Then we were on our way again. I was one of the few people awake on this ride, and I’m glad I was. It was so amazing to see all of the beautiful scenery. When we were passing through the wilder, less populated parts of Spain, I noticed how it didn’t look much different from Utah. There were a few flowers that I had never seen before, but other than that there was nothing different. It was a long ride, and when we finally reached Barcelona we were all quite exhausted.

Most of the kids just wanted to stay at the hotel and rest, but the teachers were giving us the option of seeing the water and light show that evening and I wanted to go. We took the subway over, and you would be surprised at how empty and warm it was. There were very few people, our small group made up the largest party, but it felt like there should be hundreds of people down there it was so hot and stuffy. We arrived just in time. Almost the second I sat down the show began. It was amazing. They had this huge fountain with water shooting everywhere in time to music. Lights were projected from the fountain, changing the color of the water depending on how fast or slow they were moving or what the music was like. It was an amazing experience and I’m so glad I went.

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Mandi in Europe: Days 1 and 2

Editor’s note: I’m FORCING Mandi to write a few sentences about each day of her trip so I can then post those memories here. She’s not happy about that, but too bad, so sad.

And without further ado, here is the report: 

Day One: The Flight.

I woke up at freakin’ 2:30 a.m. to check my luggage to make sure I had everything. I was groggy, tired, had a headache, and doing this was no picnic. My dad came in and made sure I was up, and then we left. When we got to the airport we found a group of teachers, students, and parents. They didn’t look like they were having fun either. After getting my bags checked and my ticket ready at hand we left.

My parents had loaded me up with enough drugs to stock a small pharmacy so I was planning on sleeping through all of my flights. Funny story, none of them worked. I tried all of them (I waited a few hours before taking a new pill or two), Advil pm, Tylenol pm, Benidril, and a few others. I’m immune or something. I tried to fall asleep on my own, but I just couldn’t.

So, thirty hours or so on a plane with no sleep, what do you think I did? I doodled in my sketch pad, wrote in my journal about how bored and tired I was, digested nasty airplane food, used the airplane toilet while experiencing turbulence (such a happy experience), stared at nothing-my record is 2 minutes and fourteen seconds (my neighbor had a watch and timed me), watched 27 Dresses (watched being the key word, I didn’t know where to plug in my earphones.), and read the plane pamphlets about how to fasten your seatbelt 15 times.

 

Day Two: Airport to Hotel & the Prado

We arrived at the Madrid airport sometime in the morning. We got in, went through customs, heard many Spanish accents, retrieved our luggage, and set off to our hotel. We were greeted our tour guide Riu (yes you read right, that’s her name) and took a bus. When we arrived we immediately ran to our rooms and started unpacking.

While exploring my bathroom I noticed a strange toilet thing. Apparently it was called a baday, and you use it to take a sponge bath. Then we were off. We drove to Madrid and saw the city streets, the tourist traps, smelled the cigarette smoke that was everywhere (I was afraid of second hand smoke it was so bad…), and then we went to the Prado. In case you don’t know this, the Prado is a world famous art museum.

The paintings there were so beautiful, but my favorite by far was Las Meninas. We left the museum and went shopping. I got Emily and Melissa flamenco dolls at a shop across the street. We then went to dinner. It was kind of a let down t be honest. You think of European food and internally say YUM!! But we went to this not so delicious restaurant and had some cold rice and potatoes. Yuck.

 Then we went back to our hotel and passed out the second our heads touched our pillows.

 

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The Italians were after her!

Here’s the girly girl getting a birthday song from a creepy Italian guy in Sorrento. 😉

Though most of the pictures were kind of poor quality, I’m glad the tour company posted a picture or two of each day’s activities.

She’ll be home in a few hours.

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With friends like these

Two of Mandi’s friends from church/school just left the house.

After Shana and I spent a couple of hours last night cleaning Mandi’s room, her friends, Mackenzie and Carissa, called and wanted to decorate it to celebrate her birthday/homecoming. It’s kind of hard to say ‘No’ to friends who want to do something nice for my little girl.

There are now balloons, streamers, confetti, glitter and all sorts of decorations from wall to wall and on top of pretty much every surface. Other than being obvious decorations, it looks almost normal.

Shana and I wanted to have her room looking spotless so she wouldn’t be greeted with the task of cleaning it as soon as she got home. I guess her friends took care of that, didn’t they?

Mandi will be home in only a few more hours. I hope she gets to sleep long and hard when she gets home. And I’ll probably help her clean the room — again.

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