Hawaii

We are loving our trip to Hawaii. We started in Oahu and visited Pearl Harbor. A "MUST DO" for Jason if he was going all the way to Hawaii. Then we landed in Kauai at our amazing resort. This is the view of the beach from our pool deck.

Then we went on a 6 mile hike up the sleeping giant.

Last night we went to the Smith Family Luau.....we had a BLAST. It was a great show.

Today we went snorkeling, again, but today we say turtles. Hopefully my underwater pictures will come out.

We are missing the girls like crazy, calling them everyday and we know they are having just as much fun as we are.

Utah-Home

While driving from Moab to Salt Lake City we had "Dinosaur Day". First we stopped in Price, Utah at Eastern Utah University and checked out some dinosaur bones there. Bailey was a little afraid of this Utah raptor.
Then we stopped at Thanksgiving Point.
It has the largest collection of dinosaur bones in the world.

The girls liked digging for dinosaur bones the best. They could have done this for HOURS.

Then a quick stop at the Bingham Copper Mine. The largest open hole mine in the world.

After our second round of swimming in Boise, we drove home and then Bailey lost her tooth.

Arches National Park

After Colorado we drove to Moab, Utah. I think that day had the prettiest drive of all the days. We went from Denver west, taking us through the Rockies for most of the drive. GORGEOUS. We stayed in Moab for two nights at a campground in this little cabin. It was perfect for us.

Jason helping out the balanced rock.

In the background of this picture is the "Famous" Delicate arch. The one that is on the license plate for Utah. We did not have the girls take the 2-3 hour hike in to see it. However, we took a quick little hike to this view point.

Taking a break in the shade.

Family Reunion

Our family reunion was at Estes Park, Colorado. A very beautiful place up in the Rocky mountains. We stayed at the YMCA of the Rockies
This is a group of hikers that went into Rocky Mountain National Park

Quick Family pic from the balcony

My amazing mom, it was her side of the family that we had the reunion with. Her two brothers were there and their extended families.

The little ones went for pony rides. I do have to say that Claire enjoyed this experience the most. She smiled waved, and bounced up and down the ENTIRE time. She did now want to get off her pony. Maybe they have a future rodeo princess on their hands. Bailey rode on Star and Maddie on Shortcake. Bailey wanted to buy the helmet, horse, and saddle and take it all home.

We stayed at the Mountainside Lodge. It was a national historic site at about 9,000 feet. An amazing place to stay. There were a total of 9 families at the reunion.

There is also a famous hotel at Estes Park, The Stanley Hotel. It is the inspiration for the movie The Shining. Parts of Dumb and Dumber were filmed there.

Utah Round 1

We headed to Promontory Point-The spot where the central railroad and the union pacific railroad met in Utah on May 10th, 1869 to form the first transcontinental railroad. I know most people don't drive to the middle of nowhere to see this, but we are the Castro family. The next day was spent exploring Salt Lake City-The Temple Square and such. Not the girls favorite day, or mine either for that matter.
Then we headed to the Great Salt Lake. Everyone said the best place to see it and go swimming is Antelope Island.....Well my Mom warned us about the bugs. We wanted to get into the water and actually see if we could float. Well it was disgusting. So gross that Maddie threw up-twice. The place was covered in bugs and the mud was just gross to walk though.

Once you got past the gross part, I guess it wasn't so bad. Jason and Bailey spent a lot of time playing in the water. Bailey went the farthest in the water, and I do have to say that this is my favorite picture from the trip. She is so excited to be swimming in the Great Salty Lake.

Just a little pic previewing the bugs. Mind you this is a long way from the actual shoreline where it is 20 times worse.

Shoshone Falls

We drove through Twin Falls on the the way to Salt Lake City. It was one place I was very excited to see. The Shoshone Falls are beautiful. They are 210 feet high which is actually higher than Niagara Falls

We stopped at Dierkes Lake and had a little picnic and let the girls play in the sand before we drove on.

The view on the way out of town.

Boise

The next city on our driving trip was Boise. Boise is actually a city that neither Jason or I had been to. We had fun exploring it with the girls. The capital-one of 4 that we visited on this trip.

The one thing that I said I had to see while in Boise, the blue turf.

We took this one for Sean.

As always a little fun in the gift shop.

We spent an evening at the Roaring Springs water park-actually only and hour until it closed due to thunder and lightning. The good news is that we got a rain check and spent over 5 hours here on the way back. I would definitely say that this was the girls favorite part of Boise.

Bailey was brave and went on this slide with Daddy.

After leaving the water park, Sean recommended eating at The Ram, also great food and a wonderful setting. Going with the theme from Hood River, Jason tried the sampler there as well.

After dinner, we headed to our Hotel's Dive in Theatre. It is hard to see the movie in this pic, but this was also a favorite for the girls. Who doesn't like to swim and watch a movie?