Michael's Birthday

July 8, Tuesday

I'm so glad we got to celebrate Michael's birthday today! He went to the temple like normal. I went to the Rise Up Bakery to get a Texas sheet cake for Michael. We opened presents with Michael and then I had 5 and 2 candles to put on the cake and we sang to him and had Texas sheet cake and it was delicious. 

Happy Birthday, Sweetie!

The Fourth of July

July 4, Friday

It was great to sleep in today. We went to lunch at Moreno's. 

Afterwards, we stopped at the storage unit and we were able to get a couple boxes of toys and some of Nathaniel's boxes. Then we stopped at Dairy Queen. Jonny got a Superman Blizzard and he let me have some of it and it was really good. Michael and I got a cherry dip. Michael said let's just take it home which was a mistake because it was a melted mess by the time we got two miles down the road to our house. Daniel went to the Diamondbacks baseball game with Ryan and Kevin. Jonny played Fortnite and then watched Shazam tonight. Andrew called around 5 PM and we talked to him for a while. Nathaniel and Emily were on for most of the time. It was a wonderful, relaxing day together!

Disney World with Dad and Sherriff's Youth Ranch Kids

June 29, Sunday

I am so exhausted but I'm so grateful to be in the condo in Orlando! Michael took me to the airport and I made it in plenty of time. I got off the plane and took the little tram and as soon as I came out Dad was there waiting for me. He never got the door code or any of the information from the Summerville resort people. He had tried calling but nobody answered. We drove around the resort trying to find somebody to talk to but never could. We called and called and selected the emergency option repeatedly for 45 minutes and nobody answered. Dad sent an email asking for help at their info email address. We finally gave up and went to dinner at Bonefish Grill. Before we went in, I said a prayer for us to bless the food and asked to please help us get this resolved otherwise we're going to be staying at some random hotel for tonight. While we were eating dinner, somebody from Casago who rents condos for the resort (that's who the reservation was through) reached out and we thankfully got all the information we needed for today and for tomorrow. For some reason he's not getting the emails from them. Anyway, we were so relieved to get that taken care of. I think the dinner tasted even better after that. We finished our dinner and came over to the condo and got right in and it's perfect. Dad's downstairs and I'm upstairs and it's the same kind of cute condo that we usually stay in here. 

Condo at Summerville Resort

Cute little table if you have small children

My bedroom and bathroom all to myself

June 30, Monday

Today was stressful but also wonderful but also exhausting. I'm glad I'm here to help. Dad and I are having such a fun time. 

Dad kept shouting, "We're going to Disney World!" He was more excited than the kids! 

Hollywood Studios!

I can't share any pictures of the kids because of privacy reasons, but we were definitely a sight all dressed up in our green Ken's Kids t-shirts!

We pulled into the parking lot and they were just getting out of the van so that was perfect timing. Khadijah and Kaiden were excited and raring to go but the others were pretty tired. We went to the ticket windows so everybody could show their Florida resident drivers licenses. I asked the lady for First Visit pins and Kaiden and Khadijah were excited to get those. They opened up some new lines on the far side so we got into those and got in quickly. We used the bathrooms and took a minute to figure out what we wanted to do because the lightning lanes didn't start till later in the afternoon. Actually, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster was in the morning but most of the lightning lanes were in the afternoon. Star Tours had only a five-minute wait so I suggested we do that since Kaiden was excited to see Star Wars Galaxy's Edge. Everyone had fun on Star Tours except Dad didn't go on it. I'm glad he didn't because it really does jerk you around quite a bit. Then we headed to Galaxy's Edge. The Smuggler’s Run wait was only 35 minutes so we did that next. On the way, we were able to see Grogu and baby Yoda. That's what Kaiden had said he wanted to see the most today and I'm thrilled that he got to. Everyone seemed to love the ride. When we got off of Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run, it was raining. By then, it was time for the big kids to go off to Rock 'n' Roller Coaster so they split off. Pam, Kevin, Dad, and I went with Khadijah and Kaiden back to the spot where the Mandalorian was. We got some pictures and they were excited about that. I gave advice on where I thought we should go for lunch. I told them I thought Backlot Express would be best so that's where we went. I was having an issue trying to get lightning lanes for a different group of people for the same ride. I thought it was because we hadn't scanned Dad in for Rock 'n' Roller Coaster so he walked all the way over there to scan in. After that, he met up with the big kids and they came over to meet me. While Pam and Kevin ate with the kids, Dad and I went to talk to guest services. We needed help because Dad and Faith didn’t have a lightning lane for Safari but everyone else did. A cast member named Phoebe helped us and she didn’t hesitate to get us those lightning lanes. She also showed me how to book a lightning lane for the same ride for other people in the group. It turns out that Dad didn’t need to scan into Rock 'n' Roller Coaster after all. Dad wanted to give her a tip but she said she couldn’t accept one but he could give her a cast compliment and she showed him how. Pam and Kevin took the little kids to their first lightning lane of Alien Flying Saucers. Dad kept asking if I wanted a Num Num cookie and I couldn't resist. 

We met up with Kevin and Pam and the little kids. I walked them over to Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway. Later, I got them a new lightning lane for the Frozen Ever After show so they did that after Mickey and Minnie, which they loved. Especially Pam. They really wanted to ride Slinky Dog Dash but I had to explain to them that we couldn't get a lightning line because they were already sold out and if they wanted to ride it today they would have to wait in line. They ended up doing that later, which was great. When they got out of Frozen, we all met up and went to the Indiana Jones show together. That's when Kevin and Pam decided to take the kids to Slinky. I had told them they could go see the Beauty and the Beast show, the Little Mermaid show, or wait in the Slinky line and they chose Slinky which worked out great. The kids loved it! I went with the big kids on Tower of Terror. Dad and Hallie didn't want to go so I went with the others. We had a fun time.

There weren't many more lightning lanes to get so I got everyone Smugglers Run as a lightning lane and they all went on that. Dad and I waited for them. After they got off the ride, we saw Rey walking around so they went over to say hi to Rey and Chewbacca also came out so we all had fun interacting with them and getting a picture. I was going to take the picture and then Chewbacca motioned to me to join everyone so that was cute. After that, we went to our lightning lane for Rise of the Resistance. I wanted to make sure they all got scanned in OK since we had paid for everyone and they started at different times. They all scanned in and Dad and I waved and said, "Bye, have fun!" They asked if we were going we said no we didn't get passes for us. The cast member was so sweet. His name is Miguel which I need to remember so I can do a cast compliment. (I did.) He said, "It's just you two that aren't going?" I said, "Yes." He's motioned for us to come on through. I said, "That is so sweet, are you sure?" He said, "Yeah," and he waved us through and everyone was happy that we could join them. That was so nice. Plus, it was so sweet of the cast member to do that for us. We had fun riding it together. Kaiden absolutely loved it! Afterwards I said to him, "Did you love it or did you really love it?" And he said he really loved it. I'm so glad that he loves Star Wars because we got to do all the Star Wars things.

Quick photo op with a grumpy stormtrooper 

After that, we took a bathroom break and headed to Toy Story Mania. We all had fun on Toy story Mania. Dad didn't go on it with us because it jerks you around quite a bit, but the kids all had fun. I sat next to Lexi. I gave her some tips and she did great. After that, Pam and Kevin said they were done and they needed to get the little kids home and in bed. So, we said goodbye to them. Dad and I stood there with the big kids wondering what we should do. We decided that there wasn't anything else we wanted to do at the park because we had already done it all and we may as well go so we can get some rest. Plus, we wanted to stop at the store and get a couple of things. We stood in line at Woody's lunchbox so everybody could get an ice water and then we were going to go. Then it was funny because Faith answered the phone and it turns out it was Pam telling her that they're coming back and wondering where they were because the kids begged to stay and they agreed to do it. Dad and I said our goodbyes and headed back to the condo. First, we went to Publix. Then we went to Cracker Barrel for dinner. That was a nice break. Then we headed back to the condo and went to bed. 

 

July 1, Tuesday

We were pretty sure that the kids weren't going to go to the park early but we really wanted to go to Tron so we did. We left the condo about 8:45 AM and got to Magic Kingdom by about 9:30 AM. 

Our obligatory picture at the Magic Kingdom entrance from the parking lot

We decided to take the railroad and get off at Fantasyland which is right next to the Tron ride. The wait time for Tron was about 70 minutes and it went pretty quickly. 

Tron is the best!

Once we got off the ride we asked where they were so we could meet them and they said they were at the entrance so we met them at the castle and got a picture. 

Fun fact, because the cost of a four-day ticket was only a few dollars more than a three-day, Dad bought all the kids and chaperones a four-day ticket and then they came back to Magic Kingdom to use it later. So this picture wasn't taken when I was there, but it's the only one of the kids that I can post.

The first thing we did was walk over to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. Dad was able to surprise Khadijah and tell her about it. She smiled so big and looked up at him and said, “I get to be a princess?” It was so sweet. It was tricky for him to even get the appointment, and he was so grateful it worked out. We were waiting a few more minutes till it was time to check her in. The big kids we're debating if they wanted to go to Tron. I told them that this was the perfect time because in the afternoon we have back-to-back lightning lanes and right now we're kind of just killing time so it was perfect. It turns out that was great advice because it was pouring rain in the evening so I'm glad they went. They took Kaiden with them. I was concerned that Khadijah would feel bad but when we asked her if she wanted to do the ride or the princess makeover she said, "I want to be a princess." So that was settled. So, Kaiden joined the big kid group and they all went on it and he loved it. Dad and I got some food because apparently it's a 90 minute experience. We got him a mobile order at Pinocchio Village Haus. Then I went to get my cheeseburger spring rolls finally and I got a waffle at Sleepy Hollow and met him over there. That Pinocchio Village Haus was packed. We sat there enjoying our lunch and then by the time we were done eating they were done with the princess experience so we met everybody at Peter Pan.

Then I got a lightning lane for the tea cups and they loved that. They liked Peter Pan, too. Then we had to get to Pirates so I suggested that we take the train to save us some walking so that's what we did. Pirates was fun. Their next lightning lane was for Space Mountain and we had been trying to figure out when to have lunch and I told them that it's probably best to go to Space Mountain before lunch and everyone agreed so that's what we did. I had them give me their order for Cosmic Rays and then they went to Space Mountain and then the rest of us got on the train and we all met at Cosmic Rays. Lunch was a little chaotic but we were able to find three tables together so that was nice. Andrew called but I only had a couple minutes to talk to him and he had to get off anyway. Next, we took Kaiden and Khadijah on Buzz Lightyear and then on Tomorrowland Speedway. I really didn't want to ride that ride but Khadijah begged me to go with her so I did. Kevin went with Kaiden.

Dad and Pam were sitting over by the Starlite Café so we went and join them and we sat around trying to figure out what to do. Next thing we know, it started to rain. I had set up lightning lanes for everybody, like it's a small world and the Little Mermaid for the little kids and they could've also gone to Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor or we could've gone on the People Mover but the rain ruined all that. I also set up some lightning lanes for the bigger kids while we sat there. There weren't very many lightning lanes left, actually. By 6 PM, we decided to brave the rain and walk over to Mickey’s Philharmagic. The kids loved it! They kept trying to reach out at the 3-D images. It was so cute. When we came out of that, it was still pouring rain and everybody was putting their ponchos back on. By then, they were just done and we walked out of the park. It was so cute today how both Khadijah and Kaiden kept looking at me and saying I want to ride with you! They also enjoyed riding with Dad. We said goodbye to them and headed for the monorail. We had thought about some takeout options but we figured Olive Garden wouldn't take too long so we went there and enjoyed our food. Then we headed back to the condo and got out of our wet clothes and got ready for bed. 

 

July 2, Wednesday

This morning, we got up and ready and cleaned everything up and packed up the truck. It was a little before 9 AM when we left. We drove over to the other condo and the sedan was already gone so Faith and Hallie and the three older kids were already there doing their Expedition Everest lightning lane. We waited for Kevin and Pam who were still packing up when we saw them. At Animal Kingdom, we all met up together and headed over to the Safari. 

We got a picture in front of the Tree of Life. The Safari was amazing! 

The lion is laying on the second rock from the left.

We saw two lions laying there and then another lion standing regally so I got a picture. The kids got to see so many animals and it was really cool. Afterwards, I suggested they might like to go on the gorilla trail since we were right by it. The little kids were pretty excited about that. When they came in and we were first headed towards the Safari, there was a wilderness explorer station and they stopped and got a little booklet of things to find in the park and they were so excited about it. It was so cute. So Kaiden kept asking if he could go see all the things on the map. I told him he needed to find them as we go places and he found quite a few while we were there. After that, all the kids went on the Kali River Rapids ride with their lightning lane. We held their bags for them and I got all of their lunch orders before they left. Then we went over to Flame Tree Barbecue to reserve some seats and they met us over there. We had a nice little area in the shade and it was pretty quiet and there was a place for everyone to sit and it was nice. It was nice for them to have something other than chicken and fries. Next it was time to head over to Avatar Flight of Passage. Everyone but Pam rode Flight of Passage and the kids loved it! It was so fun! Even the big kids who had been to Disney World before had never ridden it so that was fun to experience with them. After that, they shopped in the store just outside the ride for quite a while. By then, it was getting close to 2:30 PM and I was getting nervous that we should probably leave so I could get to the airport. I suggested that the younger kids could start their lightning lane for Na’vi River journey and Hallie had figured out that if they waited until 12:45 PM that everyone could go on it together and I said yes that's true so that's what we did. We all rode Na'vi River Journey and then after that we headed out. Dad took me to the airport and we got there around 4 PM. As we were driving, I got a notification that my flight was delayed. It ended up being delayed two hours. It was absolutely pouring outside. I know I was very tired today because I was able to sleep for about two hours on the flight. I was on the plane for about five hours so that was a long day but I'm glad to be home. I've never been so relieved to have Michael come pick me up at the airport because that would've been awful to have to take the Skytrain, find the car, and drive all the way home. I was glad to see the boys. We had a family prayer and I went to bed. It's been a wonderful trip but I'm completely mentally and physically exhausted and glad to be home for the next month. 

I'm so glad I was able to go on this trip! It was wonderful to help with the kids, but even better to have some one-on-one time with Dad!

New Zealand Part 6, Rotorua and Going Home

June 25, Wednesday

We had to get up by 4:30 AM today so we could make it to our tour. The pick up time was 6:15 AM at the SO/ hotel across the street, but we got down there by 6:05 AM. He thanked us for being early. He had a hard time collecting some of the people that were in the wrong place but he gathered everybody and we were on the road. There were nine of us today. It took about 2 1/2 hours to get to Rotorua. We had a bathroom stop in Tirau. They had a funny building with toilets that was shaped like a dog. Next-door there was a store shaped like a sheep and next to that was one shaped like a ram. It was pretty funny.

He told us some fun facts on the drive.  There are 6 million cows and 25 million sheep but only 5 million people. They export 95% of their milk to China and the US in the form of milk powder.

They call these little hills "pimples." They were formed by underground gases. 

If you look closely at this picture, you can see the steam coming up out of the ground.

For the tour, different people did different things today so when we got to Rotorua, he dropped some people off at the Polynesian Spa and other people off at Te Puia. Then he drove us to Wai-O-Tapu. We could smell the sulfur as soon as he dropped the people off at the spa. It was pretty strong! 

These trees were planted by drones in perfect rows.

He was pretty excited that we were going make it on time to see a geyser go off. It was called the Lady Knox geyser and we made it right in time for their presentation. Then a lady went up to the geyser with a bag of environmentally friendly soap and that made it go off very shortly after. 

Our guide had told us to leave as soon as that was over so we all booked it out of there and went to the van and he took us to Wai-O-Tapu. They have trails you can walk around and it takes anywhere from 45 minutes to 90 minutes depending on how far you go. It was self-guided and we loved it. We stopped at so many places to take pictures. There were craters and pools and bubbling mud and they were all so cool. 

There was a family who had specifically all worn a white shirt to get a family picture by a pool that was this pretty green color. We happened to be right near them when they were getting ready for their picture and they asked us to take it so Emily did that for them. Then they offered to do the same for us. It was a mom and her five adult children. 

We did the walking tour that takes an hour. We could've gone a little bit further but we wanted to have enough time to eat. We really enjoyed our walk and then went to the café get some food. We didn't have a lot of time but we had enough time to eat our lunch.

More caramel slices and meat pies 

More drone-planted trees

I bought a Rotorua Champagne Pool magnet and then our tour guide Aled came in to gather us and take us to Te Puia. For that one, we had a guided tour. They split us up into a smaller group so there was only nine of us. 

First, he took us to the school areas. They had a woodworking shop and weaving school. So, we got to see them at work. He explained some of the carvings and one of them had been there since the 1800s. 

We also went to their gallery. They had a wall of purses that was pretty cool. A handwoven purse would've been about $300. 

After that, we switched over to the tour of their thermal areas. The first place we went, though, was the kiwi habitat. You can't use your phone in there and they keep it dark like it's nighttime because they're nocturnal animals. We saw the father kiwi bird but we couldn't see the new baby. 

Then we did some more walking around and saw some amazing mud pools and geysers. Then the tour guide gave us some time to walk around and then we were going to meet up at the tram to take it back to the main visitor center. 

Emily showed us that there were some stones to sit on and they were hot. That was so weird. We got on the tram and Emily and I had a good laugh because they called the tram the People Mover, which is one of our favorite rides at Magic Kingdom in Disney World. It took us back to the visitor center.

I had mentioned to Emily that we could go back to the kiwi habitat and try to see the baby. She was excited to see one today because she didn't get to see one when she went to the Auckland Zoo. We saw the dad again then we were able to see the baby, as well. Then Emily and I went in the gift shop. I found a cute coaster with a pretty teal stone design. Then I went to pay for that and then I saw that they had some jewelry too. 

Before we got back on the road back to Auckland, the driver took us to Sulfur Point next to Lake Rotorua to walk around for about five minutes. The lake water is white in one section because of the sulfur and you can see the line where it changes to dark blue. 

He also drove us past Government Gardens. They have a big beautiful building called the Bathhouse. Apparently, it's over 100 years old. But they had an earthquake in another place in New Zealand in 2016 called Kaikoura and they realized they needed to secure the foundation of the building so they had a ton of scaffolding around it, kind of like they do at the Salt Lake Temple. 

Then it was time to start the three-hour drive back to Auckland. After two hours, we stopped in Pokono for a bathroom stop. They had a Tip Top ice cream store but I didn't have time to go there. We decided to get off at Sky City and go to Tony's Steakhouse and Seafood for dinner. Emily was able to make us a reservation online while we were driving back to Auckland. We had left at 3 PM and it was close to 7 PM by the time we arrived. That's when she had made the reservation, for 7 PM, and we were there just a few minutes early. We got dropped off at Sky City with some other people on the tour (they were newlywed teachers from Philadelphia; they had met in Florida and they have a friend who taught at Northeast High School in St. Petersburg where I went) and walked over there. 

It's the cutest restaurant! It was nice to sit and relax and enjoy a meal together. The food was pretty good but not that impressive. Michael got a steak covered in seafood, I got a fillet steak, and Emily got ribs. We ordered calamari for an appetizer. 

We looked up a fun place to get a treat and Emily found Scrunchy Millers which I had already thought was cute and I took a picture of it the other day when they weren't open. She really wanted to go there and try the Snickers ice cream so that's what we did. I got one that was called toffee cup that was amazing but the ones called candy floss and Hokey Pokey were not very good at all. I got a triple scoop in a big cup. The Hokey Pokey there wasn't nearly as good as the one next to our hotel. Emily and I laughed because a Benson Boone song came on over the radio while we were there so we couldn't resist taking a video and I sent it to Jonny the next morning (he actually responded to me so he must have liked it).

Scrunchy Millers

There are some BYU Women's Soccer players on this board. They had just been in Auckland.

After ice cream, we walked to our hotel and it started to rain. It was a really light rain, almost like a mist, and thankfully when you walk down the city streets there is usually an overhang to cover you so we didn't get too wet. Once we got back to the hotel, I told Michael maybe we should just pay for an Uber for Emily to go straight back to her house so we don't have to walk her to the bus and she doesn't have to walk with her suitcase in the rain. As soon as I suggested that, he said that was a fantastic idea and immediately told Emily and she was good with that so that's what we did. She finished packing. We had a prayer and walked her downstairs and she called the Uber and we said our goodbyes. She had a hard time saying goodbye and so did we but I'm so glad we got to see her. Michael and I went back upstairs and got to bed as soon as we could so we could get a really good night’s sleep before we travel tomorrow. It was nice to get confirmation that Emily made it back and then I went right to bed.

Favorite parts of the trip:

Emily: Hobbiton

Michael: Fly cruise fly excursion to Milford Sound

Me: Flying over the mountains. I loved the cruise but I was freezing.

June 26, Thursday

This was the longest day ever! Literally! I had to get up at 7:30 AM so l would have enough time to get ready for the day and get all organized and packed. We got out of the room right at 10 AM which was checkout time.

This room was almost identical to the first one we were in. 

We would definitely stay here again! It was nothing fancy, but the location was great and the price was good.

We called the Uber and it came right away and we got to the airport just fine.

One more picture of those cool trees 

It took us until almost 11:30 AM to get to the airport, check our bags, and get through security. Both Michael and I were stopped for our backpacks at security but they didn't have to dig or anything. We just told them about our batteries. I had set mine in the side pocket in case they questioned it and it was fine. We bought one last caramel slice at a little convenience place and then we went to a restaurant and had a nice lunch. I got chicken schnitzel and ribs to share and I ate too much. 

Our last meal in Auckland

It wasn't much longer after that that it was time to board the plane. 

I am so grateful that we made our flight from San Francisco to Phoenix. We had to go through customs, get our bags, recheck our bags, and go through security again. By the time we got to the gate, it was almost time to board. That could've gone way wrong and I'm so grateful we made it. The flight from Auckland to San Francisco was pretty awful because there was a baby in our cabin that was screaming nonstop for hours. I don't know how long I slept but probably a couple hours. The next flight was fine. Nice and short. The boys were glad to see us. We got home just in time to hug Daniel and then he had to go to work. 

I will never forget this trip. It was absolutely amazing and I'm so grateful that Michael and I were able to go and see Emily and see so many amazing places!