And so we come to the end...

This could be the last blog entry for us. We have officially completed the RV trip, and are planning on spending the last couple months of Andy’s paternity leave in Squamish, British Columbia. We’re renting a lovely townhouse and although renting a place, through kijiji, from complete strangers was rather risky, we are happy with the house.

Our drive back from Los Angeles was relatively uneventful. We had a teary goodbye with Grandma at the LAX, and then we drove North. It got cold quickly, I started to get sick, and we were eager to get settled in Squamish, so we only took a couple days to drive. We did stop at a Science Centre in Ashland, Oregon and a couple of malls so I could do some Christmas shopping.

We have moved our stuff from the RV into the house, and the kids were quite excited about having a home again. We don’t have a kitchen table, chairs or a couch, but we do have a Christmas tree and our stockings are hung by the fireplace. Andy bought us a van today, so now we just have to figure out how to furnish this place cheaply for the next little while. And we need to find someone to buy our R.V. Apparently Christmas in a winter climate is not the ideal time to try and sell your R.V. Who knew?

I spent some time today reflecting on the trip and how good our God is. He kept us healthy, safe, and so well cared for. He always supplied a place for us to stay, and He absolutely awed us with His creation. We feel so blessed to have had 105 days of family time IN A ROW. We traveled over 25,000 kms by road and thousands more by plane and boat. We visited 5 provinces, 1 territory, and 10 states. We played on over 75 different playgrounds. We treasured our visits with family and friends that we hadn’t seen in a long time. We ate at Chipotle and Panera as often as we could. We found ALMOST all 50 states in license plates (apparently those in Arkansas, Connecticut and Vermont don’t travel on the west coast). And we had an amazing adventure.

Thanks for reading our blog. We hope you enjoyed the journey as much as we did, and we hope you’ll track with us on our next adventure: The Wilson’s Sail Around the World 2016. Just kidding. Sort of.

Soren in the bubble in Oregon.

Preschool Science.

Sharing frozen peas with my brother!

Things are getting Christmas-y around here!

Our first Western Christmas Tree. Already dead because we don't have a saw to chop the bottom off.

Annika is almost as tall as me. AHHH!

Stockings hung...but they keep falling off.

Soren does the star.

The Christmas Decorating Team.

When you don't have your toys, you play stocking/hanger ball.

In our new backyard.

Cruising with Disney circa. 1995

We are back in Long Beach, California after a week onboard the Disney Wonder. This was a most wonderful week with Grandma (my mother-in-law). The older two kids bunked in Grandma's room and we were next door with the younger two. We ate to our heart's content and spent our days at sea in the Mickey and Goofy pools or exploring the ship. The shows were awesome, even if they were a little too 'musical-theatre-ish' for Andy. Annika loved the cruise dancers and singers, and we're thinking she might end up working on a ship doing exactly that. Andy and I loved our date nights/afternoons. We went running together, hot-tubbing, played BINGO, went to the 'adults only' ventriloquist, or just got a hot chocolate and strolled around the ship. The only weird thing about the Disney cruise was that it was totally all old-school Disney. There was no mention of Rapunzel or Pixie Hollow or Cars or even Finding Nemo. The movies they focused on were Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid, Cinderella....you know, the ones that were released during MY childhood...not my kids'. Not sure why Disney doesn't acknowledge the last decade of accomplishments, and I found that kind of annoying. The Disney movies and shows that my kids are familiar with were non-existent.

Our three sailors.

Cinderella meets Belle.

Snow White (aka Brandi from Indiana).

The Wilsons and the ducks.

Soren LOVED the pools. We had to hide his swim diapers, so he didn't get kicked out.

We cruised from L.A. to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, then spent two days at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. We didn't get off the boat on one of the days...we were having too much fun to bother and it was nice having an almost empty boat to ourselves. On the second day in Cabo, we went on a glass-bottom water taxi that we did with my family back in 2009. It was the exact same as two years ago, but the kids loved seeing the  tropical fish and the sea lions.

Andy, climbing where he is not supposed to.

Kai, on the water slide. 

Goofy and Kai.

The Wilson's, hot tubbing.

This was our third time going on a cruise, but the first with our kids. We were thinking we needed to wait until they were older to take them, but it was awesome, especially with the extra help from Grandma. It was hard to drag ourselves off the boat at the end and we were already discussing when we could go on the next one. Cruising is the ultimate all-inclusive vacation. I plan on being one of those seniors who are on their 40th cruise or something insane like that.

Pirate Night 

Scurvy Sea Dogs. 

Cabo Sunset.

Pirate Sawyer.

These fish weren't dead, but they laid flat against the glass bottom boat for some reason.

Cabo beauty.

Playing at Lovers Beach, with our ship in the background.

Not too shabby for a Baby's First Year.

We started this adventure 3 months ago today. That's kind of crazy. We've been traveling for over 3 months and living in a house on wheels. Who knew we would last that long? Today was important for another reason though: It was our baby girl's first birthday! When we think about all we did this past year and all the fun we had with Miss Sawyer, we can be nothing but thankful. I am convinced there are no babies out there more perfectly easy-going than her. She displayed her extreme tolerance and patience tonight when little hands were snatching at her birthday presents and cake. Sawyer, you have been an absolute treasure, but if you wanted to secure your position as the youngest in the family, you might have wanted to make life a little more difficult this past year. ;)
As I write this, we are in Long Beach, California. And we are staying in a hotel again because in 36 hrs. we board a cruise ship. My mother-in-law had this wonderful item on her bucket list called "take grandkids on Disney cruise" that we are all-too-happy to help her cross off. This afternoon I ran into my mother-in-law in the lobby of the hotel and it was a great reunion. With their travels and ours, we have spent most of 2011 apart, and it will be great to have her all to ourselves for the week. The kids are mildly excited about seeing Grandma as well.
The last couple of days we spent in the Anaheim area, exploring Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. The kids stayed up later than ever because there was so much to see and do that it was hard to cram into 3 days. If you ever want to see parents push their kids WAY beyond their limits, go to Disney. By about 5 pm, 90% of the kids are asleep (even the older kids), and the parents are still trudging along, determined to see and do more. You can't help it. You spent so much money, you just want to see it all.

I am absent from the tea cups. I can't stomach that.

Buzz Lightyear ride.

Ariel ride. Annika's face says it all. The kids were blown away.

Sawyer LOVED the rides. She'd stay up HOURS past her nap just so she wouldn't miss a thing.

Our Tink.

Disney-marketing geniuses. I hate stuffed animals, and yet, I left the park with stuffed Disney Characters.

Ferris Wheel of vomit. I skipped this one.

Disney California Adventure Park.

She was so excited about her present: her first baby.

Mmmm...Birthday Dinner.

Our precious baby girl is ONE.

Is this what I'm supposed to do?

After much MUCH discussion, we have decided to end the RV trip shortly after the Disney cruise is over.   One of the things Andy really wanted to do on this paternity leave was spend some time snowboarding, so we are going to head back up north to Squamish, British Columbia and become full-time Whistler-ers. It will be nice to spend Christmas in a home, in Canada, and not in a Wal-Mart parking lot somewhere. And I think Andy is asking Santa for a snowmobile for Christmas.

Grown men in Tinkerbell sweatshirts and teenage boys in Buzz Lightyear hoodies.

Soren (our number 3 baby) turned number 3 today! We originally had planned on being in Sea World for his birthday, since he is going to be our 'Greenpeace-save-the-whales' kid. However, with the RV taking forever to get fixed, we just didn't have the time to get to San Diego. On a whim yesterday, we left San Francisco in the morning, went to pick up the big beast from the repair shop, dropped off our rental van, and decided to drive to Anaheim. We didn't tell the kids until after breakfast this morning. Annika is the only one who is old enough to know what Disneyland really is, and she was ecstatic. Kai didn't say anything and Soren said "will there be fish there?" (His standard response).
Some things you should know about Disneyland:
1. It is the biggest money grab on the planet. Not only are there exorbitant fees to get in the park (it cost us  1000 dollars for a 3 day pass), but the prices are insane inside. A cheeseburger is 9$, an apple is 2.79$, and everywhere you look they are selling something. And the crazy thing is, people are buying it. They're   buying Disney balloons, blankets, mouse ears, decorative pins, mouse-shaped pretzels, etc.
2. It is perfectly acceptable for a grown man or woman to wear Disney apparel. Whether this is a set of Goofy ears, or a pink Tinkerbell t-shirt, or a Disney backpack, it's all fair game when you're at Disneyland. I was shocked. I wanted to ask some people, "do you dress like this normally?"
3. You will see someone puke. For those who don't know this about me, I'm an extreme barf-a-phobe. I chose my lifetime career based on which jobs don't see lots of puking, and I seriously considered not becoming a mom because I knew it would involve cleaning up someone else's barf. So places like Canada's Wonderland and carnivals make me nervous. I try not to look near garbage cans or super spinny rides, just in case I spot some puke on the ground or WORSE, someone in-the-act of puking. When I got to Disney today I started praying, "God, please don't let me see puke today." But sure enough, I saw a kid puking all over the ground. Ugh. This is the same ground that my kids will be crawling all over the place. Gross.
4. The lines are INSANE. We went on a Saturday, not the best idea. But it is LOW season and it was so so busy. I can't imagine what it's like in the heat of the summer with all kinds of strangers' bodies pressed up against you.

All that to be said, we did have a great time today. We spent a couple hours in the morning/early afternoon in the park, then we headed back to the R.V. for a couple hours of down time (and birthday cake). At about 5 pm, we headed back into the park and it was much more pleasant. The lines were not bad at all and even though we rode the flying elephants and cruised the jungle in the dark, it was fun. The sheer excitement on the kids' faces was priceless. Well, actually it came at quite a steep price. But as Andy said to me "now we don't have to do Disney World for like, another decade."

Happy Birthday to my precious baby boy Soren. These last 3 years with you have been a precious gift from God. Soren, we all love you and are so glad you are a part of our family. There would be a lot less giggling without you.

When it is your birthday, you obviously get to lick the cake spatula.

This looks like I am riding the roller coaster alone, but actually, Soren is with me.

Opening Presents.

He had LOTS of helpers for present opening.

Climbing on the outside of the treehouse.

 He loved his first roller coaster. All 15 seconds of it.

Someone is all Disney-ed out.

Cake picnic in a parking lot. Hooray!

Mr. and Mrs.

Special Disneyland button.