Kruger Family Vacation 2012

This year was the Bi-Annual Kruger Family Vacation and for this trip we headed out to Indiana. We flew in Friday evening and headed to Lafayette. On Saturday our nephew James turned 8 and was baptized! We spent the rest of the day celebrating his birthday and baptism! They had a pinata, which everyone seemed to love... It broke off the rope, so to fix it Kari put clear box tape on it. That made for some fun.

Sunday morning we checked out of our hotel and then headed to church with Bryon and Kari's family. Our family (6 additional adults) almost doubled their branch! After church we headed back to Byron and Kari's to hang out until we could go to the house we were renting for the rest of the week!

We stayed at the Dogwood Springs Guesthouse and it was AMAZING!! This house was huge! We had a private lake to play on, a fire pit, a golf cart to explore in, a pool table and so much more. It was a pretty awesome house!

While there we headed to Indianapolis to visit the Indianapolis Speedway. That was honestly pretty cool. In the museum they had the winning cars from the last 100 years of the Indy 500. The winner in 1911 won the race going an average of 70 mph and the winner in 2011 won going an average of 170 mph!  I thought that was crazy! We were also able to do a lap on the race track itself! That was pretty cool.

Another outing we did was to Cataract Falls, Indiana's largest waterfalls. Umm... lets just say they weren't very impressive, but that happens during a drought.

We spent a lot of time out on the lake. There was a paddle boat, a row boat, and a floating dock. Shaun and Tom (brother) bought radio controlled boats that they spent a lot of time racing! It was fun to watch them.

All in all it was a great vacation! I can't wait for the next one!

Picture time!! (Thanks Tom & Chelsea for letting me steal a few of your pictures)

Tom and James getting ready for the baptism

Shaun having fun with the pinata

James and His Lego Motorcycle Cop Cake

2011 Winner of the Indy 500

Race car's from the Bonneville Salt Flats

The Starting/Finish line (the original brick that gave it the name Brickyard)

The front of the house

The back of the house

Having fun with the radio controlled boats

Row, Row, Row the boat

James, Michael & Emelie LOVED the lake!

Upper Cataract Falls

Lower Cataract Falls

I love old bridges!

Our Trip to California!

Last month Shaun and I were able to go with my parents to California for 8 days. It was a lot of fun! I am so glad we went! We spent the first night in Las Vegas. While there we were able to have dinner with Shaun's aunt Janet and his cousin Abby and then we head to the strip. We went to the Bellagio (a casino I had never been in before) and checked out the awesome gardens they have inside! They were awesome! Here is a few pictures:

Awesome Tree!

Ferris Wheel

Butterfly House

Us in front of the carousel

The next day we headed the rest of the way to Anaheim. We did make a stop in Primm at Buffalo Bills so I could try going on the roller coaster they have there, but it was too windy so I didn't get to go on it. (We did get to go on it on our way home though... Once was definitely enough..) We instead went shopping at the outlet stores.

The next day we started our four days at Disneyland and California Adventure! It was tons of fun! Shaun and I were able to go on every ride that was open, some of them several times, while there! We also were able to see Alladin (live performance), World of Color, Downtown Disney and we checked out the Animation Studio (SO COOL!! I wish I would have know about it sooner in our trip!), where I drew Grumpy and Donald Duck. Our favorite ride was the Toy Story ride in California Adventure. It was a lot of fun! Definitely worth waiting in line for.

We did split of our four days at Disneyland up with a trip to Hollywood. We spent most of the day checking out Hollywood Blvd., Grauman's Chinese Theatre and couple of the museums there. We did drive up some crazy streets to get a picture of the Hollywood sign. We ended up really close to it! It was fun! After we were done there we checked out the LA Farmers Market.

All in all our trip was A LOT of fun! I can't wait to go back to Disneyland/California Adventure. They are adding a lot to California Adventure (Cars Land, which should be completed in Fall 2012)

Here are pictures from Disneyland, California Adventure and Downtown Disney

It's Tough to be a Bug

 

And some from Hollywood:

At the Guinness Book of World Records Museum

"Life is like a box of chocolates..."

From Hollywood Blvd

From where we drove to... :)

Sean Connery

Family Vacation Day 7 and 8- The House and Drive Home

Friday morning we packed up the cars and we all headed to our various destinations. Byron, Kari, Tom, Chelsea and the kids all headed to Indiana (Byron and Kari's house) and Kim, Michelle, Shaun and I back to Utah. It was a long drive home, but it was also pretty fun. While on the road we listened to marriage talks and they gave me a lot of thinks to thing about. We spent Friday night is Cheyenne and then traveled the rest of the way home on Saturday.

It was a very enjoyable trip and I am glad we went. I got to get to know Shaun's family better and I got to see my nieces and nephews! I am looking forward to our night family vacation in 2 years.

Here is a little tour of the house we stayed in.

The Daugherty Mansion

Sun Room

The giant staircase I fell down the first night..

Living Room

Formal Dining room aka "The Computer Room"

Library

 

Kitchen

Staircase #2

Our room

Kim and Michelle's room

Tom and Chelsea's room

Byron and Kari's room

Sun Room #2

This is the only picture on the laundry room I took... We found a frog down there...

Back of the house

 Stan

 Lilly

James F. Daugherty