The Happiest Place on Earth

If you didn't already know, Stella and Olive are two of the luckiest girls in the world. They have an Oma and Papa who adore them. They adore them so much that they insisted that they take them to Disneyland. Can you imagine? We had more fun than I can possibly explain. It was so awesome to watch Stella's little face light up at all the sights and sounds of the Happiest Place on Earth.

We can't thank Mike and Marlane enough for helping us create such magical memories. If it weren't for Marlane coming along, Nick and I wouldn't have had such an amazing time (and we also wouldn't have had a chance to go on Space Mountain together!).

As if we weren't lucky enough as it was, my cousin Krissy's pulled some strings and gained us entrance to both parks for free all days that we were there. How awesome is that?!

Many many thanks to everyone for helping make this trip possible and many thanks to all our friends who gave us good advice on things to do/see. The trip was spectacular and we have already started planning our next Disneyland trip!

–Liv

 Olive napped in the carrier every day for 5 days. What a trooper!

 Watching the carousel. It was REALLY hot outside!

 Our first ride at Disneland - the carousel :) 

 Olive is such a sweetie.

 Dumbo.

 Dumbo: Stella's favorite ride.

 Naptime for Olive while we go on "It's a Small World"

 California Adventures 

 My favorite part of Disneyland is the flashmob style dancing and singing that happens all over the park at random times. It's so festive!

 The Bug's Life ride.

 But mostly STELLA loved it :) 

 Cooling off in the Bug's Life water park.

 So.much.fun.

 My princess in front of the castle.

 Don't let her looks fool you - Stella was STOKED to get her picture taken with Ariel!

 One of Olive's favorite people: Oma!

 Did I tell you that Dumbo is her favorite ride?

 Yep, it is!

 The girls.

 The girls were given these special buttons to commemorate their first visit. Olive wasn't as impressed as she should've been...

 My lovely Mother-in-law/nanny/friend.

Phew! It's hard work having fun.

Relaxing in Hawaii

With the upcoming arrival of baby Stella, Nick and I decided to take one last vacation... just the two of us. We went to visit our friends Hector and Annie on the big island of Hawaii. We snorkeled, surfed, laid on the beach, visited some lava fields and generally just relaxed and enjoyed having free time alone with each other. We didn't want to come home. We loved it so much, we are actually considering making a move to the big island!

Photos from our trip to London & Ireland

To view even more photos of our most recent travels, simply click the album cover below and you will be directed to our online photo album. Cheers!

London & Ireland, Jan 2009

London, England

The weather in London is cold, hovering right around -2 celsius. So we are bundled up in as many sweaters as we can fit under our coats, but it's amazing to see girls walking around in mini skirts. I swear they are close to frost bite!

Below are some pictures from our adventures in London:

The Gates of Buckingham Palace:

The changing of the guards at the Palace:

In front of the "Eye of London":

The tower which houses Big Ben:

We take the tube everywhere:

"The Eye of London" illuminated at night:

Adventure in Belize

Our adventure started in Belize City, Belize, where we flew in and took a 2-hour taxi ride to San Ignacio. There, we stayed in an Eco-Tourism cabin. Besides the wolf spiders and scorpion in our cabin, it was quite a cool place.

Just down the road from our cabin, we took a ferry across the river and hiked up a hill to see the "Stone Lady", which is an archeological dig site where Mayan ruins are being unearthed. It was an amazing sight to witness. We learned that Mayans wanted to be as close to God as possible, so they chose to build their pyramid-like cities on top of mountains.

Our next stop was back to Belize City and on a 45-minute "water taxi" (speed boat) ride to Caye Caulker, a tiny island just a few miles long and half a mile wide. There, we went snorkeling, learned a bit about the native Mayans (by talking to the Mayan bar tender during happy hour...) and relaxed in the sunny warmth of the hammocks.