Puerto Rico

We had so much fun!!! aside from dancing we had some pretty fun adventures.


Wednesday we arrived in the afternoon and just checked out the gorgeous resort. That night we went to a pig roast for the welcome party, and it was delicious!!! afterward we went with some friends to another resort and played a little roulet. my parents arrived late that night (and rightfully so they were pretty grumpy after flying all day).

Thursday we took it pretty easy: checked out the resort, lounged, found the local market to buy some snacks and then danced rising star that evening.

Friday we went downtown to explore old san juan. it was a fun afternoon activity, not my favorite, but still nice to get out and see the city. for dinner we all went out to dinner with our friends the Marzells and had such a nice time. after dinner we dance open pro smooth.the fort at old san juan

what a freak!!!

this delicious coconut beverage was created right in front of out eyes while this man was just hacking away at the coconut, kinda scary since one slip and there goes his hand. but it was a tasty refreshing treat.

Saturday we spent most of our time at the beach just lounging and swimming in the ocean. so beautiful and so relaxing and i actually was able to tan a little, a REAL tan, finally! That afternoon we went to watch a local cock fight, which sounds really horrible and shady but it was crazy becuase the arena it was held in looked like a mini NBA sports arena with a jumbo tron in the middle, it was such a nice facility. this was definitely my dad's favorite activity and in general we all had a nice time. That night we danced showdance.

look at that happy face

the locker room where they are prepping the cocks

Sunday we rented a car and they upgraded us to a jeep (which was so much fun) and we drove to the local rainforest, which is currently in the running for one of the wonders of the world. It was pretty fun to drive through and hike around a little. Then we drove to a beach and took a kayaking tour to the bio-luminescent bay, which was such a fun activity. The tour lasted about 2 hours and the four of us were laughing the entire time especially whenever we tried to race. it was really funny to see my dad play a little "dirty" in the races, one time he rammed our kayak and pushed us into the trees, it was so funny. It was really funny becuase we all managed to stay dry for the most part until at the very end when we were all getting out of the kayaks in like 12 inches of water and my dad caught his foot and fell in, i guess thats what he gets for pushing us into the trees :)).

famous waterfall

look at that leaf

happy little campers

the sun was so bright

hiking into this waterfall was so funny because it was pretty hot and every time we turned around my dad had shed another article of clothing

Monday morning we woke up early for one last swim in the ocean. then we ran inside, showered, packed our bag, and left for the airport. It was so hard to leave, especially since this is the first time i've gone on a relaxing tropical vacation with my parents and it was so great to see them relax a little and just hang out. All in all we LOVED the weekend and LOVED being able to spend time with my parents, since we get to see them so little now.

last swim!

busy busy busy!!!!

We have been traveling like crazy the since my last post. here is what we have been up to:

Sept 23-25 we went to boston for a competition. we didn't dance since there weren't any pro events, but travis took a few students and they did SO well! One of his students' took first in her scholarship event and his other student took first in her single dances. woohoo!

Oct 1 Constitution State in Stamford, Connecticut. we took 1st in showdance and 2nd in open pro smooth. they didn't have rising star at this competition.

October 7-9 First Coast Classic in St. Augustine, Florida. we took 2nd in Rising Star (we weren't very happy), 2nd in show dance and 4th in open pro smooth. Even though we weren't very happy with our results this weekend we had SO much fun hanging out. It was such a crazy weekend because we flew the same day we danced and we had a layover in DC where we missed our connecting flight because we were complete idiots and we were just talking and laughing and next thing we know boom... the door was closed and we missed our flight, ah! however, we were able to get on another flight and barely make it in time to dance. Also, we rented a car for the weekend and they randomly upgraded our car for free to a mustang :)). plus we were able to do some great shopping at some outlet malls near our hotel, so we managed to have a good time.

Oct 14-16 Hotlanta in Atlanta, Georgia. This competition was awesome we had so much fun yet again, plus we had great results as well :). We took 5th in open pro smooth (amazing result), 1st in showdance and 1st in Rising star smooth. plus we spent a day in Atlanta hanging out. we went to the world of coca cola which was so fun since they have a big tasting center where you can try all of their sodas from around the world. we also had lunch at a place called mary macs. they found out we were dancers and they took our pictures and thought we were famous, it was so funny.

Oct 21-22 New Jersey State Open in Longbranch, NJ. We took 1st in open pro smooth, 1st in rising star smooth and 2nd in show dance. definitely a good weekend plus it was nice because we were able to drive each night to the competition and spend the day at home for a change.

Nov 2-7 Caribbean Classic in Puerto Rico. Best competition of my life!!! so much fun and the most amazing vacation all wrapped into one. and it was double the fun becuase my parents were able to come and see us dance for the first time since we turned professional. it was so fun having them come and seeing how proud they were. we took 1st in rising star smooth, 1st in open pro smooth and 2nd in showdance. I will post details about the vacation portion with pictures later.

Nov 17-21 Ohio Star Ball in Columbus, ohio. This was our first time going to the infamous Ohio Star ball and it was such an exciting weekend!! We took 1st in the Professional Theater Arts division which was a HUGE accomplishment since the couple that took 2nd has consistently beaten us in the past, so we were shocked to win and couldn't have been more excited. In open pro smooth we made the semi-final, we were hoping to make the final, but we were very happy with our dancing. For rising star smooth we took 1st in all dances, which was exciting and we were very happy with our dancing for the weekend. all in all it was a very successful weekend and definitely one to be proud of, especially since it was our first time ever attending the event.

3 years!!

This past week we celebrated our 3 year anniversary. CRAZY!! In some way i feel like: "WOW, has it really been that long already??" but on the other hand part of me feels like we've always been together. Unfortunately i was sick and we weren't really able to do anything on the day of, i fell asleep as soon as we got home from work. However, over the weekend we were able to have a nice evening to ourselves. I still wasn't feeling super so it was a really short night out, but we were able to go to the mall and pick out a new nice winter coat for Travis. It looks really sharp. while he was trying it on in the store strangers kept coming by and commenting on how stunning he looked.

It has been a wonderful 3 years and i can't believe how much we have been able to do and see together in that short amount of time. I'm so happy to be married to such a wonderful person who is my best friend. We literally spend 24 hours a day together 7 days a week and we still manage not to get sick of each other, i think that's pretty special.

competition results

September 1-5 Embassy Ball in Irvine California. We placed 2nd in rising star and 6th in open pro. They didn't have show dance so we weren't able to compete that. However, this was a really fun competition for us since we had quite a few friends from school come watch. We were able to spend a day in disneyland with our good friends Chris and Rachel Husberg and Travis and Diana Menghini. It was such a fun weekend and it was nice to finally be able to spend some quality time with our old friends.

September 6-11 United States Dancesport Championships in Orlando, Florida. This was a really busy week for us, but we were happy with how we placed in general. we took 2nd in Rising Star, 4th in Theater Arts, 5th in U S Cabaret, 7th in open to the world cabaret and made the semi final of open professional smooth. Not bad for our first time at the comp and only 6 months of competing professionally. :)

Shoe Sponsor!!!

This past weekend at Capital Dancesport Championships we were approached by Capezio and they offered us a shoe sponsorship!!! HOORAY!!! we are super excited to be working with them. They don't currently have the greatest quality of ballroom dance shoes, but they are trying to break into the business and are looking for people to wear their shoes and give them feedback on how to improve them. and yes, i just might have a pair of danceshoes named after me, and yes perhaps one day you or your child will be sporting the JaimeeTuft. In addition to having them customize my regular competition shoes, they also said that if i ever needed special shoes for our showdances, such as boots, that they would make them for me as well.

Also, they are wanting to include us in their catalogs, so the next dance catalog you pick up just might have a picture of us inside. They are officially re-launching their ballroom line at the Ohio Star Ball, so if you plan on attending keep your eye out for their booth, because it will probably have a picture of us in the back drop of their display.

Just like everything else that has happened to us it came as a huge surprise and much earlier than we anticipated. we thought if we were going to receive a sponsorship it probably wouldn't be until after nationals, at the earliest. But we couldn't be happier!!

competition results

I know alot of you are probably sick of hearing about our results, but oh well... here goes:

August 12-14 Empire State Dancesport Championship. This was held in Manhattan, in a hotel on times square. It was really convenient for us that it was so close so that we could just drive in each night to dance. Friday night was rising star smooth, we placed 1st. Saturday night was show dance, we placed 1st, sunday night we danced both the theater arts compulsory event, which we placed 1st in, and also open pro smooth, which we placed 3rd. Overall, not a bad weekend!!

August 19-21 Nevada Star Ball in Las Vegas Nevada. It was really nice because we were able to stay at a condo in Henderson that was only 5 minutes from the competition!! We had a heck of a time getting to Vegas since our flight kept getting delayed, but we made it safe and sound. Saturday night we danced rising star smooth, we placed 1st. Sunday night we danced 3 rounds of open pro smooth (which is alot) and then ran into the dressing room and quickly changed to do our cabaret, it was EXHAUSTING. we placed 6th in the open pro smooth (which we weren't happy about) and 1st in show dance (which we were extremely happy about!!). We also received some INCREDIBLY EXCITING news, however we will have to wait to tell you about them until they are 100% official... so stay tuned!

August 25-28 Capital Dancesport Championships in Washington DC. This comp was crazy because there was an earthquake only 2 days before it started and there was a hurricane going on during the competition. kinda crazy!!! Thursday night we placed 1st in theater arts compulsory division. Friday night we placed 1st in rising star smooth. Saturday night we placed 2nd in show dance and 3rd in open professional smooth (which was an awesome placing!!!). In addition to placing so well we also received some AMAZING news... which i will tell you about in our next post (and yes, this is different then previously mentioned).

we still have 2 more big competitions coming up. this weekend we are going to LA for the embassy ball and then directly from there we are flying to Orlando, FL for the United States Dancesport Championships, which is a really big deal, so stay tuned to see how we do. we aren't expecting to have incredible results since its our first year, but we have been having some great results lately so you never know what could happen....

Wedding

This weekend we were lucky enough to travel back to Idaho Falls for my sister Jessica's wedding. And i have to say, the trip was definitely less than smooth.

Friday we were supposed to leave at 5 am for the airport and we didn't end up leaving until 5:30. By the time we parked we were pretty late for our plane, but luckily we packed light(carry on only) and checked in the night before, so we made it in time. When we got to our plane they informed us it was full and we would have to check our carry on bags. we boarded our flight around 6:50 (we were supposed to leave at 7) and then sat on the tarmac until 8 am when our flight finally left. Then we arrived in Chicago at 9:15 AM (our connection was scheduled to leave at 9:45) and our flight was delayed until 11 AM. YUCK!! We finally boarded the plane when they informed us that our baggage had been put on another plane and they were going to wait for it to be loaded. After 45 minutes we were finally on our way. We landed in Boise at 2:30 (we were supposed to land at 12:30). So not only were we significantly later than we were supposed to be, but they lost my luggage, not travis', mine!! From there we rented a car and drove 4 hours to my parents house. so yeah, it was a LONG day.

That night i made a couple phone calls to the airlines where they informed me they had no idea where my bag was, which was not ok, since my dress for the wedding was in the bag and i literally had NOTHING!!!

Saturday my sister was getting married at 12:30 pm, guess what time my luggage arrived, 11 am!!!! AH! once i was ready everything went smoothly and the rest of the day was great. I had a really great time catching up with alot of my old friends that i hadn't seen in years. AFter the reception Travis and I took Stu to see the last Harry Potter, which was really good!!

The Sunday morning we left my house at 8 AM and drove back to boise to catch our plane at 1 PM to come home. It was a CRAZY weekend.

NYC...again!

As i mentioned before Travis and i rarely make it into the city, however we had another really great excuse motivating us to go. Our best friends from church are moving to Utah tomorrow. As a last hoorah we decided to spend a day in the city. we met them at their apartment at 9:30 AM and then we all took a bus into the city together. from there we split up (they had some friends they needed to see) and we headed down to Chelsea for breakfast. we saw a place called Petite Abeille on breakfast paradise on travel channel and we decided to check it out. the food was really good and extremely light and fresh. i wouldn't say it knocked my socks off, but i did enjoy the meal.

afterward we went to times square to buy tickets to a matinee show. after some investigating we decided to buy our tickets from TKTS for ROCK OF AGES. it is a musical featuring classic rock ballads from the 80's, let me tell you it was so incredibly funny i couldn't help but laugh for 3 hours. seriously, it was such a great time. the theatre was really small and so it was really easy to get completely sucked into the story, plus we had PHENOMENAL seats, row H on the main floor DEAD CENTER!!! and to top it all off we sat right in front of the main character's parents.

When the show was over we quickly met up with one of my friend's from BYU-I who was in town, and although we only talked for about 30 minutes it was still really great to see him!

After that we met back up with Mike and Michelle for dinner at a restaurant called Buddakan, which is this modern Asian Fusion restaurant. it was pretty pricey, but the food was REALLY good and we had such a fun time just chatting with them. Once dinner was finished we went to a chocolate shop near Union Square called Max Brenner for dessert, again, super good!!

from there we headed back home to New Jersey. We had such a great time together and will definitely miss them both, however, they are the type of friends that we will probably keep in touch with the rest of our lives, so its really not good bye, its more, until next time :)

NYC

Since we've moved here we've been so busy that its hard for us to find time to make it into the city to explore, even though we only live 30 minutes away. However, right after we got back from visiting our family we had some friends come into town and it was a great excuse to motivate us to take a trip in.

of course it was SO great to see our friend Cameron again and for the first time we were able to meet his fiance Kate. all we have to say is that we LOVE her!! and we are so happy that cameron was able to find such a great girl.

On our trip into the city we decided to make it a food tour. We drove our car in, and we picked cameron and kate up from Battary Park. From there we headed to brooklyn for pizza at Grimaldi's which is located right under the brooklyn bridge. In our opinion, this is quintessential NYC pizza, and we were happy to hear that they loved it as much as we do. After that we headed down to China Town to the Donut Plant (technically its not in china town, but you have to go through it to get there). OMG the donuts are SO SO good, especially the coconut cream. And the best part is that once they found out Kate works for the washington post they started just handing us free donuts to try. AWESOME! From there we went to serendipity 3, unfortunately there was a long wait so we didn't stay. However, its close to central park so we went for a walk around the park. Afterward we took them back to their hotel. It was a crazy fast paced day, but we did have a really great time!

IDAHO

After our last Competition, we took 2 weeks to go home and spend time with our families (especially since we haven't seen them since we moved here). It was so nice to see everyone again, and we had such a great time!!

We flew into Boise on monday July 4th which was great since we were able to spend the 4th with Travis' family. Right when we got in we went to the lake, i was so tired from the competition over the weekend that i couldn't do much except sleep while we were there. Travis however had a great time on the jet skis. After we left the lake we had a barbecue at Jason's house. After dinner the annual TUFT FIREWORK EXTRAVAGANZA began, and let me tell you, it was spectacular!!! The rest of the week was fun, we were able to spend plenty of time with everyone in his family and it was so great to relax and see them all again.

On Friday we went to Idaho Falls to visit my family. However, it wasn't quite as relaxing to see my family, but we still had a really great time. here are some of the activities we enjoyed while we were there:

• whistle pig hunting
• horseback riding
• fixing fence
• beaver dam destroying (they built a dam that flooded the road we needed to drive on)
• cattle round up
• barbecue with family
  

Overall it was a really great time and i can't believe how fast the two weeks flew by!!!!

more competitions

so... its been a while since we've updated our blog, but we have been crazy busy. here is an update on how competitions have been going for us:

March 18-10 Tri State Challenge. This was a smaller event in Stamford, CN. We took 1st in Rising Star, and 3rd in open pro smooth. we were supposed to dance showdance but had a 24 hour flu bug and was throwing up all day and we weren't able to dance the event. in fact we scratched showdance because i didn't finish throwing up until the event started and that left us just enough time to get ready in time to dance open pro. and let me tell you, it was the worst round ever, all i could think about was making it through the event and not falling over, so its pretty miraculous we even made it to the final, let alone 3rd. so yeah, not a great weekend for us :(

April 1-3 San Francisco Open. This was such a fun weekend!!! we didn't not dance all that well, but we had a really great time!!!! we took 5th in Rising Star, 3rd in Showdance and we didn't make the open pro final (the first final we didn't make, and it sucked!! oh well, i'm sure it won't be the last time we don't make a final, but it still doesn't feel good) however, we had so much fun exploring san francisco. i'd never been before and it was such a fun city to walk around in. we went to ghirardelli square and down to the fisherman's wharf for lunch. then we went to that crazy steep hill with all the switchback roads (i can't remember what it is called). i have to say, i LOVE san francisco.

April 8-10 Costa Rican Classic was incredible. It wasn't a huge event, but it was really fun to have a reason to travel to costa rica :). we took first in Rising Star, 2nd in Open Smooth and for the first time we competed American Quickstep, which was a surprisingly fun event. Also, last minute we danced Open Standard and didn't take last, we took 3rd place!!! Overall we didn't do much except hang out at the resort we were staying at, and the weather wasn't that amazing, but we had a GREAT time with our friends Azamat and Christine.

May 20-22 American Star ball. This was a smaller competition held in Atlantic City. We were really anxious going into the event because travis was sick and then i got sick so we weren't able to practice and feel very prepared for the it, but we had a great weekend!! we took 1st in Rising star, 1st in open smooth (which was a HUGE surprise to us) and 1st in show dance. so pretty much we couldn't have had a better weekend. plus on top of that we got to wear costumes from our sponsors for the very first time!!! and our costumes turned out AMAZING!!!!

May 27-29 A La Carte. This was an even smaller event held in Springfield Massachusetts. However, still a good weekend for us. we took 1st in rising star smooth and 1st in open pro again. :) i think it really helped our confidence knowing that we had such great costumes and a sponsor that believes in us.

June 17-19 Yankee Classic. this was a great event held in Boston, MA. (we love going to boston since it means we get to stay with our friends the baldwins) this was another great weekend. we took 1st in rising star, 4th in open pro smooth and 1st in american quickstep (yeah for the quickstep, i just wish we could compete it more often) we were very happy with our dancing, but more than that we had a great time hanging out with richard baldwin (charisse was out of town and we missed her). on saturday afternoon we went to a steak house featured on the travel channel (our favorite place to find new restaurants) and although the quality of the meat wasn't fantastic (they go more for quantity there) it was a fun experience and a great excuse to get out.

June 29-July 3 Manhattan Dancesport Challenge. this was a HUGE event and Definitely our BEST and most exciting competition in our professional career. We took first in rising star, which was exciting since we were able to beat a couple we've never even come close to beating before. then the next night we took 6th in open professional smooth, which was mind blowing since the other 5 couples to make the final are all established US finalists!!! it was also exciting because we did NOT expect to make the final (of course you're always hopeful, but it doesn't mean it will happen) and after we did make the final most of the other finalist came over and gave us big hugs and congratulated us, so it was really exciting to be grouped and seen with all of them on the floor with us, and also knowing that they were excited for us too. i can't even put into words how incredible it felt. we have never danced as well as we did that night!!! It was also really cool because we took 5th in the Viennese Waltz (my absolute favorite dance). then the next night we took 3rd in Cabaret. unfortunately we didn't dance our cabaret as great as we have other times. But we still felt good about it and received good feedback, so we are motivated to continue working hard.

In Other news...

We have been diligently trying to pay off our Students loans and as of March 1st we are officially done with them!! We are so excited!!!

To celebrate Travis bought me a GORGEOUS Coach purse and wallet (and yes, they are real!) from the outlet malls in vegas. I LOVE LOVE LOVE THEM!!! and made it so worth all the sacrifices we have made to pay the loans off so quickly.

To celebrate for Travis we bought a HUGE (no joke, HUGE) porterhouse steak (1.5 inches thick) that he is planning on grilling up tonight. I think i got the better end of the deal, but i know he is so excited to devour that hunk of beef tonight! :)

AMAZING NEWS!!

While we were in vegas we had the most exciting thing happen to us!! Nick and Lena Kosovich, owners of Lenique offered us a full costume sponsorship!! His and Hers (usually only girls get sponsored)!!! Its so unexpected since this was only our fourth pro comp, but we could not be more excited about working with them!!

We are also excited because they own a competition in Costa Rica at the beginning of April that we now "HAVE" to go to, so we can have costume fittings and talk designs. AAHH!! we are so happy!

travels.

Its been a while since i've blogged, but we have been traveling like CRAZY!! which has been really fun. We finally were able to get all of our routines to the point that we could start competing again, which is so exciting since we haven't done it in almost a year!! But in the last 4 weekends we have competed at 4 different competitions. here's where we have been and how we have done:

February 11-13 Montreal, Canada. we placed 7th in showdance and 2nd in Open Pro Smooth. we felt pretty good about the weekend, but it was our first in a while so we had quite a few jitters. our show dance sucked because we missed 2 out of our 3 big lifts, so we weren't very happy about that. but overall, not bad since it was our first one back.

February 18-20 Boston, Massachusetts. We placed 2nd in showdance, 2nd in Rising Star Smooth, 3rd in Open Pro Smooth. We were much happier with our dancing this weekend. Although we still missed one of our big lifts in our showdance. AH!

February 26 New York City. We placed 3rd in Open Pro Smooth. We didn't feel great about our dancing that night, but alot of people said we looked pretty good. so i guess that's worth something.

March 3-7 Las Vegas, Nevada. We placed 3rd in Showdance, 4th in Rising Star Smooth, and 6th in Open Pro Smooth. Although our placings don't seem as great we were SUPER happy with this weekend. this was the biggest of the competitions we've attended so far and it was much harder. In fact, we didn't even think we would make the final of open pro and we did!!! so we were very happy!! We also were able to do our first dance on ever, which was really exciting for us. And we were able to hit ALL of our lifts in our showdance!!!!! Also, we found out some AMAZING NEWS!!!! which will be coming in my next post... so stay tuned!

We are so happy to be back on the dance floor and could not be happier with how things are going! We miss everybody, but we are so happy we are here doing what we love. its definitely the opportunity of a lifetime!

MY FIRST CAKE!!!

here is my first attempt at decorating a cake. It's a red velvet cake with butter cream icing covered in fondant. I think it turned out pretty cute! now i just hope it tastes good...

new experience

So today Travis and I decided to give Bikram Yoga a try. I thought January 1st was a great day to try a healthy option. Neither of us have ever done regular yoga but when i heard about bikram yoga it just sounded too appealing to pass up.

Unlike regular yoga Bikram yoga is performed in a hot room (about 104 degrees F) and i have to say it was really incredible. During the process there were times when it was overwhelmingly hot but it felt so incredible to be stretching out and working your body in such a warm environment. Even travis admitted that he felt more flexible than he ever has in the heat. I definitely think we will try to keep going at least once a week.

Although i have to admit i have NEVER sweated like i did today. It was actually a little distracting to have so much sweat pouring out of your body from every pore, but when it was over it was really cleansing.

The Holidays...

Sorry i don't have any pictures but here is a quick outline of how we have spent our holiday time.

Christmas eve we had the day off from the studio so we hung out during the day, made a few goodies and then that evening we went over to hang out at Diana's. I have to say even though we weren't with our families it was really nice to be able to spend time with our "east coast" family. We had a great time with lots of yummy appetizers and treats, darts, and a giant puzzle everyone worked on together. All in all we had a really great time with everyone.

On Christmas we woke up, opened our presents, called our families and then went to Diana's again for Christmas dinner. Dinner was absolutely delicious! we had prime rib, homemade mashed potatoes and lots of other delicious side dishes. We also finished the puzzle and played some rock band. We love spending time with everyone and are so grateful for the wonderful friends we have been able to make since we've moved here.

As for presents our main gift to ourselves was a new TV, blueray player, TV stand and netflix subscription. However, travis also suprised me with some great cake decorating stuff and we are so excited to start experimenting with decorating cakes. And i suprised him with a set of his own darts (since we moved here everyone has dart boards at their homes and he LOVES playing whenever we go over). WE also received some great gifts from our friends and some of our students from the studio which we appreciated and loved. From Travis' parents we received a maglite flashlight (tradition his dad gives every year) and also some money toward our entertainment set up. From my parents we received new pajamas (which was so nice, who doesn't love new pajamas?) and also some money for our entertainment set up. Overall, it was a very wonderful Christmas.

The week between Christmas and New Years we didn't do anything special, just the usual at the studio every day. However, we did experience our first east coast blizzard. It was CRAZY! we were trapped at our house for 48 hours. We wished we had been trapped with friends, but it was really fun to actually have a snow day. We even had the day off from work. REALLY FUN!! who says snow days are for kids!

new years eve we did a show at a ballroom studio down on the jersey shore (about 1.5 hours away from where we live). it was really fun and the crowd was really great and really supportive. Then we left and drove back to Gary's to party the rest of the night with all of our friends. Unfortunately we were a little late leaving the shore and we had to spend 12:00 in the car, but at least we were together. Overall, it was a really nice night.

We wish we could have spent the holidays with our family and we miss and love them, but for our first Holiday away we had a really great time!