Me Worry? No, Never!

Last night after my nap on the couch and the hubs woke me up to go to bed, I couldn't get back to sleep. I tossed and turned for what seemed like a long time. I had myself all worked up and in quite the tizzy.

What was bothering me you ask? I was worried about what we would eat for dinner on our lay over at the airport. Yeah, we will be at the airport May 25th. Nothing like putting the cart before the horse hu?

I think it all started with dinner last night. We were having a gourmet meal of grilled cheese sandwiches. Hubs said he wanted 2 and the girl was eating her first one and asked for another. I told her as long as she would eat it, I would make it for her but if not that was the last of the bread and if you only thought she wanted it, I would eat it. The look she gave me was one of great concern. She wanted to know what I was going to eat if she had the last sandwich. I told her that I would find something else but that is just what Moms do, give up things for their kids without thinking twice. (I think she may have decided to become a nun right then and there, she is a bean pole but the thought of giving up food for someone else made her stop and think).

This got me to thinking about the time we went to PoDunk and flew in late and stayed in a hotel before driving to our home town. It was late and there was nothing close to our hotel to eat and was too late to order pizza (we were picking up our rental car the next morning). We were all pretty hungry and all I had in our carry-on was half a bag of beef jerky. I remember letting Hubs and K have it all knowing we would just get up early and have breakfast.

All of this in turn had my mind spinning. If we leave here at 2 its really 4 there, so that makes it 7 when we get there which is only 5 here yadda yadda yadda. So logically at 7 pm there will be plenty of things still open in the airport so we won't wither away to nothing in the 2 hours we are in the land of 10,000 Lakes.

I am off to eat an ice cream sandwich and start building up extra body fat between now and then, just in case ya know.

Trip Wrap Up Part 2

This is going to much quicker than version 1, promise.

Lots and lots of sitting on the beach and by the pools. Lots and lots of alcohol. (All inclusive is definitely the way to go).

Eat lots and lots of yummy food.

Hang out with friends.

A few nights we shut down the piano bar.

One night we hung out at the disco! (The alcohol helped with this I am sure).

Throw in some shopping, some snorkeling, and some sleeping and that pretty much sums it up.

We did go to Anna Nicole's house one day. We went on a rather disappointing tour and decided to take a taxi back to the resort rather than wait for the bus. The driver told us he would take us by her house for another $20.00. We figured what the heck, why not. It was a zoo there. This was Tuesday afternoon, before anyone knew her funeral would be Friday. When we left of Friday the only way to get to the airport was to drive by the cemetery, again what a zoo. Some of our group who got in late stayed a few extra days and went to the cemetery and took some great pictures. I will add them soon.

The biggest complaint? These. I was eaten alive and my poor legs are covered in itchy red bites. All in all, it was a great time, with great friends. I am not sure it would be my first choice to go to again, but it is one more place to add to our "Been There Done That List". Next years trip? Panama. Now that is one place I am excited to go to.

Trip Wrap-Up

I know, we have been home almost a week and I am just now getting around to this.


So, this is where we went. Now we didn't get there without a few hangs up....

We were scheduled to leave Phoenix Sunday morning at 6:30 a.m. which meant we got up at 3:00, to leave the house by 4:00. By the time we dropped off the truck and got in line it was about 5:15 a.m. The line at the ticket counter was about 200 people long. There are never long lines at our airport, especially so early in the morning. It should have been our first clue. We drug our suitcases to the end of the long-o-line only to have the guy in front of us say something about our flight being cancelled. Right after that we heard our friends name being paged to pick up a white paging phone. I told Hubs to hang tight I was going to find out what was going on. I worked my way to the front of the line to see our friends next up to the counter. I very nicely pushed my way in to find out what was up. Seems the bad weather in Texas the day before grounded a bunch of flights and there were no planes. I quick called the Hubs and told him to drap our crap to the front of the line NOW! because M was working with the agent to keep 6 of us together. (Hubs told the guy who had told him about the flight being cancelled we were line at the wrong airline and I was calling to let him know).

Our original flight had us going from PHX to DFW to Nassau. The agent was able to get us on a later flight Sunday morning, we would then stay the night in DFW then get to Nassau a day later than we had planned. We did a quick group huddle and after listening to others try and work out flights we went with it. We should have been a group of 24, we turned out to be a group of 6. The rest of our group didn't make it out until Tuesday.

Once we were through security we jumped on our cell phones trying to locate a hotel room once we got to Dallas. We were lucky enough to find ONE room. 6 adults one hotel room. We were off to a great start.

Let the fun times begin. We got to Dallas, claimed our bags and worked our way out to the curb to wait for the shuttle from the hotel. Now, I told them we had 6 adults. Ready for this? They picked us ALL up in one Explorer. The driver was not happy, nor was I. I explained several times I told them we had 6 people. The driver not so nicely told me we had more bags than 6 people should have. Now, who is he to tell us how many bags we could have. The airlines allow 2 per person so he should have assumed that we would have at least that. We had 13 bewteen the six of us. In we all piled, then the drive proceeded to pile different suitcases on our laps, between our legs, under our feet and anyplace else he could find to stick them. Good thing is was only about a 10 minute ride.

So when we get to the hotel guess what? Exactly. Our room wasn't ready. We were surrounded by an industrial area. We noticed a hotel bar at the end of a hall. The desk clerk told us it wasn't open yet, but they could take us to a neighboring hotel that had a restaurant and sports bar in it that were open. We checked our bags and piled back into the Explorer. After about 4 hours and $400.00 later we were ready to head back to our hotel.

Upon arrival at our home away from home for the evening, that really wasn't quite the same as being in the Bahama's, we were told that their bar was CLOSED on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. I think they are a bit backasswards in good ol' DFW. To make it better we were also in a dry county. I had no idea they even HAD dry counties anymore. Now what were we going to do? The boys went off to befriend the shuttle driver ,slip him a few greenbacks, and have him take them to the next county to pick up some boos. Guess what? Yeah, in Texas you can only buy beer on Sundays. We are much more mixed drink and shots types of people, but in a pinch I guess the beer would have to do. While they were out they picked up a delicious dinner of bean dip and pork rinds.

Gosh, we aren't even there yet and I am tired of typing about it. If you are so inclined, click on the flickr badge to see some of our pictures.

I'll be back later with more, which I promise is more fun than bean dip and beer.

Easy Come, Easier Go..

I just finished buying airline tickets for our next adventures. I had 3 windows open and one very nice man on the phone from the airline. See, the 3 of us will all leave together to go to a family reunion in May. Then the hubs and I will return home 2 days later and leave behind our offspring. I will then return 3 weeks later for a wedding and retreve said child of ours. But, when I return I will fly into another state, well for some reason I was unable to book her "multi-destination" flight online. I was afraid to book ours without being able to book hers, because I do not want her flying alone.

It took me several hours researching flights and several phone calls back home to work it all out to make sure the girl's extended stay would not be a burden to those she would be with, and then match up flight numbers, buy 4 plane tickets, via 3 different airports, for 3 people.

It is a good thing that nice man Unlce Sam just gave me back my money so I could buy the above mentioned tickets. Too bad he wasn't about 2 weeks earlier. Last time I looked, tickets could be had all day long for right around $200.00. Last night they were $269.00. This morning $310. and going up every time I opened a new window. The part that gets me the most is that the tickets for the hubs and I to go for 2 days cost more money than the ticket for her to be gone 3 1/2 weeks, jumping from airport to airport.

Souvenir For You

The Hubs and I are leaving in the morning for a week long business trip. The girl hates it when we go away. I would really like it if we could take her with us, but we can't so it is what it is.

It is not the leaving her that bothers me, it is the being away from her that kills me if you know what I mean. We will be very very far away, and it won't be real easy , if something happened, to just jump on a plane and be home in a reasonable amount of time. She will be in excellent hands, so that provides some comfort.

I will meet the hubs and the girl after work to do the hand off to Grams and Boppa. She will cry and it will break my heart. Then before the tears have time to dry she will make her request of what she would like for us to bring her back. I hope its not alcohol, we can each only bring back 2 bottles and I already know what I want :).

Is There An Echo In Here?

Why is it when you have someplace you really really really want to go the clock moves soooo slowly. I can hear my mother now "Mar, a watched pot never boils". Uugh!!


The girl was being a real pickle head this morning. This is what she does when I go away. I think it is her own little silent revenge. I know you are wondering where she got this nice little stubborn streak. I can hear my mother now "Mar, the apple doesn't fall from the tree". Uugh!!


The dogs saw the suitcase this morning (Yeah, so what I am now taking a suitcase rather than a carry on) and gave me the cold shoulder. They glared at me like they were angry with me. I can hear my mother now "Mar, dogs get mad, people get angry". Uugh!!

An hour to go. I think I can make it. I am off for a last check of my favorite blogs and email. They don't have high speed internet in the armpit of the world I am visiting. Boss man's friend asked where I was going and when he told her she said "Who would want to go there?". I do dammit and I want to go NOW!!!

Its Not The Destination Its Who Is There Waiting When You Get Off The Plane

Tomorrow night I am hopping a plane to go and visit Little Mister. It will be a short trip, but a trip to see him and his fine family none the less. They moved the first part of October and boy does it seem like it has been a lifetime ago. I tried several times to post about them moving and I just couldn't find the right words. Lets just say there were lots of tears from Little Mister's Momma and I the day that they moved. He was quite proud of himself that he was not crying and pronounced himself a "Big Boy". When I bought my tickets about a month ago I called to tell momma I was coming. Little Mister was nice enough to talk to me on the phone that day. I said "I am going to come to your new house and see you". He said "Your not going to be a cry baby again are you?". 3 is such a cute age.

Baby brother is growing by leaps and bounds from what I hear from his momma and in the pictures she sends. He is crawling and pulling himself up on furniture. Stop I say. Just stop. I am going to be brokenhearted if he plays shy and doesn't remember me.

We have a fun filled function at school this evening so I packed my bag last night. I started with the few things I have gotten for the boys. Here a pile, there a pile. The suitcase was full before I ever even got anything of mine in it. Maybe just a carry-on isn't going to work so well for me. I told the hubs, you know its love when I made sure all their stuff was in the suitcase before I ever even considered where the shoes would go. The weekend is going to fly by. To bad tomorrow is going to drag on like you wouldn't believe. I will be back Sunday night with more pictures than my 512MB memory card can hold and enough hugs and kisses from Little Mister and baby brother to get me to New Year's when we will see them again.

Leaving on a jet plane

Two years ago tomorrow we set off on an adventure of a lifetime. We were off to Brazil. That is why I am so excited about this! I remember Hubs coming home and telling me about the trip and that. we. were. going! It was part of a rewards package that he got from work.

I was excitited and nervous. I was sarced to death to be so far away from the girl. I was giddy with the thought of sleeping in everyday we were gone (not having the girl and all).

Let me say, the girl she was in great hands. I really didn't have a problem leaving her, (I knew that we wouldn't be able to call and I wasn't sure how internet access would be), it was the being SO far away from her. On the off chance that something did happen, it would not be easy to get right on a plane and hurry home.

Anyway- when I saw that the Discovery Channel was doing a special on Brazil I was excited. (I really also enjoyed watching the one on China). I looked last night and part of the special was filmed in Salvador. We took a day trip to Salvador and we were just in awe. I can't wait to watch it and see if we recognize any of the buildings or churches. Chances are we may have taken a few pictures while we were there ( I went through one CD last night to make the slide show in the post below and had to weed through over 300 pictures just to pick a few of my favorites) and have some of the places they will show.

Sunday evening you will know where to find me :).

Brazil

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