Smiling Mom

Hubby and I took our first real vaca­tion together since we were married six years ago.  And we took it without kids!!  Thanks to my mom and dad, we were given the gift of time to recon­nect, relax, and enjoy Mexico’s Yuca­tan Penin­sula.  It was gor­geous!!  Hubby deci­ded to blog send daily emails to our family to let them know how our trip was going.  I called this a blog­ging, he did not.  Wha­te­ver.   Since he did the leg work, I thought I’d steal his words and sprin­kle in a few addi­tio­nal pic­tu­res for your enjoy­ment! 

Well, it’s about 8:50 am on Sun­day, July 27^th. We just got back from break­fast which con­sis­ted of about 8 dif­fe­rent fresh fruits (inc­lu­ding Papaya and Mango), pas­tries, cereals, and Denny’s-rivaling com­bi­na­tions of eggs, bacon, sau­sa­ges, ham, pan­ca­kes, and French toast. The cof­fee was rich and all the orange juice was fresh-squeezed. Total cost: $2 (for the tip).

We finally got to the hotel last night at about 9:30 pm (7:30 pm our time). The trip was rela­ti­vely une­vent­ful except for the tre­men­dous a-hole sit­ting next to us from Dallas to Can­cun. He didn’t bother us, but I was cer­tainly impres­sed with the deco­rum our flight atten­dants sho­wed with his never-ending string of bitching. He even­tually cea­sed the majo­rity of his entit­led gri­ping somewhere into his 4^th or 5^th round of drinks (he ended up having 9 or 10 rounds total on a 2–1/2 hour flight).

The hotel is beau­ti­ful. We are on the second floor of a 2-story bun­ga­low. Each floor is one room with a bath­room and a walk-in sho­wer. We have a thatch roof, fan, and the all-important A/C in our room. Our deck (not sha­red with anyone) is

where I write this from. There are two ham­mocks on our deck they ins­ta­lled when we got here. It’s hot, humid, and pea­ce­ful. Really, the only sounds I hear right now are the strange sounds of birds I’ve never heard before and the water­fall of a foun­tain in our courtyard.

Every path is cove­red over with sand. We are surroun­ded by palm trees of all dif­fe­rent sorts, inc­lu­ding coco­nuts. We will pro­bably walk into town layer today (a few miles round trip) for some lunch. Our gran­diose plans for the entire week con­sist of one trip to Chichen Itza (Mayan ruins), maybe some snor­ke­ling, and a whole lotta nuthin’ else. We are going to read, relax, swim in the pool and the ocean, read, relax, sleep, eat, read, and relax.
For now, please enjoy a pic­ture with a view from where I am sit­ting right at this moment. We send our love and are thin­king about all of you.

We had the oppor­tu­nity to tag along with my dad to his ins­ti­tu­tes in Indian Wells, Cali­for­nia.  His team an he have a power­ful mes­sage they are sha­ring with teachers and prin­ci­pals throughout the country.  Their mes­sage of No Excu­ses, and the notion that not only every child CAN learn, but should be lear­ning.  And it’s our (the schools) job to make that hap­pen.  Power­ful.  Like, change the face of edu­ca­tion power­ful.  I atten­ded a few ses­sions and now feel more of a sense of urgency to get back out to the school site and make chan­ges hap­pen… more on that later.

For now, some pictures.

eClaire han­ging with Aun­tie Ali.

Cou­sin Mika, ham­ming it up.

Cou­sin CJ and BC.  BC’s all, “AAYYY!”

But the majo­rity of our time was spent sit­ting just like this in the pool, avoi­ding the 110 degree heat.  Gotta love vacation!

My chil­dren LOVE the beach.  San Diego has warm waters, and sunny skies.  We couldn’t miss an oppor­tu­nity to play in the sand.

Exfo­lia­ting…

Han­ging with Daddy

Jum­ping waves

Boo­gie Boar­ding (OK, only Daddy and Uncle Jonny who joi­ned us)

And Making Memories

Good Times, happy days.

This has been quite a year month for us.  Boy, what a year month!  Aside from a party, anni­ver­sary, and gene­ral sum­mer hoo­pla, we had to up and buy a bran span­kin’ new refri­ge­ra­tor. Ouch.

Um…Hello, unex­pec­ted cost!!  Didn’t see you coming!

The day our fridge died was the hot­test of the year thus far.

107 degrees in the shade.

And 65 degrees in our freezer.

Not a good thing.

Our past year has been much like our past month, Unex­pec­ted:  To date we’ve:

Repla­ced:

oven/stove, parts of our hea­ter, our water hea­ter, part of our fence, found a crack in the pipe under our house that must get repai­red (not done yet), a big com­pu­ter issue (read, would no lon­ger turn on)

Paid and need to pay for:

a new master’s pro­gram, a new year of preschool, an upco­ming vaca­tion, and a myriad of other small unex­pec­ted expenses

Wor­ked through:

a torn shoul­der, a repai­red shoul­der, an almost vasec­tomy, an actual vasec­tomy, and most recently my grandma’s imma­nent death of ova­rian cancer.

Wow.  Just typing makes me want to curl up in the fetal posi­tion and suck my thumb.

I’m tired.  And when I get tired, I retreat.  When I retreat, I become a bad mom.  When I’m a bad mom, I get angry.  When I’m angry, I become a bad wife.  And when I’m a bad wife, I become tired all. over. again.

On Thurs­day our family lea­ves for our first cam­ping trip of the sum­mer.  And it couldn’t come at a bet­ter time.  I hope to use my time to refo­cus on the impor­tant pie­ces of my life, (read: family and friends) and not sweat the huge gla­ring, pen­ding CRAZINESS going on back an home small stuff.  I hope to remind myself this to shall pass and some day we’ll look back on these years fondly as we remem­ber how we relied on love burri­tos and cheap wine and not much more to raise our kids to the best of our ability.

Some­day when my Master’s pro­gram is done, I’m back to work full time, and am armed with more know­ledge and matu­rity, I’ll pro­bably see that I didn’t have to have heart pal­pi­ta­tions, weeks of anxiety, and slee­pless nights worry as much as I did.

But for now, I’m in need of a few good vaca­tions.  And a whole lotta margarita!

First up: Our second annual cam­ping trip with our good friends.

Second up:  BlogHer BABY!!  Hey Roo­mies!!  So excited!

Third up: My dad’s con­fe­rence. Where I not only hope to enjoy the pool, but also learn more about being a good leader.

Fourth up: An adult Carib­bean vaca­tion WITHOUT KIDS. peo­ple.  without kids.  (Thank you air miles and nice sti­mu­lus check!)

Fifth up:  More cam­ping with Hubby’s family.

Ya.  So like I said, I’m in need of a vaca­tion, or five.