Indio Getaway

4 adults, 2 teenagers, and 5 children ages 6,4,2,2,2.... all in the same room... sounds like fun! (ok, so it was a 3 bedroom unit at our timeshare) it actually turned out to be amazing fun! my friends and i loaded up our children and a few teenage siblings and headed out for a little getaway. it was a women and children getaway. it might sound chaotic and crazy to anyone who may not know us, but we all expect the craziness when we get together, so we just go with it. we all adapted very well, especially considering that we are all on very, very different daily schedules. we all gave a little and it was a beautiful weekend (actually midweek, but weekend to us, 3 day, two night). we were in a three bedroom unit that had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a full kitchen stocked with everything but the food. we handled that quite nicely though. we planned a few meals ahead of time and everyone brought stuff to pitch in together and of course we all tried to feed an army and ended up with way more food than necessary, but it was great to have a variety. the teenagers were amazing with all the little kids too, so it was fantastic to have a few extra hands when going to the pool or cooking. i think i owe them pizza or something fun :) anyway, we were there from tuesday afternoon to thursday morning. tuesday we checked in, unloaded and put away all of our groceries. for dinner, sl made spaghetti using some of her fresh homemade sauce and then it was off to the pool. there was a lazy river, a kids wading pool and a regular large main pool. wednesday we got up and made breakfast. pancakes, eggs, and fruit. yum... shortly after we were joined by another friend and her son for the day. she gave us haircuts and we sat around talking some salon gossip. lunch was sandwiches followed by naps for the little ones. as soon as they woke up, we headed out to the pool. it couldn't have been soon enough for k as she said, "mommy, i go shwimmin" every time she laid eyes on her bathing suit. spent about an hour or so in the pool before coming in and making dinner. menu was sopes with rice and beans. fantastic! thanx vm! after dinner, of course it was back to the pool. after dinner was actually (in my opinion) the best time to go to the pool because the sun had just set so it was still light however we did not have the blazing hot sun scorching us from above. got everyone herded back into the room, cleaned up and put the little ones to bed. then it was time to sit around the table and talk. don't even ask me at this point to tell you what we talked about, cuz it's not like we were contemplating solving the worlds mysteries or anything, we were just having great conversation and staying up way past all of our bedtimes :) thursday morning was taking it easy, breakfast and packing, playing with the kids and headed out right at noon when it was checkout time. when i got home my hubby asked me what we did, i said "cooked, ate, went to the pool, hung out together and never left the resort." he said that sounded boring and i told him it's only because he doesn't know how to slow down and relax. just be.... we need to do more of that.. just be... vacation often times ends up being how much stuff we can do or see before we have to return to the monotony of everyday life, that we forget to actually be on vacation. life is so much go go go go go, that for vacation we need to stop stop stop.... it was a fantastic getaway and i cant wait to do it again!

Time

where does it go? i just happened to realize that there is only a week left in july and its on to august already. what happens that makes time go so fast? it seems like it takes absolutely forever if you are at work or in situations you don't enjoy, but then all of a sudden the time is gone and you are looking back at an entire week, month or even year and wondering how it passed you by... this summer has been full of activities and vacations. we went all the way to colorado springs, colorado in june (which i still need to blog about) and july has been full of little mini getaways and a getaways with a few friends and all of our children. august looks to be a little more tame than june and july had been, however that can change at any time, and most likely will. it is just interesting to look back and realize the relativity of time as it pertains to situations, days, people, and lives... in the moment, can seem so long, yet you look back and find yourself saying, "wow, that was 20 years ago!"

almost caught up

*sigh* i am almost caught up and now it is after 1am so i am most likely done posting for the night. upcoming posts shall include our vacation journal, a rundown of our vehicle shuffle last week, an update on my volunteer work and business ventures, and possibly some general ramblings. who knows what i might come up with these days... (especially in the middle of the night like this.)

ENJOY

Fourth of July Prep

as we just arrived home friday about noonish, we needed to get started on preperations for our fourth of july party the next day. i know, who plans to go out of town right before hosting a party? apparently, i do... saturday morning was more of the same prep work, followed by a trip to walmart, and more prep work. it wasn't all that bad though, cuz we had lots of hands pitching in to help, so it went fairly quickly and smoothly. 5 pm rolled around and guests began to arrive. we were almost ready, which is a triumph for us as we are never on time. the pools were set up and filled with water, the shade was set above the bigger of the pools and the food was mostly all prepped. all the kids had a blast (as far as i know) playing in the water and a few of the adults got in too. i was even able to step in for a couple minutes here and there. later that evening we decided to drive to calipat to see their fireworks display and set off some fireworks of our own. we missed the city fireworks, but we were able to set off our own safely and legally (mostly). all in all, it was a successful gathering. (i think) :)

Stop Taking Our Money!!

ugh... where to even begin with the state of our state... california is in bad shape and the governor seems to be taking it out on the wrong people. i do not agree with the areas that he is cutting his spending. i feel as though he is trimming the meat, not the fat. i do not think that the education of our states children should be sliced apart because the government of the state cannot manage to maintain a working budget. i understand that cuts need to be made, but i believe they can be made in other places. also, my family as well as friends of mine are department of corrections families. we are suffering a 15% reduction in pay already and are facing the possibility of an additional 5% cut. where are the cuts to the chp and their salaries? where are the cuts to the inmates? unfortunately, i am not big on inmate rights and benefits, so i believe a lot of money can be saved there. i do not think the inmates deserve better health care than the working, productive people of this state, and yet they do. they are first in line to see specialists of any kind. they are not required to pay any out of pocket expenses or co-pays. they receive better health care than the people of the state that are on medical. the message there is that if you are ill and cant afford your healthcare, do something to get yourself thrown in prison for a short stint and get your medical bills on the tab of the state of california. then when you get out, you are healthy with no medical bills looming over you as so many people incur.

anyway, i am ranting and raving about this much more than i should, but it just baffles me to believe that the deficit is so very large... i know when i balance my budget, if there is a deficit i certainly don't allow it to grow exponentially. i fix it and balance it again, so that it will be right for the following month. how is it that every year the deficit grows and grows? who knows....(obviously not the governor and his peeps...)

a month?? how can it have already been a month?

um, i had no idea that it has been a month since i have updated my blog... um, i need like an alarm or reminder or something that will ding at me and say "hey, dodo, inquiring minds want to know..." :) anyway, wow, it's been a long time and we have been up to a lot since my last post.

we took a road trip to colorado springs, colorado, by way of the petrified national forest in arizona and albuquerque, new mexico. i will post a seperate blog about the vacation. i started a journal while we were on vacation, i just need to finish it and post it from my blackberry. (hopefully sometime this year, as we all know how prompt i am).

so to briefly overveiw that last month, we went on vacation, came home from vacation, went on a mini vacation, had a fourth of july party, played the vehicle shuffle all of the week following the fourth and now here we are.... lol, my month in a nutshell... i guess people would like to know more huh??? i'll see what i can come up with.