Monday Madness...

Nope. No madness here today. Just the sound of the waves. So in light of that, Karen and I will be taking a break for the next two weeks. We may return early, but honestly, I KNOW what we are like after vacation. HA!

Hope you are having a fabulous few weeks. Looking forward to writing for you when we return!

Yours, enjoying every well-earned moment of the ocean,

Melissa

Friday FUN!!!!

Yes, my Dear Readers, the time has come! The annual trek to the ocean. Love, love LOOOOOOVE this day! Z1 was determined to pack his own clothing this year, God love that little boy! For a week's worth of travel, he brought me one duffle bag with 7 pairs of shorts, 7 shirts, and his Jack (stuffed dragon). Apparently underwear, a toothbrush and deodorant were deemed unnecessary. Gotta love kids.

Z2, on the other hand, is determined to let me do all of the packing and then complain about what is and is not in the suitcase once we get there. Can anyone say EARLY TEEN DRAMA QUEEN? She's only 8. We're taking a step back and going on lock down over this. Mama's had enough of the mouth this summer. No, she's not a bad child, she just likes to know why and argue every single point. To put it mildly, she has worn me out. I'm gonna have to come up with a plan or she is going to wear me down before we get to age 10. Any suggestions? Melissa B (YES! There is another Melissa B! I'm really not talking to myself... this time, anyway. :) .... I know you have some creative ones.... I'd love to hear them!

The only thing I know is that by the time you are reading this, I will be en route, with tears of relief dried upon my cheeks. (It happens every time. My goal this year is to be at peace by the time we leave. While making that goal is a lovely thing, I know myself. Tears come as a release. It's just who I am).

I'm looking forward to washing off some things from this past year in the ocean. I'm looking forward to being still. I'm looking forward to cleaning out my mind for a bit and not bringing it back with me!

And I promise, I'll bring back some fun stories. :)

Yours, waiting for the waves,

Melissa

BACK TO REALITY

So Melissa and I have each returned from our family vacations.  She from Hilton Head, me from Boca Raton, Florida.  The bags are unpacked, the laundry is done (mostly), and things are returning to normal once again.  Darn!

So just to extend my vacation feelings for a little longer, I’m not really going to write much today.  I’m just going to post some pics of the past week.  Hope you don’t mind!

 

Karen

WOO HOO! VACATION TIME!!!

Okay, faithful readers, Melissa and I are OFFICIALLY ON VACATION!!!  So you will not see any posts from us until Monday, August 8th, as we will be sunning ourselves on the beach with our families.  (Separate beaches, separate families!)

So let me just take a moment to thank you for reading our little blog here.  We love writing it for you.  If you have any suggestions on topics you’d like to see, let us know.  We’re open to anything (well, almost!).

Enjoy the next week or so.  I  know we will!

Karen

Tuesday Tidbit- How much more of Summer Can I Take?

OH. MY. WORD.

How much longer until vacation?

Oh wait. I forget. Vacation is generally not vacation for the mom, who has to wash and pack and still think about meals and schedules. It's really just living in another place for a week. True, there is the break from the cell phone and the emails, but I will have all that catching up to do upon my return.

But man, the beach sure sounds good right now.

Here in the B House, we have hit the summer wall. You know exactly what I'm talking about. It's the end of June and I am looking at school supply lists and counting the days until I regain my own freedom. Let me be clear, I LOVE my children. But after the throwdown Z2 had this morning, I am counting the days until school begins.

August 17th.

I think that's about six weeks.

If you have any ideas beyond heavy drinking or fasting and prayer that will help me get through this six weeks, let me have 'em, 'cause I am all ears! Anyone else having this in their house?

Yours, reconsidering buying that pool pass,

Melissa

Yes, We're Back. Refreshed? Uhm . . .

Spring Break. Yes, we survived it. It was nice to be away- we got away for about three days (five if you count the driving days) and to be honest, I really liked having my cell phone off. I really liked not thinking about ANYthing for a few days. The only problem is, it's still here when you return, and usually there is more of it because you've been away. The nice thing about Spring Break is, most of us are in the same boat, whether we went away or had a staycation, so we're all playing catch-up this week. At least the playing field is level.

So coming back, first things first, we have to be organized. Now, after a trip, when I'm on vacation time (think Bahamian time), I walk slower, respond slower, plan slower. . . I'm just slower altogether. So kicking it back into gear can really take some motivation. Tackling everything all at once generally wears me out completely, thus nullifying the vacation. Bleh! So I've learned to do the following:

1.) Start with the absolute MUSTS. This would include clean underwear and milk for the next morning. The whole laundry sort and grocery list, I can get to sometime that week, as long as I have clean underwear and milk for cereal, I'm good to go.

2.) As tempting as it is to put everything in a pile and deal with it later, DEAL WITH IT AS YOU COME TO IT. I take my toiletries bags upstairs to the bathroom and as I'm getting ready the next morning, I'm unpacking AND PUTTING AWAY. (It's the follow through of putting away that is generally lacking for me after a vacation). No sense in doing it the moment I get out of the car. I will store it as I use it. Same thing for unpacking anything clean. I will put it away as I am putting the other laundry. No sense in having two sessions, know what I mean?

3.) Check messages and mail IMMEDIATELY. You just never know what you forgot while you were away (my girlfriend was away this past week and forgot we had tickets to the John Mayer concert. Boy was she steamed!) or things that need immediate attention.

4.) Remember to be kind to yourself. While vacation is wonderful, traveling can make you a little tired, so don't be surprised if you feel like going to bed a little early or need an extra cup of coffee. It's okay. Listen to your body and give it what it needs in order to retain the relaxation you got when you were on vacation (relaxation- ask Karen how relaxed she was at the theme parks. . . :-)

Hope you all are having a wonderful start to Spring. Feel free to take a break today!

Yours,

Melissa

HOW NOT TO PLAN A VACATION…

A day in my life of vacation planning…

Yesterday morning (on the phone):

Me: Based on the condo availability and airfare rates, we can only go to Miami from late Monday afternoon to Friday evening, which would give us 4 full days there.

Him: Would the kids rather go to Orlando?

Me: I’ll ask.

(10 minutes later, I call him back.)

Me: The kids would rather go to the beach.

Him: Okay.

Me: Are you sure?

Him: Yes (distracted, since he’s at work now)

Me: Are you REALLY SURE? It’s only 4 days.

Him: It’s fine (still distracted).

I buy the tickets on line, but have learned my lesson with the whole Sister’s Trip to Mexico During The Swine Flu Craze, and purchase the insurance for $100.

Dinnertime:

Him: I don’t know, 4 days isn’t very long.

Me: (silence)

Him: What if we just went back to Tampa?

Me: (after long pause) Well, you DO realize that I already purchased non-refundable tickets (not letting on that I bought the insurance) and it took me forever to find a condo to rent because everyone is already full since it’s spring break?

Him: Why don’t you just take a look anyway?

Me: (silence, with evil eyes)

Him: Well, it’s just not really worth going for only 4 days there.

Me: You do this EVERY time, you know.

Him: (totally innocent) I do WHAT every time?

Me: You say you want to go somewhere, I research and research, I wait for you to look over what I’ve found to get your opinion, you wait and wait to even look at it, let alone give me any opinion, which usually is just a quick “fine”, then at the last minute you complain about what I have booked. Wouldn’t it just be easier to give me your opinion while I’m still making arrangements?

Him: I don’t know what you’re talking about. Why don’t you just look into Tampa? (Avoidance? A little bit!)

Me: Fine. Whatever.

Him: I don’t know why this is such a big deal.

Me: Just stop talking now.

Him: Are you trying to make a fight out of this? (Is he kidding me?)

Me: Really, don’t say another word to me.

I spend the rest of the night researching airfares and condos.

The moral of my story? It doesn’t matter how organized I try to be sometimes; DH can be there to mess it up for me!

Karen

“I REMEMBER THAT OUTFIT!”

During the holidays, my mother and my sister both came into town at the same time, as I mentioned in a previous post. One of the things we did during their visit, was to go over a bunch of slides from our childhood that we recently obtained. These were, among various outings, family parties, graduations, confirmations and a family vacation with our grandparents to Israel.

We thought this would be a pretty boring exercise, looking through hundreds of slides, just to pick out the few we wanted to save and turn into pictures, but let me tell you…

WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!!!

Seeing family members who were not with us anymore, especially my dad, was really great. But the most fun was looking at what we were wearing! (I know, such a “girl” thing to say, but so true!) We’d click on a new slide, and all four of us at the same time would yell, “I REMEMBER THAT OUTFIT!” The funny thing was, sometimes we’d all be yelling about the same outfit, and sometimes we’d all be yelling about the outfit each one of us was wearing!

Now, because were were all women, we would also yell together when a distant cousin would come up on the screen, wearing something hideous. “EWWWWWWWW!!!!!!”

Then there was the confirmation where there were no pictures of me or my friend, Brenda. Why? Because we were bored, so we went upstairs in this house/banquet hall that my parents rented for the party, and played pool. But when we came down, it turned out everyone was already gone! Apparently, my mom thought my dad’s girlfriend (yes, they were already divorced!) was taking us home, and vice versa. This was years before cell phones were invented, and there was even a lock on the rotary (yes, rotary) phone, so we were really stranded! Finally, some guy in the kitchen took pity on us and found a phone for us to use so we could call home. Just one of the many stories that came up while we were perusing our childhoods!

So if you get the chance to clean out some old photos or slides or movies, grab your sisters or brothers or anyone who will make fun of each other with you, and have a great time!

Karen

Monday Minute – The Best Moment Of Our Vacation

As most of you may know, I vacationed with my family in Cancun last week. And as I mentioned in my last vacation post, being with my family in Mexico is WAY different than my annual vacation there with my sisters. WAY, WAY DIFFERENT! But nonetheless, we had fun.

I could go on and on (and believe me, I do!) about how it seems that everyone has their hand out for a tip or about how the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza, one of the seven wonders of the world, are totally overshadowed by the vendors selling their wares all throughout the site. (Seriously, what started out as a pleasant “No, Gracias” became an extremely stern “NO, NO, NO! LEAVE US ALONE!”)

But I would rather tell you about the moment during our vacation that made all of that worth it. We were going snorkeling at Isla Mujeres one day. But as we were jumping out of the boat, with fins, masks and snorkels already on, my son Adam turned to me with the bottom lip quivering and chin shaking and scared eyes and said “I don’t want to do this, Mommy.”

I don’t know about you, but the quivering lip gets to me MUCH more than crying.

So I debated whether or not to stay in the boat with him, or to make him go. Normally, I give in to these because they are so rare, but I was SO SURE that he would like this, I told him he had to snorkel with the rest of the family. So after a bit more coaxing and help from one of the tour guides, we jumped in and swam to join the rest of the group.

At this point, I told him to hold my hand, and to put his face under water. He did this, and I swam a little bit to show him some things. We stopped, he looked at me with the most incredible face, and he said “THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!” We snorkeled the rest of the time holding hands.

This is why I became a mother. And this is why nothing that went wrong during our vacation matters one little bit.

Karen

Cancun With The Family – Much Different Than With The Sisters!

First, let me start by saying that when I go to Cancun with my sisters, we stay in REALLY nice places, and I have just learned how REALLY nice they are! I am incredibly spoiled. The resort is nice enough, but nowhere close to the resorts we’ve stayed. And the water, though warm, is really rough and choppy. (Surprisingly enough, I haven’t been blamed for this, as DH always seems to blame me for things that go wrong with our vacations. Hey, you don’t give me input in the planning process, you shut up when we get there! Sorry, whole other post!) We’re talking BIG waves, which is lovely to look at , but not so relaxing when you’re in it. Every time I get knocked down by a big wave, I lose my swimsuit bottom! (Thank you, Weight Watchers – and I mean that sincerely!) And you can FORGET peeing in the water. I need more calm for that. So we split our time between the beach and the pool today.

Okay, so let’s back up and talk about the morning we left St. Louis. Well, we just barely made our flight this morning. They actually had to hold the plane for us. Now, I don’t want to name names (DH), but somebody (DH) was having trouble turning off the electricity without turning off the alarm system, which apparently must be done so the house doesn’t burn down. (Did I say DH?) Luckily, I got my own seat a few rows back from the rest of them, so the flight was good! So we get here at about 11:00 and of course our room wasn’t ready yet, so we went to have lunch. Except that lunch isn’t served until 11:30, so we had breakfast (again). At this point, I need to ask the questions…diet, what diet, and what are Weight Watcher points? This is going to be BAD!

Some additional points:

Things I Like:

1. Vacationing with my family.

2. I can have beans at EVERY meal. And Guac!

3. We are staying in a “family room” which means there are 2 rooms connected together. But in the boys’ room, there are kid sized robes and slippers, kid shampoo and an X-Box.

4. Free manicure and pedicure (which I got yesterday) and 2 free 25-minute massages (which I will SO upgrade!)

Things I Don’t Like;

1. Vacationing with my family (Ha ha, just kidding…really).

2. The robes are as thin and rough as a piece of matzo.

3. Gray Food. Really. The other night at dinner, DH’s steak was gray, my chicken was not gray, but was really, really dry, and the boys’ chicken nuggets were SO disgustingly gray, I couldn’t even look at them.

5. Unfortunately, bad food doesn’t equal less food, it only means more fattening food. Sigh, I can’t win.

6. No beach view from the room, but we do have a lovely sunset view!

I think that just about covers it for now! Even though the boys got really burned yesterday (Mommy of the year award to me for not reapplying sunscreen), they are both a beautiful brown today.)

Back to the beach!

Karen