Oh No You Didunt!

Day #7, Going Home :(

2011-05-29T18:55:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a great week it has been. It took 4 full days to let my real life go and finally fall into the rabbit hole, what a great place that is! We've been gone so long we talk to each other in spanglish, we make jokes about American's and started playing the what would we do or where would we live if we won the lottery. That's a good game!

Sam had a great time too. He golfed, he read 5 full books and batted 1000 in the "s" department, he's a happy man! We woke up this morning and it took a little while to pack up the hotel and all our belonging as we brought everything! It was sad, we passed each other in the hall back and forth and I could read his mind and he surely could read mine......Nonetheless, it was amazing and we started to get in touch with real life as we checked out of the hotel. Evidently all those Conga's and daquiries and facials and golf can really add up :) But nothing, not even that could ruin the great time we had or tarnish the memory of our new found friends.

Our new friends are "William", the cabana boy, he brought me all my snacks, and drinks and never made me lift not so much as a little pinky, all I had to do was sign the little paper every now and then, I love William. And then there was "Nancy", her real name was Isadora, I don't know why she uses Nancy, maybe she is afraid people would call her Dora the Explorer or something like that. She was Williams back up, I like Nancy too. Then there is "Eduardo", he arranged our boat trip, spoke perfect english, probably was American, who knows, but he was very friendly and accomodating. Another friend we made is "Alexis", he is actually a boy, I don't imagine that was his real name, and I'm sure he didn't know it was a girls name. He was a 10 year old boy in training to be a super star sales man. A mighty fine job he did of squishing the last 250 pesos I had on me.......cute little guy and his english skills were coming along. "Maid", I don't know her name, I just gave her money every day and she doesn't know it, but we are besties. I hate to clean and she made my life complete. She even washed all the dishes each day, go figure, I definitely wanted to bring her home in the suitcase but I didn't know how to say it in spanglish so sadly, she stayed behind. Of course I dont' want to leave out my NEW BFF, her name is "Veronica", like scooby doo, but she doesn't look like that. She is my facialist, the one that MAY or MAY NOT have violated me, either way, I don't care! I love HER!

On our way out of town, we grabbed a few drugs, more thrifty ice cream, and one quick stop at the Bodega Aurrera (mexican walmart) to grab some goodies and of course tortillas.

Sadly, we leave our new friends behind and head back to reality. Re-entry (not rear entry, all you pervs) is always the toughest part. Not the actual crossing of the border that was easy, they asked us what was or native country, we did have to think a little as we had been gone such a long time, but we got the answer right, "the good ol' USA. We passed!

We made it home in less than a 3 hour drive, why we don't do this more, I'll never know. But that is the end of our fabulous vacation and I look forward to planning the next one. Thanks for your interest, hope you learned a little something and gained some insight as to what it feels like to be a total and complete vacation loser. Next time I won't be so green and maybe, just maybe I'll get it on day one, wish me luck and hope for the least amount of peeling possible, bless this wreck!

Day #6

2011-05-29T18:33:00.000-07:00

It happened! The inevitable, the unbelievable, the ultimate experience. We got a cabana bed! So, here is the trick....invite Robin and Dave to your vacation, Daves alarm will go off around 4:30 am and he will arise and go out to the pool, in the dark, and sleep the rest of the morning on the bed of your choice! It was awesome, this made our day. A vacation is not a vacation without a cabana bed, important information! We hung out most of the morning at the pool, until after water aerobics. Yes, that is not a typo, water aerobics. It was hysterical. Robin and I joined the other fat ladies and did the aerobics at noon. It was quite a shame we didn't get a picture of that because it was quite memorable. Sam said, why is it none of the bikini babes do the aerobics, i'm still thinking about that. Not sure if I should answer him or just stop talking to him, but either way, he was right, it was all the over weight old ladies and some cute little kids out there jiggling their body fat for all to see. Nice.

After aerobics we had our daily daquiries, pina colada's, and whatever else stikes our fancy. We burnt all the remaining virgin skin from changing swim suits 3 different times. No point in returning without every inch of my body either tanned or burned, it think it's an unwritten rule. Mallory, Cessa, and Gavin left at noon today and I was concerned about Mal not getting through the border and having to stay the night in a mexican jail. But that didn't happen, evidently they were able to check a passport data base and were able to determine she had a passport and they ushered her on to the American side of the border, whew!

Back at the ranch, once we knew they had gotten through the border, we climbed under the cabana shade and read, and slept and chilled. It was amazing, we were out there all day long and didn't go in until 6:00 pm. We showered, and got ready for a walk on the beach and then dinner in the only restaurant. It was yummy, and yet bittersweet as we knew this was our last night at this new found oasis. The night was over and so ended our week long vacation at the Mayan Palace.

See uploaded pics from today!

See you tomorrow!

Day #5

2011-05-27T23:22:00.000-07:00

Day #5 Update!

Well, it just gets better and better. We DID NOT get a cabana bed, evidently 7:30 am is NOT early enough, sad, so sad. I only have one more chance to get one tomorrow, so I'm working on my bribary skills to see what I can muster up in the morning. We've tried all different kinds of tactics, we've tried our cheech and chong accent, I've tried cleavage (I guess I'm too old), and now we are ready for bribary, but who, how much and do I dare? I need more than luck, I'm running out of options and time, pooh!

We have slept in each morning about one hour later than the last so we didn't even get up until 10:30 ish today. That's crazy, most people are well into their day by then and typically, so am I. That's how we know this vacation thing is working, I can't remember what day or what time it is, I think that's a good thing. We made it out to the pool around 11:00 am and stayed out until about 12:30 and then we headed to the marina for our fishing excusion, if that's what you want to call it. We boarded the boat at 2:00 pm and really had a great time. Our captains name was "Steve", I laughed and asked him what his real name was, and with only one tooth, and one eye, he replied, "my real name is Estephan", oops........so capitan "Steve" it is! Gavin and Mallory both know spanish, so they've made communication fun and somewhat comical.

Steve was a great captain, he baited our hooks with squid which of course we didn't want to smell, much less touch. He tried really hard to find a good place to snorkel, which, I am not sure exists in RP. Anyhoo, we gave it a good shot, but the water was so salty and too cold for me, so I jumped out of the water since fish are food, not friends (disney reference)!

We spent 4 hours on the boat and got to our car just as Robin and Dave and Lyda were getting into town, we hooked up, did a little shopping, had some street tacos where a little boy named Alexis hit on us for a sale of bracelets and trinkets. It was really fun to test his english and sales skills, I wish I could squish him into my suitcase and bring him home with me. We so cute, we asked if we could get a picture before he left and he said, sure for a dollar....wth? Too funny! We had our token Thrifty ice cream for the day and came back to the resort where we are exhausted. I can't believe we are almost done with this fabulous week in which not only have I not thought about work for the last 48 hours but I'm thinking I don't want to go back, that's not like me. I think I like vacations :)

Wish me luck on the Cabana, if my son, my daughter or my hubby truly loved me, they would bribe someone to help a girl out........keep your fingers crossed.

More pics to follow!

Day #4

2011-05-26T22:53:00.000-07:00

Well, as it turns out, it takes approximately 96 hours on vacation to finally let some things go. I'm not totally out of the work zone, but moving that direction. So Mallory headed out to the cabana beds at 7:30 this morning, and nope, those Mexican Hookers had all of them. Sad, so sad. We are gonna try again in the morning, but I know there is a trick or some unwritten rule everyone knows about except for me.......but I shall not give up, we'll be back in the morning so get the hell out of my way. So anyway, after we missed out on the beds, we made made a tee time for the boys and facial appts for the girls for the afternoon. We quickly ran to town and weaseled our way into chartering a boat for tomorrow afternoon.

Then we headed back to the pool for some last minute Nacho's and drinks and a few more degrees of heat on my back, I'm a glutton for punishment. Finally at 4:00pm, on May 26th, I had the treat of my life. Honestly, I have never had a facial before. I had no idea what to expect but it was everything like it is in the movies, on TV, in the books and in the magazines. I have never been treated so amazing, and been so relaxed in all my life. I could have stayed under her spell for hours on end. It was such a good massage and facial, I even thought maybe, just maybe I was a little violated. Not really, but maybe, sigh...............

So after the high of my facial, there was nothing that could have made this day better but it did get better. The boys got back from the golf course and described the beautiful course and how amazing it was, they had a great time and we decided to head to town again for Pizza and Beer only without the beer :) Dinner was fabulous, we just arrived back at our hotel, and I'm ready for bed. I am not totally sure, but I think it's starting to smell and look a little like a vacation. I think about the time I am completely relaxed and finally have work out of my head, it will be time to go home :(

More pics to follow, wish me luck on the cabana bed! Night All!

Day #3

2011-05-25T20:57:00.000-07:00

Time to report on operation vacation. Today was day 3 and it's unfortunate to report but I burned my backside. Crap! I am usually pretty good about being careful but today I got wrapped up in my new book and forgot I was cooking myself at the same time. I found a book before I left titled, "Room". It was really good. It only took a day and a half but it was definintely captivating. I know this isn't a book review, but treat yourself to a good read but do so in the shade!

We started the day out early, we scampered to the poolside to see if we could snag a cabana bed, no such luck! The little suckers were saved with towels or bags from others, kind of like pissing on something to mark your territory. Even though there were no bodies on them, we knew we missed our chance. So I stalked one old mexican woman, thinking, "I can hold up here longer than she can". Wrong! The little lady was a mexican for heavens sake, she was so used to the sun, the heat and had the patience of a saint, I hate her. She wins, I lose and day #3 was to start and end with no cabana bed, damn her!

We slept, we read, and slept some more. Sam takes lots of breaks, he trips off to the room, goes for a walk and never stays in one place. Me, I'm a creature of habit, I find my spot (careful you smuts) and I stay put. You'll see by the picture of my back that I hardly moved today, another rookie mistake. It's like I'm a beginner, but not. We had lunch at the pool, cheese crips, nacho's beef sandwiches, all kinds of yummies, oh and don't forget the strawberry daquiries. MMMMM...........

After my book was done, I slipped back to the room to grab a shower, do my hair and see the damage in the mirror. Then a nice alone walk on the beach, about a mile up and a mile back. When I got back, I had the search crew looking for me. William (our cabana boy, lol) caught me as I headed back to the room and said, "your husband is looking for you", in spanglish! I got back to the room and everyone had been out looking for me......really? I had to gently let my kids know that when I am vacationing, I need my alone time. I think, and think, and talk to myself and try to solve the worlds problems during this time, and explained how much I like and need my quiet time, a little like time out, only I wasn't bad.

Sam, I think, has really been enjoying himself. He has a kindle, the kids gave him for Christmas. We figure he has read around 60 books since Christmas, he's on his 2nd since we arrived in RP. He's so easy to please, he just needs golf, books, and the "s" word. that's it. He's such a simple guy, no fuss, no trouble, no drama. He does make me laugh a bit, I mean, if you mention hotel, vacation, or time away, he thinks of one thing......and yep he's had plenty of that, yep, he's good.

So, really quickly, on my think walk, I've been trying to figure out why I can't let go. Why can't I go on vacation and leave work, kids, troubles, and all that other stuff until I get back. It's hard to put a finger on it, but I know I have some compulsive behaviors that make it so I can't get that stuff off my mind. I know they have meds for this, I should get some, actually, I probably have some, but I keep thinking I should be able to bridle all this brain activity. See the thing is, I can't have fun if those I love are not with me, or at the very least, I know are happy. I spent today thinking about Ash, and her trip to Utah and hope the girls and she are safe, I think about Hanna and her need for a new car and how badly I need to get to Wisconsin. I think about T-bone and all the stresses he's under. I think about G & C and hope their future plans are on track and wonder how Sky is out on his own. I hope Mallory finds happiness after her ordeal and I worry about number 7, hoping he's happy, content, and is the best Missionary he can be. Now that the kids are grown, I still worry and think about them, but less and less as I have replaced that worry for work worry. See, when the kids were little, they defined me. They were my life, I was who I was because of them, and now that they are out of the house, I think I've found a new obsession. It's my work, so now, I let work define me. These are not good things, just a little too much introspect or retrospect, whatever.

Enough of that, more tomorrow.......... sleeping in, facials, golf, and more sun, wish me luck!

PS. The first day we woke up around 7:30 am, yesterday around 8:30 and today it was a solid 9:30 am, this is a good sign.

PSS. Mal is going to save us a cabana bed at 8:00 am! Adios!

Day #2

2011-05-25T09:02:00.000-07:00

Day #2

I'm a little late on my report, but frankly it's a little embarrasing. So, we made a rookie mistake. We fell into the, hey, how about you save $200 pesos off golf and get a $500 peso credit for everyone at the spa, trick......yep, the timeshare vampires got us. To make the long, 4 hour story short, all you really need to know, is we DID NOT purchase a timeshare, and it was not worth the pesos, no matter how you shake it.

So needless to say, day #2 was half gone before we launched our lobster bodies next to the pool to see if we could make things worse, yep, we did. Now, of course, I am only a lobster in certain sections and on certain parts of my body. The rest of me is doing fine, Gavin and Cess and Mal, however, they are soooo young and have soooo much to learn about the equater. Sam, he's....well......Sam, safe, white, and happy, he's the one in the shade all day long. I think he's on book one, we'll see how many he can read in a week.

So after the pool (no cabanna bed), we headed back to the room to watch the "Green Hornet", not saying how we got a copy of that, to watch it on the DVD we purchased in town for $299 pesos, all of which we will get back before we head to the states......no comment.

Again, nothing adventurous, same things I would do at home, only at home I speak the language. Hopefully day 3 will have more spark...or not?

Can an Old Dog, Learn a New Trick?

2011-05-23T22:03:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in quite sometime, and YES, I had to reset my password, AGAIN! I suck! I titled this post in the form of a question. I'm not sure about the answer but I'm going to give it a try. Sam and I booked a timeshare in Rocky Point for 1 week. I booked it nearly three months ago, not really sure how the timing would work out. Of course, as usual, the timing sucked, but after coaxing and rearranging some schedules, here we are. The reason I'm not sure if old dogs can learn new tricks is because we have no idea how to take a vacation.

We've been married 32 years this month and in 32 years we have only take a couple of vacations, none for one full week and none without work or other related duties ie bb's, toddlers, grandma's, teenagers, etc. And hardly ever go on a real vacation, not to include the visiting of family in another state camoflauged as a vacation. So what does one do when they go on a vacation? I know what they do on TV, and what a vacation SHOULD look like, but what does one really look like from our point of view? This question and many more will be answered throughout the week.

As usual getting out of town is the worse part. Sam had to drag me away from the house with my fingernails wedged into the wood grain of the front door, hard to let go, and even harder to do it with a smile. But we did it, bloody nails and all. We made it to the resort about 6:30 pm last night and were pleasantly surprised by the quiet surreen location of the resort and the breathless beauty of the ocean. My heart skipped a beat at the thought that I might be able to do this, but the venture was too much for the first night. Went to bed early and had a hopeful heart for the next morning.

Day #1

We woke up this morning and started our day off with an hour walk on the beach. We found some treasures, bobbles and thingamabobs (disney reference), some living critters, and some not. The cool breeze, soft sand and quiet beach was quite picturesque, a little cheezy I know, but true. We headed out to the pool with our $30 towels, should we lose one, and camped our white bodies on the edge of the pool. We were lucky enough to snag a cabana bed, something I always wanted to lay on, but didn't actually lay on it for the obvious reasons, it's in the shade. After a few hours of poolside sunburns, we made it to town for street tacos and thrifty ice cream. Not a fabulous day (not sure what that would look like), but a good start for a beginner. Oh, and I did check my work email to see if anyone missed me...... nope, everyone is doing fine. Pics to follow!

Where has all the time gone?

2009-03-28T06:11:00.001-07:00

It's been so long since I last posted, I didn't even know my password. You know that happens alot when you near the "old fart" phase of life. Don't tell, but I have to reset my password everytime because I can't remember it EVERYTIME i login.

Anyhoo, I just wanted to leave my worthless rhetoric today and give tribute to all of the sisters in the world. I have been so fortunate in my life to have sisters that love me, laugh with me, laugh at me, get made at me and then forgive me, help me, call me, care for me, and fill in while my mom is gone. They are the best and because of their example, our daughters have become amazing sisters too! They love each other, care for each other, call each other, and carry on the tradition of sisterhood. My daughters, my neices (all of them, from all sides) are amazing beautiful young women who have turned out to be an inspiration to us old folk. Grandma is proud, really proud as am I. I love you all. If you read my blog and I don't have a picture of you and your babies, please forward one to me as I want to post your picture on my blog. I love you all.

Tami (mom, sister, aunt, daughter)

Can a "soul" smile?

2008-07-26T15:37:00.000-07:00

Just a question for ponderance. So we took a 5 day trip to Idaho to drop Mallory off at BYI Idaho (a bittersweet time for us all) and amidst the focus of our trip I was suprised to find my soul smiling.

I know you might not know what that means and in my attempt to manuever the english language, I'll try to explain. We have been gone from Idaho for over 10 years now and even longer from Rexburg. We seemed to have settled into our new AZ lives as though we had never left. We found economic success, conveniences we could never find in Idaho, and tons of social and community things to do. Normally this would be a recipe for happiness, one would think. However, now twelve years later, I think my soul was smiling for the first time since we left Rexburg.

We took a small family nostalgic tour around the town and as I listened to my kids talk about their memories at each spot, times they cherished, and emotions that came flooding to the top, it produced a lump in my throat. And without any other words to explain it, I felt my soul smiling.

We visited each of the houses we lived in, some were still there and some were not. We even found our first Hibbard house for sale for a meager $149K (we sold it for 49K). Tempting until we remembered it was a 4 bedroom house with ONE "small" bathroom..........

Nonetheless, "I'M IN", smiling soul and all.

Where's Bart when you need him?

Dedicated to My Husband!

2008-05-04T11:15:00.000-07:00

If you don't already know, today is a very special day! It's mine and Sam's 29th anniversary. I know, I know, most of you are saying I can't believe they made it and the rest of you are saying, I can't believe they would WANT to make it! But here we are celebrating this very special day, we strive to spend a lot of quality time together to keep our marriage strong and unbreakable. So I'm working on my computer and Sam is cleaning the garage, the perfect recipe for a perfect marriage (him in one room and me in the other)

Happy Anniversary, Sam! I love you! (in case I don't see you)

Don't Drink the Water

2007-09-25T10:40:00.000-07:00

I just returned from a quick weekend visit with Hanna and the kids while Kyle came to the US to take his USMLE exams. It was quick but as it turns out it was just the right amount of time. It was fun to see their new house and see how the kids are growing. Hanna and I made authentic mexican food and it was a sucess, diarreah and all! That's how you know you done did good!

Enjoy a few of the pics I took while there and hopefully my next trip will be to boston, after the ghouls night out, of course.

Tami

You can never be too sure!

2007-09-06T07:26:00.000-07:00

So, it may be hard to imagine, but our youngest son, Dax, was finally ready to take the drivers test and be numbered amongst the millions of teenage drivers on the road (dangerously I might add). We entered the waters of the MVD very carefully as we all know you must do. Check in, take a number, wait in the plastic seats, wait some more, and wait some more. We watched and waited until our alpha-numeric number insistently was an hour or more later. Then with our hearts pounding, as you never know what piece of unknownst documentation you may have forgotten, we carefully approached the window (don't want to set anyone off, tempraments are high at the MVD).

Upon reaching the window, we tried hard not to make eye contact, and then it happened, the ever so kind woman smiled. Yeah, I said that, she smiled. We handed her our paperwork and guess what, it was in order, just had to give her a copy of my drivers license and a $25 fee (which by the way is hard to come by when you are unemployed) and Dax could begin his new wait in line for a road test. After a short wait he was off with the driver and the anxiety started up again, what will I say to him if he doesn't pass, "it's ok son, lots of people don't pass the first time"....I started practicing in my mind....but the truth is, I NEEDED HIM TO PASS THIS @#$% TEST.

While waiting for him to drive, Sam and I decided to change the address on our licenses (your supposed to do this within 60 days, but better late than never). Sam did his first, he just sat down at the kiosk and clicked here and clicked there and then walked over to the window to get a new picture. Looks simple enough, let me try! So, I sat down to the same kiosk and clicked here and clicked there and then it happened! The inevitable, the carma from the MVD and anxiety of American Bureacracy came crashing down. In BIG RED LETTERS, and flashing on the screen and a loud announcement burst out into the whole room, "YOU CANNOT DUPLICATE YOUR DRIVERS LICENSE, LICENSE WAS SUSPENDED 1/07/07" (ok, so it didn't really announce it to the world, but it may as well have). I thought to my self, what a crock, I hate rules, I hate people who can't do anything right, I'm gonna march right up there and tell them what I think, and so I did (after I waited in line again, of course). When I got to the info desk I told the lady there was a mistake, it say's my license is suspended and I don't drink so that's not possible. She looked at me (she was holding in a smirk, I could see it) and entered my license number in the REAL system (kiosks are stupid, we all know that) and she confirmed my license was suspended. But, she made me feel so much better because she gave me an application to reinstate my license and guess what else.......yep, you guessed it, another alpha-numeric number and sent me back to the plastic chairs..................I HATE THE MVD.......grrrrrrr.............

Long story short, I learned something new that day, if you get a ticket for running a red light, you get to pay the ticket to the courts AND you get to attend traffic school. It was the latter part I was unaware of and a ticket from more than a year ago has finally found me in it's grasp and I will be busy saturday morning from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm..........thanks for asking.

So in retaliation for the abuse I suffered at the hands of the MVD, I am posting this message and to all of you who live in the good ol' USA, there is a lesson to be learned........send your husband with your teenager to get his driver license, and that's all I have to say about that.

PS..... he passed!

I can do what she can do, only it takes me a little longer :)

2007-08-29T22:33:00.000-07:00

Well, this is my first time blogging and am a little nervous, not like dental visit nervous, like first day of school nervous, I suppose that's a good thing.

One would think I would be good at this considering my spawn figured this out long ago (Ashley and Hanna) and one might think they got it from their mother, but quite contrare. I have been exposed to this blogging disease by them and it's only a matter of time before I come down with a full blown blogging compulsion and Internet disorder as they have been showing severe symptoms for quite some time.

Hang on for the ride and work with me while I learn to manipulate the keyboard and this website and start to add all the goodies that will make for a good nights read, or nightmare, however you may see it. I look forward to keeping you all up to date on what is happening with our family. Keep in mind our photos are not going to be cute, I mean, we don't have cute smiles and little hands and faces in the mud, it's usually teenagers with attitude, grumpy old grandpa, and lots and lots of cellulite, so don't check in if you have a weak stomach or nightmares, this might not be the place for you!

Love you all!