Okie dokie....so we are yet again on vacation!! But this time, thank the good Lord, we are stationary and not having to hop and bop from place to place. Plus, it's my parents house...you can't get much more comfortable than at your parents house, right!? I love being home. Seeing my family, having NO other responsibilities but to mind my children, it is the best of vacations!!!
There are times I feel guilty, I guess. I so often leave my husband behind, lol. But you know, though it is NOT at all the same thing, he deploys and leaves us behind, so I guess it all comes out even in the end. At least in my mind it does ;-)
We are coming up on a week here and I tell you what, I cannot believe a week has already gone by. Time sure does speed up when you are in a happy place! My parents recently moved out to the friggin' north 40 of town, but damn me, their house is beautiful! Daddy has purchased all the little, well okay, not "little", toys he has always wanted to have....quads, rangers....things that go "vroom", you get the idea. And Momma has created a haven for imagination, child or adult, lol. The boys and I have been having nothing but good old fashion fun! Racing in the ranger, flying over jumps, whopping and hollering while the wind whips our hair and dirt flies in our face . . . can anything really beat that? No. I think not!!!
We have yet to make our way out to the horseshoe pits in the corral....we'll get there, it's just so HOT standing out in the baking sun, it kind of dissuades one from doing it! It is much more inviting to hop in the pool for a game of Marco Polo or grab the keys to the ranger for a wild ride behind the house . . . but never fear, I am a mad horseshoe player and we WILL play!!! By jove, we will!
Back to vacationing from ones real life. It really is the best way to go. Staying here with my parents I don't have to worry about dinner (unless I feel like cooking), I don't have to think about when I am going to clean the house, I don't have to write up grocery lists ...... can it be any more PERFECT! A true vacation in every sense of the word. Would that all vacations could be so peaceful, ha....
You know what. I wrestle with how personal to get on this blog. I really do. Should this be a true blog about my life than I would be 100% personal, right, but I don't know that that is the correct way to go. There is such a thing as TMI and I am honest enough with myself to know that I really don't see where those lines are drawn, lol. Give me a hot second and you will know more than you ever wanted to know about me, my family, and every other aspect of my life that I can think of! Dangerous. Very dangerous.
What I am really driving at is, there are things going on, things I could and want to write about, I just don't know if it would be appropriate for me to do so. How's that for a teaser!? So, I guess I will just sit on it for awhile. Allow it to simmer in my head and heart......we'll see. Maybe before too long it'll square right in my mind, hahaha.
In other news. I have enrolled in 4 on-line classes at the college in NC. It is funny, I am much closer to being finished than I thought, lol. Which is a good thing, but it just cracks me up how very out of touch I have been with the direction and progress of my studies. I have finally decided...FINALLY, that nursing is where my heart is truly leading me. It is what I have wanted to do for as long as I can remember, so now I am buckling down and hoping that I can apply to the nursing program for next fall or spring. It is WONDERFUL to finally just know what I am going to pursue. I have spent so much time waffling, wasted time really, and to now have my direction, I can really attack the process! Yay for me, right, lol :-)
School starts two days after we get back from Cali. Nothing like hitting the ground running!!! I wrestled with taking on-line Vs. in person classes. I decided on the on-line because I could get more of the classes I wanted, not to say that the classes at the college were full, no, just that I would have been there at all hours all throughout the week. That dog just isn't gonna hunt, folks! No-can-do-skies! I have kids, dogs, house, husband (this is in no particular order of importance), myself and a myriad of other things I WANT to do (like lunches with friends!), that need to be taken care of. I can't be in class, 30 minutes away, all day, all week long. Nope, not gonna do it. So, until I absolutely MUST be in a class physically, it's on-line classes for me! I hope it goes alright. I have only ever taken one on-line course and it was so flippin' boring...read this chapter, answer these 2 questions from this section, write 2 papers on these questions from that section, turn it in by this date, make sure it is in this format....ugh. That was it. No interaction beyond checking blackboard for the assignment. It wasn't hard. No. Just boring.
Well, my little sprite has just woken up. We have a 2 mile walk ahead of us and than a day of pool time! Happy Summer days :-)
Friday, July 16, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
What now ~~ not much, that's for sure
Been home now for almost a week and I am still not on the right schedule! Not only am I getting tired of it, but apparently the 'ole hubbsters isn't too happy about it either! Guess he doesn't like my staying up until 4am rather then going to snuggle with him at a respectable hour.......*Sigh*, do you ever feel like no matter what you do, you're doing something wrong? Lol, story of my life right there!
I can't believe that we just celebrated 4th of July! Where has this year gone?!?!? I have to say that I was completely bummed that we weren't in Bako for the festivities. It is always so nice there. Momma and Daddy throw a HUGE shindig with cousins, Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents in attendance. Momma ALWAYS bankrupts herself at the firework stands -- yes, standS....she goes to ALL of them. Near her, across town, it doesn't matter, Kapperz G is going to visit and purchase! There is always an astonishing amount of great food, with Daddy heading up the grill (master griller is he!), great music beating the air as we all splash and play in the pool (or work on our tans!). The day just seems to last and last, as those moments of pure pleasure do....it is always just wonderful. This year was just a wee bit different for us, lol. There were no bbq's to head to during the day. No real plans to look forward to. It ended up being nice, though. We went to downtown New Bern and watched the fireworks at the park there. There were soooo many people, it was crazy! But I loved the small town feel of the event....it kind of reminded me of the parade that Julia Roberts is at in the movie, Sleeping with the Enemy . . . lol, always a movie, right!
This week is getting away from me. Here it is Tuesday and I haven't done a THING to get ready for our upcoming trip OR John's birthday. We are celebrating it early (just a day early) so that he can have a sleep-over but I haven't gotten the stuff to make his cake, his present, figured out just what the heck we are going to do with all the kids, etc...my mind is seriously not functioning properly. Ugh...I really need to get my butt in gear, make a list or something, and just get this stuff DONE already!
Ha, funny thing though. So, John walks in to my room the other day and reminds me that I haven't had them work in their summer workbooks yet!
Back story: Every school break I have the boys work in grade appropriate workbooks so that their minds are kept active and they don't lose any of the information they have learned at school. Yes, I am a mean Mom, get over it!
Anyway, John had first asked about working in their workbooks while we were still in Australia, much to his brother's dismay (Matt is not too keen on the whole thing). I assured John that I hadn't forgotten but had decided to let Australia be a "true" vacation, so no workbooks. Do you know, he was bummed about that. Bless his heart, he is a child after my own! Anyhoo, so apparently, since I didn't immediately upon returning home sit them down with their workbooks John thought it necessary to remind me about it. LOL! Love it :-) I gave them, and lets face it, ME, a week to get back into the swing of things (and I have obviously NEEDED it, dear dog!) before buckling down with summer school work. However, it will be on like donkey kong while we are 5 weeks in Bako!!! 4 weeks off, 5 weeks on...not too bad, I guess. Could be better but I am not going to beat myself up to bad . . .
Did I mention how excited we are to be heading to Bako!?!?!? Sooooo looking forward to being there, hanging out at the pool all day, visiting with my sisters (and bro) and niece and nephews, enjoying Daddy's bbq! Yep, yep, yep...can NOT wait! Oh, wait, let me rephrase. Did I mention how excited I am?! Ha, yea, so apparently both the boys, for different reasons, are not too keen on our upcoming travel plans. Why, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. Matt wants to be here to start football practice on August 2nd instead of coming in two weeks later (how much could he possibly miss is what I am wondering!) and John thinks that it might be more difficult to adjust to the time change when we get back and since it will be close to when school starts back up, that it might be a bad idea for us to go. A pox on them is what I say!!! We are going and we are gonna have a BLASTY BLAST!!!! Time in Bako, time at the beach, HELLS YEA! I am all over this :-)
I can't believe that we just celebrated 4th of July! Where has this year gone?!?!? I have to say that I was completely bummed that we weren't in Bako for the festivities. It is always so nice there. Momma and Daddy throw a HUGE shindig with cousins, Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents in attendance. Momma ALWAYS bankrupts herself at the firework stands -- yes, standS....she goes to ALL of them. Near her, across town, it doesn't matter, Kapperz G is going to visit and purchase! There is always an astonishing amount of great food, with Daddy heading up the grill (master griller is he!), great music beating the air as we all splash and play in the pool (or work on our tans!). The day just seems to last and last, as those moments of pure pleasure do....it is always just wonderful. This year was just a wee bit different for us, lol. There were no bbq's to head to during the day. No real plans to look forward to. It ended up being nice, though. We went to downtown New Bern and watched the fireworks at the park there. There were soooo many people, it was crazy! But I loved the small town feel of the event....it kind of reminded me of the parade that Julia Roberts is at in the movie, Sleeping with the Enemy . . . lol, always a movie, right!
This week is getting away from me. Here it is Tuesday and I haven't done a THING to get ready for our upcoming trip OR John's birthday. We are celebrating it early (just a day early) so that he can have a sleep-over but I haven't gotten the stuff to make his cake, his present, figured out just what the heck we are going to do with all the kids, etc...my mind is seriously not functioning properly. Ugh...I really need to get my butt in gear, make a list or something, and just get this stuff DONE already!
Ha, funny thing though. So, John walks in to my room the other day and reminds me that I haven't had them work in their summer workbooks yet!
Back story: Every school break I have the boys work in grade appropriate workbooks so that their minds are kept active and they don't lose any of the information they have learned at school. Yes, I am a mean Mom, get over it!
Anyway, John had first asked about working in their workbooks while we were still in Australia, much to his brother's dismay (Matt is not too keen on the whole thing). I assured John that I hadn't forgotten but had decided to let Australia be a "true" vacation, so no workbooks. Do you know, he was bummed about that. Bless his heart, he is a child after my own! Anyhoo, so apparently, since I didn't immediately upon returning home sit them down with their workbooks John thought it necessary to remind me about it. LOL! Love it :-) I gave them, and lets face it, ME, a week to get back into the swing of things (and I have obviously NEEDED it, dear dog!) before buckling down with summer school work. However, it will be on like donkey kong while we are 5 weeks in Bako!!! 4 weeks off, 5 weeks on...not too bad, I guess. Could be better but I am not going to beat myself up to bad . . .
Did I mention how excited we are to be heading to Bako!?!?!? Sooooo looking forward to being there, hanging out at the pool all day, visiting with my sisters (and bro) and niece and nephews, enjoying Daddy's bbq! Yep, yep, yep...can NOT wait! Oh, wait, let me rephrase. Did I mention how excited I am?! Ha, yea, so apparently both the boys, for different reasons, are not too keen on our upcoming travel plans. Why, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. Matt wants to be here to start football practice on August 2nd instead of coming in two weeks later (how much could he possibly miss is what I am wondering!) and John thinks that it might be more difficult to adjust to the time change when we get back and since it will be close to when school starts back up, that it might be a bad idea for us to go. A pox on them is what I say!!! We are going and we are gonna have a BLASTY BLAST!!!! Time in Bako, time at the beach, HELLS YEA! I am all over this :-)
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Home Sweet Home
Gosh, it feels good to be home! I can't even begin to tell you how much I enjoyed sleeping in MY bed last night.....I LOVE my bed!!! Lol, I really do, I'm not joking...
We arrived home yesterday just after 3pm, and let me tell you, it was the end of a very long journey. Our last few days in Australia were spent with more exploring, lol. Of course! Except for Saturday...Saturday we had a lovely mild day. We hung out at the apartment most of the day, Matthew wasn't feeling well, he had a bit of a head cold and we had plans to meet up with Joy and her family later in the afternoon. Joy? Ah, yes. Who is Joy? Joy is the lovely swim instructor the boys had two summers running in Bakersfield. She is from Australia, Brisbane actually, and only recently moved back to the area with her husband and adorable little boy. It was truly awesome to be able to see her and meet the two men in her life :-) We had a lovely time of it with them; meandering along Southbank, watching a street perfomer (who was HYSTERICAL!), taking the CityCat river boat, having a beer, and whole-heartedly enjoying the conversation and company.
On Sunday we went to the Glasshouse Mountains, which were beautiful. Oh! And guess what!? We saw wild kangaroos!!! Yes, we did! Not a single one was to be seen in the Outback, but by jove, they were in the Glasshouse Mountains a hour north of Brisbane......go figure. But it was so cool...we stopped at this little cafe on the way to the mountains that was situated on a lookout overlooking a mango farm, and there they were, laying on the grass beneath the mango trees. Ha! It was too cool! There were 4 of them all told. One had to be the male -- he was HUGE! I didn't have my camera with me, nor did Mark, so unfortunately I didn't get any pictures, but trust me, it was awesome :-)We took our time at the cafe, having lunch and just watching the kangaroos -- the owner of the cafe stopped by to tell us how much he appreciated our taking the time to just enjoy the area and wildlife. That so often people just zip in, get a picture and zip out . . . lol, if he only knew how MUCH I loved just sitting there (my poor aching feet).
Monday we headed north, up the Sunshine Coast, to Noosa Head Beach. It was stunning! The whole drive up I kept laughing at myself for the misconceptions I had about Australia. Lol, I thought it all would look like the Outback ~~ HA! Nope. The area we were driving through was seriously tropical looking....I've never been to Hawaii, but it reminded me of what Hawaii would look like --- trees everywhere, vibrant flowers, beautifully colored birds flitting to and fro, white sandy beaches, and the gorgeous blue of the Pacific sparkling in the sun. It was just lovely. Mark and Matt brought their suits and braved the cold water....they said that a few feet out in the water there were a ton of fish swimming around, like "Dory", from Finding Nemo...those kinds of fish. Crazy!
We left on Tuesday morning and it was a LONG way home. I was thrilled that our sits were all together this time. Mark and I took the aisle seats and it was HEAVEN to be able to get up whenever I wanted without disturbing anyone! My legs still swelled a bit, but not as bad, I don't think, as on the way there. We had a 6hr layover in LAX and both Mark and Matt slept most of the time. I wanted to sleep, boy, did I want to sleep...my brain was tingling and I was going numb, I was so tired, but John was up and rarin' to go so I didn't get a chance to nap. By the time we landed, got our car and got to our hotel room, we had been up for over 25hrs. Exhausting!! We crashed by midnight and I don't think I moved a single muscle until almost 10am, lol. Our poor boys, we had to drag them awake, they were so exhausted!
When we got home yesterday afternoon, I had the boys unpack their clothes and get their stuff put away while I went to the commissary -- I had emptied the fridge and cupboards before we left so we had NOTHING in the house, lol! It's funny how you can miss the familiar....normally I do not relish heading to the commissary, especially the day before payday (or on payday, lol!), but I sure did have a spring in my step yesterday. I think it was the overall pleasure in being home ~~ Dorothy sure did have it right, There's No Place Like Home!!
So yea, we are all home now. ALL of us....I just picked the dogs up this morning! Gosh, we missed them!!! They look so big, I just can't believe it. They were groomed today or yesterday which I think is one reason why they look so changed, lol. They are truly gorgeous puppy loves!
It's good to be back.
We arrived home yesterday just after 3pm, and let me tell you, it was the end of a very long journey. Our last few days in Australia were spent with more exploring, lol. Of course! Except for Saturday...Saturday we had a lovely mild day. We hung out at the apartment most of the day, Matthew wasn't feeling well, he had a bit of a head cold and we had plans to meet up with Joy and her family later in the afternoon. Joy? Ah, yes. Who is Joy? Joy is the lovely swim instructor the boys had two summers running in Bakersfield. She is from Australia, Brisbane actually, and only recently moved back to the area with her husband and adorable little boy. It was truly awesome to be able to see her and meet the two men in her life :-) We had a lovely time of it with them; meandering along Southbank, watching a street perfomer (who was HYSTERICAL!), taking the CityCat river boat, having a beer, and whole-heartedly enjoying the conversation and company.
On Sunday we went to the Glasshouse Mountains, which were beautiful. Oh! And guess what!? We saw wild kangaroos!!! Yes, we did! Not a single one was to be seen in the Outback, but by jove, they were in the Glasshouse Mountains a hour north of Brisbane......go figure. But it was so cool...we stopped at this little cafe on the way to the mountains that was situated on a lookout overlooking a mango farm, and there they were, laying on the grass beneath the mango trees. Ha! It was too cool! There were 4 of them all told. One had to be the male -- he was HUGE! I didn't have my camera with me, nor did Mark, so unfortunately I didn't get any pictures, but trust me, it was awesome :-)We took our time at the cafe, having lunch and just watching the kangaroos -- the owner of the cafe stopped by to tell us how much he appreciated our taking the time to just enjoy the area and wildlife. That so often people just zip in, get a picture and zip out . . . lol, if he only knew how MUCH I loved just sitting there (my poor aching feet).
Monday we headed north, up the Sunshine Coast, to Noosa Head Beach. It was stunning! The whole drive up I kept laughing at myself for the misconceptions I had about Australia. Lol, I thought it all would look like the Outback ~~ HA! Nope. The area we were driving through was seriously tropical looking....I've never been to Hawaii, but it reminded me of what Hawaii would look like --- trees everywhere, vibrant flowers, beautifully colored birds flitting to and fro, white sandy beaches, and the gorgeous blue of the Pacific sparkling in the sun. It was just lovely. Mark and Matt brought their suits and braved the cold water....they said that a few feet out in the water there were a ton of fish swimming around, like "Dory", from Finding Nemo...those kinds of fish. Crazy!
We left on Tuesday morning and it was a LONG way home. I was thrilled that our sits were all together this time. Mark and I took the aisle seats and it was HEAVEN to be able to get up whenever I wanted without disturbing anyone! My legs still swelled a bit, but not as bad, I don't think, as on the way there. We had a 6hr layover in LAX and both Mark and Matt slept most of the time. I wanted to sleep, boy, did I want to sleep...my brain was tingling and I was going numb, I was so tired, but John was up and rarin' to go so I didn't get a chance to nap. By the time we landed, got our car and got to our hotel room, we had been up for over 25hrs. Exhausting!! We crashed by midnight and I don't think I moved a single muscle until almost 10am, lol. Our poor boys, we had to drag them awake, they were so exhausted!
When we got home yesterday afternoon, I had the boys unpack their clothes and get their stuff put away while I went to the commissary -- I had emptied the fridge and cupboards before we left so we had NOTHING in the house, lol! It's funny how you can miss the familiar....normally I do not relish heading to the commissary, especially the day before payday (or on payday, lol!), but I sure did have a spring in my step yesterday. I think it was the overall pleasure in being home ~~ Dorothy sure did have it right, There's No Place Like Home!!
So yea, we are all home now. ALL of us....I just picked the dogs up this morning! Gosh, we missed them!!! They look so big, I just can't believe it. They were groomed today or yesterday which I think is one reason why they look so changed, lol. They are truly gorgeous puppy loves!
It's good to be back.
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