Celebrating Vacation! Part 1

I needed a vacation in the worst way! It was wonderful! My mind has the ability to pretty much block out my entire normal life when I go on vacation. It really allows me to be on vacation in every way. However, coming home is disorienting and a bit of a shock as I try to work my way back into real life. It's only Monday and I want to go back on vacation! Haven't even been home two full days yet! LOL!

OK, so, the boys and I went on our first vacation in over two and a half years. We flew into San Diego with my plan B in place to rent a car which I had reserved. Got to the car rental place and ran into major issues with the rental car and realized that plan wasn't going to work. I had a moment of panic and then remembered I did have a plan A.... my original plan. We did public transportation the entire trip! We left the car rental place and caught a trolly to the train and then a cab to the condo. We traveled by train, bus, and cab a couple of times during the trip and we walked over 50 miles during the week... those were only the ones we could actually track! The weather could not have been more perfect. High every day was low 70's and overcast a lot which meant no glaring sun when you are out all day!

We stayed really busy the entire trip yet it was still relaxing. I think because we only had certain concrete plans and the rest we made up as we went. We did a lot of walking on the beach too, pretty much daily.

Highlights were:
beach
favorite restaurants
feeding squirrels at the marina (yes, there are squirrels that live in the rocks by the water at the marina! Weird!)
Legoland- two different days... I'll explain later...
San Diego Zoo
Riding in a bike pedal car (Max's favorite!)
Meeting up with Jane LaFazio in Escondido to hang out while she taught!
Watching the boys play on the beach
Thursday night market at the pier
did I already mention beach? ;0

Ok, so actually getting to Legoland was proving to be a feat! I planned to go on Monday. We caught the bus to Carlsbad (a 10 minute ride) only to find that there are limited buses heading to Legoland and the next one wasn't for several hours and you have to catch a 5:25 bus back since it's the last one of the day. That would not have given us enough time. So, we decided to go on Tuesday.

Tuesday comes, we catch the bus to Carlsbad and plan to catch the next bus to Legoland to realize that we'd just missed the early bus and were now in the same situation as Monday. I got a cab to take us to Legoland only to get there and find it CLOSED!!!!!!!!!! In the off season, they are only open Thurs-Sun apparently. However, the new Sea Life Aquarium at Legoland was open so we decided to stay and do that. We spent the day there and really enjoyed it.

Wednesday was already planned for us to go to Escondido to hang out while Jane taught her class of kids at the California Center for the Arts. Thursday we planned to go to the Zoo so, that left Friday to try Legoland for the last time.

We finally did get to Legoland Friday shortly after opening and stayed until closing. The boys had a blast. I have to say that Legoland is really a relaxing park for parents. I did a lot of sitting and watching, taking pictures, etc.... I didn't really do much with the rides, I observed. Max got brave and tried the roller coasters again, after swearing them off... and he had a blast! Sam loves coasters and really loved some things that was like a robotic arm that just flings you all over the place. See, here he is in his little upside down heaven!
Anyway, it was a great day. However, we accidentally got on the 321 bus unknowingly at 5:15 instead of 5:25 and didn't realize that the same bus number leaving at two different times goes to two different routes.... of course we were on the one going AWAY from our destination!!!! But, at every single stop, no matter where we were, God placed people who voluntarily stepped in and helped us find where we needed to go, what bus or train to get on, etc... some even walking us to certain places to make sure we understood where we needed to be. It was amazing! Max even commented "We sure met a lot of nice people!" And that, we did. So, a nice guy behind us on the bus helped us figure out where to get off the bus and catch a transit train back to Oceanside. It all worked out. And we chose to laugh about it and go with the flow. Not one single moment of the entire trip did I feel afraid. Not once!

So, here are some pictures from our trip. By the way, I'm LOVIN' my new camera!!!!!!!!!!! I'll do separate post for other pictures.

Air view of zoo

This was Max's favorite thing. They pedaled 6 miles and loved taking turns to drive. I helped pedal 2 of the miles.

And lord have mercy, Max's hair is driving me crazy!!!!!!!! It's not bad really until he puts on a hat or helmet... and unfortunately, he likes wearing a hat all the time. BLEH! He did tell me he was going to let me cut it a little bit. Crossing fingers.....

Vacation

My vacation post is coming up shortly... stay tuned....

Must go pack kids lunches and get dressed for the day!

The storm

As most of you probably already know, The Valley was hit with a HUGE storm the beginning of the week and many, many people got a ton of damage from hail. I did get a quick picture of the marble size hail we got. Lots of people got golf ball size! Eek! We were happy with marbles! LOL! The only damage we got was some of my plants got a bit shredded. :( But thankfully my van was in the carport so no vehicle damage and no broken windows either! But what a storm it was! Tons of rain!

I've pretty much got the boys things all packed up. I have to run out to my mom's to borrow another piece of luggage. Sam's suitcase is somewhere over at his dad's house and it's just easier to drive out to my mom's and borrow a piece than to track Sam's down. So my things are in a pile and I'll get them packed when I get the suitcase. Since I'm home with the boys, I couldn't run any of my last minute errands so I will do a few things this evening after they go to their dad's house and then a few things in the morning. Thankfully, our flight is later in the afternoon tomorrow so I won't be rushed in the morning. But geez, all the little details that have to be taken care of to go out of town are enormous!

Sam has busied himself learning his new ipod touch today. He has saved and saved to buy that thing and he is so happy. I'm stunned at how quickly he figures out any type of electronic equipment! I borrowed a friends GPS and am relying on Sam to get it set up! Then when I told him, he said, 'we won't need it because I have my ipod touch.'... Smarty pants. Regardless, I'm glad!

Can NOT believe it...

These past few weeks, as my allergies have reared their ugly heads, Max, especially has been suffering. Both my boys have seasonal allergies with allergy induced asthma. I am able to take them off all their meds during the hot months but when the weather changes, we have to start back on maintenance medications. Max's sinuses have been draining like crazy which causes him to cough a lot. Anyway, last night, he complained that his ear felt pressure in it. I had already been thinking that maybe I needed to take him to the doctor for his allergies/asthma before leaving town but the ear comment was the push. So, I made an appointment for today after school. They wanted to do a strep test just to be sure. Now mind you, the kid has NO symptoms of strep so I'm confident it will be negative. NOT.... so I talked them into checking Sam too, just to be safe, since he was home Tuesday with nausea, although nothing came of that. He's been back to school two days. Ok, so BOTH of my boys test positive for Strep!!!!!!! When the Doctor told me, my gut response? "Get OUT!!!!" The Doc turned and started to leave the room asking if I really wanted her to leave! LOL! I was shocked. The boys were shocked. Max argued with the doctor but lost. I was suppose to go with Max on his first field trip of the year tomorrow morning! He's soooo upset! I had to call his teacher to find a fill in chaperon. Both boys will be home with me tomorrow. I'm incredibly thankful we caught this in time for them to get loaded with antibiotics before we leave town in less than 48 hours! Now ya'll, PULEEZE pray that I don't get it! I'm going to take my vitamins now....

Oh, on another note, the doctor made the assistant weigh Max twice because she thought something must've gone wrong the first time. He's gained 10 lbs. since April! You can't tell cuz he's a string bean but he's grown a few inches over the summer. I was glad to know he's gained the weight as his ADHD medication is an appetite suppressant and I stay on him to eat daily! So, that was good news!

New Camera

It stormed yesterday and really cooled off, finally! Thank you God! We had a gorgeous double rainbow. The colors were so vivid! Today, I have all my doors and windows open and it feels heavenly!

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a long time, know that my camera was stolen when I was robbed last June (2009). Well, to say I have missed it is an understatement. It was like part of me missing since I use to take pictures almost daily. I also realized that it was a tool I used to stay more connected and aware of God's presence around me. I have soooo missed my camera. Well, with vacation coming up, I finally caved and bought a new camera. I'm trying to learn how to use it before we leave on Saturday. Yesterday, Max got out on his skateboard and I played around with my action shot feature! It's a setting that takes many consecutive shots in a row. Now before you say anything, no, I don't usually let him ride without a helmet. This was the only exception I ever remember making. Here are a couple shots of him:


Oh, that head of long hair. It needs to be trimmed and this kid just refuses to even discuss it. Gonna' have to put my foot down. I told him last night that if I was going to let my son have long hair, it at least needed to be healthy long hair. But, at some point, I have to pick my battles. It is just hair, after all....

Sam is home from school today with nausea. Apparently the boy who sits next to him in class went home yesterday after vomiting at school. Not a good sign. Pray this passes quickly. So far, just nausea. We want it to stay that way.

A litte catchin' up

My life is so busy. It' s hard to keep up. Time seems to whiz by me and here it is October! Holy Smokes! Now if it would just cool down and act like October! However, my body feels a change is coming because my allergies have suddenly flared. :( My allergies don't act up like normal people with a stuffy nose, etc... mine is sinus drainage that starts along with itching, and then I get hoarse and lose my voice. It's a comin'. I'm pretty croaky this morning. This stuff seems to hit out of nowhere too. I just hate it.

I taught a class at The Creative Quest yesterday, a small graffiti journal. It was fun to get messy with paint. I need to get busy and get some more classes on the book now. I had planned to work the rest of the day once class was finished but ended up heading home at 2:30 and crawled in bed. I slept until about 5:00. I felt so run down and worn out.

It's been a hard week as I went back to court yet again, this time however, my divorce was finalized. It's a great sense of relief and grief all rolled into one. It's been a long, hard, painful road. As relieved as I am, for more reasons that I can ever say, I am also blind sided with grief in odd moments knowing that I never, ever wanted to be a single mom. I never wanted to be divorced. I hate the sound of the word. I hoped and prayed different choices and decisions would be made over the past year and a half but they were not... things didn't change for the better but for the worse. So, after almost 25 years of marriage, I find myself divorced. I'm not going to go into details here but just know that this past year and a half have been the worst and best of my life. I know God has a plan for me and my future, one of hope. So I keep walking..

In one week, I will be walking the beautiful COOL beaches of California! I am taking my boys to Oceanside for fall break, our first vacation since May 2008! We have been gifted tickets to Legoland and the San Diego Zoo! We're so excited and counting the days. I don't want to over plan our trip so no other definite plans are being made beyond that. I don't want to feel I need a vacation from my vacation! Lots of beach walking is really what I want to do! The boys and I will also be doing a lot of photography as well as watercolor painting! They have both already given me their chosen paper size for their paintings but both want to work on individual sheets to be bound in a book upon our return so no bound books for them to carry around. I do need to pick up a couple of small clip boards though. I think I'll coil bind them when we get home.

Sam had a friend spend the night last night, one he hasn't seen in many months. It's been a miracle these two boys have managed to stay in touch after losing touch several times. They always manage to somehow locate one another again and pick up right where they left off. They have been friend's since first grade. Daniel moved during second grade and now, they are in 5th! They get along so well. I love that they are still friends even though they haven't gone to school together in almost 3 years and only see each other a few times a year. His family is moving again, this time, much closer than where they currently live so hopefully, there will be more play dates for them in the future!

Well, I need to go make breakfast for these boys and shower for church!

Seriously?

Seriously? It has been almost TWO months since I've posted? That' so pathetic. I just can't believe it! Wow, where do I start? So much has happened in the past two months.

First of all, I got moved! I moved the last week of July doing a lot of the moving myself with my van but then had some help here and there which was sooooo appreciated! I was worn out and it was so stinkin' hot! I got moved and headed right into Art Unraveled which was wonderful, as always. I really enjoyed the classes I was privileged to teach this year. I'm in the process of submitting proposals for next year right now with the deadline being next Wednesday. I have already sent in 3 and have a couple more that I will get submitted this weekend when I have time to actually sit and work on the computer.

After AU ended, I had to face the mountains of boxes in my house while being back in the throws of school, homework, court dates (still trying to get my divorce finalized...Sept. 30 will be "D" day unless some other curve ball is thrown) and back to work. I started back teaching home school kids art classes yesterday so I've had my curriculum to put together. I also submitted proposals for Artful Texas being held in the spring of 2011, in Texas, of course. The deadline for those submissions was Sept. 1. So, lots of deadlines lately.

I'm loving my house beyond description! I love having a yard, watching the birds, watching neighbors out working in their yards, walking dogs, etc.. It's so soothing. I've been planting cactus and they look so pretty. I lucked out when a monsoon storm did some damage breaking plants and people would post broken pieces for free on Craigslist . So I just went and picked pieces up on roadsides and planted them! I love putsing in the yard. I have a nice neighborhood, nice neighbors... well, I'm just loving the house, all the space, everything. Still have little piles of stuff that I'm trying to find a home for and some boxes to still unpack but it's getting there.

One of my biggest challenges is my studio. Even though it's a large room, it's over flowing and still not functional for work, although, I did start a large painting last week using my new easel for the first time. I hope to get back to it again some time this weekend. I'm working on the second piece in my tree series. Here's where I am with it so far...

This is my inspiration photo... and as you can see, I've made some changes.


I still have quite a ways to go. Lots of work to be done on the rough bark. This painting is on a 24x30 canvas.

I went last week for a meeting with a counselor at the local college discussing my options for going back to school for a Fine Arts degree. Overwhelming to think of adding any school on top of my life that is in full speed all the time.

Had so much on my mind with life and things I'm trying to process and understand about myself, I've been having some insomnia for the first time in my life. But tonight... tonight I think I will sleep. I'm barely able to keep my eyes open.

Hoping to be disciplined to keep up with my blog better! But for now, I'm signing off....