Scene 1: Family driving in the car. Mom and Dad having a conversation in the front seat about how things have been harder lately. How money has been tight and will get tighter soon, school shopping put on hold and Christmas shopping will look sort of the same. Dad has been working very hard and traveling for both HP and Ready Receipts. Dad decides to bring the kids in on the conversation, it goes like this:
Dad: Kids, I just wanted to tell you what good kids you are. I know I've been working a lot and have been a little stressed out. I want to say thanks for your SACRIFICING. Just hang in there, my business is about to take off and our lives will change for the better.
Mom:(thinking to herself) Hmmmmm. Maybe next year.
Kids: Silence.
We continue on down the road about 10 more minutes.. and we hear from the back seat:
Porter: Dad?.... pause.... How long have we been sacrificing?
Mom and Dad looking at each other in bewilderment.
Dad: Porter.... pause.... For you? About 11 years.
Family laughs.. Parents realize that kids don't know we are sacrificing.... Is that a good thing?
Friday, September 18, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Day 2- California Disney
We did indeed get to sleep in. I for one, seriously needed it. This pic is of Rayce and Ryan posing by the "R" (which stands for RRRRayce and RRRRyan) at the enterance to Californina Disney. We opened and closed it down.. Then continued across the way to close down Disneyland....Again. It was so fun to be with these boys. I love this age!
Friday, August 28, 2009
The Ultimate Pay Off
The day finally came. All the hard work had paid off and our Disneyland adventure had begun. Rayce, Ryan, Val and I put on our traveling shoes and off we went. We were hoping to just take the direct flight from Boise to LAX and seats looked good, until 9pm the night before (I wonder if Michael Jackson's funeral had anything to do with this) . Change of plans. Looks like we'd have to get up early and connect through Portland. Which, by the way, happens to be my favorite connection city. Because I have some hook ups there in Boise, I had them issue us seats together and apart. Val and I together in row 1. Rayce and Ryan together in row 16. Hmmm. That's some fancy planning. We were able to have fancy mom chit chat and let the flight attendant
deal with the 14 year old boys. The drink of the month was a Jones Soda: Blue lemonade. Loved it and the boys did ask for their "own" can. They felt like grown ups in the back and we felt like school girls in
the front.Here the boys are at the Boise airport. Just getting started for the day. This next one is a shot of Val and me at the Portland airport waiting for our connection... See, we're still smiling. The day would tell. After landing in Lax, we rushed to the shuttle that would take us to our car rental. We felt like we needed to hurry. For one, Disneyland was waiting, and two, we had to clear the LAX area before Michael Jackson's funeral let out. That could be disastrous. We made good time. Picked up the PT Cruiser (if that doesn't yell TOURIST then I don't know what does), dropped off the luggage at the hotel and marched across the street to the Happiest Place On Earth. We got there at 1pm and worked the fast pass system all day. We picked up fast passes for Indiana Jones around 3 and our r
eturn time was 11:50pm. Oh boy! We played and played. Lines were not bad at all. Most lines were 15 min or less and add that to the fast passes, we were able to cover the whole park in half a day. I did make everyone wait in line for over 45 min for the Nemo attraction. I don't think I would do that again. Especially if I wasn't going with anyone under the age of 7.At 11pm we made it over to Space Mountain. I guess this was the last straw for poor Ryan. He was tired, shaken, hot and now sick. He was done. But NO... we don't come to Disneyland and get 30 minutes from Indiana Jones and not ride on the attraction.. OH no we don't. Rayce was stuck with me and now that Ryan and Val were out.. we had 4 tickets to ride! Woot Woot. Rayce was a good sport and went with me. My poor kids.. It's like Halloween time.. I get on the tennis shoes and we are walking that neighborhood until people don't answer their doors anymore. Usually the kids are begging me to take them home. AS was Rayce after one ride with Dr. Henry Walton AKA: Harrison Ford: AKA Indiana Jones. Two lucky folks at the back of the line got 2 fast passes. I was exhausted too and wondered if I was gonna be able to walk to the hotel. Rayce took my arm and we mustered up the strength to get across the street. What would day number two bring? Luckily we had convinced the boys that it was going to be spent at California Disney and that park didn't open until 10. AHHH, We would be sleeping in.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Two Best Friends On A Whirlwind Adventure
After sending the kids off to their various locations...David and I prepared for our "day" trip. I love going to the zoo. I try and make it to the zoo in every city we fly to. David, however, not so fond of looking at the animals. He was a good sport and humored me for the day. We set out for the Portland Zoo. The great thing about Portland is that they have great public transportation. You can pick up the Trimet, which is the train thingy, right at the airport. It only costs $4.50 per person for all day. Love it! So we caught the train headed for downtown. My good friend Katherine had given us a brief agenda of the "places to see" on our way to the zoo.
First stop: Voodoo Doughnuts: "Made famous for their girth." Home of the famous bacon maple bar. This doughnut really has a couple of slices of bacon on top... I suppose it would be just like having pancakes and bacon but I was too scared to try it. I ended up with a chocolaty chocolate cake doughnut. It was yummy. We did take some pics.. but unfortunately, they have been misplaced. :( But you can check out their menu here... pics and all. Be forewarned they do have some nasty doughnuts. Viewer discretion is advised. http://voodoodoughnut.com/menu.php
Next stop: Portland Zoo: This is a very quaint zoo. For its size there was a surprising amount of animals. The animals were even out in the open where we could see them. Nothing sucks more than going to the zoo and never seeing any of the animals. They have a fantastic bird show. I would def recommend it. They also have a baby elephant! Elephants are my favorite and to have this precious little gem there.. wowie. He was sooo cute (he was probably a she). David continued to be a good sport.. he moved me through the exhibits without making me feel rushed. We did come upon an exhibit that even David loved. There was a Polar Bear making a tribute to Michael Jackson. He would walk up to the top of his exhibit and moon walk back down, over and over again. Ah, our beloved 80's star. Dead. Even the Animals were mourning Michael. Next stop.. lunch er a dinner rather.
Hotlips pizza: Sort of a gourmet pizza joint with all homemade ingredients. We don't care about that too much. But I did want to try one of their home grown fruit sodas. I ended up with a blackberry soda. Interesting, tasted good. Our day well traveled it was time to get back to the airport.
PDX airport: When you get through security at the Portland airport there is this destination tree. It's this big pole with all of the arrival/departure monitors hanging around it like a palm tree. David walked up to the tree of wonders and said.. "Hey look, there's a flight leaving for Vegas in 30 minutes...Want to go?" Now, I don't typically like to travel this way and we had no overnight bag. With a small amount of hesitation; I did have to consider that this is fun stuff for David, and since he was so nice to walk around the zoo all day I said... SURE! Yes, indeed. 30 minutes later we were sitting on a plane to Vegas. Two best friends on a whirlwind adventure. A quick call to my friend Katherine; she had us hooked up by the time we landed with a room. $14.99 at the Four Queens down town! $20.00 for the night.. Hello! What more could a cheap person ask for? We jumped a shuttle downtown, dined on some great prime rib ($6.49 per plate) and marveled at the lights. Then next day we roamed around a bit, bought our usual stash of baby powder (if you are a male, you know what this is for) and headed back to the airport.
Ahhhh so fun. David would get back on a plane the very next day to retrieve our lovely little girl. woosh!
Rayce would return home on Saturday, the 4th of July. Porter would join us on the 5th. Rayce and I would have a few days of rest before we were off for Disneyland.
First stop: Voodoo Doughnuts: "Made famous for their girth." Home of the famous bacon maple bar. This doughnut really has a couple of slices of bacon on top... I suppose it would be just like having pancakes and bacon but I was too scared to try it. I ended up with a chocolaty chocolate cake doughnut. It was yummy. We did take some pics.. but unfortunately, they have been misplaced. :( But you can check out their menu here... pics and all. Be forewarned they do have some nasty doughnuts. Viewer discretion is advised. http://voodoodoughnut.com/menu.php
Next stop: Portland Zoo: This is a very quaint zoo. For its size there was a surprising amount of animals. The animals were even out in the open where we could see them. Nothing sucks more than going to the zoo and never seeing any of the animals. They have a fantastic bird show. I would def recommend it. They also have a baby elephant! Elephants are my favorite and to have this precious little gem there.. wowie. He was sooo cute (he was probably a she). David continued to be a good sport.. he moved me through the exhibits without making me feel rushed. We did come upon an exhibit that even David loved. There was a Polar Bear making a tribute to Michael Jackson. He would walk up to the top of his exhibit and moon walk back down, over and over again. Ah, our beloved 80's star. Dead. Even the Animals were mourning Michael. Next stop.. lunch er a dinner rather.
Hotlips pizza: Sort of a gourmet pizza joint with all homemade ingredients. We don't care about that too much. But I did want to try one of their home grown fruit sodas. I ended up with a blackberry soda. Interesting, tasted good. Our day well traveled it was time to get back to the airport.
PDX airport: When you get through security at the Portland airport there is this destination tree. It's this big pole with all of the arrival/departure monitors hanging around it like a palm tree. David walked up to the tree of wonders and said.. "Hey look, there's a flight leaving for Vegas in 30 minutes...Want to go?" Now, I don't typically like to travel this way and we had no overnight bag. With a small amount of hesitation; I did have to consider that this is fun stuff for David, and since he was so nice to walk around the zoo all day I said... SURE! Yes, indeed. 30 minutes later we were sitting on a plane to Vegas. Two best friends on a whirlwind adventure. A quick call to my friend Katherine; she had us hooked up by the time we landed with a room. $14.99 at the Four Queens down town! $20.00 for the night.. Hello! What more could a cheap person ask for? We jumped a shuttle downtown, dined on some great prime rib ($6.49 per plate) and marveled at the lights. Then next day we roamed around a bit, bought our usual stash of baby powder (if you are a male, you know what this is for) and headed back to the airport.
Ahhhh so fun. David would get back on a plane the very next day to retrieve our lovely little girl. woosh!
Rayce would return home on Saturday, the 4th of July. Porter would join us on the 5th. Rayce and I would have a few days of rest before we were off for Disneyland.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
While the mice are away the cats will play.
Our big adventure started when we shipped Porter off to summer camp, Rayce off to scout camp and sent Ryann to my sister's in St. George. Coincidentally.. for the same week.
Sunday, June 28th, Porter went to a summer camp. It's near McCall, Idaho. That is located about three hours up a windy road. Which is fine.. unless you throw up. It's called Camp Ida Haven. This was his second year. I think this is as close to the summer camp that the twins from the Parent Trap go to (at least in my mind). He got to do all sorts of things; canoeing, hiking, challenge course and more. He went from Sunday to Sunday. I was feeling like this would be too long for him to be away from his mama. I think I was the only one worried about this.
On Monday, Rayce went to scout camp. It is also near McCall. I'm trying to think of something exciting to say about it... can't. He always has a great time at these camp outs and it is one of his favorite things to do... and since I wasn't there.. OH yeah.. He did come home with a gazillion mosquito bites. eewwww.
Tuesday morning, Ryann and I got up really early to make a 6am flight to SLC. She was off to St. George to spend the week with her cousins. St. George is two flights away from Boise. We fly with her to SLC and then put her on a small, 30 seat skywest plane to St. George by herself. Ryann loves to fly alone. In fact she is always thinking of places we can send her by herself. Although, on this particular day we had a very interesting conversation as we walked along the moving sidewalk. It went like this.. Ryann: Mom I don't want to fly alone today. Mom: Why not? You usually love to fly? Ryann: What if I crash. How will they know I was on the plane. Mom: Oh honey, They make a list before you get on the plane. They know everyone who is on there. Ryann: Oh, so they would read my name and then give you a call. Mom: Yes, that's what they do. Ryann: Oh, Ok...... Oh boy.. I'm thinking.. Phew, we made it through that one. Really that was all she was worried about. She just wanted someone to know that she was on the plane. I did think about that conversation as she walked out to the plane. She was so grown up.. pulling her carry on behind her.. climbing those stairs into that plane.. I felt a touch of sadness. We have these kids, that are so adjusted. She waved once and didn't look back.. I really wanted to bang on the glass and yell.. "Hey. It's me, mom. Don't you need me?" Needless to say, none of that happened. I watched from the window as the plane taxied. Called my sister to pass the word that she was on her way and ran to make a Delta flight back to Boise.
I was back home by noon. Kid free and looking forward to the week alone with my hubby. Where oh where would we go? THE SKY'S THE LIMIT!
Sunday, June 28th, Porter went to a summer camp. It's near McCall, Idaho. That is located about three hours up a windy road. Which is fine.. unless you throw up. It's called Camp Ida Haven. This was his second year. I think this is as close to the summer camp that the twins from the Parent Trap go to (at least in my mind). He got to do all sorts of things; canoeing, hiking, challenge course and more. He went from Sunday to Sunday. I was feeling like this would be too long for him to be away from his mama. I think I was the only one worried about this.
On Monday, Rayce went to scout camp. It is also near McCall. I'm trying to think of something exciting to say about it... can't. He always has a great time at these camp outs and it is one of his favorite things to do... and since I wasn't there.. OH yeah.. He did come home with a gazillion mosquito bites. eewwww.
Tuesday morning, Ryann and I got up really early to make a 6am flight to SLC. She was off to St. George to spend the week with her cousins. St. George is two flights away from Boise. We fly with her to SLC and then put her on a small, 30 seat skywest plane to St. George by herself. Ryann loves to fly alone. In fact she is always thinking of places we can send her by herself. Although, on this particular day we had a very interesting conversation as we walked along the moving sidewalk. It went like this.. Ryann: Mom I don't want to fly alone today. Mom: Why not? You usually love to fly? Ryann: What if I crash. How will they know I was on the plane. Mom: Oh honey, They make a list before you get on the plane. They know everyone who is on there. Ryann: Oh, so they would read my name and then give you a call. Mom: Yes, that's what they do. Ryann: Oh, Ok...... Oh boy.. I'm thinking.. Phew, we made it through that one. Really that was all she was worried about. She just wanted someone to know that she was on the plane. I did think about that conversation as she walked out to the plane. She was so grown up.. pulling her carry on behind her.. climbing those stairs into that plane.. I felt a touch of sadness. We have these kids, that are so adjusted. She waved once and didn't look back.. I really wanted to bang on the glass and yell.. "Hey. It's me, mom. Don't you need me?" Needless to say, none of that happened. I watched from the window as the plane taxied. Called my sister to pass the word that she was on her way and ran to make a Delta flight back to Boise.
I was back home by noon. Kid free and looking forward to the week alone with my hubby. Where oh where would we go? THE SKY'S THE LIMIT!
AHHHHH.. Home at last!!!!
Wow... What a whirlwind. We've been kickin' butt and takin' names! Finally home. We are home and enjoying somewhat of a schedule. I will tell you all about our adventures.. a post at a time.
Our summer vacation started the end of June and didn't quit until...well, NOW.
Hold on tight.....
Our summer vacation started the end of June and didn't quit until...well, NOW.
Hold on tight.....
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
M-I-C....K-E-Y....M-O-U-S-E....
This is Rayce and his best friend Ryan. These two boys are digging for a cause! Way back in April, I struck a deal. Dig for Disney! I needed a hole and they needed some summer fun. I've been wanting to dig our trampoline in since we moved here three years ago. These two have been digging for two months... and now: after many many loads of dirt, blisters and sweat, and what must've been hundreds of otter pops...ahhh mission accomplished... 
Rayce, Ryan, Ryan's mom Val and I are flying out to Disneyland. Three days of magical fun. It just doesn't seem fair that us mom's get to cash in on their hard work? Oh well, life's not fair.
Rayce, Ryan, Ryan's mom Val and I are flying out to Disneyland. Three days of magical fun. It just doesn't seem fair that us mom's get to cash in on their hard work? Oh well, life's not fair.
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