CA Girl

During our stay in TX, we stayed at a hotel. My in-laws graciously covered the cost for everyone who needed one. That helped us out tremendously. I have no question there. No, my question is where do people's manners go when they stay at these places??? I understand that people are traveling, perhaps driving long distances with their kids. I have been there and done that many times with my own kids. Maybe you are one of a few adults on a trip with a bus load of noisy teenagers. Whatever the case may be, is it really that difficult to have a cut off point. For instance no running up and down the halls past 9PM. Or maybe remember that the hotel doors will slam if you don't slow it down. You should realize that just because you aren't going to bed, doesn't mean nobody else is. Likewise, just because you are leaving at o dark thirty, doesn't mean your neighbors are. I just wonder where people's manners go. Did they leave them at home? Or were they simpl

So Emmy has challenged me again. This time, I am to share one of my creepier and crawlier moments. I could only think of one. When I told my mom which one it was, she said, "I thought for sure you would pick the one when you put the bowl over the spider." My eyes widened. Oh man! I forgot all about that! That was horrible! I was pregnant with my second child, and I was home alone...isn't that always the way??? My daughter was taking a nap. Thank goodness. I was watching TV or something--this part escapes me--when I saw something on the floor moving. I looked over to where I saw the movement. There was no mistaking what I saw. It was HUGE. Borderline on a tarantula. And they were actually not unheard of where I lived. I stared at the monster spider frozen in my spot. What do I do??? Rich is at work. I can't kill it. It might try to eat me! It might eat my baby girl sleeping in her room. Thank goodness she was sleeping. She is so high strung. I

July 26 and 27. The last two days of our vacation were perhaps the quietest. The first surprise was we bowed out of church. I just wanted to sleep in, and let my body decide when it was time to wake up. I even went as far as to buy mini muffins and milk for our breakfast so we wouldn't have to worry about making the breakfast deadline. Since we didn't go to church, we dove into our scriptures and read for about 30 minutes. Shortly after that, our phone rang with an invitation to breakfast. We also bowed out of that one as we were still in our jammies and not showered. It was nice to be lazy after all the running around we had been doing. We met up with the rest of the family after they came back from breakfast. We went and saw G-Force as our last full family outing. Afterward,we said our first goodbyes before lunch. Michele, Denise, Georgia and Jack were headed back to Dallas. We hated to see them go. It was a lot of fun and a lot of laughs. The kids were definite

Another day. Another adventure! Today we would be going to the San Antonio Riverwalk. Grandpa stayed behind as he has a hard time getting around, and this is a lot of walking and a lot of stair climbing. We gathered in the hotel lobby and waited for Rob and Shelly to arrive as we needed the extra vehicle and hey, they wanted to go too! While we sat waiting, we discovered a very LARGE hornet in the doorway. It was hovering around the first set of doors in between the doors. Nobody wanted to go near it. I am not kidding, this thing was dragon fly size, but it was NOT a dragon fly! My sister-in-law, Michele, finally grabbed a magazine and rolled it up. She was scared to do it, but man she got in there and swatted that thing enough to get it out with out killing it. We cheered her. I think the hotel was glad when we were gone. Once at The Riverwalk, we started with a little shopping. It was there that Aunt Sandi gave each of the kids $20 to spend. What a good and sweet aunt to

Friday was specifically set aside for family photos. The entire family as well as individual. It was requested that we all wear white shirts and denim shorts/pants. Well hmmmm....do the girls even have white shirts??? Let's face it, most kids clothes have some kind of something on them, even when they are a tweener. Happily, I remembered that they both indeed had a white shirt. Ryan also had one. A white polo. Perfect. I have a few white shirts myself. The one I wanted was dirty and needed washing. No worries, I would wash it and pack it. Fast Foward to Friday morning. I tunnel through the kids clothes--which I put in the little drawers of the hotel room. I found Emily's shirt and Ryan's, but not Kristin's. Hmmmm. I am positive I packed it. I double checked. Nope it is not there. Don't panic. We can ask Shelly if Erin has an extra white shirt. I go into my suitcase. My white shirt is also MIA. Okay the blood is starting to course through my vein

Today was Sea World. We got up early despite still feeling jet lagged and already being worn out. Ryan was super cranky at this point, and not much fun to be with, but we pressed onward to our grand adventure! We were very fortunate to be in the company of season ticket holders(Rob and Shelly). They had special discount coupons for everyone. We would have bought some for us as well, had it covered the San Diego park. It doesn't. Just theirs. Oh well. I had the bright idea of renting a stroller so that Ryan could ride. Well he would have nothing to do with it. It was then that realized my telephoto lens was missing. I went back to the stroller place and where we got our tickets neither had seen it. It was in its case and ON my shoulder. How did it get away from me? I don't even remember bumping into anyone. Rich retraced our steps and nothing. It was just gone! As awful as that was, we started our day. San Antonio Sea World has a water park, and Rob and Shelly r