Filed under: Family, Kids, Life, Mary Kay, Travel, Vacation | Tags: Family, Mary Kay, Travel, Vacation
Hey all! I thought I would take a few minutes and let you know how the vacation/family help has been going. My uncle’s back surgery went off without any hitches. The doctor says he has the bones of a much younger man, even though he is in his 70′s. He was able to come home from the hospital the following morning and has been doing really well with his recovery. Now, if we could just get this workaholic to just relax without trying to work from home. My uncle and I have been doing the restaurant row thing for dinner nightly, except the night he stayed over in the hospital. For those of you familiar with Dallas, I am talking about Beltline Road/Restaurant Row. Let me tell you, there are soooo many restaurants, it’s hard to decide where to eat. I think we will be doing leftovers for the next day or two, just so we can empty the refrigerator. The one night he was not home to eat with us, we got a pizza from Whole Foods which was pretty darn good. My aunt and I have decided that cooking this week is overrated.
My cousin’s kids have been a lot of fun to hang around with. They are so cute!! Their little boy is so full of energy and just a complete image of his father when he was young. Such a great little man to play with and so loving. I just love getting him on the bus in the morning and retrieving him in the afternoon. His little eyes light up whenever he sees me. Makes me miss my kids a bunch. Their little girl, the princess, is as sweet as can be and so very smart. She and I have been doing homework together and having a lot of fun watching girly movies together and cuddling on the couch.
Last night, when we went to pick up dinner at PF Changs (YUM) my aunt actually sat at the bar with me while I had a cocktail. Since the restaurants here are non-smoking, she was able to hang out inside with me. This was a much needed cocktail, as we are actually in a dry county here in North Dallas. Not to mention, my aunt and uncle are not drinkers (at all) so there is no alcohol in the house. I was about to go nuts, so that vodka (Stholis) rocks, was a good and strong one. I could buy some a bring it home, but as you all know, I am not really an “at home” drinker. I much prefer the bar and socialization that comes with it.
I may swing by the Mary Kay building and check it out today. Even though I am not doing Mary Kay anymore, I think it would be cool to see it while I am here. I also am hoping to get a chance to stop by the State Fair. I am not huge into rides that leave the ground, but I hear there are some pretty cool things to see there. Not to mention, any fair that requires school holidays (and yes, you heard that right, they get out of school for this around here) has got to be seen! Anyway, we are off to do a bit of shopping. I have some souvenirs to get for friends and want to get some gifts for my kids.
Filed under: Family, Football, Kids, Travel | Tags: Family, Football, Kids, texas, Travel
It’s been a long time (17 years), but I am headed to Dallas, TX this coming Sunday for a whole week!! I can’t wait to see my aunt, uncle, cousin and my cousin’s 2 kids. I am going to down to help out for a week after my uncle’s back surgery this coming Monday, but it’s a visit just the same. I hope the weather is nice as I am looking forward to breaking out some shorts again.
My kids have been doing fantastic in their respective sports. Zachary’s team, the Giants, have been on a winning streak lately. Last night they beat the Bucs, 12-8. Zach has proved himself to be a very versatile player this year. He played center last night for quite a few plays, apparently having the best long snap on the team. Here is me, in the stands, saying to myself, “What is going on?? What are they doing?” because Moms are always the last to know. My hubby, Jim, neglected to tell me that they had been practicing this play all week. We have another game this coming Saturday and I expect that the boys will continue their winning streak. (Ok, enough on that because I don’t want to jinx it.)
Bethany is doing quite well with her cheer squad. They recently took 2nd place in the cheer off competition held at LVHS. They came in 2nd only because their dance routine was 15 seconds too long. Yes, they are extremely strict about the rules. Was a shame because honestly, they gave a better performance than the team that took first place. Then again, I could be a bit biased. 
Alyssa has been working hard with the marching band. They did very well in their last competition in Charlottesville. I believe they came in 2nd place, but as she is a teenager, pulling information from her is like pulling teeth. I was unable to attend this competition because of the younger two kids needing to be in two different places at the same time. Alyssa has another competition this coming Saturday at Oakton HS, but again, I am unable to attend because of the younger kids. Sometimes I wonder if Alyssa thinks we ignore her activities. I hope she knows it’s not because we don’t want to see her perform, just that she is capable of going by herself with her team whereas the younger kids can’t go by themselves. I know Alyssa is in good hands because she is always with another family here that has been fantastic to us in helping her get where she needs to be. I do buy all the DVD’s of the competitions so that I can watch the ones I don’t get to attend.
Work for me has been a blast. I love bartending and have decided to stick with it after my “help-out” month. I will probably reduce the hours I am putting in to about 3 shifts per week instead of the 5+ I have been pulling. The money is fantastic and it really is a lot of fun, fun, fun!!!
Well, this was meant to be a quickie update, as I have lots to do before heading out of town. I hope everyone is well, and MKRules, if you see this, shout at me. I will be in your area!
The holidays were a busy time for us. We celebrated Christmas with the kids a day early so that we could catch our flight to British Columbia very early in the morning Christmas day. All went well with our flight and we arrived safely, with all our luggage in Vancouver, British Columbia on the afternoon of Christmas. Our family met us at the airport and the holidays began.
We all stayed at my sister-in-laws house in West Vancouver. Luckily, it’s a big house, so her 5 (plus the occasional girlfriend or friend of the kids staying over), my five, and my mother and father-in-law, all fit well together without stepping on too many toes. (Good thing there are 5 bathrooms!) 
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Only a few days left until Christmas and I am not even near ready. This year, I just can’t seem to get it together, although I am not sure what “it” is.
This year, we put off getting a tree until last weekend, mostly due to our schedules with work and the kids activities. We usually head to Pennsylvania and choose and cut the biggest Blue Spruce we can find, always picking the perfect tree, as a family. This year, we went to a local tree farm and paid 3 times (what we usually spend) for a much smaller tree. The two oldest kids sat in the car, having apparently outgrown the tree picking tradition. Late last night we finally got the tree inside and my youngest and I decorated it. (more…)
It’s nearly Christmas and my life seems to be busier than the norm. Since Thanksgiving, I have been extremely busy with work and the family.
We spent Thanksgiving at my mother’s house,staying for a few days. It was nice to get away from home and even nicer to hang out with Mom and Grandpa. Everything went very smoothly, with only one exception. My grandfather had a small fall the night before Thanksgiving. I happened to be within minutes of my mother’s house at the time of the fall and was helping my Mom to help my Grandpa within minutes. Although Grandpa was technically fine, he did get a nasty gash on his arm. (more…)
Filed under: Blogging, Exciting, Family, Life, Shopping, Thoughts, Travel | Tags: Days Off, Hand-Blown Glass, Tamarack, Training, Weekend Getaway, West Virginia, Work
This weekend we are planning a trip to Tamarack, West Virginia. I cannot wait to get out of town for the weekend. I have worked very hard this week to have both Saturday and Sunday off with the family. All I want to do is sneak away with them all, high in the mountains where our cell phones do NOT work. I want to shop for hand-blown glass this weekend and maybe some other intriguing gifts for Christmas. Some of what we are looking at is at this website: http://www.tamarackwv.com/. Visiting this wonderful natural place of beauty, shop for some artisan specialties, maybe stop at the New River
and show our children where some of the best bungee jumping and bridge jumping is found. (more…)
Filed under: Blogging, Camping, Cheerleading, Family, Football, Jobs, Life, Random, Vacation | Tags: Camping, Thanksgiving, Work, Youth Football
Youth Football season ended last week for us when my son and daughters’ teams were knocked out in the playoffs. The Championship Games were played today. We didn’t see the games, our first Saturday morning off since September.
I am working a bit more now with the unused football hours. It’s a great chance to give my assistant manager a break. He has been working quite hard and a lot of hours so that I could coach and be as active as possible in my kids’ activities. So, I closed tonight. I don’t think I have ever worked a Saturday, even in the pizza business. I know it sounds weird (most request Sunday) but I have always reserved Saturday for family. I quickly got over it, but it did feel odd to me to be headed to work on a Saturday.
I miss football season already. I miss the girls practicing their cheers. The hugs and smiles and hard work, even when they would rather be playing “webkins”. I miss all the kids playing and having fun. The total parental support of hundreds of parents. I miss the games and wish I had gotten up and went to watch the Championship games today. I was being lazy and well, frankly, it’s gotten very cold lately. I hate the cold. (more…)
Filed under: Balance, Beach, Cheerleading, Football, Jobs, Life, Papa Johns, Vacation
This is just a quick update for everyone. I have been really busy with cheerleading and football already. You all know that I was supposed to start my new job on Aug 27. (http://nightowlmom.wordpress.com/2007/08/04/papa-johns-mary-kay-and-the-secret-is/) Well, as of today, that date has been pushed right up to next Tuesday, the 14th. This was kind of short notice but needed to be done for lack of management in another store. So, here I thought I had a few weeks to get everything with the family in order, and now I do not.
I am going to have be very productive over the next few days. I have a surprise pizza party for our boys’ football team and their families tomorrow night after practice. Uniform pick on on Saturday morning at 10AM for the cheerleaders. I will be watching my nephews Saturday morning until picking up my sister and taking them to the beach Saturday afternoon. We will be gone until Monday night and then BAM, I am working full time again the next morning.
I am excited about it, but nervous just the same. I thought I would have a bit more time to get used to the idea. Good thing is I am starting back at my old (but nice) weekly salary, and an increase in percentage of profit for my monthly bonuses. That will be great! Now to get cracking and get the business to grow, hence increasing my bonus.
Anyway, I may be on the computer very little over the next few days, so don’t worry, I didn’t forget you guys, just am gonna be really busy. I will be trying to find new balance in my life with all that’s going on. I think I can do it. No, I know I can!!
Filed under: Beach, Family, Jamaica, Kids, Life, Montego Bay, Photos, Summer, Travel, Vacation
I have been procrastinating writing this, as it’s like ending the vacation all over again.
Thursday morning started off with the breakfast buffet and coffee. My son had left his flip flops somewhere on the resort the day before, so we decided to walk across the road to the strip mall. Some souveniers and flip flops were the goal. The strip mall must have had at least 20 stores, all with someone outside encouraging you to come and look. “Free to look” they will say. If you are polite but say you are not interested, your wishes are respected and you are on your way.
We found some flip flops for the boy and a few other touristy things. Next to get a cold drink from the convenience store. As luck would have it, we found Jamaican Patties there, something we really wanted to try. Beef for the hubby and oldest, curry chicken for myself and the other two kids. Turned out to be such a treat, as they are really good. Not to mention, Patties are very inexpensive, so it makes them even better. (more…)
Filed under: Family, Jamaica, Life, Montego Bay, Negril, Photos, Summer, Travel, Vacation
(Again, if you press play on the right of the screen, your mood will be set!)
Monday June 16, 2007 started off with the hubby, my youngest and I heading to the buffet for breakfast and coffee. The older two kids slept in a bit later and joined us after a bit. The five of us had scheduled a glass bottom boat tour for mid-morning and we were excited about what we might be seeing. This tour was offered by our hotel for a cost, but since we are Holiday Inn Priority Club Members we were given a 50% discount. That turned out to be a great deal, only $32 for a family of five! (more…)
Filed under: Beach, Cheerleading, Coach, Family, Football, Mary Kay, Thoughts, Travel, Vacation
So we decided that we needed to run off to the beach real quick this weekend. And we are, right after some errands in the morning including football weigh-ins! We are heading to Chincoteague and Assateague Island in Virginia. We are taking the pop-up camper and making a cheap weekend of it, coming back Monday night. Pony Penning week just ended there and most people will probably be leaving as we are coming in. It should be a nice quiet weekend, even if we get hit with the thunderstorms over the next few days. I know we need the rain. And at the beach, everything is OK! Can you tell that I miss Jamaica already?? (more…)
Filed under: Books, Hauntings, Jamaica, Legends, Love, Montego Bay, Photos, Travel
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On Tuesday, July 17, 2007, we had another tour planned with our driver Winston. This day we planned to head towards Ocho Rios and see the sights along the way. Included in this day trip were Rose Hall Plantation, Columbus Park and Dunns River Falls. I enjoyed our visit to Rose Hall so much that I felt it deserved it’s own post. (See Dunns River Falls post and video here: http://nightowlmom.wordpress.com/2007/07/23/dunns-river-falls-climb-jamaica/ )
The history of the Great House: The house was begun by George Ash, an English planter, in 1750 and completed in 1780 by John Palmer, a wealthy British planter. This was a 6,600-acre plantation, and had more than 2,000 slaves. At the time, it was considerably larger than today. Two additional wings, originally connected to the main house by open breezeways, were never rebuilt. The Great House collapsed into ruins after abandonment that lasted more than 130 years. The house was later restored by members of the Delaware-based Rollins family, owners of the near by Ritz-Carlton, in 1966 and 1971 Listen carefully to the guide. She will probably be in a plaid-patterned dress that emulates costumes standard for that generation. The tale of sexual intrigue, insanity, and murder is one of the hottest celebrity exposés in Jamaica. The dark and brooding Annie’s Pub is on the building’s ground floor in the old dungeon. Enjoy a rum-laced “witches brew” and Johnny Cash songs, including the Ballad of Annie Palmer.
Filed under: Beauty, Family, Jamaica, Life, Montego Bay, Negril, Photos, Summer, Travel, Vacation
I ended up having to do this post in sections. Here is part 1, the first 3 days of our Jamaican vacation. I hope you enjoy. Hint: Press play on the songspot on the right to set the mood!
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Friday, July 13th started off early (alarm went off at 5:00 AM) and the five of us leaving for Dulles International Airport at 5:30 AM. Thank God that my mom doesn’t hit the snooze button, because I would have and we would have overslept. We got to the airport, into line at the ticket counter and by 7:00 AM, our bags were checked, boarding passes were issued and we were through security on our way to the gate. Subway was the only open choice near our gate, so we had subs for breakfast while waiting for the plane to board. Once we boarded the plane, we were put on hold on the runway. The Charlotte, NC airport was apparently very busy, so we were held before take-off for about 25 minutes. Not too bad as far as airports can go nowadays. This just cut the 45 minutes we had to change planes in NC to 20, but we could still pull it off, hopefully.
We got to Charlotte airport, with exactly 20 minutes to catch our next flight. We hustled through the airport and got to our gate as it was finishing boarding. Just in time and hoping all the luggage got transferred, too. Guess who didn’t get to stop and grab lunch? Guess who had 3 hungry children on the next flight? At this point, I realize that this is going to be a long day and reminded myself that we were not flying direct because I hate BWI airport. It will be OK as soon as we get there.
We arrived in Montego Bay, Jamaica a little before 2:00 PM and were ushered straight to immigration. With the exception that this portion of Mo-Bay Airport does not currently have AC, Immigration was smooth sailing there and we were off to claim our luggage. We finally locate the correct conveyor belt and a nice gentleman retrieves our bags for us. This portion of the airport the AC is working and feels quite nice. The hubby tips the gentleman who helped retrieve our bags and he ushers us over to a short line at the customs desks. Customs asks a few basic questions and once again we were off on our way. There were absolutely no issues or delays. We were then directed to a desk for Liberty Travel where we could validate our resort transportation vouchers and retrieve the paperwork for our resort. They direct us outside to a waiting bus and load our bags and we take off to the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort. (more…)
Well here it is, a video clip of our climb up over 600 feet of water falls on Dunns River in Runaway Bay (Ocho Rios) Jamaica. We went on July 17, 2007, and had 2 of the best guides, D. Shaw and M. Boyce. Boyce carried my bag (silly me for bringing it) and kept it dry. Both Shaw and Boyce made sure my baby girl was in the front of the chain gang, constantly stating “Get me baby” and making sure she was safe the entire trip. (more…)
Filed under: Donations, Friends, Jamaica, Kids, Life, Love, Photos, Positive, Travel, Volunteer
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While on our trip to Jamaica, we contacted Chef of http://www.chefsjamaicatours.5u.com/ for a day trip to Blossom Garden Orphanage. First, let me say that Chef is an extremely personable man running a tour business in Jamaica. He was kind enough to not charge us for this trip as we were there to donate much needed school supplies. This was a very generous offer as gas prices in Jamaica are equivilant to ours here. We did pay for the gas and tipped Chef as well for his generosity.
As for the orphanage, I was pleasently surprised to see that the center was located in a middle class neighborhood in Montego Bay. The house was rather small for the sheer number of children residing at the center, which at this time is 60 children and currently at capacity. (more…)
