Aim for Cold Weather

Yesterday I achieved my goal of the past week... to get the kids to school and then get myself to San Francisco to see friends and family.  Anyone that non-revs knows that taking any flight other than the first flight of the day is risky... yet I needed to do my mom duties before I could escape for a weekend for ME.  Direct flights to SF went to hell...  The normal suspects backed up with stand-bys.  I chose to do a two airline jump.  Delta economy comfort the first leg and a bulkhead seat with a lovely view on United the second leg.  I thought for sure I was going to have to fly three flights to get to San Francisco yet a miracle happened...  a flight was delayed and had four seats available.  I ran to the gate, was issued a boarding pass and sighed with relief knowing I was getting in before dinner... More chick time with my girl Sonya.

Weather in SF was squirrely so we came in from the North over SF rather than from the South over San Jose.  I LOVE coming in from the North.  With a lil "excuse me" and smile I leaned over the sweet young Irish guy next to me and took a picture...  I did mention this MILF had a lovely view the second flight didn't I?  Drool and click... "Thank you."  My first view of the new Bay Bridge.

After a night full of good wine and catching up, Sonya asked if her cats would bother me.  Bring it!  Her cats made me feel like I was home... Don't tell Avery I cheated on him with this sweet lil thing.  This lil boy loves me...

We got up early this morning and did a long walk in a misty rain that culminated at Starbucks... Then we went to Yoga.  I think I may be more healthy here lol... San Carlos has changed alot since I lived here 20 years ago.  Walking through the town I could see the changes close up.  Some good, some bad.  Some of my favorite dives are gone.  Times are a changing... or I'm getting old... Or both.  :)

It's one of those rare times of year where the Bay Area is warmer than Atlanta.  I left home yesterday and it was 28'.  I got to the Bay Area and it was 49'.  Today Atlanta is 54'... and San Carlos is 58'.  At that temp I will take EVERY degree I can get.... Brrrr... It stayed misty the whole weekend but I was content to walk around in it and just breathe in what I will always call home.

Mom grabbed me around noon that day.  We hit all of our favorite San Carlos area antique stores and then went to one of the places that I must go to every visit....  See's.  California Crunch...  Rum Nougat... Marzipan...  Dark Raspberry.  Yeah... One of each please... or maybe two...

I didn't get to the one place on my list that I thought to that day...  Copenhagen Bakery.  Their Rum Logs are simply divine... Next trip I'll have to get a dozen to make up.

We met my childhood friends Debbie, Gina and Robbie.  Deb and Gina grew up on my street.  We've been friends since Kindergarten.  The type of life long friends that you love seeing, they kick your ass, and will love you through all your ups and downs.  I have no blood siblings.  I chose mine.  These girls are my life and my heart.

Robbie, I met a little later down the road in High School when I dated her brother Robert.  Robert's family adopted me and Robert became one of my best friends... Robbie is my "little sister".  One that I carefully coached not to become a bitch when she tried out for cheerleading... and explained that if she didn't listen I would beat the bitch out of her.  I'm happy to report that she listened and we've remained close over the years...

Saturday mom and I wandered down to Santa Cruz for more antiquing and more chocolate (MacKenzies)...  Spent the afternoon grabbing little bits of pretty things... enough that I had to borrow a suitcase to get home with.  Oops how did I do that?

I love driving up and down the coast.  The fields were in bloom with mustard...  the water was crazy rough due to the weather.  When Mother Nature is angry she's beautiful.  Pictures never give enough credit to what I'm seeing.  I've always wished I had the talent that some photographers have... where they catch that AHA moment.

I ran Half Moon Bay that afternoon.  Another favorite activity when I'm there.  I love to look at the shops, the people, the homes and smell the ocean smells...  That run never seems long and the night came on too soon.

We ended the day as a quiet family day getting what I'd truly come for... my parents, and my stepfathers deviled eggs and killer Cosmos.  Mmmm... life is good.  Notice there's a trend here... Food.  Gotta eat everything you can when you go home.

Sunday we had family coming over to visit.  Mom and I sat around at breakfast pondering whether or not we should have a cake for desert.  I asked who's birthday was next in our family and she mentioned my "uncle" Jim.  I calculated the years in my head and realized that it was Jim's 60th birthday and grinned.  I'm notorious in my family for planning 0 birthdays.  Fortunately for him, I didn't have any time to roast him... but it was a great reason for a yummy cake.  :)

I got what I came for.  Time by myself with mom, my childhood friends, and my closest family.  Rejuvenated with a heart full of love and laughter, I made it home on the red eye... Grateful for those that have loved me all these years.  I love them all madly, and without them I'd be lost.



Btw... Happy Birthday Jim.  May you have many more... and I'll do what I can to roast you on your 70th!  Love you!

Aim for "Work"

It’s been said “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life”…  In a week I return to flying.  It has been, hands down, my favorite job ever!  Each day is different.  You meet people, and you see places you wouldn’t have seen.  Yes, there are bad days, such is life in ANY occupation…  I simply love being a Flight Attendant.  It’s my own private party.  I talk to everyone.  I love to get to know their stories.  I “pick on” someone on each flight and make them entertain me.  Someone told me once I never have met a stranger in my life.  It’s true.  I like to meet people.  Even on the worst days, passengers hug me as they walk off the plane.

This is a job I wanted to do when I was 12 years old.  I even took a United Wing Scout Class...  Life got in the way.  When I finally decided to do it at 40 people told me I was crazy.  But now they GET it.  I’m a great Flight Attendant.  I make people smile.  When I found I was going to be taken off line for two years to be a Union Rep, I actually teared up on my last flight.  I knew I’d miss it terribly.   After one of our recent snow storms the Company asked if I could help out by flying a day or two.  I told them I wasn't allowed to but I stared at the flights available in our "open time".  I was chomping at the bit to do it.  I ogled at those trips like they were a box of chocolates just out of reach.  I yearned for a flight.  God listened to my heart and wanted it to sing again.

Next weekend I go back to the job I love doing.  This weekend I’m escaping to family and friends back “home” in SF where I grew up.  I want a break between being a Fighting Machinist and the Hostess with the Mostest Flight Attendant.  As I’m flying to SF I’m grinning my ass off.  I MISS this gig and I know I’m going “home” again next weekend.  Home to the skies I love.  Home to the friends that I DO have at work.  Home to working again with the love of my life, taking 50 people at a time to the place they really wanted to get to.

Next weekend is as good for me as much as going back to Half Moon Bay is today.  Next weekend is all about finding my joy again.  Returning to everything I love.  I am so blissfully happy and excited I’m going to make people puke with my saccharine sweetness.

A quick sidebar...  My mother has me subscribed to a few of my old favorites magazines... They stack up on my ottoman until I have a lazy day or I fly somewhere for fun.  I bring the stacks of magazines on these flights and do my best to get through one or two and give them to the Flight Attendants.  I know they scour People and the other junk magazines when they have downtime between flights.  Thus I do my best to hand them magazines like “Country Living”, “Martha Stewart's Living”, and “This Old House”, knowing it’s like being handed a steak instead of ground beef.  Those magazines are rarely found on planes.  So my non-Flight Attendant friends… when you’re in the airport and choosing a magazine… Choose one of these or Bon Appetit or Gourmet Magazine.  It’s as much of a treat as a box of chocolates… Granted you can hand your friendly Flight Attendant Godiva too…

I’ve made some of the best friendships flying.  We talk when everyone is asleep.  We spend 3-4 days together at a time and get to know each other.  Why do Pilots and Flight Attendants hook up?  It’s like speed dating… You fly with one crew for 4 days.  Then another crew for 4 days… then another…  The odds are sooner or later talking on the aircraft and/or doing dinner with a crew you’re going to meet a friend or a significant other just because you find people with common interests.  You end up doing things outside of work; Running, art festivals, dinners/lunches.  We are a different breed.  Not everyone can live sleep deprived for 4 days, working 14 hour shifts and then return 3 days later.  Most of the people I know have a problem with jet lag after ONE flight in one day.  We do 18 in 4… and we thrive on it.  It’s hard to date someone outside of the industry.  They don’t understand that when you’re home you need to 1)  sleep until you’re alive again, 2) don’t want to leave the house… and 3) may not get home for hours after you were scheduled to because flights aren't always on time.   Especially when it’s important to you.  Some crews are truly a joy to work with… when you have one of those magical crews the customers glow… and you laugh at anything that goes wrong... because of the people you are with.

I met the love of my life flying.  I know I’ve blogged about it over the years…. It’s been a few so I can afford to do a minor repeat…   We flew three days together way back in 2008.  By the end of the three days together we were already in a plastic bubble where no one else existed.  I RAN off of his plane after the last flight because my whole being was screaming “danger danger escape escape!!!”… and he found me cowering in a corner in our old lounge desperately trying to get released so I could run home and hide… He came up to me with a “WTF?” look on his face… I looked in his baby blues and I looked away from him and then back to him… multiple times… Then I looked up in the air and thought “My life will never be the same”…. And gave him my number.  I was right, he was danger… he was trouble… he was drama… and my life will never be the same… and yet today, I couldn’t be happier that he’s in it.  

I’ve met celebrities… (Shawn Mullins, Mike Epps, congressmen & women , misc pro wrestlers and football players…) I’ve met amazing individuals (one man sticks out who had no lower arms and no legs and yet he jumped off a wheelchair in a jet bridge and jumped up into his seat before I could blink... Made me think ‘handicaps’ are all in the mind)…

I’ve woken up in Canada one morning and on a beach in FL the next.  Where do you get that in a 9-5 job?  You go to work daily and if Lois is complaining about life every single day in her cubicle you can’t get away from it or make her STFU.  My job, if someone is complaining, I try to make them happy… if I can’t… in 2 hours I’ll never see them again.  

Every day is an adventure.  And… maybe that’s the secret to our breed… We love the adventure.

Aim for Dead Growth

With the exception of the holidays, I really hate winter.  It's cold.  In Atlanta everything becomes grey and trees drop their leaves... Our grass goes dormant... It's just ugly and miserable to be outside... Then along comes late February and we get teased between ice storms and snow storms about what is to come... In the past week the ornamental plums and magnolias started to bloom and green leaves began to sprout from the ground... can Spring finally be here?  Piedmont Park fills with people on days where it reaches 70'.  We all feel excitement for the potential of Winters breath to finally be gone again.  As I run through the streets I see the buds on the trees and fields starting to sprout with the bulbs planted so optimistically in the Fall.  It brings warmth to my heart and soul.  I AM happy.

I spent the morning purging the dead growth of the last 1.5 years.  It was the albatross that kept my soul dormant this past year.  I purged everything in my office and on my downstairs desk.  There is a distinct lack of clutter everywhere.  I went and shipped my boxes with a big grin on my face.  I AM free.

I spent this afternoon in my garden with the 70' sun on my face and shoulders.  I cleared a small section of the garden in the time I had.  In clearing all of winter's dead growth I found all the bulbs that are beginning to grow.  I felt pure joy in deadheading the winter away...  (See the stack of dead leaves in front of the newly mulched section of my garden above)

A new acquaintance said to me recently "I really dig your peaches"... and I laughed...  Today in my garden I kept finding myself singing

"You're the cutest thing that I ever did see
I really love your peaches, want to shake your tree
Lovey-dovey, lovey-dovey, lovey-dovey all the time
Oee baby, I'll sure show you a good time

'Cause I'm a picker, I'm a grinner
I'm a lover and I'm a sinner
I play my music in the sun"...

I thought to myself in my moment of bliss...  I really dig my peaches too... I dig myself... I AM a good person... and it's so nice to have the time to reflect upon that.  My joie de vivre is returning and I AM feeling really good...  The dead growth around me has disappeared over the last two weeks... I AM feeling really optimistic about the future.  As I took away the dead growth of the garden I found my first daffodil of 2014 and grinned even larger.  Daffodils are Gods message to you that life is eternal and love is ever lasting.  Even when things are looking dismal all you have to do is sit, wait and pray/reflect on your life and Spring will return to your life again.

"Birds flying high you know how I feel

Sun in the sky you know how I feel

Breeze driftin' on by you know how I feel

It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good"...

 

Aim for Stress

My blog rises from the ashes to be dusted off and resumed...

I have spent the last week counting my blessings.  Over and over I have seen how God gives things to you as you can handle them.  Things happen for a reason and when they happen there is a purpose in His message.

A year and a half ago I took on the task of fighting for the coworkers I love.  For those of you that know me well you know that I love with my heart and trust more than I should... I care about things too much Mark says... I don't know how not to care.  I spent a year and a half of sleepless nights waking up at two in the morning trying to solve the worlds problems while being beat up from all sides.  I loved being able to help my friends, yet the stress was eating me up.  I didn't have time to run and gained 20 lbs.  I worked 24/7 and slept little.  I haven't had a true vacation in two years as my downtime has been at UMass getting my Masters Degree.  My stress was affecting everyone in my life, yet I'm not a quitter so I fought on to keep doing the job to the best of my abilities... each morning taking one step forward.  Last week I was told my position was over 6 months early due to lack of funds.  I slept that night and every night since.  I've run 5 miles a day and have lost 13 pounds.  I am happy again.  To whomever thought they were hurting me by pulling those funds... Thank you.  While I'm disturbed that my group has lost representation at the negotiations table, I am at peace and have found myself again.  So again.  Thank you for the blessing of peace.

I am blessed because during that year of stress I met one of my closest girlfriends.  She of the "Don't let the Maybelline fool ya" claim to fame.  She's strong, and beautiful inside and out and tells it like it is so you better be tough enough to listen to the truth.  Her and Mammache are what I take away from the year and I am incredibly thankful.

I am blessed because I'm surrounded by many amazing women here in GA.  They are all strong and ferociously loyal.  What would my life be without Mormons and New Yorkers?  Empty that's for sure.  Love you guys.

I am blessed because I am loved.  I see it and feel it daily. I know what love is and I know it's not always easy.

I am blessed because my children are happy and healthy. I'd be a little more blessed if the lil cyclones of dirty clothes and dishes learned to clean up after themselves just a wee bit more... ;)

Because I count my blessings I volunteer for charity when I can... whether it's fundraising for a run, a walk, or any other charity events, I believe in giving back as much as possible.  Thus I was happy as a pig in mud last night when I was able to doll up and join the volunteers for the Red Dress Party raising money for the American Heart Association.  An amazing event put on by a small group of people.  I'm thankful to have been allowed to be a part of it.  I've been smiling ear to ear all day looking at the pictures of the event.

I am blessed that because I was at the event I ran into a friend I haven't seen in a few years... she mentioned that she used to read my blogs all the time.... and I realized, hey, I'm not in my position any longer... I can write til my little heart bursts with happiness... I so miss writing... So today I start again... and I'm grateful.

Now because I know
God listens... I'm going to go take my blessings and count them in a hot bath with a glass of wine and savor the moment... and because I can't sit anywhere without my mind a racing, I'm going to talk to God about how I can increase my blessings by finding enough spare cash to have a matching SLO cuff to go with my amazing SLO necklace that I rocked on the red carpet last night with my Maybelline Queens.  Sisters in SLO baby...

Life... is... good.  Peace out!

Aim For The Finish Line

What an amazing weekend!  The weather, the event, the activities before and after, the support of teammates and most importantly the support and time spent with the love of my life.  I couldn't ask for anything more.  I keep looking at the pictures as they are posted on various sites... I grin and my heart swells with gratitude for all my blessings.

Friday evening we arrived in Savannah and rushed to the race expo to grab our race bibs and swag.  The weather is perfect - 70's with a light breeze,  Returning to River Street, we sat on the upper decks of the ferry basking in the sun and enjoying one of the last perfect fall days we'll experience before winter hits the south.  We grabbed a beer and walked down the cobblestone street listening to musicians and grinning like only those truly content can do.

The team dinner was inspirational.  This event raised just under $500,000 for the American Cancer Society.  The Atlanta team, I'm proud to say, raised $120,000 of that.  We were all jazzed up and ready to go, excited to finally be in Savannah and achieving all the goals we set for ourselves back in June.  On a cool side note, one of our guest speakers was Andi Powell.  I spoke to her for a little bit afterwards.  She's very sweet and passionate about life... and she's Sasha in the next Twilight movie.  That should impress my kids.

I went to sleep early Friday night.  Determined to do nothing to effect my race the next day.  Clothes were laid out, accessories placed next to the clothes.  The morning was forecast to be chilly.  Layers were put together.  Hand warmer packages (thank you Target for $1 deal) put with my phone and Gu next to my running belt.  I was... READY!

I spent alot of time before the race talking to one of my new friends and teammates.  It was her first race ever... first time she'd ever run in her life was when she began training for this event.  She was nervous so I was giving her the pep talk and telling her to just ENJOY... take it all in.  Another teammate told her not to think about why she was there til after she crossed the finish line... that he'd done that a few months back in another race and started hyperventilating and nearly passed out... I thought to myself that "I'm not one to hyperventilate, thank god, but good advice Kevin..."

As the sun came up and the racers gathered in their corrals I was grateful for so many reasons.  To be there.  To know that I could do this race.  To have the love of my life by my side running it with me in support of me and my need to fight cancer with every event I can.  Until there's a cure I will not step off this soap box.   I was (and am still) so proud of my teams efforts, in fundraising and in training to do this run. 

Our wave finally is released and we're off.  Each mile I'm looking at the official clock and smiling.  My goal is to finish this race without stopping, and with a 10-11 minute mile pace.  My 5k split is 30:52.  That's a pace of just under a 10 minute mile... My 10k split is 1:03:21... a 10:16 minute mile pace... (and better than my Peachtree race)... Around mile 8-9 my right knee starts to give out.  I feel it and tell my sweetheart and keep going.  Focusing on the event and the run but keeping a mental eye on what's happening in that knee... Praying that I will not be forced to stop.  At 10 miles I'm at 1:46... I'm still managing under an 11 minute mile pace by a hair.  I lost my pace the last two miles.  Especially mile 12.  I'm apologizing to my sweetheart as I'm grimacing and continuing to run.  I tell him to just talk.  I need to hear his voice and focus on it.  He points out the moss in the trees.  The people rooting for us.  That we are almost there.  I'm listening to this life line while I'm screaming in pain in my head and telling myself I WILL finish this.  I CAN do this.  PUSH!  I hear someone playing Wilson Philips "Hold on for one more day", and I try to sing the lyrics "I know that there is pain but ya hold on for one more day and break free from the pain"...  My left knee is starting to give because I've been babying my right knee for 4 miles and I know I'm in bad shape.

We get into the corral that will lead us to the finish line and as we turn into the final 100 yards and I see the finish line I think "OMG I MADE it... For all these people..."  and I start to hyperventilate like my buddy Kevin told Emily not to do... and I have enough brain power left in me to think "so this is what he was talking about"... while my boo is telling me "We're almost there, you've got to smile!  The cameras are going to be on you shortly..."  ok... camera's... finish line... breathe... I shake my head yes and thank god for my big glasses that are hiding my tears and I grab his hand as we run under the photographers and across the finish line... After we cross I jump onto him with a big hug of thanks and love and nearly collapse as my legs start to freeze and buckle...

We walk through all the water stations and I grab one of everything, knowing every bottle of water, Gatorade, or anything that resembles liquid handed to me will be downed in the next 20 minutes.  We look for the DetermiNation tent.  He sees it and I tell him I need to keep walking.  I know I can't stop yet.  I feel like I did after cross country in high school.  I know when a cramp is going to terrorize my calves if I stop.  We walk by a medical tent and he asks if I want to get my legs iced.  "I'm NOT going into a medical tent, I'm tougher than that"... and maybe a bit thick skulled but it was the principal of the matter.  My day is not ending with medics.

We hang outside the DetermiNation tent, basking in the sun, eating the yummy food provided and greeting people with big hugs as they make their way to the tent.  We are all thrilled for our accomplishments.  Now it's all about a glorious day in Savannah.  Our team has a trolley tour reserved and we're going on it.  We had a fabulous time with 30 members of our team and their families.  We're all one big family now, wondering which race to do next together.  I tell them about my two 5k's I have planned and I think I sold one or two people on them.  We laugh and joke as the tour guide shows us the best of Savannah... and as we get off the trolley we all look perplexed as our legs don't work right.  Not one of us walked down the stairs of the trolley without tremendous effort.  It was humorous... We grin and don't care... It's time for beer and dinner... and THEN maybe some ice on the legs when no one is looking.

The next day I put my 13.1 sticker that I've had since June on my bag... I earned it baby!  Go DetermiNation Team Atlanta and Go ME!

 post script:

 Race plans... I have two 5ks and a 15k planned over the next 3 months... They are all 'fun runs'...

Continuing the battle against Cancer...  My next event is Forsyth County's Relay For Life (also an American Cancer Society event)... I'm on the steering committee and I'm an honorary chairman...  I'll blog about that in the future...

 Peace Out!

Aim For Leaks (Roh Roh Shaggy)

 The last two days of our Orlando mini trip were fun and filled with love and laughter.  Saturday we spent by the pool of our condo building.  A 3 story water slide kept the kids busy for hours while I read by the pool soaking up the last bits of sun before Fall sets it's chilly face upon the US.

Sunday morning we woke up relatively early and drove for an hour to spend time with my cousin April.  Love her to death...  We are sisters from another mother and have been since we were 16.  Our lives have separated and returned on a 5 year basis for many years now... ships passing in the night... she's an animal trainer, and my job is never in the same town... To find each other in the same state, let alone the same town is a minor miracle worthy of a lotto ticket purchase...

April is the dare devil... the one that reaches for all life offers.... She hang glides, flies ultra lights, zip lines across whatever mountain ridge you give her a chance...

When she found out the kids and I were in Florida, she invited us to the airfield where her ultralight "dragon fly" is kept.  The kids and I drove to the air strip, not realizing the adventure coming upon us... We turn onto the street that heads us to the airport and I stop as I see the pavement end.  "Um April, I hear violins, where do I go?" I text...

"I'm in the white plane.  I see you, stay where you are."

"What plane?  What airfield?"  As the plane lands and pulls up on the grass.  That takes 'airFIELD' to a new level for me.  I'm used to long PAVED runways... not large fields of mowed grass.

She talks me into flying with her... Katie does an immediate HELL NO and CJ balks an hour later...  Its a beautiful day for flying and I'm loving the view the ultra light affords... As we land she laughs and says "I only heard one 'OH SHIT!' out of you... well done!"

We wander with the dogs to the lake/pond.  The kids spend an hour or so playing on the rope swing as April and I catch up.  CJ braves the swing for a bit before Katie decides to share and join him.  The dogs bark and chew pine cones and periodically dip in the lake.

 I tease April about her friends retriever show dog looking like a hot mess after the lake.  The greyhound, which you can see in the next Beverly Hills Chihuahua movie, never looks wet or tired... A happy dog that's full of energy and affection.

Energy and affection is our family history... that and bellies full of laughter...  CJ decided he wanted to take the paddle boat out into the lake... April told him to go ahead... Look carefully at the picture of Katie swinging above... Do you see an issue beginning to unfold...?  April notices it and, of course, tells me to pull out my camera as she's starting to laugh hysterically.

Apparently there's a leak in the paddle boat that she thought was a slow filling one.  Next thing we know his boat is playing the final scenes of the Titanic... April is laughing, I'm singing "My Heart Will Go On"... and a friend of April's valiantly hops into a canoe to save CJ.  The friend capsizes his canoe about 5' away from shore and we both fall over laughing as the guy rights the canoe and says 'That's never happened to me before"...

"My knight in shining armor!  You rush to save my son!  I'm so SECURE in your ability to bring him back to safety...  NOT!  CJ start SWIMMING!" and I fall over in another fit of laughter with April by my side guffawing...

CJ is rescued, the paddle boat is upright and dragged back to shore.

Katie gives up on the rope swing and her new buddy teaches her how to drive an ATV... this she does with abandon all over the edges of the airfield.... 

We head out an hour later... With promises to visit April again in 5 years... Hopefully we'll see her sooner... If we don't... April, I love you... Thanks for the memories and for being the coolest cousin EVER. 

Aim For Vacation

When I started my new job last month I had to give up the two weeks of vacation I had in October and December.  As I sold back my vacation, I requested today off so I could do something with my kids during their fall break.  One thing led to another and we ended up heading to Orlando, FL for a 3.5 day weekend.

The kids and I both have to be back home by Sunday night, so we didn't use my flight benefits.  We drove nearly 9 hours yesterday down to Orlando, and will do the return drive late Sunday.  Listening to a book on tape, time has flown.  We are all riveted the moment the car turns on.  Even the few minutes driving from our condo to Universal Studios, not a moment is wasted.  "Turn on the tape mommy"... 

So far the time share we are staying at is nice.  The rooms are clean and large, the two pools look well kept.  Tomorrow we'll be hanging by the pools while waiting to spend some time with my cousin that lives here.

Today was spent at Universal Studios.  Last time we were here the Harry Potter section was incomplete, so we chose to do this part of the park today.  Hogwarts was fabulous.  Very well done.

We spent 6 hours at the park.  Til everyone was tired and worn out.  From Poseidon to Hogwarts to Toons to Jurassic Park... Every inch of the park was covered.  The kids have pretty much outgrown this sort of theme park.  Some parts were cool or scary, but a large portion of it was 'cheesy' in their eyes.

After doing the Jurassic Park water ride they chose to hang out at the splash zone for the ride.  In the boat it didn't feel like we had that large of a splash... but watching the boats come, it was pretty clear that we underestimated the size.

Wandering Toon town, was like revisiting my child hood.  Betty Boop, Pogo, Beatle Bailey, and Flash Gordon.  None of these toons are still in newspapers today.

I've been on the go for the last four weeks... two weeks away at training, and other visiting the bases.  It's nice having this time with my kids, just the three of us to reconnect away from home... We're all exhausted now.  Sitting in different parts of the condo staring at our laptops...  bed time is rapidly approaching.

Tomorrow is another day of fun in the sun.  I'm looking forward to it.  I'm so blessed to be able to be here with my two babies that tower over me now...  I know that in a few short years it will be hard to get them in the same spot for a day, let alone a weekend.  It's a birthday present to me, that will provide memories of a life time for all of us.

I'm fading now... peace out and love to all!