Back in April of 2000 Ed took me to Hawaii.  We had been together for 6 months and this was a very special trip for us.  Also, it was the first REAL vacation I had taken since I was 21 (which is more years than you really need to know about!).  Up to that point, my "vacations" always consisted of visiting family or adding days on to a conference trip.  But a real vacation - one where you plan the trip just for fun and all your time is totally under your control?  Unheard of!

I had never been to Hawaii before and had no real desire to go.  I mean, big deal - beaches and palm trees.  I lived in California for pete's sake!  I could see those any day.  But Ed really wanted to take me there so I figured, what the heck, a week on the Big Island wouldn't be so bad.  The minute we stepped off the plane, I could see that this was a different and wonderful place.  The smells of flowers, the silky air, the sounds of Hawaiian music. the breezes.  The money and language are the same, yet you feel like you're in a foreign country.  We stayed in a condo unit at Kona by the Sea  on Alii drive and I was in love.

 

The place we stayed on our first trip to Kona.

Both with Ed and with Hawaii!  Our condo had a view of the ocean and every morning we were awakened by the sounds of the surfers looking for that perfect wave.  When it was time to pack and head back home, we were both very sad.

Took this photo to freak out family and friends

Follow up photo this trip

We've been back to the Big Island four times and visited all the other islands.  The Big Island is definitely our favorite - so much to see and do and so many varieties of climate and topography.  Not to mention some truly special memories. Our most recent trip was a couple of weeks ago.  We hadn't been there for 5 years and forgot how much we loved it!  This time we stayed at Kona Coast Resort. During this trip we visited some of the spots from our first vacation there.

Photo by the ocean 2000 - back when I could still wear white shorts!

2011 ocean shot

 One of our Kona traditions is dinner at Huggos on Alii Drive our last night on the island. 

Dinner at Huggos 2000

Outside Huggos 2011

Notice Ed's Guido Bandito look in the 2000 photos!  Love it!  We'll go back to Kona again - it's a special place for us and a wonderful way to spend a week.

I'm such a slacker!

I started this blog in February of 2007 as a way to write down stories about my family for my kids and grandkids. There seemed to be so many colorful stories and I didn't want any of those memories to fade after I'm gone.

And I did pretty well for a couple of years! Stories about family history morphed into more current blogs about everyday life. And then came Facebook and suddenly it was easier to relay something with a few words and a photo or two rather than try to be creative with a blog post. Every now and then something will come up that makes me think, "That would be a good blog post." Then the lazy side of me says, "Nah!"

Today I was looking into having my blogs put into book form. There is a site via Blogger that compiles everything including photos (excluding comments) into a really nice 8 1/2 x 11 book. It would be great to have so all those stories that I worked so hard on in print so they don't get lost! But looking at some of them made me nostalgic for the days when I did post more.

There were so many people blogging back then - and blogging regularly. Now most of my "blog buddies" are on Facebook and we stay in touch that way. But I so miss reading my daughter's blog about her kids, the blogs of two of her friends who are very funny writers, Nikki, Maria, Beth Ann, Patti. A blog or two will pop out every couple of weeks or so, and I still have one friend, Linda, who blogs regularly. But the rest of them not so much.

So, I may try to get back to it. There are still stories that I would love to share with my kids and have in my "blog book" when I decide to print one. Now if I could just find the energy..........

The Note in the Door

Ed and I have a Dodge Dakota pick up truck - one of those small ones. Don't use it a lot, but when we need it, we really need it! And our kids and friends borrow it periodically to haul stuff so we're always glad to have it around.

Today someone put a note on our door asking if we were interested in selling the truck. No, we're not. But the note reminded me of a story about my son when he was 15 1/2 and trying to buy his first car.

Joe had his heart set on a Bronco. You know, big tires, manly, yada, yada, yada. I mean, he already had the mullet so having a Bronco could only raise him even higher on the cool-o-meter.

So, we started looking around. There was an ad in the paper for a Bronco about 25 miles away in San Jose. We drove down there - Joe, Jenni, and Joe's friend, Aaron. Finally found the address and the car turned out to be in pretty bad shape and bright orange! So we drove my and didn't even stop. Joe was feeling very deflated. As we were driving out of the neighborhood, he spotted a teal and white Jimmy GMC (which apparently is similar to a Bronco) and told me to drive by. "But the car isn't for sale," I said. Joe said, "I know, but I want to look at it." He and Aaron hopped out of the car and checked it out - even sliding underneath to look for heaven knows what. And Joe fell in love.

He asked me if I had something for him to write a note with. I said, "You can't just ask people if they want to sell their car!" He said, "Sure I can." And he did. Left a note stuck in the door asking if they wanted to sell their car and leaving his phone number. I just shook my head and drove home.

That night Joe got a call. From the owner of the Jimmy. The woman asked him how much he was able to pay for the car and he said all he had was $2000. Then she started crying. She said she was having health problems and needed a procedure done but they didn't have the money. The cost was just under $2000. She and her husband had just been to church and were praying for an answer to their problems. On the way home they talked about maybe trying to sell the Jimmy! Then they found Joe's note.

So, Joe got his dream car. And I have never questioned his judgment again. On our end the story didn't have the greatest ending. Joe really wanted a "roll bar" (I think that's what they call it) and managed to find one that was a perfect fit. They guy wanted to get it out of his yard and sold it to Joe very cheap. The car sat at the curb for a few months until Joe was old enough to get his license. And then there he went - Mullett flapping in the wind, top down and roll bar shining, shirtless (for some reason he and Aaron were always taking off their shirts), the Budweiser sticker prominently displayed on the roll bar and the "No Fat Chicks or I'll Scrape" bumper adding a touch of class. Six months and two tickets later my son was back on his bike.

But, oh, what a story about how he bought his first car - back in the day.....

Yosemite - Lessons Learned!

It had been several years since we visited Yosemite and we heard the falls were spectacular this year - so we planned a trip. On Memorial Day weekend. That was our first mistake!

Apparently 4.2 million other people also planned to visit the park that weekend. Who knew?!? And the weather in California has been particularly sucky this year so the forecast was for rain and temps in the high 50's to low 60's. But away we went!

The first night we spent in Sonora at a great little hotel and it was very relaxing.


Got to Yosemite around 10:30am on Saturday, finding only 10 or so cars ahead of us in the line to get in. Great! Might not be so bad! We met up with Ed's brother, Kim (he works at the park) at 10:30 after easily finding a parking spot close to the center of the park. Piece of cake, we thought. We visited Yosemite Falls, walked on the paths, took photos, had a nice lunch at the lodge, walked some more. Beautiful day - the sun was actually shining! Then we walked back to the car and headed to Bridal Veil Falls. Here's where the fun started.

By the time we arrived at Bridal Veil, about half of the aforementioned 4.2 million people had arrived. Seems they just got a later start than we did. We managed to find a parking spot at the falls - mostly because people were driving past figuring there was no way they could park. But we did. And Ed had to pee. The line for the restroom was about 30 people deep. In spite of his brother's admonishments to "just go find a tree", Ed waited in line. After 15 minutes he said the heck with it and we took off. We walked half way to the falls (which, as an aside, is not a great thing to do when you really have to go!) but the water was so heavy that we were drenched so we couldn't get any closer.


Now we were going to take Kim back to his abode. More people had arrived. Ed still had to pee. Traffic was at a standstill. It was not pleasant. More cries of "for pete's sake just get out and find a tree" emanated from the back seat. But to no avail. Finally we spotted a legitimate restroom a short ways ahead so Ed got out and headed for the restroom while Kim jumped in the driver's seat and we coasted along. Luckily the line here was short so Ed managed to catch up with us a short way past the restroom and he and Kim switched places. At the same time a woman in the car next to us shouted to Kim, "Hey, will you come drive my car while I go pee?!?" He probably could have made a lot of money that day providing the service.

Anyway, we got him back to his place, managed to get out of the park and back to our hotel. Which is right on the river. It started to rain just as we left the park and poured all night. Our plan was for Kim to meet us at the hotel the next day and we would drive up Glacier Point (which had just opened for the season a few days before). 10:00 am the next morning Kim knocks on our door with the following report - thanks to the rain/snow of last night, Glacier Point is again closed. On top of that, Kim counted 105 cars trying to get into the park as he was leaving. Yes, he actually counted the cars.

After a series of "oh, shits" we decided on another plan. We'd go in to the park the back way! Yeah, no one else would think of that! We were so cool. So we drove a very long way, got close to the back entrance, and got in line. After 20 minutes or so a ranger was telling cars that there were no parking places left in the park. We figured we could always park by Kim's place or just drive through taking some photos and seeing the falls. So we stayed in line (did I mention that we made more than one mistake?). 45 minutes later we got to the entrance! Only to be told that the park was so crowded they weren't letting anyone else in! Oh, joy. We turned around and headed back to the hotel. Now the temperature on this road had dropped to 39 and it was snowing. Yes, snowing. Spring in California.

But, at least the drive was pretty. The weather cleared up after awhile. We had a nice lunch at a place called Pete's and a nice dinner at the hotel. And our balcony was right over the river so it was a great place to relax and read. Monday we came home.

Ed still wants to go back to Yosemite some time this year. During the summer, he said. When there might not be as many people, he said. I'm not even a California native and I know that's a crock!

The Things Mothers Do

I love my daughter – really I do! I enjoyed raising her (well, there were a few times during those delightful teen years....), and I have thoroughly enjoyed interacting with her as an adult. I love her kids and look forward to my time with them. I love her husband – he is so totally a part of this crazy family.

But, alas, Jenni also has cats. She’s down to two now, but even two cats need to eat and drink when Jenni and the family go on vacation. And good old Mom gets “cat duty.” It’s a little easier these days with just two cats. The third one, while he did have an interesting personality, had one serious flaw – man poops (as Jenni called them). Made litter box duty much more challenging.

So yesterday was my first day of Cat Duty while Jenni and family make a trip to Tucson for Spring Break. And such a fun day it was. I didn’t get home until around 6:45 and immediately got into my sweats and cozy, fuzzy socks. Started working on dinner and talking with Ed. He asked something about the weekend so I checked my calendar and saw “Cat Duty” in bold letters! Shit! I forgot! It was now 7:20pm and I knew “the girls” would not be happy. So I removed the cozy fuzzy socks, put on my tennis shoes and bolted.

Jenni had told me that she was expecting a package from UPS and had left instructions for it to be placed in the gardening box in the back yard because other packages have been stolen from her porch. So my first stop was to open the fence and find the garden box. I finally figured out which container it was and I opened it. Nada! No packages. Just a lot of tools and pieces of yard decor and unidentifiable things. I looked carefully to be sure I didn’t miss it and then closed the box. Almost. It wouldn’t close! Crap – now I’m rummaging through all the stuff trying to figure out the problem. Turned out to be a combination of some tool sticking up too high, and the hinge thingy not working right. I finally got it closed and proceeded to the mail box.

Nothing there, but I saw Jenni’s UPS sticker still on her door – the one with the instructions on it. Drat, they must not have come by. I went up the stairs and noticed a note on the UPS sticker saying the package was left next door. Back down the stairs and up the stairs next door. I rang the bell, heard a lot of commotion and kids, then the door opened. And I was face to face with a Pit Bull!!! Now, I am NOT a dog person. Never been a fan of the whole barking, crotch-sniffing, jumping thing. But this was no ordinary dog – it was a pit bull! My life flashed before me and I thought, “Great, I’m going to die in my sweats and tennis shoes while Ed is home waiting for dinner.” Thankfully the dog ran past me down the stairs while the lady of the house yelled after him and a young boy ran out into the street to try to catch him. The lady gave me the packages and I juggled them back down the stairs and up Jenni’s stairs as fast as I could with bad knees and two bulky packages in my arms (not to mention fear in my heart). I was getting ready to unlock the door when that damn dog came back and started running towards me!! Of course, the lock chose that moment to be a bit sticky but I managed to open it, throw the packages in, break a nail, and slam the door shut.

The cats were happy to see me so I fed them, watered them, cleaned their “bathroom”, and told them I’d be back tomorrow and they better damn well appreciate it!

Our first 10 years

Over the past week there have been a lot of newspaper, magazine and internet articles about world events that have occurred since this millennium began. You know - dot-com bust, banking fiasco, recession, elections, blah, blah, blah. But that made me think about all the events that have happened in our lives in the last 10 years.

Ed and I met in late 1999 so our "story" really began in 2000. Since that time there have been four weddings - my daughter, Ed's daughter, my son, and, of course, me and Ed!

Of our 13 grandchildren, 7 were born the past 10 years including a set of twins, and 2 amazing kids born in a village on the northern border of Russia where they lived for four years before finally coming home to us on Christmas Eve 2005.




We lost people, too. From January 2007 through January 2008 we lost three parents - Ed's mom and dad, and my dad. Those were difficult times but we had them around long enough to celebrate that.

Then, last year, we both found new "old people" in our families! For me, I met an Aunt Mary in France who will be 101 in February! She remembers my grandfather when he was a teenager. And on Ed's side we found Aunt Stella who turned 97 last August.


Oh, and my brother added two kids to his family during the last 10 years, also! He is now the father of four!!

And I was finally able to retire and say goodbye to the corporate world!! Yippee!!!

Neither Ed nor I had ever been out of the country (except for Canada and Mexico) until we took our first trip to Italy in 2004. Now, thanks to timeshares and airlines miles, we've been lucky enough to go to Europe 5 times!


All in all it's been quite an eventful 10 years. Can hardly wait to see what the next 10 will bring!

Our first Skype Christmas

Although I know a lot of people who use Skype, I wasn't one of them. Until Christmas Eve. Ed's daughter, Wendy, now lives in Denver with her 1- 1/2 year old twins and this was the first Christmas she wouldn't be with us. So she and I cooked up a plan to surprise her mom and dad with a Skype visit on Christmas Eve. Yes, her mother spends the holidays with us!

On Wednesday I sent an email to Wendy with the suggestion and she was all for it. She downloaded Skype on her laptop and I tried to do the same on Thursday. Alas, Skype was having some sort of outage and I couldn't get signed up or logged in. Finally I did and, since Ed was going to be out of the house Friday morning, Wendy and I set up a time to practice. We called each other and signed in to our Skype accounts. She could see me, but I couldn't see her. So we logged off, logged on, called, etc. for several minutes but nothing. I had to go to an appointment so we decided to try again later. I was afraid Ed would be home by that time and the surprise would be ruined for him, but we had no choice.

After my appointment I tried to find someone with Skype so I could try again and be sure it wasn't a problem on my end. I called my son - he was just heading out the door. He gave me the name of his sister-in-law who was at the airport waiting to go home to New Orleans. I called her to see if she had any ideas, but her camera issues were minor so she gave me the name of a friend of hers. Who wasn't home! Then I remembered my friend in Tucson had Skype so I called her and she was home. We signed in and could see each other! So we had a fun chat and then Ed walked in so I hung up quickly.

Rats! I really wanted to surprise him but Wendy wasn't home so I was stuck. Then he told me he had to go to Home Depot. Now usually when he goes out on holidays when we have a ton of people coming over and a lot of work to do I'm not happy. So he told me with caution in his voice. But this time I was thrilled that he was leaving! (He told me later he thought that was pretty strange). As soon as I heard the garage door close I called Wendy and told her we had about 30 minutes. She had just gotten home so she plopped the babies in their high chairs and logged on. This time it worked! We had a nice chat, she showed me her Christmas decorations and we set up 5:00pm call time for that night.

My laptop is on the kitchen counter and we usually put it on my desk when we have a crowd over. Ed started to move it and I practically yelled "Leave it there!!" He gently put it down and backed out of the kitchen. At 5pm I called Wendy and she wanted me to log in out of sight of her parents so we could be sure things worked. So I had to sneak in the kitchen while everyone was talking, take the laptop, and duck into the office. I did and we got all set up.

Then I took the laptop back into the kitchen and said, "Hey, guys, someone is here to see you!" They turned around and there was Wendy and her twins on the laptop! At first they thought it was a video Wendy had sent, but soon realized that they were talking with her and seeing her real time. And the tears flowed. Ed and Linda (Wendy's mom) couldn't talk much at first because they were crying. But eventually we all took turns standing in front of the computer and saying hi. Wendy took up around her house to see the Christmas decorations. At one point her son scurried up the stairs so she put her computer down to go get him. And we could watch the whole thing. Very cool.

On Christmas Day Ed and I Skyped Wendy again so we could talk with her without the whole gang around. Of course, there were more tears. Then I Skyped my brother in Chicago and got to wish him and his whole family a Merry Christmas in person! He Skyped us back a little later when they were at the dinner table and then he held the laptop close to his face and turned in a circle singing "The Circle of Life". Yes, I have a weird family. But it was really awesome.

So now we have a new toy. Ed is on the hunt for a good webcam for his desktop computer. And the world has shrunk again. That is a very good thing.