Bright Ideas

I had a really bright idea this week. When I saw the sign, I got so excited. It was exactly what I had been thinking on for some time now. Had actually lamented over with my fellow campers and had promised to drop a suggestion for it into the "suggestion box" up front. What was on the sign, you ask? It was an advertisement for BOOT CAMP! That's right...a week long, boot camp style exercise class. I was so excited to see it and for the low price of just $49...well, it seemed like a great deal! I quickly talked two buddies into it with me...you know how I hate to exercise all alone! And we three signed up, along with a couple of others, and Monday, began meeting the personal trainer in the park for our sessions. The first day went well. It was a good class. Challenging without being too, too bad. I was tired at the end...but not the least bit worried about being sore or anything. I actually thought that I just MIGHT have to hit the gym in the mornings before the class and do some weights first, and THEN do the boot camp. THEN I went to day 2! Turns out that Day 1 was just kind of a "let me see where you are and what you can do" evaluation type class. I guess we all did fine, because yesterday's class was SIGNIFICANTLY RAMPED UP!!!!!! As in, within about an hour of that class ending, I KNEW I was going to be in trouble. It's never a good thing when you feel the soreness setting in with the first hour! Man...did she work our booties off!!!!! And this morning, my booty is on the exceedingly sore side of OUCH!!!!!!! My butt, my hamstrings, my inner thighs....pretty much everything from the waist down is in a sad state of affairs today. And of course...in less than an hour, I get to go and do it again! Me and my bright ideas! Uggggh!

And on the 14th Day...

...the SUN CAME OUT!!!!!! And can I say, it's about freaking time!!!!! Holy Cow! It's felt like Texas here in "sunny California". There's been nothing sunny about it at all since we got here. One brief, two hour window of sunshine (albeit, enough to fry my fanny!) has been IT since we arrived!!! It took until 1:30...but then, suddenly, and most gloriously, the sun burst through the clouds and I was WARM! Hallelujah, can I get an Amen?! I am not a fan of being chilled and I rarely associate my summer beach getaway with endless days of teeth chattering, but this trip has been CRAZY! But today, there was sweet relief and I definitely played the part of the sun worshipper! Divine, I tell ya!!!!

What else has been going on? Well, I experienced my very first earthquake just a couple of days ago. THAT was crazy and not at all what I expected it to be like. I was sitting up at the pool with my friend while we watched our kids swimming. The owner of the park had just come by and brought us glasses of Sangria to enjoy poolside, since it was such a gray and yucky day. I had just finished mine, when all of a sudden, I started feeling very..."off". To tell ya the truth, I felt downright drunk. To the point that I quickly uncrossed my legs and slammed both of my feet squarely on the ground and reached out and grabbed the flimsy plastic table in front of me. My first thought was "What the HECK was in that Sangria?!", followed by "Oh great! I've had someone slip a roofy drug thing in my drink." Followed by "It surely wasn't intended for ME because I'm OLD and won't they be SO disappointed to realize they missed their intended 'target'." All of these thoughts you see came rapid fire through my brain in a matter of mere seconds. As I am processing the whole "target of date rape" possibility, I happen to look over the wall and see the RV in front of me swaying mightily. And then it hit me....EARTHQUAKE! I was immediately relieved. Then immediately felt quite foolish and wondering why in the world the prospect of being targeted for having my drink drugged EVER in a million years wold cross my mind. Geez. Honestly Tonya!!! Only me, huh?

Let's see...sunshine, earthquake...what else? Oh, I've been hitting the gym with amazing regularity since we got here. I am fairly certain that we have managed to join THE crappiest gym in all of California. Manned by the BIGGEST idiots of all time. It's SCARY just how great the idiot factor is with these people. Chris and I have both been shocked and amazed. Chris calles them "Dory" from Nemo. It's the understatement of the century! In some ways, being at the crappy gym though makes me feel like I am back in Tucson. Mostly because the "Silver Sneakers" are rampant in the place. Pretty much the ONLY patrons as best I can tell. To shake things up, I signed myself up for a bootcamp workout class that starts tomorrow morning. I MIGHT regret that. But I'm always up for a challenge and thought that it sounded like something fun and new. And so...at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning, I will be getting my sweat on in a whole new manner! Wish me luck!

And THAT about sums up life, beachside. Now that the sun has put in an appearance...life is grand in California! Well, except for the people across from me who belch and smoke cigars. Yuck! I could definitely do without THAT kind of obnoxiousness! But other than THAT, life is grand in California!!!!!

The 12th Day of Vacation

It's hard to believe we have already been here for 12 days! The kids have been SO happy and SO busy. They have been almost TOO happy as a matter of fact. We've been most unsuccessful in talking our kids into leaving the campground for anything! They don't want to go see a movie or go out to eat or go to the beach! They are simply having too much fun with friends or decorating cookies or doing crafts or playing capture the flag in the park or doing a million other activities. Any other time our kids would be JUMPING at the chance to go and see a movie! But not these days. They get up in the morning, eat breakfast, and then I don't see them again until they pass through for lunch. Then we don't see them again (unless they need an adult to go to the pool) until dinner...and even then, they barely flit through. Then they are off again for huge games of cops and robbers and hide and seek. We're talking 15 kids at a time all playing. It's so nice for them. NOt a bad deal for me either. Then at night, I have three tired little cookies just begging to call it a night! Life is good at the beach. HOWEVER...I should mention here that while life is good here, it could most definitely be better! How, you ask? Well, for one...it's been FREEZING here. Like 60's. All day. Every day! And cloudy! As in totally white sky, and NO SUN. Oh...and let's not forget the breeze. A most welcome event on a hot, muggy day...but not even a little bit nice when you are already chilled and covered in goose bumps. We are all praying that any day now, any moment, the sun will burst forth through the haze and warm up our shivery bodies! I've had a terrible headache for two days now. The kind that does not respond in any way to ibuprofen, or caffeine or sleep. I am so hopeful that it had something to do with this thick weather fog and that now that the headache finally dispersed this evening, then I will be blessed with the warmth of the sun tomorrow! Here's hoping on every level!!!! Not much else going on. Just lots of bike riding, playing with friends, learning some new card games and

Vacation 2010....FINALLY!

We are FINALLY in Oceanside for our much long awaited vacation. I am not sure who is more excited to be here. Chris and I, or the kids! I was surprised at how easy the drive out from Texas was. Well...it wasn't exactly easy. But it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought that it was going to be. The kids all did really, really well. No battles or wars were fought out in the back seat and for the most part, everyone was happy and cooperative and good to go. We left out on Friday at lunch from Texas and planned to drive just as far as we possibly could that day. And we did great, making it all the way to El Paso. El Paso, incidentally, is a really, REALLY crappy town to spend the night in!!! We crashed at the La Quinta Inn...exhausted, slept until we woke up the next morning (which was early), and then hit the road bright and early again Saturday morning. Since we had done so well on our distance Friday we really didn't have too terribly far to go on Saturday and rolled into Tucson about 3 p.m. We quickly settled in to the hotel (which was blissfully nicer than the crappy La Quinta) and relaxed for the remainder of the afternoon, swimming with the kiddos and eating dinner poolside. We were NOT up late that night! On Sunday morning, I met my friend Mary at 6 a.m. for a good brisk walk. It was so nice to walk and chat with her and to see the beautiful scenery and mountains. Texas is so FLAT next to Tucson. It was a great walk, followed by a Starbucks visit for scones and coffee. Then we said our goodbyes and I headed back to the hotel where I found all my big and little people still snoozing hard! They slowly woke up and had a lazy kind of morning. Then Clara and I met my friend Jenny and her four precious girls for lunch at Sauce, followed by gelato at Frost. YUUUUUUMMMMMMMMY! It was more wonderful than words can say to have lunch with her again. It was exactly like old times and so great to just sit and chat. Like I had never left at all! Her four girls are beyond cute...haven't changed one bit....except that the baby I said goodbye to last year is most definitely on the road to being a "big girl" now! Still as cute as ever though. Clara was in HEAVEN to be there with her friends and smiled from ear to ear the entire time. But then, all too soon it was time to say goodbye. And I felt like my heart was being smashed into a million pieces. I just didn't want to. I realized by then that I missed Jenny even more than I had let myself think and I had to bodily drag myself back into the truck when we left. Of course...the tears started flowing the second we pulled away. It was awful. WONDERFUL to see her...AWFUL to say goodbye to! Luckily, there wasn't much time in the schedule to allow for a pity party and feeling sorry for myself. Clara had another little friend form school come and meet her at the El Con to swim and play for a couple of hours. She had such a wonderful time, AGAIN, catching up and playing and smiling. It was nice to see for her. Before we knew it, it was time to dress and head out for the get together that was planned with some of Chris's old coworkers. THAT was another fun get together...nice to see those friendly faces with whom we have shared so many other get togethers with, It was really a fun night. There were several kids there too that our kids were friends with...so it was an extra sweet evening. Before we knew it, the night was over and we were crashing for our second night in our beloved desert. On Monday morning, we were on the road again, excitement building, for we were BEACH BOUND at last! We made GREAT time driving in and arrived before dinner in Oceanside. We quickly set up camp and have been relaxing and enjoying life ever since. Chris is still working...vacation isn't ever really vacation anymore with him. But he is taking time for naps and playing on the beach, etc...so there's that. Month end was yesterday...so hopefully things will calm down now and he can enjoy the next 3 days that he is here with us. He flies out on the 4th, heading for Paris, France. But then will be back here with us again on the 16th. The weather here thus far is cool and overcast...sweatshirts and shorts in the day...bubbling away in the hot tub at night. It's good stuff for sure! There WAS a bit of excitement today...it seems someone was hit by one of the Coaster trains that runs on the track right by the campground. The train came to it's stop within eyesight of our trailer. Apparently there were a good bit of "blood and chunks" on the grate thing of the train...according to my kids and hubby. Ewwww....GROSS! Nothing like a little morbid and gruesome event to really spice up a dull afternoon, huh?! Tonight, we are off to see IronMan 2. I'm totally excited as it's a movie I have really wanted to see. Ben has seen it already and says it's great. So I'm ready to see for myself! And that's the update from Paradise...so far!