Ramblims of sorts

Because I have way too much things on my mind, it is often that I don't post ANYTHING.
Does it makes sense? Nope, didnt think so.
You see, I have so much stuff in progress that I end up doing nothing. Weird.

Procrastinators...UNITE!

I wanted to tell you {and show you} about my scrapbooks. As you may know, our oldest lived abroad all his life (thanks immigration laws...you can suck it!) so he is finally leaving with us. When he came for Christmas all of our stuff was in storage. So now he finally got to see the scrapbooks I've been making.

He looked at each album, read the notes I made for him, laugh at some of the anecdotes about him growing up. He finished them and looked at me...and he said..."WOW, thanks Mom...I didn't know all this...is wonderful". So yeah, I felt pretty amazing about myself and I may have done a little happy dance. Ok, I was doing the Macarena full blown mix with the electric slide.

It totally paid of for me, because even though I love to scrapbook and is a creative outlet, the goal was to preserve memories. Having an 18 yr old appreciated your craftiness is AWESOME.

Then I also wanted to tell you/show you how said 18 yr old can turn a bedroom into a garbage pit...in a matter of a week. Seriously, I couldn't even open the door all the way. So finally it looks half decent and there is space to walk. The bed in the room is a King size and it has to be moved to our bedroom but I don't like it (too hard) so I'm waiting for my pillow top to arrive this weekend, so I can move our Queen there; which means our conforter set has to go too.

Another thing on my mind was to create a weekly meal plan. I've been doing really good with my cooking so far but I need to have healthier options. I realized this when one day last week said 18yr old knocked on the door and told me he wasn't feeling good. Yeah, his healthy eating crashed with our junk food. That's not the example we want to be.

See a pattern here? who knew an 18 yr old can change your life :)
We are loving each moment of it. But I know this is a period of adjustments for all of us and there will be times where I will tell you how I tried to suffocate him with a pillow because he was being a smart mouth {I kid, I kid}

I also want to redo our bedroom, so far all I've got where new curtains from IKEA but hey, is a star.
So there you have it, a whole lot of nothing with nothing mixed up.

See you on the flip side,

Over & out

How to get roasted like a Lobster AKA Vacation time!

Ignorant me though I was already immune to the amazing rays of the sun of the island since, hecks, I'm a native. Apparently not. And apparently Hawaiian tropic is powerless against the sun too. Who knew.

I manage to get sun poisoning my friends. Yeah, blisters all over my back, hubs having to dress me, me crying in pain, cursed words where said and not able to sleep. Oh, but it was SOOOOOO worth it. (ok, so I like pain...that's what she said).

(me, almost toasted but not quite)

We arrived on a Friday morning, nap for a while and then start getting ready for the festivities. Oldest graduated the next day, and I couldn't have been more proud. Then do more stuff for the Baptism of the little guy on Sunday. He was Baptized in a Monastery to ordain men into priesthood (in the garden) so no church pictures.

Spent time with family and took some days out to the beach courtesy of my Godmother's condo!!! wooo hooo for free stays, even if we had to cook. I wont bored you with all the minor details (like how my brother in law fell on the street, face first, broke his jaw and ended up having his mouth wire shoot and how we may or may have not made fun of him)

Here are some of the images!!!

Arrival night at the coast, that water was sooooo nice!

View from pool looking at the ocean, at night time there's several lights shinning down and you can see this huge fishes that may have been sharks :)

See white building? that's our place

The family going for a dip

The pool, we spent most of our time here

Moi, no makeup...my family on the background

Little guy first dip in the ocean, he loved it! He said WOW

Ok the rest of the pictures I have on the other PC, so stay tuned for part DOS!

Over & Out

Travelers beware

stay provieded by my Godmother's condo :)

Before I begin with all the wonderful stories about our trip I want to start with the WORST part of it. I want to make sure everyone is aware how awful this airline is. Seriously, you want cheap you get cheap; our fault I guess. We unfortunately traveled with SPIRIT AIRLINES, first and last time.

At first their rates look great but:

1) You pay for any piece of luggage ($19 if is ahead or $25 at he airport)
2) You will ALSO pay for any carry on as of August 2010
3) They charge for everything including refreshments on the flight (not even water) most things where about $3 each, can of soda, M&M's, water, etc. Drinks are $8 plus.
4) No entertainment at all during flights. Yeah.
5) horrible service and customer service

This was an international flight so I guess these days Airlines think you should just travel with the clothes on your back. But none the less, these are things I could overlooked if I had another experience.

Our adventure starting early Sunday Morning (12:30 am to be exact since our flight was leaving at 3am) when we get to the airport for our flight. The counter girl checks us in and walks away without telling us what is going on or what the problem is. She comes back half and hour later to tell us there is a problem with my check in, Hubs and oldest kid are ok. Then it results that they are having trouble with my reservation which makes no sense since all of them where done under mine name.

Off she walks again and leaves us waiting again, the other girl tell us is ok, that we wont miss the flight. At this point everyone is at the gate except for us and another family.

They told us that their system had an upgrade that deleted the baby and wont allow him to be added, so our oldest and the Hubs could fly but I had to wait till next day. Not an option to take a layover flight with baby in tow, bags, strollers, etc.

Hubs would have told her to take a flying leap but I gave a much more diplomatic answer. (the other family had the same issue) so we where all set up for the next day @ 3am AGAIN. They claim they would compensate us $100 in vouchers for each of us.

The next day we show up and get checked in. There is a small delay on the flight which causes us to get too late to catch our connecting flight . BTW, during the flight while we are on the plane I noticed that the oldest got booked to a different flight than ours without us being told anything.

AWESOME.

Well when we go to recheck our bags the counter girl who looks horrified at this point tells us that our 2nd plane has left, to stand to the side but to leave our bags with her.

We waited a while and finally another girl comes in and ask where we are going, then told us ALL flights where booked and the best she could do was to put us on stand by. Is already 8am and we have been up and around since 12am so I said fine. Then she asks for our bags, we tell her the other girl took them, the other girl gets a horrified look. While we where waiting, the baggage handler placed the bags on the conveyor belt without any tickets to destinations being in placed.

So they had to hurry up and call people to track our bags. Again, AWESOME.

After they realized they sent our bags to lala land and chased them around to tag them we where placed on stand by ( stand by was for 1:30pm) so we hang in the airport with our poor baby so restless. At 1:30pm they told us the plane was full; I had to go to the so call Customer service and use all my charm to get us re-booked for Tuesday at 7am. At this point I though the hubs was going to jump over the counter and hurt someone. we where not the only ones having issues and everyone was cursing, so I opted the classy way and got them to give us a hotel room. We arrived at the Hotel after 4pm. Are you counting hours? We had been in airports for 2 days!!! That day alone was16 hours. We all crashed at the hotel, the voucher for food was for $9 p/p and the menu had nothing under $12 so that was another added expense to us.

We where finally able to leave Tuesday on a 7am flight, arriving at 9:30am and then the drive home. The kicker is that I got written up at work for not being here on Monday as I was supposed to, even though I had emailed the Managers all along. Fabulous.

This was just not the kind of experience we want to remember…our poor kids where exhausted. I was tired and overwhelmed, husband was beyond frustrated. I have yet to see those vouchers by the way. We will be sending them a letter along with complaints to the BBB.

So glad to be back.The pictures and story about our trip will be posted tomorrow.

Over & out

I'm Back

Finally on US territory after almost living in airports for 3 days thanks to

an amazing (sarcastic laugh) Airline. I will tell you in detail about this nightmare. I'm just exhausted from traveling with an infant, trying to keep calm and not attack the Airline's employee's, badly sunburned, and running in heels.

I'm a Goddess.

:)

OK, will leave you with the photo shoot from my kids, because I'm turning in to one of "those" Mom's now...you know, the one's that brag that my kid got TWO commendations at his graduation for being an honor student and never failing ANY of his classes thru out high school *COUGH* just saying...

Over & Out

Au Revoir!!!

Nothing life changing here. Just that we are leaving tomorrow afternoon, and I'm not pack yet! hahahaha...Seriously, not funny. I blame the husband. I don't know why but I'm blaming him. I have tons of things to do before we go (well, not tons, but a few) and thankfully we have an afternoon flight so I can still have the morning.

One thing though; AIRLINES ARE A BUNCH OF CROOKS!!!
First of all, when I started flying international you where allowed 2 80lbs bags plus carry on. Then it was 2 50lbs. Now you are allowed one bag. But if you are flying Spirit it will cost you $19.00- if you pay ahead- per bag or $25 at the airport!!!

SERIOUSLY!?

Am I supposed to travel internationally with just a carry on? A carry on which by the way will cost also after August 2010? This is ridiculous beyond believe, and why is it anybody doing something about it?

Is not like the planes got smaller and the service better. JetBlue has awful service -don't get me started on American Airlines- and neither airline provides food, not that we can eat what they serve. Is there an agency I can complain about? There should be. This will be our first trip with Spirit and I hope it all goes well. Traveling with an infant can be tricky.

Oh, and I have to pay taxes on the baby that's going to be on my lap. Yeap. Awesome.
But never the less, we are off! WOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Ya'll take care while we are away!!!

Over & Out

If I can Change...and you can change...everybody can change!

Our baby with yet another Monkey outfit! love it.

Oh, how I love me some Rocky VI. Seriously I do not get tired of this movie. And the soundtrack? well, if you ever so inclined to exercise I can guarantee you it will keep you motivated (not that I know this from personal experience). By the way, I'm trying to get a Zumba DVD, just the single one, and my goodness...is like asking for Pandora's Box!

Back to the weekend, I worked Saturday, UGH. We did some shopping yesterday and enjoy going to the Military base for funnel cake, family time and fireworks. It was really nice going later in the day because It wasn't as hot and we got to see the fireworks which the little guy enjoyed.

Today, while my entire family is off, I'm working (Just call me Isaura-reference to a soap opera where Isaura was a slave) . But that's OK, you know why? Because on Thursday I will be on a plane with the family!!! Wooooo hoooo

FINALLY a VACATION.

Although our vacation will consist in a lot of running around for the first couple of days. We arrive Thursday night. Friday we have a Church Service for our oldest Graduation (he goes to a Catholic School). Saturday is the actual graduation and Sunday we Baptize the little one!

I am so looking forward to seeing my family, enjoying the sun, the beach, the no worries attitude.

Oh, and lets not forget the food. Ahhhhhhhh. I'll take pictures so I can make all of you jealous.

The Hubs posing with the little guy...who has more interest in the beach ball

The Little Princess taking her uncle's ears

Us, plum as partridge!

Not sure if I'm going to be able to blog from the homeland once I get there, but I'll try my best. OK, I'm lying now. I wont. I need sooooo much my time to be with the family, to talk to my Sisters, to rest and sleep and take as many afternoon naps as possible.

This trip is also going to be sad, our oldest is finally coming to live here and attend college, but it also means that my Dad is loosing his favorite companion. Papi is 82 and I cannot stress enough how close Big guy and him are. He of course wants him to move here but I know is going to be hard for both of them.

So I hope ya'll had a great 4Th of July, that you ate to your hearts content. I am so grateful to be here, in the land where dreams can come true, and so grateful for the men and women that work so hard each day to keep it that way.

So tonight I'll be packing and shopping for last minute stuff. can't wait!

Over & out

It was the night before...

Do you remember the first time we met? I do. It was much like a day like this 18 years ago. I knew you where coming when you made your first sign around 3am. I woke Karina up and asked her to help me with your clothes. I also gave her a list of people to call.



Fun day that was, so much running around and me laughing hysterically out of pure terror.You didn't arrive until after 12pm, lunch time...great timing kid. Then, after everyone was gone, I knew it was just going to be you and me. That night I couldn't put you in the bassinet. You slept in my arms. That night I cried while I held you.

I cried because I was 16 and I just had a baby.

I cried because I was 16 and I just met the love of my life.


Sweet as always...Putting your baby brother to sleep

When you where around 9 yrs old I took you to the arcade to play around like we usually did. After you collected your tickets and the time came to choose your little trinkets you surprised me. Instead of getting a toy for you, you came back with two rings for me. There was a pink one and a green one. To me, they are like the most precious expensive rings in the world. I still have them. And I always will.

Today, wearing them at work

HaPpy 18th BiRtHDaY Alain!

Over & Out