An Island Vacation

Ughh - I'm having serious technical issues!

My computer doesn't want to load pictures. I can't even put them on Facebook.

I don't want to be back in Arizona...

I'm going to do my best to give you the recap on the Bahamas now, without crying that I'm not there.

I got to Glinda's house late Thursday night so that we could put our liquids in one bag and head to the airport early the next morning.

We had a great plan to avoid paying too much in baggage fees. We would all pack our carry-ons with our clothes, bathing suits, and shoes; then we would put all liquids in one bag and check just that bag. (There was some small concern that we would get searched for checking one small duffel bag, but we didn't.)

Before we left Glinda's house on Friday morning, we had a very small breakfast. We landed early in Miami, but for some reason the idiots at the Miami airport couldn't figure out how to get us into a gate so we sat on the tarmac while all chances of grabbing a quick bite to eat vanished before our eyes.


But when we arrived in our room, everything was all of the sudden better.

So we headed downstairs for over-priced pizza and a night swim.


Saturday we spent the morning on the beach and then decided that we needed an adventure. We tried to find the daiquiri place that someone told us about the night before, but we had no luck. 


So we loaded up on the local bus and headed for the market. At our first stop, we had to wait a minute while the driver tweaked the muffler.

One of my favorite things about the Bahamas was that everyone just brings their family and friends to work with them. You have to drive the bus today? No need for a babysitter, just bring the kids along. I think it makes for a very happy workforce. (Unless you don't like your family...)


The market was pretty uneventful, but we stopped by the liquor store as well to pick up a bottle of local coconut rum.


I would say that those two stops (purchases) were probably our best ideas of the trip!


Back at the hotel, we made some sandwiches and headed back to the beach.


That night was when we discovered the Daunte Culpepper was the nice man on the balcony below us and to the right. While we were people watching in the lobby, we noticed a bunch of white guys asking another guy if they could get their picture with him. 


Despite a foolproof plan, Vegas* and I couldn't get Fiero* to go ask for his picture so we had to stop another guy and ask who the famous dude was. 


It wasn't until the next morning that we realized they were the same guy.


Sunday's adventure was a bus trip downtown. Armed with some tips from our friend Connie, we went downtown in search of good local food, $8 rum, and a rickety water taxi.


We found all three!

I mentioned on Monday that we were there for the Independence Day celebrations. I was so excited! (And how awesome are their flag colors?!?)


After a little shopping and a jaunt over to Paradise Island, we decided to go find some lunch at the Fish Fry.


Connie had already warned us that they would try to lure us into Twin Brothers, but that we should avoid it because it was overpriced and touristy.


She had heard from a local that Remelda's Kitchen was the place to go.


Connie hadn't led us astray yet, so we found Remelda's and settled in for a DELICIOUS meal!

(I will post about the food over on Airplane Food in the next day or so.)


We boarded the bus back to the hotel and decided to get off at the stop with the Tricky Daq Shack.

This was not a mistake!!


That sexy man in the background will mix you up a fresh fruit daiquiri and pour it into a plastic cup with a good two and a half shots of rum in it.


For $6.


It was a SMOKIN' deal!


Monday was our last full day in the Bahamas and we decided that we should spend it on the beach all day.


And that is exactly what we did. 


Fiero and I are a little on the pasty white side, and no matter what SPF sunscreen we use, or how often we reapply, we still can't spend much time in the direct sunlight, so we set up camp under a palm-frond shade and settled in for a day of reading, drinking, and relaxing.


I decided that my favorite time of day in the Bahamas is right when the sun starts going down. It cools off quite a bit, the beach gets really quite (read: all of the screaming children head to dinner), but there is still enough light to read.

That night we had a pizza party on the beach and then disrupted some filming of MTV Canada until we got too tired to do anything else.


The trip home was pretty uneventful.


The vacation was well worth it!


It was more than I could have imagined!

Wednesday Wisdom

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

― Howard Thurman I struggle with this every day of my life! But what a great thought! Tell me: What makes you come alive? ps. Bahamian post w/ pictures coming soon. I promise!

Miscellany Monday

one. I am writing this blog from the lobby of my hotel in the Bahamas!!

two. The Bahamas celebrated 37 years of independence on Saturday, July 10. I was here for the celebration, which seemed like more than a coincidence for me.

three. I have lots of plans for blog posts when I return from vacay, I'm hoping that I can deliver.

four. Daunte Culpepper is staying at our hotel. We can actually see his room from our balcony. We spoke to him from our balcony before we realized who he was. He is a very nice guy. (I would include a link to his NFL profile, but I'm in the lobby and I'm afraid he (or one of his hundreds of children) will walk by and see it on the screen.)

five. I miss my nephews more than I thought was physically possible!!

six. Today is O'Dub's birthday! If you get a chance, wish him a happy day. (He's real sad that he doesn't get to spend the day with me...)

seven. I'll be travelling most of tomorrow so it will likely be Wednesday before I post again. Cheyenne, I'll post more details of people. I promise.

A Small Town Fourth of July

As I mentioned last week, I was going to head down to Southern Arizona for the weekend of the Fourth of July.

A friend of mine lives down there with her husband and four children and it is at least ten degrees cooler than home. Plus, she had a nice gentleman that she wanted me to meet. So, I packed up my bags (you could say I over packed) and headed south on Friday after work.

A quick stop at eegee's for a strawberry/pina colada eegee and then it was down to Patagonia.

Contrary to O'Dub's belief, there is no time travel required to get there. Just about three hours and one Border Patrol checkpoint.

When I got to the house, all four children attacked me! Maybe not attack, but they followed me into my room and asked me a million questions.

I had to laugh when the younger daughter asked me, Do you have a boyfriend? When I told her that I did not, she replied, You should get one.

If only it were that easy. 

Or men were more reasonable.

We left the kids at home with her hubby and headed to the local watering hole for a few drinks and to meet the nice gentleman. It was a typical small town bar and NG was cute and funny.

On Saturday we took the kids swimming and then hung out until we had to go watch the hubby rope.

NG was supposed to meet us at the fairgrounds, but there were some timing, communication, and kid issues, so we ended up only seeing him on our way back to the house around 10 pm.

Sunday was a big day - we had to go to the parade, street fair, host a bbq, and then watch fireworks.

For some reason that I will never understand, they scheduled the parade to start at 11 am. I mentioned that it is typically at least 10 degrees cooler down south, but it was every bit of 90 degrees when the parade started and that is hot to just be sitting in the sun.

NG had to drive his work truck in the parade and the kiddos wanted to get candy, so he waved as he drove by and then came and found us when his parade route was over. 

Sidenote: O'Dub has never been to a parade where they threw candy. WHAT? I'm sad for him.

We all headed down to the street fair for some lunch and sno-cones. After about 10 minutes, NG (I'm pretty sure realizing that he was going to need some alcohol to deal with the madness) decided to run home to change out of his uniform. We took the kids to the jumping castle, got our snacks, and headed out of there before I started disciplining other people's children.

We missed NG's return and the kids needed naps so we went home to begin preparing for our BBQ later in the evening. When hubby got home, we ran to town for a few last minute supplies and a cold beer.

The BBQ was a HIT and we made some delicious food that I will post about on Airplane Food sometime next week. Although I will warn you right now that it wasn't even a little bit healthy.

NG came to the party and we enjoyed a nice conversation before we rode to the fireworks together. The fireworks show was AMAZING! I absolutely LOVE fireworks - they are in my top 10 favorite things of all time! And I was super impressed by this small town production.

After fireworks were over, we headed back to the house and NG and I chatted while the kids ran around the yard with sparklers.

It was really a great Independence Day weekend!

(And I got another eegee on the way home!!)

Wednesday Wisdom

"In times of great stress or adversity, it's always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive." - Lee Iacocca Wow - where in the world have I been? I get daily quotes in my email and this was today's. It happened to be quite perfect for my life. Work has been crazy lately. We are working on some pretty tight deadlines and some portions of the work are out of my control. (You can imagine how crazy that makes me...) I will try to get a recap of my small town Fourth up soon.

Just a Quick Update

A real quick update on a few things.

First, I had the follow-up from my skin cancer screening biopsies on Tuesday. And while there is no cause for immediate concern, one of them did come back as precancerous. 

Typically, I am the kind of person who asks a lot of questions. For some reason, (perhaps I was kind of in shock) I didn't ask the doctor one question after he told me that.

What I gathered from what he did say was that it basically means that I am at a higher risk for skin cancer than the normal person. And I'll have to get screened annually. NBD, right?

I'm going to have to up the SPF on my sunscreen to be safe!

Moving on...I was in Target yesterday. That store is so very dangerous for me!

Either way, I was walking past the make-up section and you'll never guess what they had:

Caboodles!!

I am not kidding! I thought they quit making those when I was in junior high. You have no idea how important caboodles were to Sissy, BFL, and me during our formative years!

I didn't get one, but I can't promise that I won't go back.

The only problem is that they don't really travel well - they take up A LOT of space.

Oh well.

Superfan brought me flowers today! She is such a great sister!

I think that does it for now.

If I don't see you before, please have a safe holiday weekend and enjoy celebrating your independence!

Wednesday Wisdom

"If you get a chance - take it!

If it changes your life - let it!

Nobody said that it would be easy,

they just promised it would be worth it."

Today was a tough day.

And it was hard to come up with wisdom, but here it is.

Right now, I'm keeping my eyes open for the chance that may change my life.

Because I'm slowly starting to realize that while I may be as hardheaded as everyone says, I'm not as strong as they all think.