Mommy Moments

Monkey See and Monkey Do were their usual rambunctious selves yesterday and I needed something to keep them busy.. I figured that after they woke up from nap, we could make their tank tops that I’ve been avoiding since the idea came to me… I didn’t realize how much work it was going to be.. The girls had no idea what we were going to do… I just got everything together out in the garage.. since the wind out back was too much for us.. When they woke up, they just knew we were doing a craft, and that was exciting enough for them. 

So I had set up a little table out in the garage, and gathered all of the tops, a water spray bottle, a whole bunch of ziploc containers, and all of the tank tops and Rit dye… They were a little puzzled… wondering what all the stuff was that was piling up next to the table. I covered our work area with plastic garbage bags, and showed them what we were doing. Their eyes just lit up. 

They took turns scrunching and pinching the shirts while I put the rubber bands in various locations. Once we got them all “tied”, I let them choose what color everything was going to be. If they chose a solid color, I let them place the shirt in the dye. If they wanted more than one color, I took care of it… They were wearing gloves, but the less contact with the dye, the better.

We put them all in a container, separated by color and let them sit. As soon as Daddy and I got the girls in bed, I went and rinsed all of the dye from the shirts. It was so much fun to see how our creations turned out! I hung them up to dry, and checked them in the morning. WOW! I ironed them with the hottest setting, and hung them up just waiting to show the girls when they got up. It was almost like Christmas! They were so excited! I can’t wait for them to wear them!!! Check them out!!!

Today was pretty cool. The girls slept in since they were up so late last night.. it was so worth it though.. I was able to get up, shower, get dressed and be ready for Church all before the girls woke up! We had to go in and wake them up to get them moving. It was so cute. Luckily I had already set aside their dresses last night, so dressing them was super easy. I just had to worry about fixing their hair. WOOHOO!! I got them a bowl of cereal and they ate as much as they could before we left. 

We rushed out the door at 845, and mass started at 900. We got there just in time.. Well, almost. We snuck in the side door, found Meemaw and Peepaw and crept into the seat… Hey.. at least we were there! The girls went straight over to Meemaw and Peepaw… They didn’t want to sit with us at all.. LOL.. it’s ok.. They actually behaved pretty well for them. Monkey Do got restless quicker than her sister though. Towards the end of mass, she started insisting on a snack.. Luckily I had packed their favorite “Winnie the Pooh” cookies. It kept them quiet until the end of mass.. PHEW! 

We hung out for little bit basically so everyone could see the girls. Is it bad that I only go to church to show off the girls anymore? Seriously… If I had enough time in the world to do everything I need to do.. I’d probably go more, but there’s just no way. Not until the girls are a little more independent. 

We finally left the church and went out to breakfast at Baker’s Square in West Sacramento. We were seated fairly quickly, which was nice. Breakfast was pretty good. We had a great time laughing about the girls at church, and talking about random geek things… We gave Meemaw her Mother’s Day gift, and Meemaw & Peepaw gave me one too… They really didn’t have to do that… It was a great morning… 

After breakfast, we drove home, stopping in at Bel Air on the way.. We had to get a few things for dinner. Grandma T was coming over, and I was cooking dinner. Yes.. I volunteered to cook. Just like I volunteered to shop for her Mother’s Day gift and put everything together. 

As soon as we got home, we put the girls down for a nap and I fell asleep.. I didn’t even know I had fallen asleep.. but I woke up and ran downstairs to start cooking, and help clean up. Gma T got here and I was still cooking… No sooner had she walked in the door than she started calling the girls “Monkey Butts”… I just cringed… I heard the funniest thing come out of the mouth of one of my girls though… She said “I’m not a Monkey Butt… That’s not nice.” I just about spit out my drink… I was laughing so hard… I have no idea where she got that… but it was just too perfect… Gma T asked them if they didn’t want her to call them that, and they said “No, that’s not nice.” Laughing even harder now… Unfortunately, she decided that was going to call them that anyway.. so.. I guess I’m going to hear it even if the girls don’t like it… Oh well… Poor babies… I really just hope they don’t call anyone that when they reach school.. I can just imagine that call from the principal’s office.. UGH… 

She came in to say hi to me, and I wished her a Happy Mother’s day.. No response… I thought that was kind of weird… but oh well.. Anywho.. I got dinner done.. Chicken Parmesan, with bruschetta topping, steamed vegetables, and a sausage angel hair pasta alfredo.. Yummy! It turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself… and I do.. tee hee… 

She left soon after we finished eating and we took the girls up for bed… The evening was over… Thank goodness… I have a huge mess in the kitchen to clean… I’ll get to it… probably tomorrow… 

I know I know.. Mother’s Day is tomorrow.. but, I voluntarily took today to be my Mother’s Day since we needed to split the day between MeeMaw, and Grandma T… 

The day started off normal enough. We all got up… the girls woke up first, then Daddy, then me. HEE HEE… Daddy got up and took care of the girls so I could get showered and ready to go out for the day. They were so funny. He walked in there, and I hear them (over the monitor) say, “Where’s Mommy? Is she still asleep? I wanna give her a kiss.” I just melted… I quickly jump back in bed and pretend I’m sleeping so they can “wake me up” with a kiss on the cheek… They think it’s so awesome when they wake me up… Daddy changes them, and lets them run into the room and jump up on the bed… Sure enough, Monkey See is right next to my face, leans down and kisses me on the cheek… I open my eyes, and they just let out this squeal of laughter. It was so cute! Daddy convinced them to go downstairs with him so I could get ready… I think there was mention of mixing pancakes, and bacon… It works every time. 

I got up, got ready to go, and came downstairs. They didn’t even notice me.. They were too busy whisking the pancake batter. Daddy made a big, yummy breakfast for all of us… and then we grabbed our things and headed out the door. I wanted to go back to a place called I Made It. It’s a super fun place in Elk Grove right off of Highway 99 where you can paint all kinds of ceramic crafts, or make mosaic things! They have all the supplies you need, you just show up and pay a nominal studio fee, and item prices. It’s totally cool.  I’ll share more about it later! Monkey See and Monkey Do each painted a mug and a little tag-a-long to put in the bottom of the mug. I made a really cool salad bowl, and a heart plate with the girls’ hand prints on it. Daddy made an awesome serving dish for his “Atomic Buffalo Terds”. I seriously can not wait to pick everything up in a week or so. 

After all of our fun, we had to eat! We stopped over at BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse. We’ve driven by the one by our house so many times, and just never stopped in. WOW! We were super impressed! The girls each got a cheese pizza kids meal, and Daddy and I got Pasta. His was the Chardonnay Shrimp Pasta, and mine was the  Grilled Chicken Pasta. The food was soooo good! Everyone ate and even had enough to bring home for dinner later! The service was pretty good, considering the place was quite busy. 

Monkey See kept saying she was sleepy, so we came home, and everyone (except Daddy) took a nap. Daddy volunteered to do some cleaning around the house, and prepare everything for movie night. Yes… The end to a perfect day… We ate our leftovers for dinner, and yum! Even reheated, everything was good. I took the girls upstairs for a quick bath, and got them changed into their Princess jammies. We all came back downstairs and set up the aero bed, popped some popcorn in our hot air popper, and got our pillows ready. We rented Alvin and the Chipmunks, and let me tell you.. It was such a cute movie! The girls LOVED it. They got up and danced to all of the music. I don’t know how they did it, but they stayed awake for the entire movie. I guess when it’s good, it’s good… LOL

They finally went to bed around 11pm… and we have to get up early to go to church tomorrow morning. That’s going to be interesting… We’re taking Meemaw and Peepaw out to breakfast tomorrow.. I know the girls are going to have fun, and probably forget all about being sleepy… 

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you Moms out there… You are all very amazing and special. I hope you all have an absolutely wonderful Mother’s Day… although.. taking one day to celebrate something we do every day just doesn’t seem fair.. LOL.. Cheers! 

Poopie comes out.”

Yes.. My daughter said that.

Let’s go back to this morning. We were on our way to the gym, and Monkey See asks me if she can go to the potty at daycare. “Of course sweetie! You just need to let your teacher know that you have to go!”. “Oh, Okay Mommy. I can do that.” with a huge smile on her face. 

Since the whole potty training began, I have lost count of how many times the potty is flushed downstairs. Luckily, I’ve only had to do one load of laundry to wash the extra panties. They’ve only had one accident each per day still.  I’m seriously amazed! They’re doing really well with keeping up on the potty. 

Once we got home from the gym and Sam’s club, they went down for a nap. I was really hoping for a nice long nap like usual, but no. Monkey See woke up after about 30 minutes crying. I ran upstairs to check on her, and she said she had to go potty. Up she goes out of her bed, and running to the potty. Sure enough.. she had a lot to let out… We got her dressed back up and back in bed. She was asleep in a few minutes. Monkey Do woke up about 20 minutes later. She needed to go potty… Ok.. Potty… Let’s go.. She did a little. I tried to put her back in bed, but she fought me a little more. I finally talked her into trying to go back to sleep. It didn’t work. She was quiet for a little bit, but then out of nowhere I hear “TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR… ” I jumped up and ran upstairs… “Shh honey. Sister’s asleep! You should be sleeping too.” “No mommy, I’m all done.”  ”Ok, Ok, let’s go to mommy’s room and lay down. Maybe you can fall asleep in Mommy’s bed.” In my dreams… She got my iPhone and watched video after video. I now know the entire Dora’s Fairy Tale Adventure by heart. But, no more sleep. Monkey Do refused to sleep. The cutest thing though. While I lay down in bed next to her just relaxing, she held my hand while she watched her Wonder Pets and snuggled with her Pooh Bear… I don’t know why, but it was the sweetest thing. 

Daddy got home early and surprised us. Monkey Do was happy to see him. She cheerfully announced that she was laying in his spot.. Monkey See was still peacefully sleeping in her room. We all talked about going out to a couple of stores, and then going out for dinner. Once we figured everything out, we woke up Monkey See and she was so happy! She needed that sleep!

We were out and about tonight, returning some clothes that I bought on a whim… All of which were just too tight. I swear XL now isn’t what it used to be… UGH. I just don’t get it. Why must everything be so small now? Don’t the people who make clothing know that a woman who carried a baby or two isn’t made in the form of Barbie anymore? Especially since we don’t have the money for the supreme personal trainers of the stars… I can’t stand shopping for clothes anymore. Things that used to fit me don’t anymore. Ah.. but such is the life of a mommy… That extra belly skin just covered in those zebra stripes is my badge of honor… Just not planning on showing it off to anyone except my hubby.. and well.. even that’s hard to do anymore. 

Anyway.. back to the original topic… So we were out on the town, and we decided to stop at our favorite local Teriyaki restaurant, Teriyaki Time. Of course, the second we get in the door, Monkey See starts off with “Mommy! I need to go potty!”… I take her to the potty, and sure enough, Monkey Do follows. Right now I should be really excited that they’re telling me they need to potty… No, I’m tired, exhausted, and really just annoyed at all the Mommy, I need to go potty’s that end up with nothing. I hurry them up and get them to try to potty, wash hands, and then meet daddy out at a table. Luckily he knew exactly what I wanted to eat, so everything was ordered and cooking when we got out. No sooner had the food been served than the girls decided again that they had to potty yet again. This time, they did. Thank goodness… Finally we could all sit down to eat… for about 5 minutes. Monkey See thought she’d have to go again. Monkey Do jumped up to follow. This happened a couple of times through dinner, turning a 20-30 minute dinner into nearly an hour. Daddy and I took turns taking the girls to the potty throughout dinner… 

One of the last times they had to go, Daddy comes out of the restroom just laughing… He tells me that Monkey See told him our phrase of the day… I just had to laugh. People in the restaurant just looked at me laughing my tail off… They wouldn’t understand. Well, maybe they would… Ahhh.. the joys of being a parent.. No, Really… I get the best laughs when I’m with my girls… Who wouldn’t!?!?!

Well, we’re on Potty Training Day 2… and we’re not doing too badly. It’s been crazy in the mornings. I went to yoga this morning, and they were in a pull up… as soon as we got home, i changed them, and we ate lunch.. Then it was nap time… As much as I would love to, I still had them in a pull up while they slept… 

When they woke up, it was panty time! We did it the same as yesterday.. I figured if we could get it down in the afternoons, I could move up from there. Tomorrow will be a day at home as far as I know… so we’ll be using the panties all day (except for nap)… 

I started off by giving them a Jelly Belly every time they used the potty… but it got crazy.. They’d run into the bathroom every 2 minutes and say they had to pee… Poor Monkey See wouldn’t get off the potty because she wanted a Jelly Bean so badly. She saw sister had one… and she was bound and determined to get one too. I really saw major disappointment in her face when she didn’t get one. I felt so bad. I couldn’t just give her one, as that would just ruin the whole reasoning behind getting one in the first place. I’ve since changed the whole system. I made up some calender charts for them, and found some really cute stickers at WalMart on Monday. Now, they get a sticker every time they use the potty, and after dinner, we count up all of the stickers, and that’s how many Jelly Bellies they get. Now, they each get their reward, and at the same time… No one can feel left out of not getting anything.. but they also get to SEE their progress on that sticker chart… 

Monkey Do has had only one accident each day, and Monkey See has had only one accident at all.. They’ve been diaper free from about 430pm till they take a bath around 730-8pm… so not too bad… 

Thank you for all the suggestions on my first post about commencing this whole crazy task… I’m still open to more!!! 

I’ve decided that at 1month, 15 days, that we should begin the dreaded Potty Training. I’m bound and determined to get the girls potty trained before they turn 3. We want to switch them to big girl beds by then too.. I’m not sure exactly how I should pursue this whole ordeal, but here’s what I have tried… If you have any suggestions, I’m ready to hear them! 

We had started with having them go potty before getting in their bath at night, and then added on trying again after… They’ve done very well with this… 

We started using pull-ups and telling them to let us know when they felt like they had to go potty… ehhh didn’t work so well. 

We went back to diapers, and I just tried telling them to go potty several times a day. ehhh.. still not working too well. 

I’ve gone to making sticker charts, and giving them a jelly belly bean every time they do something on the potty. It works and it doesn’t. They want to go several times in a short amount of time and try to stock up on jelly beans… not to mention waste a ton of diapers/pull-ups in a short amount of time. 

I think next, I’m going to stick with the sticker charts, but give them a few jelly belly beans after they get so many stickers, and use regular panties, and just pray they don’t wet themselves, or worse while wearing them… I’m just not sure where to go with it… 

GAAH! Everyone says when they’re ready, it’ll happen.. well I’m ready to not spend $40 every two weeks for a case of diapers! It’s ridiculous… Should I stay home for a whole week to get it done? or can I do this with still going to yoga, and the stores, and doing whatever else I want to do? 

I guess only time will tell… 

Seriously!?!?!

I just do not get it. I worked for several years in customer service. I started out as a lifeguard at a local water park in high school, moved on to a laser tag arena, then to retail at 3 stores at the mall, and finally to a customer service call center for FedEx. That’s all before I got married. At FedEx, i heard stories about how a package should have reached its destination, regardless of that tornado, flood or hurricane that hit the area that it was going to. I once got a call from a shipper that was mad the package didn’t make it because the FedEx station wasn’t operating… The ROOF was torn off in a hurricane!! I didn’t expect them to understand because to everyone, their package is super important, and needs to be where it needs to be when it needs to be there. If they got to a point where no amount of explaining by a “lowly customer service agent” would do, and they asked for a supervisor, we politely obliged, placed them on hold, and called our Manager Assist Group. It wasn’t difficult, and the “MAG” as we liked to call them, were always willing to help out.

More and more these days, I call a customer service call center to deal with an issue. Sometimes the CSA is able to help me out, and sometimes the call ends with me more confused than when the issue first started… I ask for a supervisor more often than not, and rarely get one. I just don’t understand it.

Case and point. We had received a call from a telemarketing company on behalf of Comcast Communications, offering us the fastest cable internet speed they have along with their basic cable for less than what we were paying for the slowest internet speed alone… We got an appointment scheduled for the following Thursday and were pretty excited at the prospect of a faster internet speed. The next Tuesday, we got a phone call from Comcast offering us a different deal that was more expensive. I told the agent that we already had an appointment scheduled, and we were good. Then I hear.. “Yeah, about that.. it’s been canceled.” No further explanation. I was livid. So I call back and ask the agent that answered the phone what happened. He said he didn’t know why it was canceled or who canceled it, and there was no way to get that particular deal again. End of story. I asked for a supervisor, and was told he would send a request through, and I’d receive a call from a supervisor within a couple of hours. No call ever was made so I called the next day and again asked for a supervisor. The agent gave me the run around and kept trying to dodge getting me a supervisor by offering me other various deals they had going on. I wasn’t having it…

After almost an hour of holding and declining any other alternative, I was finally passed to a supervisor who made all kinds of promises. She ended up offering me a deal that was comparable, and promised to call me back the next day when all the changes had been made to my account.. I never received a call back so I tried calling her back several times, and left a voice mail for her each time. She never called me back.

Finally after 2 weeks, I called back and asked for another supervisor. This time, I refused to tell the agent anything until I got a supervisor. At this point I was tired of repeating my story time and time again. Why didn’t they just get my account number and pass me on to a supervisor. If they really wanted to know what was going on, they could read all the notes that had been typed up in my account from every other person that I talked to.

Long story short, it took a whole lot of time and a whole lot of calling to get something worked out with a supervisor…

Just today I had an issue with Apple that was really getting to me, until I finally got a supervisor who restored my faith in customer service! Last Thursday, I bought an iMac, and then Monday they upgraded the iMacs. I called yesterday and spoke with an agent that told me the various options that were available to me. We ultimately decided on me just refusing the shipment so Apple would refund me as soon as they received my order back in the warehouse. He told me to just call back to Apple once the shipment had been refused so they could note my account and start processing… So this morning I called, and was then informed by another agent I spoke to that I HAD to go through the returns process which would then take 3-5 business days before I could get a refund. I was confused about the correct process so after I ended my call with this person, I decided to call back and speak with a supervisor.

I called back and yet another agent asked for my info, and when I asked for a supervisor, she continued to go through my order and tell me that everything was going through ok for delivery today. I advised her that was not the reason I was calling, and she asked me to explain… so I did. Then she told me that Apple requires the customer to go through the proper returns process, and that she would send a mailing label through to me. I asked her why the different messages, and she began telling me that she and her colleagues are very sincere to the customers, just that sometimes they get their information mixed up. Basically telling me that the first agent I spoke to was wrong. She was ready to release me from the call, but I insisted that I speak to a supervisor. She didn’t sound happy. All I could think was “Well, if you would’ve given me a supervisor to begin with, like I had asked, you wouldn’t feel like you wasted your time with me.” I didn’t say it, just thought it.

Finally I was put through to a supervisor who told me he was a little confused as to why I was calling. I explained everything to him, and he then told me that he understood why I was so confused with the return. He told me that the first agent was indeed correct, and that the way we had chosen (refusing the shipment) was actually better in my situation. The return label route is taken when the customer has already taken possession of the shipment, and since I have not, just refusing it works better. Finally, someone that could understand what I’ve been flustered about.

He was actually really great. I told him that this was my first time ever purchasing an Apple computer, and I really had heard a lot of great things about Apple, that this just couldn’t have been this difficult to exchange the computers out after their upgrade! He helped me out with the whole situation, and let me know that he was personally going to watch the account and the current shipment, and as soon as the RTS tracking number was placed on the package, he was going to credit my cards, and give me a call so I could re-order the new iMac…. WOOHOO! I’m so happy now!!! So Thank you Apple, and Thank you Arturo for finally restoring my faith in Customer Service..

Well, I guess I should say “WE” are getting an iMac!!!!

Last Thursday, we finally received our tax refund, and we have just been itching to start out with an Apple computer… We’ve drooled over the Mac Book Pro’s. We’ve gone into the Apple store and oogled over the iMac’s.. . We even got the girls playing games on the ones at the kid’s table. They liked it so much that they didn’t want to leave the store… but we had to.. They wouldn’t let us stay there all day, or spend the night there with the computers… Other people had to have their turns playing with the computers. Shucks!!!

We really have had so much trouble with all of our computers, and just didn’t even want to bother with Vista after all of the scary things we’ve heard about it… Daddy’s been using Ubuntu/Linux, and I’m still using my Windows XP… but We wanted something new… Plus I’m working on learning more about Graphic Design.. so Apple is definitely a good thing..

Anyway… I called Apple on Thursday morning, and ordered our 24″ iMac with all the bells and whistles… and we got a great price since we went with the refurbished model. We’ve been so excited , just waiting for it to arrive to our house. We got our tracking numbers Friday evening and they showed it would be delivered on Saturday… Well.. Saturday, they didn’t have any scans… so I called, and they told me that FedEx didn’t have possession of the boxes yet. NOOOOO… *sigh*

We took care of all the things we needed to take care of over the weekend, all the while, checking our tracking number online just in case there were any updates, and nothing. So this morning, Daddy got up, and got ready for work. He came in to wake me up and told me he had good news and bad news. In my groggy state, I don’t think much was registering, until he told me “Apple released a new iMac this morning, and they dropped the price of the one we bought by $300″. WHAAAT?!?!? I was wide awake now. He explained to me how the new ones are the same price as the one that we bought just 3 days ago, but they have a better processor and graphics card. Ok, now this was just not cool. But the good news… There was finally some activity to our tracking numbers and it should be delivered tomorrow. Well… I don’t want the one I ordered now… I want the new one! If we’re going to drop that much money on a new computer… then why not get the new one.. it’s the same price anyway right?!?!

My job today, after my yoga class was to find out how we can return the original computer and buy the newest one… and get it here before 30 days… HAHA… This is going to be fun.

I tried getting a hold of the sales agent that originally took my order, and it kept going directly to his VM. Sooooo I called back to the general number and spoke to another agent… The best he could give me was either a refund to my card for the $300 difference, or we could send back this computer, wait for the refund to clear on my credit card, and then go through the ordering process all over again. Well POOP! I wanted my computer NOW! UGH… I guess I understand, but gosh darn it… I was so excited and now this…

I called Fedex with my tracking numbers and just asked them to return the packages to the sender, in hopes that it would arrive back to the warehouse quicker.. We shall see… I just really hope everything works out and I can get the new computer here soon! The girls are so excited about it. They want to play their Ratatouille and Dora games. I just want to start making graphics and learning how to use the Mac.. It’s literally been years since I’ve seriously tried to use one, and last time I got flustered just trying to check my email in computer lab at the college… I sure hope this time around isn’t as bad…

So, today I tried talking to Daddy about the word “Butt”… the girls use that word pretty freely. Their Gma T calls them “Monkey Butts”, they call each other “Silly Butts”… I personally don’t like either of these. Then again, I didn’t grow up using that word. When I was a kid, calling anyone a “Butt” of any kind got you detention or a grounding.. It wasn’t a word you just threw around. It was a “nasty” word, I guess you could say..

Anyway, I told Daddy that I thought we should curb the use of the word “Butt”… and then he tells me that he didn’t find it offensive. He thought that other words for the same thing were just as confusing, or have derogatory connotations. He didn’t think they could call people a “Butt” or something where “Butt” is the first word, like “Butt head”, but calling the girls “Monkey Butts” wasn’t a big deal. After all, they wouldn’t remember it later on as they grew up anyway. I beg to differ on that statement. They will most certainly remember being called a “Monkey Butt”.

I seriously do not like them using that word, and tonight, when Gma T came over for dinner, I heard it over and over and over. Even the girls got in on the name calling and called her the same thing… I cringed every time I heard it… I’ve kept quiet since he said his piece, as I didn’t want to start yet another riot in my house over something so small… but I’m annoyed like crazy that there wasn’t even a mention to her or the girls about cooling it with that word…

Someone please tell me I’m not crazy, or just old fashioned…Well as old fashioned as I can be at 29… I just don’t want my girls to keep that word in their vocabulary and I end up getting a call from the principal’s office some day. Would you seriously not worry about it, and let a couple of almost 3 year olds run about calling each other a “Butt” all in fun? or would you curb it quickly? What do you call that part of the body?

I sincerely apologize for not being here and updating you over the last week. I am so grateful for all of my readers, and I feel I have let you down… Let me explain why I had no time to write…

Sooo… we had this bright idea to take the girls on a long long road trip.. from our home to Phoenix, AZ… Now… see… they’re almost 3 years old. They have only been as far as Santa Barbara, CA which is about 7 hours away… and then they were still rear facing… and they slept most of the trip… This was going to be a much longer trip… and now they’re older, and really have to keep occupied… or else. We had Aunt B going with us… so we knew she’d be the back seat entertainment if/when all the movies ran out… LOL.. Meemaw and Peepaw bought the girls several coloring and activity books, and crayons. We bought snacks galore for the drive.. Yeah… if we got hit with a snowstorm in the middle of spring, we would have survived for a week… at least…

Once we were all planned, and pretty much ready to go, I started the packing process. The girls shared a little carry on sized suitcase… Daddy and I had our own big suitcases. I figured whatever room Daddy didn’t use, I could… tee hee… always a woman… must pack more than I need. Anyway, once I got all of our things packed and ready to go, it was time to tackle the rest of the house. I wanted to make sure the house was dusted, vacuumed, and cleaned. I had to have everything done before Friday when Aunt B was coming over to go with us. I got most of it done… not too bad for going it pretty much alone.

Friday evening snuck up on me so fast. Aunt B got here, only to announce that she was sick the previous night. Lovely… She swore that we wouldn’t get sick, since her hubby didn’t get anything. I had my doubts, but we would see. Saturday morning, we packed up the car, and somehow fit everything and Aunt B in the back… it was going to be an interesting drive….

We left a little later than planned, but we still got to Yucca Valley at a decent hour. We checked into our hotel, and made it to dinner just before our old favorite restaurant closed… Edchadas wasn’t as good as we had remembered it though. Probably because we got there just before closing… Oh.. and closing was 9pm, on a Saturday… Ahhh life in the desert.. Everything closed at 9pm. We ate our dinner, had our Mexican Fried Ice Cream, and skedaddled on back to Yucca Valley to go to bed. The girls fell asleep in the car on the way back… They had to be exhausted since they didn’t nap the entire way down… That’s an 8 hour drive! Oh well… We knew they’d pretty much crash when we got to the hotel.

When we got there, we wiped the girls’ faces and hands, and changed them into their new jammies. We laid them down in their new “Princess” beds, and crossed our fingers for a good night’s sleep. We had to be up early to visit with a friend from when we first lived there, and then get on the road to AZ.

No such luck. At about 2am, Monkey See was up puking… All over herself, and her new Princess bed. It was horrible. She was crying, and scared, and just grossed out. I can only imagine what was going through her mind. Monkey Do slept through it all. The 3 of us adults took turns between staying up, rushing her to the bathroom, cleaning up after her, etc until about 5am… when we all finally fell back asleep. It was an exhausting night. Thanks a bunch Aunt B…

We all woke up somewhere around 8am, and got some of the complimentary breakfast that was available to us. We tried to get Monkey See to eat something… but all she wanted was bread. Poor baby… We figured the worst of it was over…

After we all ate something, and packed the van back up, we started on our way to visit our friend and his wife. They lived just down the road from the hotel, and we knew it had to be a pretty short visit… The guy taught Daddy how to fly Radio Control Airplanes back when he was stationed out in Twentynine Palms… They’re such a nice couple, and so much fun. We visited for about 2 hours, and then realized what time it was. We still had at least 6 hours to go! Out we rushed, thanking them for letting us come by, and promising we’ll come back again sooner this time… I still can’t believe it was 7 years since we last saw them. Man I feel old.

We all piled back up in the car… this time I squeezed my butt in the back seat, since Aunt B swore she felt sick because she was in the back of the van for such a long drive… On we went… We stopped at a couple of rest stops along the way… ones that had signs up like “Beware of Rattlesnakes”, or “Poisonous snakes and insects inhabit this area.” Lovely.. Here I am on the lookout for some strange creature to jump out at me or my girls… I think this was one of the shortest stops we made along the way.

The freeway was long, and boring.. I think I must’ve taken 40 pictures of all the different cacti and other strange looking plants that grow in sand.. Finally, we reach the town of Surprise, AZ… It truly was! All of a sudden.. “SURPRISE!!! There’s civilization here!!!!” That meant we were only a little bit away from Sun City West.. Thank Goodness… I totally needed to hit the restroom… Hey.. I didn’t go at the rest stop because I was afraid a snake was going to jump out at me from the toilet!!! Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of it happening! Daddy called Grams and Gramps to let them know we were close… Grams gave us a shortcut, and we realized we were only about 10 minutes away! WOOHOO!

They were waiting for us as we pulled into their driveway. I know we were all so happy to see them! We warned them about Monkey See being sick the previous night, and explained how we thought it might just have been what she ate, since Aunt B swore no one would get whatever made her sick the 2 days prior.. Grams had dinner waiting and ready for us! We all talked about how the trip was, and what the plans were for the next week while we were there. Little did we know, almost none of it would happen…

Night one, in the AZ house… Everything went well. The girls LOVED sleeping in their princess beds.. I washed Monkey See’s bed up when we got there so it would be dry in time for bed time. We all hung out outside for a bit, and enjoyed the cool night air. We knew it was going to be pretty hot the next day. We planned a day in the swimming pool. Everyone was pretty excited.. The girls woke up before we did on Monday, Monkey Do was ready to go swimming… Breakfast wasn’t even on her mind. Monkey See was awake, but not happy. She didn’t want to eat, she just kinda moped around. My poor sweetie looked like she was hit with a pillow.. No smiles, no laughing, hardly any talking. She only replied by nodding her head or whimpering. We asked her if she wanted anything to drink, and all she wanted was water. We tried to get her to eat some cereal… She turned down the “Honey Bee Cheerios”… which shocked us all. We let her go back to bed, and she slept for hours… Every time we tried to get her to eat, she cried. She complained of a tummy ache.. so I called the dr… They had no clue, of course, because they couldn’t see her. She gave me all the warning signs of appendicitis, but nothing was matching up. We figured we’d just keep her drinking water, and she’d flush out whatever bad bugs were getting to her. We tried waking her up to join us in the pool, she said she didn’t want to swim. Poor little sweetheart.. What else were we to do? We let her sleep. We took the monitor outside with us, and we took Monkey Do into the swimming pool.

She wasn’t too sure at first, but we got her more and more comfortable, and soon enough she was swimming between Daddy and me in the pool… Water wings on, of course. After a while in the pool, we all decided it was time to get out and get started with dinner. Grams made some awesome pork tenderloin… YUM!

We got the girls to the table, and Monkey See was actually ready to try a few bites of potato, and veggies. Monkey Do, on the other hand was fighting it. She kept telling me she had a tummy ache, and she wasn’t hungry. We couldn’t figure out if she really felt badly, or if she was looking for sympathy since she’d been watching her sister get wooed all over while being sick. We really pushed to get her to try something, and sure enough.. it was her turn to be sick… Luckily everyone had finished their dinner by this point. I rushed her into the bathroom, after getting puked on… yummy… and made sure she was all cleaned up. We felt so bad about trying to make her eat something. Lovely.. This was going to be another long night.

Daddy and I agreed that I would take care of Monkey Do that night, and if need be, he would take care of her the next night. Just another moment in motherhood.. We got a bucket ready, just in case, and I was super glad we did. I think I was up with her 4 times over the night. Ugh… I really hoped I wouldn’t catch whatever it was that had invaded my healthy children. We finally got to sleep around 4am. I think we all woke up around 7am. Needless to say, this day was going to be a wash. Both girls were down for the count, and now Daddy woke up sick. Only he wasn’t puking… I won’t say any more than that… We also found out that Gramps was sick after he got up. Same as Daddy… not puking, but sick… lovely again… Well, this day was going down the tubes, rapidly.

Aunt B, Grams and I were ok for now. We went out to the stores, and checked out a few places. Grams gave us a short tour of the community, and then we went back to the house. We were all just trying to figure out what we could give everyone to make them feel better. The nurse was no help, because she said they don’t give 3yo’s anything. Normally I would agree with them, but this was crazy. Nothing but tummy aches, puking and not eating. UGH. Something HAD to be done. We went out and bought some Pedialyte for the girls. Grams actually asked if we’d give the girls Children’s Dramamine. She swore that it was the best thing for nausea… Normally.. I don’t give the girls medicine unless I absolutely have to… but at this point, I’d do just about anything to keep them from puking, and get them eating again. We gave the girls each a 1/2 tablet of children’s Dramamine, and prayed …

Sure enough, the next morning, they were feeling a little bit better. So here it was Wednesday, and we only had Thursday left, and we left Friday Morning, to head to Santa Barbara to see Auntie C & Uncle B “The Godfather”. UGH! The weather was crappy, so, it was going to be Thursday or nothing to see if Monkey See wanted to get in the swimming pool… We actually tried to work out one more day in AZ, just in case, but then I’d miss out on a day with my sister. Thursday had to be a perfect day darn it…

Wednesday was pretty good. We did some driving around, and had Sonic for lunch. Yes we were pushing our tummies to the limit, but you just can’t turn down a Sonic Burger! Poor Grandpa was still feeling ill. Man I hated how everyone got so sick. I seriously wish that Aunt B would have called us before hand and talked to us about her being sick rather than just showing up sick, and acting like it was no big deal.

Thursday morning, Grams and Gramps had to work, so we took it upon ourselves to do a little sightseeing… to the local Fry’s… Hey… We’re geeks.. we have to see all the Fry’s Stores that we can! We walked around a little bit in awe.. We found a USB Cable that we needed for Grams, and looked around at the video game consoles. We saw a Wii… They had them in stock. We didn’t buy one… Darn… Their deal just wasn’t good enough. We also stopped and got a gift card for Grams and Gramps to dinner at a local steak house that they said they had loved. Just had to give them something as a “thank you for having us, and dealing with all this sickness, and getting Gramps sick” gift. We got back shortly after Gramps got home. He took a short nap, and then took us out on another tour of the area. We got to see the wood shop!!! Oh man.. I could live there… The smell of fresh cut wood… Brings back memories… We also got to see their fitness center, indoor track, bowling alley/pool hall, Arts and Crafts center, and where Grams works. I tell ya, this place looked like it was a fun place to live! We got back, and the girls were all excited, and ready to go swim in the pool. Yes, this time BOTH girls were going to swim! YAAY!

Monkey See had no problem jumping in. It was like she had swam all of her life… Well, all 2 and a half years of it. Monkey Do swam around like she did on Monday. It was so cute, and super exciting! YAAY! They love the swimming pool! The rest of the day, we enjoyed out on the back patio. Grams and Gramps made some baby back ribs, and I made salad. We all ate till we dropped. The girls actually ate ribs too! It was awesome. Dessert was s’mores over the fire pit in their back yard. What a perfect way to end a week in AZ. We all went to bed to prepare ourselves for the long drive back into CA on Friday.

Friday morning was a little slower than we had planned, but aren’t they all? We packed up all of our things, and Daddy packed it all in the car. I started driving… It was a very cool drive. Daddy and I switched somewhere around Los Angeles, I think. The way we went took us straight through Hollywood! We saw ABC studios, and the home of Ellen! I was so mad I couldn’t get a picture of Ellen’s studio… It just excited me to see where one of my favorite day time shows was filmed! We also saw the Disney Channel Studios, and I was on the lookout for famous people. No such luck. Oh well… We still had a way to go to get to Santa Barbara.
Once we got to my sister’s home, Aunt B went with one of her friends to spend the weekend. We ate some of the leftover ribs, and set the girls’ Princess beds up in their office. Everyone was pretty tired, so we all just crashed. On Saturday, Uncle B had to go to work from 4am to 12noon. The rest of us were sleeping when he left, and just waited for him to get home so we could go out and do something. Auntie C and I played their Wii… Man I KNEW I should’ve just gotten it in Phoenix.. It was so much fun… She kicked my butt in Tennis… I kicked Daddy’s butt in Golf. But it was so much fun!

When Uncle B got home, we all got ready to go out. We all went to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. I was hoping to see Dinosaurs, but later found out the exhibit wasn’t going to be open until May… Oh well… It was fun anyway. The girls did get to see mammoth bones, and we all had fun in the Astronomy section. After the Museum, we took off to the beach. The girls got to play in the sand for the first time! Auntie C & Uncle B got them some really cool sand toys before we got there. It was so much fun.

Aunt B and her friends showed up just after we got there… I have no idea why, and Daddy and I have argued about this whole thing… but I was under the impression that she wanted to be with her friends, and I was getting my family day, since we had a whole week with his family… But oh well.. Am I being greedy??? I didn’t think so.. since we only see my sister 2x a year… again.. oh well… The beach was fun. The girls had a blast, and that’s what was the most important thing.

We took them back to the house to give them a quick bath so we could go out for dinner, and then bowling. We checked out this pretty nifty pizza joint, which unfortunately was on it’s last night. They were closing down for remodeling, and reopening as some Fresco Cafe… no idea… The pizza was ok. It was no Original Pete’s… but it was ok. Monkey See actually crawled up next to Daddy and fell asleep! Shocker!!! We picked up and went across the street to the bowling alley.. only to find that there was over an hour wait for a lane… Um No… We went home. The girls were asleep anyway, so it worked out just fine. I think everyone was pretty exhausted anyway. We all fell asleep fast.

Sunday morning, we once again had to pack up and load up the van. This time, it was to go home. I hated leaving. I felt like I didn’t get enough time with them. I always feel that way though.

We said out good byes, and loaded up. I drove first, and Daddy took over before it got dark. I hate driving in the dark. We got home, and unloaded a few things before Uncle K showed up to get Aunt B… Somehow we got talked in to ordering pizza, and I ended up picking it up, and paying for it all… Don’t ask… I wanted delivery, but everyone thought it was going to be too long… I still don’t know how we paid for it all though… ugh… go figure…

We did set up our Wii that we got on the way home, in Santa Maria and played a few games… It was so nice to be home… I loved sleeping in my own bed again… Now I just hope the girls can get back into their routine, and we can get back to the gym!!! I NEED MY YOGA!!!!

I’m sorry this was so long.. I had so much to tell… I’m so upset about so many aspects of this vacation, but I have to remember to look at the good parts of it…