Our Vacation

Vicki and I visited family and friends in Massachusetts. Remember my last blog regarding this trip? Here is the list of things I was going to do:

• Have some clam chowda - we ate a lot of chowda!



• Enjoy the cool weather - not so much! The avg temp during our visit: 75, but still cooler than Phx!



• Can you say G & S Pizza??? - We almost missed out on this, but alas, we made it!



• Visit with D's fam - Saw Dad, that was interesting. He didn't know who I was for the 1st 15 minutes I was there!



• Visit Dad's grave - Not as sad this time.



• Lunch with my Cyndi-girl - Ended up being coffee, but it was great to see her!



• Breath in the cool sea air on Cape Cod - more satisfying than I remembered!
  


• Take lots of blog-worthy pics - See below



• Meet my new great nephew - Little baby Jason is a little doll!



• Lunch with my favorite Brit, Bev - changed plans to dinner - what a great night!



• Enjoy the company of my Mom and sisters - can't get enough; I wish they would come visit me!
  


• Eat some great food, and probably gain 5 lbs! - Yeah, 3 lbs to be exact! SlimFast to the rescue!!

Oh, yeah...I had Dunkin Donuts coffee every flippin' day! It was wonderful!

So, we had a wonderful trip. Here are some pics to enjoy:

If you're ever in Buzzard's Bay, have the chowda at Lindsey's!

Friday night: closing the bar with Savina - again!


Vicki at G&S Pizza




My sweet baby Jason!

Dinner with my favorite Brit




Vicki on the rock in my sister's back yard


Going over the Bourne Bridge - Cape Cod, MA



I was trying to get a picture of the 'Cape Cod' shaped bushes, but figured it was still a good pic...do you know what a rotary is?

Somebody put windchimes in the tree near my Dad's grave...it's an Air Force eagle.

My crazy sisters trying on Halloween costumes!

Vicki and my sister Gayle in front of her house.

Vicki, Amanda and Stevie, my niece and nephew.

These are pics of the field across the street from my Mom's old house. I used to explore those woods for hours as a kid! I was standing on the sledding hill to take these pics.

I took Vicki to Frothingham Park (in my home town) to play one day. I forgot just how pretty that park is.

Hope you enjoyed my vacation pictorial! Next trip will be for our 10th anniversary, but we're still undecided on our plans.

Vacation Injury

If you read my blog on 6/20, http://annnelson.blogspot.com/2007/06/end-of-great-vacation.html, you'll notice that I mentioned Ft. Storey Beach in VA. The beach was fabulous; dolphins were swimming very close to shore, and even came inside the swimming area. There were beautiful pelicans everywhere, it was just perfect to me. And, as an added bonus, Dad was stationed there during the 50's when he was in the Army. How cool is that? What I didn't mention is how I injured myself at that beach. I was not as limber as I thought I would be and attempted to swim in a semi-strong current. Something happened to my left shoulder as I was swimming, so I had to pretty much tread water all the way back to shore. Funny? Not so much. Fast forward to today, almost a month later. I'm seeking medical help for my shoulder as I have tried heat, ice, ibuprofen, aspirin, Tylenol, Aleve, PainZone, BenGay, Theragesic and other therapies. Nothing has worked. The aspirin takes the edge off, but that's it. The stuff that you apply directly to the affected area has done nothing at all, except I think I may have a small chemical burn from that stuff! So, today I will call my doctor and admit defeat. I hope I didn't do any permanent damage. I've never felt quite like this before. It even hurts to drive my car! And forget about sleeping on my left side; impossible!! Once I see the doc, I will post an update on my condition. Have a nice day!

The End of a Great Vacation

Later today we fly back to Phoenix. It has been a fabulous vacation and I'm going to list some of the highlights here for you:

1. Dinner Thursday night at Venice on the strip in VA Beach...TERRIBLE!
2. Meeting all of Rexxy's friends has been interesting
3. The wedding was absolutely fabulous! Deja was the most beautiful bride we'd ever seen! (Deja's new nickname: 'Zilla!) ;o)
4. Catching Blue Crabs and Hermit Crabs on Norfolk Beach was fun!
5. Greenie's was great but Deja forgot her ID...boy was that waitress mad at us for doing an end-run around her!!!
6. Finding that damned snow globe!!!
7. Naval hospital tour was great - Thanks Deja!
8. Got to see Rex's ship (part of it) in dry dock: USS George Washington
9. Petey: the scared-of-his-own-shadow pitbull
10. Riding the ferry to downtown Norfolk...that was really awesome!
11. Ft. Storey Beach - my Dad was stationed there in the 50s! How cool is that?
12. Watching the pelicans and the dolphins at Ft. Storey Beach...very cool.
13. H-D dealers in VA are much more reasonably priced than the ones in AZ
14. Dinner last night at the Upper Deck on the strip...a waste of food!
15. The best food we had while visiting (other than at the reception, of course) was at Hooters! Is that sad?

We did lots of things on our trip here, so those are just the highlights. We also found out some interesting things about our very own family that I'm not at liberty to blog about just yet, as the subject doesn't know that we are now informed of their ill-judgement. (No commenting on this, V, as you're the only one that knows!) That will certainly be another blog coming soon.

All is well in Portsmouth, VA. We'll be back in Phoenix late tonight. Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

We Made It!

4 hours of flying, 3 hours of driving and an egg-mcmuffin for breakfast. We finally made it. It's Noon now, and I am running on 6 hours of sleep, but it feels like 2 hours. Jet lag is here. Big D and Vicki are still sleeping. Nope, Big D is up now. I will probably not be blogging for the rest of vacation. I hope everone has a nice week!

Virginia Beach - Here We Come!!!

Ok, I promised not to go on and on about vacation, and until now I have pretty much kept my promise. But we're leaving tomorrow and I am so excited! So, for my pre-vacation blog, here are some things I'm going to do while in Virginia (besides the wedding activities):

1. Spend some quality time on the beach
2. Enjoy the visit with my family: Rex, Deja, Sam, Rodrigo, Chris, Missy - and Jason!
3. Visit the Bayside HD Dealership in Portsmouth, VA
4. Re-connect with my inner alcoholic - for stress-relieving purposes only!
5. Swim in the Atlantic Ocean
6. Build a sandcastle with Vicki
7. See Rex's ship
8. See Sammy's ship
9. Enjoy the change of scenery - explore
10. Enjoy the fact that while it's 110 in Arizona, it will only be about 80-85 in Virginia!
11. Get Big D a father's day gift from HD

That's just the short list. I'm sure we'll do lots of other exciting things, but the only solid plans I have are the wedding, the beach, visiting HD, and the inner-alcoholic reconnection. I don't like to 'plan' too many things when on vacation. I like to take each day as it comes and be a little bit more 'Random' than others!

The Quest For Shoes Continues...

Last night we picked up Vicki's altered flower-girl dress. She looks like an angel in it. I keep asking her where she put her halo! On the way out of David's Bridal, she points out a rhinestone-studded tiara and asks, "Mommy, can I wear that for the wedding?" (This kids thinks she's the bride!!) I told her when she gets married, she can buy whatever she wants! ;o) So after leaving David's we trekked over to the mall. First stop: Dillard's. I found these great silver shoes with rhinestones and fell in love with them. Price: $79. Do I really want to spend $79 on a pair of shoes that I will most likey never wear again? Not so much! Although, they still are a contender! On to the next store: Some crazy store (I can't remember the name). These two girls were working at this store, one bleach-blonde and one with black hair; both were rail-thin. Blondie was trying on shoes and had these tiny little shorts on (I thought she was a customer!). Blackie had a bit more material on, and was trying to help me. Apparently this store's target customer was the younger, hipper crowd, but they had some great shoes, so I didn't care. Well, only 1 pair fit and felt good, and the price was great: $36, but there was one small problem: a 4 inch heel. For those of you that know Big D: nuff said. For the rest of you: he is 1 inch shorter than me to begin with. I can't possibly pull off wearing 4 inch heels AND have formal pictures taken while standing next to him. He wouldn't care, but I would. So, I said thank you to Blackie, told Blondie to get some clothes on and went on to the next store. Sears had one style of silver shoes, and it was horrible. They had some nice shoes for Vicki, but none in her size (naturally). Baker's had some nice ones, but most of them had the Playboy Bunny logo on them, which wouldn't really be an issue, but the logo means 4-5 inch heels. No-go. Now I was getting tired at this point. So was Vicki. We walked into Macy's shoe department and Vicki sat down and waited for me. This is how I knew she was tired; usually she is walking around looking at all the shoes and trying to pick some out for me. I tried on about 4 pairs at Macy's that I would've had to take out a bank loan for, hated them all and went home very disappointed. Yes, disappointed but not yet broken. Tonight I will conquer Kohl's. I looked online and found some cute shoes, thanks to V! Hopefully I can find shoes for me tonight. If not, it will be a long weekend for me, and those $79 shoes at Dillards will look better with every store I visit!!

Only 9 More Days Until Vacation!!!

Vacation activities commence on June 13th! I cannot wait to get to Virginia! We'll get to see Rex, Deja, Sam and Rodrigo! Woo-hoo! I will spare you the daily blog-countdown to vacation...I know it's frustrating when someone else is going on vacation, and you're not, and you have to listen to them counting down the days and going on and on about how wonderful vacation will be...Oops, sorry! I guess I was going on and on! Anyway, no more vacation talk until the 12th. I promise!

On Our Way to Virginia Beach!

The tickets have finally been purchased...and what a screamin' deal!!! I paid $551 for 3 round-trip tix from PHX to RDU. The average price for 3 tix to that area was about $1300! God bless Southwest Airlines! I saved over $700!!! YAY ME! Now I just have to get Big D's tux rented and get the alterations done on Vicki's flower girl dress. (It has a train, and it's too long.) I'll probably pay more for alterations than I paid for the dress! We're flying to the east coast for our oldest son's wedding. Rex and Deja will be exchanging vows on Virginia Beach. Right on the beach; how exciting is that? I really cannot wait to spend some quality time with the ocean that I so love and desperately miss!!! I'm also hoping to spend some time with our daughter Sammi, who is also in the Navy, like Rex & Deja. She too, is stationed in Virginia, but doesn't know if she'll be out to sea that week or not. We haven't seen her in a couple of years, so I'm hoping she's around, even though I know the damned US Navy doesn't acknowledge my vacation plans...who the hell do they think they are, anyway? They already screwed up Rex's plans to have his brother Eric as his best man, as Eric and his wife, Toshia are now in Korea for a year. (see blog from May 1st). So now Big Daddy is the best man (what an honor to have your son ask you to be your best man!) and he's been working on his toast. Clearly, it won't be as witty as any toast I would write, but I'm sure it will be just fine. Maybe I'll help him write it on the long flight.

I'm Back

To my faithful readers, I apologize. I was on vacation last week, although it wasn't a happy one as my brother-in-law passed away unexpectedly, on the 15th. I will try to get back into the swing of things this week. I should have some pics from Vicki's 9th birthday party soon.