Two weeks

My last post was 100 posts on this blog. That's a little more dedicated than I would have guessed I'd be to this blog.

I do love my vacations. I certainly spend enough time planning and going on them but it's the anticipation of them which is most delicious. Our typical drive-to April vacations are like an appetizer to the delicious summer course. Next summer we are hoping for something new and extra special. I just spotted the school calendar for next year so I'm ready to plan the April vacation too.

It looks like we may have come to a decision on what to do on the islands this summer - a whole lot of nothing. I don't know if it's been a tough year for the entire group, but we all agree we aren't really interested in any eco-hike, zipping, mangrove adventures or city tours on foot in 90 degree weather. We are looking for umbrellas, sand, snorkeling for the kids while we have fruity drinks in hand. Island life in an afternoon. We're so spoiled, we think of this upcoming cruise as 'only' being seven days. Poor us. No 14 day cruise for us this summer.

My plan is to get the piles in order this weekend. This will be the clothes we intend to take on vacation. I'm going to try and keep in mind this upcoming vacation will require very little clothing as far as dinners go. We'll be spending about 10 days park hopping and out in the sun so shorts and t shirts are in order.

I usually have big plans for drinking while on vacation. The reality is, I don't enjoy drinking in the heat or sun. I like coffee. Iced coffee, gourmet hot coffee, morning coffee. Don't bother sticking anything alcoholic in my coffee either. But I am thinking a mojito while sitting on deck would sure taste nice today. The heat has really kicked in long enough for me to drag the air conditioner into the window only for it to cool down.

Two weeks from today we head down to Florida and we'll be hanging with Lynn and Mary! We haven't seen them since February!

Pics from Day at Lake Compounce

On Monday, I took Victoria and a few of her friends to Lake Compounce as Victoria's birthday party. Lots of excitement and some drama happened before the big day. I picked the girls up and headed to the park. While in the car, the girls sang off key to songs on the radio, played games on an Ipod touch with the speaker loud, and phone calls all at the same time. They were so loud I completely missed an exit. I even had the GPS on.

One of the girls had never, ever been to an amusement park. I found it hard to believe. I kept checking to be sure she had not forgotten a trip made long ago. She insisted she had never been to an amusement park. After getting off one of the rides, the girls told us how there were kids on the ride screaming the F word and telling everyone to shut up. When I pressed a bit, it sounds like they were telling my child to shut up because she was screaming her head off. That sounded about right. I told the girls not to worry about the profanity and it sounded like some kids were just being obnoxious while not being supervised. Somehow this comment led to a debate on which one of them could be the most obnoxious. Somehow this led to a group hug of sorts, probably to prove none of us matched the level of obnoxiousness of those on the Wild Cat.

For the most part, the girls were respectful of their parents, particularly their mothers. One girl is very impressed her mother can do anything while driving: read a book, add numbers, eat lunch. It was nice to know we parents haven't yet been cast off to the Isle of Misfits.

All of the kids use AOL AIM's program to communicate. It's a social networking site with more parental controls than others. I check Victoria's regularly to be sure I know what is going on. Hopefully I do. I learned the kids all have at least two AIM names, one their parents know about and another which is secret. It's these other names, the ones the parents are unaware of, where the status messages are quite cruel. I've looked over Victoria's shoulder to spot some interesting status messages, including a few about Victoria. Some of the messages are something like, "So-n-So is a bitch and needs deodorant." So if your kid uses AIM, you might want to check how many AIM accounts they hold.

Another birthday survived!

It's hard to believe I am the mother of a twelve year old child. Before I had a child, while I was pregnant, and all of these years I never really looked at what being the mother of a twelve year old meant. I imagined the day she graduated from high school, college or even when she achieves her advanced degree. I've fantasized about which prom dress and wedding gown style she'll choose.

If I've given all of this so much thought, why did it not occur to me I'd be mothering a moody twelve year old? She'll spend hours doing her hair all the while needing to wipe the milk off her face. If I happen to mention the milk, I'll be met with a huff or pout.

She informed me she is too old to wear Disney bathing suits. She's willing to wear one to Disney but not in front of her friends at home.

Am I discouraging her from good grammar by allowing her AIM access and texting devices? I received a text today, "Wat time r u pickin me up'. It seems wrong.

I don't know if I'm going to make it through the pre-teen phase!

Week in Review

What a week it's been. I'm used to July being difficult at work, but family life was affected as well. Little 8 year old cousin Ricky was hit by a car on Tuesday and landed in the Yale Children's Hospital ICU. He is very lucky to be ok from the neck down but his face is very swollen and surgery to construct his nose and jaw will need to be done once he is no longer on the cusp. We went to see him today and while he probably did not realize we were there, in his sedated state, I'm glad we went. Marcella and John are staying at the hospital and it was obvious neither of them have slept very well. Family holiday plans are canceled until further notice.

I bumped into one of our staff outside of the hospital. We currently have 3 residents there. It occurred to me I could skip my day off and just check on all three of them. Victoria wouldn't have considered it much fun though. The new fiscal year really swept us away this week in the office. It's been a real challenging week.

Of course I can't keep a secret and told Victoria about our Disney hotel plans. She's pretty excited but not as excited about the Southwest theme of the resort. She's into contemporary style. Sometimes I'm not sure she's my child.

I spent way too long looking for better deals on car rentals. They just don't seem to be as available this year. I hate using the rental car because of the extra pollution but I do love the convenience.

Two summer camps were canceled this week. I had Victoria signed up for a North Haven Slamma Jamma camp but it was canceled with three days notice. The East Haven camp, late to organize, did not end up holding camp either. Victoria spent the week at her grandparents with her cousin Xavier. It may be a long summer for all four people.

Summer Hoops began this week. I may have messed up with not paying better attention to the kids who did NOT show up for screening night. I have a bunch of guards on the team without much rebounding ability. One team is definitely stacked. My team may be the best defensive team, but we've got a long way to go to becoming a better offensive one. It's all games, no practices so it's just for fun. I like to watch the girls improve for better pickings come the fall for the basketball season.

I read some online reviews of tours by Adventures by Disney. The Peru trip looks fabulous but not in the plans for next summer. We are anxious for Disney to release dates and rates so we can move ahead with our early booking discounts. This would mean no cruising for summer 2010. It seems weird to think of it that way but most likely we'll be booking for a new ship in 2011, Disney of course.