vacation priveleged

lately a few people have been calling us 'vacation privileged,' somehow i'm still not sure if that is a compliment.  but in any event, i will concede we've been able to swing a few getaways these last six months.

how could i easily  forget our little trip to vegas.  probably the coolest thing about this one, besides being sans kids, was that is was 100% free!  free flights to and from, free room at the wynn, and free drinks and dinner the entire time in exchange for some riveting conversations about coolers, chillers and units.  aside from my little slip up at the world's largest forever 21, we made out like bandits in vegas.

next up was tahoe.  tahoe, oh tahoe.  truckee truly is my home away from home-- it is so good for my soul.  this was a last chance for us at truckee. sadly our days there are going to be much more limited from here on out, so even though this trip was last minute, we just had to take advantage of it!

lastly, we had the biggie.  one of the coolest things about b's grandma was how much she loved to travel.  it was kind of her 'thing' to take the whole family (her two sons and their families) on a big trip every year.  she took us to costa rica, a cruise to the carribean, and a cruise to mexico in the years i was part of the family before she passed away.  b's parents seem to be in the business of carrying on this tradition with some heavy nudging from us.  so around the first of the year, we got out the calender and began planning where we should go.  we suggested somewhere 'easy' simply because of the three crazies that would be accompanying us.  b and i love mexico... before the kids we drove and camped in baja, and after the kids we visited the blackwells a couple of times in san jose del cabo and even took one trip to zihuatanejo with some friends a few years back.  out of all of those, we knew san jose would be the easiest to swing with the kids.  it was familiar, the flight was short, and b's parents time share group had places there.  before we knew it, the resort and flights were booked, all courtesy of the rodgers in the spirit of grandma!  since we had six months to prepare, i began saving a wee bit of money here and there and hiding it in one of the books on the bookshelf. i had done pretty good, till we had to unexpectedly get our septic tank pumped (the joys of the LO life).  regardless, we were going and it was going to be awesome.

so here are some pictures and my regular trip rendition of highs and lows.

highs

-getting tali's carseat on the plane.  there was ONE extra seat on that flight and god's grace was manifested through the ticket agent guy-- either that or he saw tali stomping around and crying like a crazy person cuz i wouldn't give her a sucker.

-swim up bar.  never, ever underestimate their power.

-happy hour.  drinks at these resorts can be pretty pricey, but it seemed like happy hour was every hour.  which may or may not have been the case, but being able to say 'just charge it to room 1116' made everything seem free.

-realizing my latina roots are still alive and kicking.  getting my bronze on asap.  also realizing that although the chicano skipped oz, both my girls have an uncanny ability to bronze.  they will thank me profusely one day as they lounge their bronzed bodies about in avila.

-the spirit of bo derrick is alive and kicking.  lily with 38 tiny braids all through her hair.  the girl sat there still as stone, as alecia worked her rocket fueled fingers through lily's blond locks.

-getting in some quality time with the in-laws.  it was really cool to see the kids loving them so much.  nonna doing all kinds of art with lily, and pop pop taking ozzy on water dragon adventures.

-tali loves the water.  i don't want to jinx it or get to excited, but it would appear that maybe, just maybe one of our kids will swim before the age of 10.

-virgin strawberry daiquiris. that's all i drank the whole time... physch!  no, really the kids discovered these and couldn't get enough of them or as they call them with a huge giggle, strawberry diarrhea's.

-both of my girls now own high heels.  only in mexico.

-swim up bar.  yes, again.

-realizing how much our friends have become family.  wishing they were there... b announcing/declaring (during happy hour on multiple occasions) one day we will be rich enough to take them all here!  we'll look forward to that greg.

-black out curtains.  the resort rooms had those black out curtains, and my kids slept like logs.  tali was taking 3 hr naps and sleeping in till 9 most days.

-tali learning to say hola.  perfectly.  L rolled flawlessly.

-realizing ozzy is more comfortable with mexicans than gringos.  he must've said 'hola amigo' to every mexican dude he saw.

-jacuzzi tub in the rooms.  we spent a lot of time in here with the kids.  don't hold your breath, but its possible you too will get a *naked* picture of the rodgers family for your next christmas card.

-reading bossypants poolside with a margarita in hand.  that's when you know you've arrived.


lows

-the flight back was completely booked.  this meant no carseat for tali.  she was crazy.  you know you are in for it when they are actually refusing starbust's and suckers cuz they've had that many.

-the days, there were only a couple of them, but the days that happy hour won.  those weren't so good.

-consuming 60,000 calories.  a day.  seriously i haven't ate or drank that much since never.  either never or back when i ate two cheese bagels from boston bagels for lunch in high school.  whatever the case, i easily put on some lb's.



so there you have it.  clearly the highs greatly outweigh the lows.  big thanks once again to nonn and pop for their endless generosity and taking us on a vacation we never could've have swung.  you guys are awesome!

enjoy the pictures... it may seem like a lot, but i narrowed 40 or so down from 250.  your welcome.