Finally, A BREAK!

Well, we left town for Grandma's today. The stores up here have really pretty flowers and CHEAP!! The Planters are cheap, too, so I think I will load up. I love flowers, but have never planted any 'cuz we were never going to stay anywhere. Now I will get a big planter ready, some hanging plants and some indoor plants for our new house.

Drywall will be finished by next wednesday and Lee met with the painters this afternoon to give them our color choices. We still have to pick out tile. We need to do it right away, so we're not too far behind schedule.

Grandma was very excited about us coming up, so she bought the boys these HUGE bubble toys. They are really cool, I just have to get used to her being so indulgent of them when I am here this week. She bought them a couple of movies. She bought new bedding for the guest bedroom, a super fast new computer that I am typing this on, and a new dresser for the guest bedroom.

We have picked out the place where we will stay when we go to Estes Park, if you want to see it, go to http://www.vrbo.com/52894 Looks like my mom's twin might be coming, too, so there will be 13 of us all together. It will either be crazy fun or just crazy!

Might dye a couple dozen eggs with the kids this weekend. Eggs last a while, and this way we get done with it early. We are using the ones you die a solid color and then after they are dry, decorate on them with some paint.

Aced my test I took last night. 2 more to Ace for this class, then I get to take another. What do you think I should do next, microbiology or chemistry? I don't need to do a lab for chemistry and I can do it online, so I might save that one until we go to Colorado so it won't kill me to be gone a week, or I might use it in January when Lee and I are supposed to go to Hawaii with the Builders Club. We'll see. I also have to take Pharmacology, which I can do online.

It has been so nice to meet new people and talk about things besides Lee's work. Whew! I mean, I really appreciate all the work we have and that he's so busy he doesn't know what to do, but I was certainly ready for a change. After I help him lay all the flooring and stuff, I will get a part time job at Boone. Anway, all for now.

And so it goes . . .

Aced my Anatomy quiz last night. Yeah!! I really didn't feel prepared, but I paid more careful attention than I ever could have in my undergraduate degree.

Got a new medicine to help with my horrible cramps. It's called Ponstil. I don't have to take any ibuprofen on tylenol. So far, it is much nicer.

Looking forward to going to mom's the morning after my big test tomorrow. Got to clean this house up lots first and of course I am buried in laundry. I will probably get my dog, Emmy fixed right away, too.

Tried to start a low carb diet. It's a huge change, but I have to do something. Hopefully I can join a gym when we get our income tax returns back.

I have decided I want to become a nurse anesthetist ultimately. It will require a lot though, since the closest schools for that are st. louis and springfield. I will have to work in icu's for a while, too before I apply to those schools. Anway, all for now!

Spring Break

(So, these are just ramblings, lots of different interesting pieces of information, for posterity, and bloggers)

It's spring break this week, so no day care. Most people in my ward are like, yippee, vacation time. Not for those of us old folks who have to work year round. So what it means to me is no daycare. Sounds aweful, doesn't it? Columbia College night school doesn't honor a spring break, and heaven knows I have to work for Lee a couple days this week to do payroll and such. I had to find alternatives for this week, but we (and when I say we, I mean the kids and I) will leave thursday a.m. to go see Grandma till sunday, and do the General Conference up there.

My dad bought a new Harley. An old man Harley we call it. It has this huge windshield and a cd player and speakers in the back. It's very old man-ish, but it's the only way he can ride. I'm still gonna make him take me on lots of rides when I go up there. He still has his old black cool one. I think it's a sportser. He keeps telling Lee to get his license so he and Mark can ride when they are up there, so we are wondering if he may not be selling the old one??? I think it would be good for Lee to be correctly trained, so I think I'll suprise him and pay for the school once we finish our house. It's one day in Jeff City, so not a big deal. But there are lots of places to ride up there on the open road with little or no traffic, and I LOVE TO RIDE MOTORCYCLES.

Well, it's Sunday, so the kids are impatient from sitting for 3 hours and they cry and they fight. And, is it just me, or do you have to tell your kids to stop squishing each other? Squishing. All day. Squishing. Maybe they just have cabin fever. This week will give us a good opportunity to get it out of their systems.

Had a member of the church email me about pointers for her husband opening up shop as an electrician. I sincerely want to tell her it's a horrible idea. You really need a business coach, and money to pay the business coach, and money to keep inventories of wire, and cans, and bathroom fans, and tons of planning before you even start working. If I had it to do all over, we'd move west and have Lee work for someone else cuz it's been five years of struggle. Of course, now, things get better by the moment, but we have parted with lots of blood, sweat, and tears in this venture. Soon I will REALLY quit. I am putting an ad in the paper next week for my replacement! Yeah for ME!!! :)

Oh, and someone tried to buy our personal house yesterday. I was worried it would happen, but Lee and I agreed it's too late to turn back now because we have both visualized stuff in it so much that we are now emotionally invested like never before. Drywall is getting done. Lee is working on the stone on the front. I will send some pictures of that, soon.

Anatomy Class

Well, I aced my first Anatomy quiz and anatomy test, and I skinned a cat tonight. Disgusting. Tomorrow I go to quincy to see a natural health doctor with my friend Karen. I am taking Colling with me 'cuz I couldn't get a sitter. Hopefully he isn't too bored. It's two hours each way. I usually feel pretty good after I leave there.

They start mudding our house tomorrow. So, two weeks until paint. I am finally getting excited. More later. Past my bedtime now.

Pictures from Mexico, FINALLY!!

So, I JUST GOT all these pictures of our trip to Mexico.

Picture of us at the Beach Party

View of where we went riding on the ATVs

One of the three levels of the pool.

One of 3 bonfires at the Beach Party

All of our shoes at the beach party!

Golf course. This green is one of the top in the world.

Typical view from the resort at sunset

surfers!

View of the resort we stayed at. Our room was in the upper left corner.

Mark, Jeanne, Steve, Kathy, Me, Lee, Dan and Colleen at Beach Party Dinner

Beach Party pictures again.

View of the marina from our rooms

That's me buying cheap stuff on the beach!

The farewell dinner at sunset

I think this was the night we went to the disco after dinner?

Dancers at the show the first night.

The team that created our sand structure at the Beach Olympics.

Lee was having so much fun playing in the sand!

Our whole Builder's Club team at the Beach Olympics

Dusk at the farewell dinner

The fireworks they set off at the Beach Party

Typical view from the resort

This was the night I had grilled lobster. They brought me two chopped in half, with the eyes and everything still attached. We had so much fun!

Land of the Living

Well, Lee is FINALLY off the couch!! Yeah! He has lots of sales appointments this week due to the Home Show we had a couple of weeks ago. Some of our light fixtures are in for our house, and we need to start picking out tile. Slate was on sale at Home Depot last weekend, but before we could get there, it had all been bought. Darn! Well, we'll be going to KC soon to get our bamboo floors from Lumber Liquidators. We are doing Bosch appliances in the kitchen, and man are they expensive!!! Wish I had known, but I left that decision up to Lee. Only other excitement for me is that my Anatomy class starts tomorrow night. More later!

Sickness

Lee is still sick!! He's been on the couch since monday night. Still has a fever over 100 degrees and now Collin has it. Lee saw the Dr. the other day and the Dr. said that if he still has a fever tomorrow he needs to have his chest x-rayed for pneumonia. He's sleeping now, since he can never handle the nyquil and stay awake. Anyway, I have been pretty busy just taking care of sick people, nothing exciting here.

Lee Lee Von Esterbrook

Term of Endearment, started by an old boss of Lee's. Yes, Lee Lee is extremely ill today. Never left the couch in fact. I have seen him that sick one time in the last 8 years (outside of his surgery-but that was recovery, not, I will fall down if I don't hold on to the wall) He has been taking excedrin and nyquil all day, but when the nyquil starts to wear off he feels pretty gross again. Here's to hoping he's better tomorrow!

Tomorrow is early out day here. I really think they haven't worked a 40 hour week at his school for 2 consecutive weeks since last october!! Last week they had a teacher work day monday, then parent teacher conferences friday and I believe an early out day in the middle. What the??? Anyway, he goes to Adventure Club after school so they will be taking him swimming, so he should love that!

Collin is so cute. He speaks a bit like an Italian lately. He absolutely loves his teacher Rachel and his sitter Jan. He asks me in the mornings in the car, "Mommy, where you taka me?" and then I'll say, "To see Miss Rachel" and he'll say, "You taka mea seea my Rachel?" and I say "Yes." and he giggles. Then he asks me again in 2 minutes to confirm if I'm gonna taka hima seea hisa Rachel. When it's time to go to Jan's, he'll point out directions to me. "Go 'dis way Mommy, go 'dis way!" He's is just so cute!! We'll it's getting late. See y'all!

Our House

Here's our house!!!! I am started to get excited finally!! We will have drywall being hung starting a week from today!!!!!! I am quite happy. I have been afraid to get excited before now, 'cuz I worried about someone coming along and wanting to buy it. At any rate, I believe at this point, the house will actually be mine!!! The back looks awesome, too. The house is 3 stories and all the windows line up. There is a screened in porch and a deck and a slate stamped concrete patio. I will post more pix as things change.

ATVs and last minute things

So, the last day we had scheduled to ride ATVs. We didn’t even really want to go because we were so exhausted from the trip to Manzanillo. Lee found the receipt for the excursion and it clearly stated we could have no refund whatsoever, so obviously we decided to go.

We were told that you needed to be in the first in line to get the good goggles and the good atv. So, I asked the tour guide which atvs were best and he told us that the green and red ones were good. They put us in a yellow sort of chicken carrying, bus-ish crate/horse trailer and off we went for a 45 minute ride, right back to Manzanillo!! I was a little annoyed, ‘cuz they told us it was only a 20 minute transport, or I wouldn’t have signed up. The wind whipped us around on the trip, but we knew we would get filthy, so we wore clothes that didn’t matter and I had Lee’s baseball cap on.

We got there and guess what, all the atvs were green!! There were a few red ones and yellow ones in the back, but we could choose green, green, or green. I got the least scratched goggles for Lee and I and we had bandanas to put over our nose and mouth.
The ranch tour guide, Francisco was Mexican but spoke pretty plain English. He taught us how to turn them on, shift gears, and put it in reverse. I didn’t get the whole reverse thing, but thought I wouldn’t need it. I also thought he said the left front brake was best, but you’ll find that later I learned otherwise.

So, they had all the ladies start off in the front with Francisco leading. There was a heavier lady that didn’t want to ride her own atv so they had someone from the ranch drive her. We drove around in circles for a few minutes to get used to things, and then off we went down the long gravel road around the mountain.

The scenery was absolutely gorgeous, and there didn’t seem to be much dust kicking up. There was one time a accidently tapped the girl in front of me, but that was so embarrassing that it didn’t take long for me to learn to downshift or hit the brake to slow down. Downshifting was more smooth, but you know me, I do things the hard way, so I would hold onto the brake as hard as I could. I also figured out that I needed to keep some distance, and if when I punched it, I didn’t really go anywhere, it means I needed to shift up. Several times I lost track of what gear I was in and once I came to a stop in the road, so good thing the guy behind me was experienced with the whole atv thing.

Anyway, we drive down this long windy road with steep dropoffs but beautiful scenery, slowing to make sure we had all ten people and then taking off again. I couldn’t see Lee nor he me, so it took me a bit longer to get comfortable ‘cuz I knew the minute I turned around to see him, I would have an accident.

We reached a point in the road where the guide turned to the left and you could tell it was a steep drop off. The first lady goes, hesitantly, the next lady seems to brace herself, and her husband yells something like, “Go ahead baby, just take it slow, it’ll be alright.” So, I felt a little better that all the women were scared and the first guy in the group was behind me. So, finally I take off into this little area, and I made sure I could see no one because I didn’t want to bump anyone. That first drop was scary and then it got more intense. When I started the ride I thought, Oh, what a nice little jaunt through Mexican country, now I was thinking we were in the bush!! There were times I couldn’t see 10 feet in front of me and I had to lean over to get through things and I times corners wrong, but the atv stayed on track, and eventually I figured out that all I had to do was let the machine stay in the track.

We finally arrived on a beach. We had a 3 or so mile stretch to ride on. I started out going 20 or so miles an hour, then I got more comfortable slowly and opened it up. I mean, I was going about 50 miles an hour jumping sand dunes on the beach, and “getting air” it was so fun. I finally figured out that if I followed the tracks of the guide I could get better jumps. There was a time I got a little overzealous and didn’t slow down in time going over the downs, I rode the front left brake and just couldn’t stop before I hit the rocks. I didn’t know how to get it in reverse, so Lee had to come over and do it for me. When he got on he said it was shifting hard, and of course I didn’t notice since I never ride the things. He offered to switch several times, but I had gotten used to the machine, so I kept the one I had. Also, we signed waivers saying we wouldn’t get the atvs in the ocean. As I was trying to get the atv in reverse the ocean was coming up and up and up, finally Lee was able to back it up and it kept up from buying atvs in Mexico!! It was fun, though. Lee said he looked over when I was driving so fast and thought, “WHERE is she going???

So, we drove around for 30 minutes, then he took us through other stretches and I had to remember to stand to help ride the bumps. We came upon some old hotels on this beautiful beach, but there were men in full fatigues with rifles standing guard. Freaked me out at first, but the guide told us that they were protecting the sea turtle eggs. So, we drove through and he took us to a place where we left it in 2nd gear and went up the dunes and then down the dunes. They were pretty steep, so I was a little scared, but of course I got more comfortable. There was an annoying old man who kept circling up the wrong way and almost causing collisions, but I figured he really needed to cut loose, so let him tear it up.

Next, he took us back to the beach we had been on and he showed us a line of stingrays that would jump up in the air and then back into the water. They looked like birds in flight at first, but after watching I could see them jumping into and out of the water. That was awesome!! He said they do it just for fun, not eating. Proof that God has a personality I think.

We stopped off at a ranch and they opened up fresh coconut to drink and taste. I didn’t care for it. They also brought our fruit and then covered it in salsa. EWW!! Lee and I were more interested in talking to the family that lived there. They didn’t speak any English at all, so Lee asked them in Spanish. We found out they had been there for 45 years, and figured they were probably squatters all that time ago. The water had gotten very high several years ago and they had to move their set up (notice I didn’t say house) because there were crocodiles coming up in the water. . . . She had 12 children there. She had two grandchildren and 2 sons with her there. Her kitchen was like a brick oven –ish?? She has a place in town, but doesn’t like to live there because of the noise. Anyway, quite a different lifestyle. Chickens and ducks and a trash pile and poles wrapped with tent material to shelter them from rain. Makes you quite thankful for what you have and thankful for people who remind you that they are thankful for what little they have. Does that make sense?

All in all the day was really fun and I did a lot more daring stuff on the atv than I thought I would. Lee was aghast at my behavior on the atv, but was glad I was having a great time.
We went back to the resort, Lee finished our gift shopping while I read and swam in the pool. We went to the final dinner party where all the newbies were given a bracelet and they announced the trip next year to Hawaii.

About ten of us found a quiet place to sit and talk as we wound down from the week and got ready to pack. We had to have our bags out by 6:30 in the morning.

Trip to Manzanillo

We were all to meet for breakfast at 8:30 am. We picked up others with our group because they wanted to go on a trip that seemed a little more adventurous. We met at the ferry at 10, and off to Barra we went. Got to the bus station. Paid $5 for a first class trip ticket to Manzanillo, 45 minutes one way. There was tv and everything, so it made the trip a little shorter. When we arrived at the huge bus station we asked a taxi driver about the zip line we had come to ride. He said it was closed, so we were all really bummed. We went into the town square to see about shopping when we came across a tourist booth and a woman who spoke English very well. We asked about a zip line and she knew of a new one that was open. He came down to get us in his huge van. We had taken 14 people to Manzanillo (thanks to Lee’s Spanish). 4 people decided not to stay, afraid of the zip line, I guess. This guy let us stop and get some chicken on the street. We saw some missionaries, so Lee and I talked to them a little bit. Met the branch president who ran a little tailor shop. Next we went to his little place up in the mountains.

A black beach. Incredible. We climbed up a little mountain all strapped into our harnesses, and waited our turn. I went 2nd. I got up more nerve to do things on this trip than I ever thought I would. The first step was extremely scary, but the ride was exhilarating!!! We all landed on the beach, then we sat under the little umbrellas as some of our group went boogie boarding, some out on the sea-doo, some fishing.

The ten of us had the entire place to ourselves. There were atvs, bikes, kayaks, a trampoline, it was really fun. That was by far the best day of our trip. The ten of us close friends hanging out on the peaceful beach. Thrilling and fun and relaxing all in one day. We thanked the tour guide profusely and asked if we could pay him extra to take us to the main bus station, but he did it for free, said it was on his way.

There were not enough seats for all of us to get on the bus. So, we sent all but Lee, me, Colleen and Dan back on the first bus because we knew we would be more likely to be able to get back to town without help. Our bus took off 30 minutes later, but it took to rural route so it was a 1.5 hour ride, when our friends only took 45 minutes. Still, they waited for us before they ate. We ate at an Italian restaurant together in Barra. Another incredible day!!

Trip to Malacha

We got up, had breakfast, read, and sat by the pool. At about noon we headed over to the little fishing village of Barra. We were to meet our friend Mark and he and Lee were going to try to body surf. There was a couple that figured out that we could both speak Spanish so they wanted to come over with us. They were to meet us on the beach.

We were in a bay, so there weren’t really waves big enough to ride. But, the water was perfect. I forgot how much sand you get in your hair and your suit when you swim in the ocean. . . So, our friend Dan showed up (He owns a condo in Cozumel) and he told us he was going to figure out how to get to the other side of the bay. We all decided to pack up and start exploring. The other couple never showed, so we went through their little market and I helped Mark get something for his daughter. He wanted to not pay more than 200 pesos for the piece, but the guy wouldn’t budge. So, I told him we’d find one somewhere else. Mark tried a little harder to no avail. The guy went into this big speech about how he couldn’t sell it for that little ‘cuz he would lose money. Mark took 4 steps from his booth and the guy agreed to take Mark’s price. J

Mark decided to go back to the resort, as he was out of money, and so Dan, Lee and I started exploring. Dan found a rotisserie chicken cooking guy on the side of the road. It was awesome!!! We had rice and chicken tortillas!!! Last year, heck, last week that would have freaked me out to eat from a vendor off the street. But, we didn’t get sick! Lee asked around and we found an American that lived in Mexico for a few months a year. We took a bus for 40 cents each to Malacha, the next little town, and the end of the bay. We got off the bus there and walked around a little. Lee talked to a man on the beach that told us how beautiful Manzanillo was, so we made plans to go to Manzanillo the next day because we figured we could get there for less than 120 dollars, which is what the hotel would have charged!!

We got back in time to shower and get ready for the surprise party. Turns out it was a party on the beach, a secluded awesome beach. They had been setting this place up all week. They had tables for all 400 of us in the sand. They served drinks while everyone had appetizers. The waves were far bigger there than in the bay. We had dinner. Chicken with vegetables in a roll? Sounds yucky but was really good. Potatoes, salad, fruit, soup, rolls, and at every dinner there were desserts that had nowhere near as much sugar as we put in our desserts here. Those are good.

They had a dj for us and they lit bonfires after dinner. They lit fireworks and set off a huge Builder’s Club sign made of fireworks also that they set off. There was a guy that got way too drunk and kept getting too far into the water. The lifeguards were watching closely and then all at once, one darted off at full speed after him, fearing the guy would drown. Finally, his wife came to get him out of the water so that he was not longer the spectacle of the party. It was an awesome night, but we were all exhausted and ready to go to Manzanillo the next day, so off we went to bed.

Day 3-Beach Olympics

We nearly won beach Olympics. We won the round for skinniest team, filling up a bucket wearing flippers down the beach to fill up, nearly won having a female swimmer come across the way to tag the kayaker that raced around the island, and the slingshot the balloon to the closest island for points game. We built elaborate sand castles, ours was a yacht. It didn’t even place, but it was magnificent. I will send pictures when I get some. Lunch on the beach. Off to the pool. Reading. La la land.

Mexico Trip Day Two

So, we woke up in the morning to find that they had a huge selection of breakfast foods, but they serve refried beans with every meal!!! Anyway, they made omelets to order, had bacon, sausage, all kinds of rolls, etc etc. So, after we finished breakfast overlooking the ocean, we went to the little fishing village called “Barra”. We spent most of the day there. It was really awesome. We had lunch on the beach with the waves crashing in with 8 of our friends. We got to take a look at the local way of life and a close up appreciation of running water.

It was great though, cuz we hung out with friends all day. We got back to the resort in time for dinner. We decided not to take an excursion mostly because we couldn’t make up our mind.