Christmas Break was Blessedly Divine

Still floating after having a week and a half off from work with PAID HOLIDAY TIME home with the peeps.  If that isn't the best reason ever for taking the new job, then I really don't know what is!  Well, besides the personal office with a window and excellent pay and Starbucks coffee in the lounge area... pinch. me. now.

Summer 2012 Update

Well, hello again.  This is yet another public service announcement for anyone out there reading Married with Peeps' Blogspot blog - possibly, all 3 of you who haven't quite given up hope on us Peepsters:

I am currently blogging in another place this summer, also on tumblr. Find me here: survivingsummer2012.tumblr.com

Why another blog?  Basically to curb the need to shake things up, thus satisfying my geeky creativity gene.  So far, so good.

 

Day #2 Visit to NM

Today we were on a mission to find some activities everyone would enjoy, especially the Peep Son who really didn't care for site-seeing and shopping the day before. And guess what? We achieved like nobody's business! So here's what happened:

• Awakened before the grandparents and ate big huge banana muffins with juice.
• Broke in the new Wii game controllers by playing several rounds of Wii video games.
• Ate lunch consisting of favorite kid foods such as EZ mac, ramen, raspberries and Nestle chocolates.
• Headed out to gemstone store for jewelry paraphernalia (Grandma making custom gemstone goodies for secret anniversary stuff) while PS & Grandpa snuck out back to Burger King for refreshments.
• Went to National Museum of Nuclear Science & History for a few hours of education and insight on nuclear history.
• Drove over to Sonic for a lil snack of slushies, pop, tater tots & chicken nuggets before making our way to Sandia Mountain tram.
• Toured Sandia Mountain peak on a tram with the help of a National Park guide, taking video & photos throughout the trip.
• Enjoyed dinner at Olive Garden, one of Mom & Granny's personal favorite Italian restaurants of all time.
• Found our way back to the homestead to play Wii games, family-style while Mom worked off a few calories on the treadmill.
• Homemade apple pie & frozen yogurt dessert, reading, bedtime.

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Tomorrow: More tourist-style (educational) FUN.

Family Visit in New Mexico: Day #1

Yesterday, the Peep Kids & I arrived in New Mexico to visit my folks, Granny & Grandpa. Our flights were mostly uneventful, that is if you don't count the @45 minute delay with our connecting flight in Denver, Colorado. Otherwise, all went as planned: awakened at 4:00 a.m., cleaned up & dressed, finished packing, downed 2 shots of expresso with a few Cheerios and headed to the airport to catch our 6:45 a.m. flight to Albuquerque, New Mexico. No complaints whatsoever, just excitement to fly the friendly skies and see family. Cool beans.

So we arrived feeling all excited and here's a log of events as they happened soon after our plane landed:

• Shopped for t-shirts in airport gift shop, originally planned to buy heavily discounted Balloon Fiesta shirts, but they only had kid sizes in stock so we bought a couple other lightly discounted ones instead.
• Picked up luggage in baggage claim & drove to local lunch spot in ABQ 'The Sandwich Shop' - I had Albuquerque Turkey 1/2 swch w/pickle spear & chips, Peep Daughter ham/egg/cheese croissant sandwich & potatoes (hash browns), Peep Son french toast & sausage
• Drove route toward Santa Fe, stopped in Madrid to see movie set diner for "Wild Hogs" (now a store) & miscellaneous shops
• PS bored so headed back toward homestead in Rio Rancho, photos in backyard, dinner (Lean Cuisine, Ramen for kids, snacks & drinks)
• Grandpa, PD, PS & I went to Albertson's to buy a few food items, also to give Valentine (their newest dog) some breathing room (feeling skittish about having guests in the house, shaking & barking)
• Kids enjoyed @20 minutes in the hot tub, getting late and cold so we ditched the idea of having s'mores outside by the firepit.
• Showers, snacks, reading, computer time and we crashed for the night.
• Slept well, but only AFTER the grandfather clock stopped chiming every half hour, probably @11:00 p.m.

"Maggie's Diner" in Madrid, New Mexico

Next up: Finding some excitement for everyone.

First Trip to Europe 2003

First I'll start with the itinerary my folks and I agreed upon for the time in which I would be visiting Europe starting on Saturday, November 8th to Saturday November 15th, 2003. As before, journal text below is unaltered, my personal comments are italicized below.

• Sat - arrive, go to Germany
• Sun - Germany & Austria (castles)
• Monday - mng train to Venice 10 am
• Tues - Rome (Eurostar), Hotel (2 nights)
  (call hubs at @7 pm)
• Wednes - Rome, Vatican & Papal Visit
• Thur - Vatican & Rome Tour (Sistine Chapel)
  return from Rome (4 pm)
• Friday - Base/Lake Garda
  "The Last Supper" in Milan was crossed out for Friday.
  
• Saturday - Flight Home early

Well, geez.

I had an amazing video from our Great Wolf Lodge experience that Blogger failed to load, and so now my blog is horribly out of date! So here are a few photos to help correct that li'l issue:

AMAZING!

ANIMOTO of Vacation

Just trying out another funky new tool for sharing video. Humor me:

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

We Went to South Dakota

... and returned with a gazillion photos, movies, souvenirs and most of all MEMORIES. So as I sift through the numerous media sticks loaded with all of the aforementioned, enjoy a glimpse of what we experienced in the Black Hills and Badlands of South Dakota, USA:


Overlooking the Badlands


Badlands Splendor from Overlook


Crazy Horse Memorial


Mount Rushmore

Escape from Snow Mountain

So it's 2010 and we're just now returning back to life as we knew it before the Snowstorm of the Century smacked us into the new year. And yet lo and behold, several snow days and a holiday break later, here I sit back in my Orchestra Mom Chair on Principle Stand Audition Day. So what does that mean exactly? It means parents get reacquainted with one another and our electronics while string players interested in having a “star by their names on the program” try out for that TOP CHAIR in performances, also known as the famous Seat Closest to the Conductor. (As I send a thumbs up sign to cellist peep as she heads off to her audition – Break a leg, girlie!)

The week ahead... wow, flashback to 11 years ago when I was 41 weeks pregnant with our youngest who had absolutely NO intention of arriving on time. But then Dr. M induced labor on January 11^th and our feisty-spark-plug-of-a-son blessed us with his presence the very next day. That son of ours hit the ground running from the get-go and hasn't stopped since. So what to do? Throw a smashingly ginormous birthday party to celebrate the occasion, complete with Wii games, Nerf darts, air hockey, snow football, pizza, cake, ice cream, presents – all shared with a few of his favorite dude friends.

The party is so ON.
(more on that during my next blog installment)

In the meantime on a personal note (as if this blog isn't all about personal notes, right?), I am now accepting nominations for relocation ideas. After all of this cold/snow/BLIZZARD activity that we've been experiencing over the past couple of months, I've completely had it with this weather that is so not for me. It stifles my creativity and ices me over like some sort of human skating rink. I crawl into bed and never want to get out. It sucks the spunk right out of me, morphing me into this zombie-like creature that I don't even recognize. For these reasons, I need a new place to hang. If anything, a spot for daydreaming purposes to yank me out of this cold weather funk.

Although some potential winners already come to mind, I'd seriously consider any others in addition to these:

Portland, Oregon
Southern California - SAN DIEGO
New Bern, North Carolina
Fort Walton Beach, Florida
Cocoa Beach, Florida
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Rome, Italy
Venice, Italy
French Riviera
Hawaii
Atlantis
... your nomination here.

Free To Be

We're finally settled into a routine after all that back-to-school ruckus, so now what? Here's what - Me Time is back! Only now I just need to figure out exactly what that involves, because Me Time disappeared at about the same time summer break started, which basically feels like a century ago. So I'm kicking it off with this fun 'lil beach video: