On a boat!

My aunt and I flew into London and spent a couple of days touring around the city and being tourists. We had both already been to London so it was relaxing as we did not feel we had to "see" everything. The biggest change I noticed was how you could not longer just walk up to things anymore. It is quite sad that all the bad people in the world have affected the way that people can experience a city so full of history.

After our time in London it was time to board the boat.



Ok we were not on that boat....

and we weren't on this boat.


We boarded the Crown Princess to start our 12 day British Isles cruise. This is one BIG boat!




With a boat this big, you are bound to meet some interesting people!

Gotta have a plan!

Anytime I am going someplace or preparing for the hubby to go anywhere this is how I feel. Everything must be thought of and must have it's own plan!

Traveling

This summer I have traveled more away from the kiddo and the hubby than well since forever. I enjoyed the time with the hubby in April and I had a great time with Mom last week. But I am so glad to be home, back in the routine. These trips have given me a chance to reflect on just how very blessed and lucky I am.

I like getting up in the morning and helping Mark get out the door in an efficient manner. Yes I know he is perfectly capable of leaving the house on his own. I enjoy those few minutes working as a team and giving him a kiss as he heads to work.

The morning quiet after he is gone and before Maddy wakes is my favorite part of the day. I get things going such as laundry, make my list for the day and of course play with the dog. I take time to drink coffee and do all the silly internet things I like to do.

Once Maddy is up and about we begin the whirlwind that is our day. A typical week will include speech therapy, running errands, food shopping, going to the mall, working out, watching t.v. and playing video games. Throughout the week I am always looking for the "teachable" moments with her. The t.v. time and the video game times are all about socials skills, predicting outcomes, O.T. and appropriate behaviors and actions.

Once Mark is home from work we have dinner and settle in for our usual night time routine which will includes watching movies, listening to Mark on the phone about one of his many scripts and hearing him type for hours while he improves what he has previously written or creates something new.

In some ways every day is a vacation for me since I don't think of it as work. Remind me of these words in a couple of weeks!

Vegas

A few days late as we have been home from Vegas almost a week now, but here is a rambling, long post about the trip.

Everything went well here at the house. The kiddo did great! The puppy made them crazy and my Mom as always was wonderful.

Before I begin with the trip recap, let it be known I had a good time. I am very easy to amuse and can pretty much have a good time anywhere even if things don't go as I plan or think they will.

Living in Houston I am used to all the humidity we have here. By day two I would have spend $100 for some chapstick. Thank goodness I only had to spend $3.50. The chapped lips and dry itchy eyes I could have done without.

The first two days we spent time with my Aunt and Uncle, I had wonderful afternoons and evenings. Probably the best days of the trip by far. I learned how to play Pai Gow poker and it is a fun and enjoyable game. Most of the time you can play a long time before they take all your money. I did prove this theory wrong twice though. On Saturday night the four of us ate at Lupo a Wolfgang Puck restaurant and had the most wonderful meal. The food was fantastic, the service was excellent.

Sadly, the husband did have a lot of work to do during the trip and then he did not feel well so he spend most of the time either in class or in the room. When he did venture out to gamble he lost and lost quickly so he was not encouraged to venture from the room much.

While in Vegas I saw wonderfully amusing and silly sights. (Elvis is alive and well, I saw him twice in casinos) I made plenty of vacation friends ( I do this a lot, if people are around I will talk to them) learned how to play Pai Gow poker and learned how to play Craps. I left Vegas with a lot less money than I arrived with, but I had fun while giving my money to them. The penny slot machines are very deceiving and if you are not careful they have you playing a dollar or more without realizing it. Since I am very easily amused I really like the machines that let you play mini-games. A perfect savings account for me would be to put one of those machines in my house!

The spa at Mandalay Bay was just amazing and the two spa days were very relaxing and real treats for me. I had a special massage where they did something to my "shakra" and the second day I had a hot stone pedicure. The spa area itself was just beautiful and the second day I went down an hour early just to sit in the spa room and read.

Vegas is however incredibly expensive these days. The prices they wanted for things just amazed me. In the morning if we wanted coffee, we had to fork over 8.25. Yeouch! This was not Starbucks it was just the little coffee place by the elevator. We at wonderful food while we where there, but we definately paid "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" prices for the food. The last full day I finally had Kobe beef. The texture was very nice and it was more flavorful, but I think that is one thing I can just cross off the list and not pine for again.

Overall I had a nice time and would go back to Vegas to see all the things I did not get around to seeing, however I know I will need to go with my Aunt or Mom as the husband is not interested at all in going back.

Vegas Baby

This time next week the husband and I are headed to Las Vegas! Most people don't understand how truly remarkable this trip will be for us. If I have done my math right (trust me I haven't) this will be the first time in 8 years the husband and I will actually take a trip alone. With a special needs kiddo it is about near impossible to get time alone. Time alone for us is when she goes to her grandparents for a few hours.

When the hubby first mentioned the possibility to me we discussed taking her with us, but we both knew we would really like to take the trip ourselves.
I then called my Mother to see if she was available that week. Like an angel descending from the heavens she said she could come and stay with the kiddo and puppy. (Note: this is not an actual picture of my Mother) The in-laws are going to be out of the country while we are gone so Mom is bravely taking on both the kiddo and the puppy by herself.

All next week I will make myself crazy trying to think of every single thing that might happen and what my Mom might need to know. But what I do know is that everything will be fine. The kiddo loves her Banma and can't wait to spend the week with her, the puppy will make them both crazy as puppies do. My Mom survived raising me so I think she can handle things for a week here at the house.

I will over prepare, I will forget things, but I have promised myself once I get on that plane I will relax and enjoy this trip. Who knows how long until we get to take another one.

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