Summer Travels

Not a lot of traveling since June, but we managed to make a few trips...

First, my counterpart and I won a trip to Minneapolis to run through a warehouse. We are both highly competitive and felt the need to have a strategic plan before this whole ordeal. Both of our hubbies (Derrick and Steve) were so supportive. They kept making comments about how anything was better than nothing and they were so proud that we had won a contest and whatever we left the warehouse with would be great. Well, we believed them. We did get some really great things; however, in all the excitement we seemed to make a few bad grabs. We only had two minutes and really that is not enough time to look at what you are throwing into your cart. I ended up with a glue gun (a momma glue gun with its own utility light), a power saw (which I am actually excited about and have used since), and random golf gadgets (which made shopping for my brother-in-law, Mike, super easy this year – hehe!). Elizabeth somehow grabbed a ball point pen, a monocular with night vision, and a camera GPS system (What is that for? Who can’t remember where they took their pictures?). As soon as we finished running and grabbing the hubbies were on the phone making calls. I loved hearing Steve tell his daughter, “Well, your momma got a pen and multi-colored steak knives.” The whole “anything is better than nothing” seemed to be forgotten real quick and turned out to be a huge contest revolving around who was going home with the worst gifts.

Hmm…why am I laughing so hard? Well, I got a little greedy and didn’t come back to the finish line in time. Then I forgot where the finish line was and ran past it into another part of the warehouse. Another mishap that I will never live down.

Derrick did get to take his picture with some of the Vikings Cheerleaders…

And Ozzie Guillen (the White Sox manager) was staying at our hotel and we got to meet him…

We really did have a great time and if anyone ever needs to hot glue something in the dark I have you covered!!!

I also got to revisit New Orleans. I always seem to meet the nicest people there. Here is a picture I took with this fella just to scare my Momma. I thought it would make more of an impact on her, but apparently she is an under-cover KISS fan. I heard her sing the words to “Beth” the other day in the car. She quickly informed me that “Beth” was the only song by KISS that she knew and she was never a rock music kinda girl. I am still hopeful that she will come around.

After that we decided to take a little trip to Mexico!!! I have never been before and I was really looking forward to it until Momma decided to tell me every horribly wretched story that she could think of. She has always gone with the “scare you to death” approach. Anyway – I loved Mexico. I was ready to trade my dollars to pesos and move permanently. We stayed in Cabo and it was the most beautiful place I have ever been.

I chased this sweet pelican all over that ocean (I know it just had to be the same one every time). I think by the end of the week he warmed up to me a little…

And we got to see lots of man-o-rays…

And lizards…

But the best part was the shopping. Everyone seems to get really annoyed at the people on the beach that try to sell you things. I love it! I personally hate shopping so if someone can bring me goodies while I get a tan then I am all for it. Every time Derrick would fall asleep or go back up to the room I would invite them under my umbrella to show me their collections. Derrick woke up at one point and I had about half a dozen ankle bracelets covering my calf and he had to kindly reminded me that I NEVER wear jewelry and especially not ankle bracelets. So I only bought one (that day). I mean, who can say no to a sweet face like this…

Of course I had to get my favorite (only) niece, Amelia, a gift. They had adorable little Mexican dresses but Derrick told me Katie would never let her wear them because she wouldn’t be able to find a hair bow to match. So, I found all these sweet little wooden animals that will be destroyed in about 2.5 seconds once she gets them. And who else in the world would buy her a turtle shaped whistle thingy to drive her Momma batty with? Necessities. All of them.

I did get knocked around a bit by the waves. Apparently you can surf just a few miles down from our hotel so the waves were still pretty big where we were. I think I almost drowned this particular day. I couldn’t stand up because my bathing suit was filled with sand and pulling off of me every time I tried. So waves kept crashing down on me and dragging me back into the ocean. A seventy something year old man tried to help me but at that point my top flew off and I said forget it. I really didn’t care if anyone got a peak at my hind end, I had to get back in the ocean and readjust everything. Thankfully hubby was there, not to save my life, but to take pictures.

Can you see me? I am that brown spot in the middle-right of the water.

There is my head.

A little sand removal going on here.

And there I go again...