sandy's general musings

Lets see.

1. Alyssa was allowed to return to school.
2. I took my car in due to a fan issue. turned out to be leaves.. in the spring?
3. Alyssa might have sprained her wrist at the playground yesterday.
4. Jack is really now riding a bike. Made it all the way around this park we went to. Now I have to teach him how to start, and how to stop without dumping the bike. He definately is now catching on fast. I am very proud of him.
5. NEed a handyman, tree removal person, and deck staining person. So much to do around the house.

Thats it for now.... never a dull moment.

Ok, two weeks later and I still am not 100%. My ears are still clogged up. This is a real pain. Anyway, onto other issues.

Today I saw Jack's teacher. She says he is a transformed kid! He is no longer arguing, but a model student. She wanted to be sure that nothing out of the ordinary caused such a change. Nope, its just that I think that JAck finally "got it". The only concern is that he doesnt socialize much. That is my fault still as even this weekend, Alyssa had 3 playdates and Jack did not have any. He did attend a bday party though. I need to work on playdates for him. he prefers the girls to the boys. Also he so much prefers to stay inside playing computer or watching Tv. I need to definately get him outside more. The weather here has finally come back to normal. MArch was so nice. It was above normal. April was below normal so far. Now things are "normal".

I need to really start following thru with Alyssa. She can be a such a spoiled brat at times. The problem is that she really knows how to get to me so that I finally cave in. I need to stop. She needs to start doing more around the house. The problem is that she is not money hungry enuf lately for an allowance based on chores.

There is so much more I am sure that I should mention, but lasast week I forgot to finish my draft and therefore lost what was on my mind.

Tuesday I came home and found that one of the cats had vomited up quite a lot. I then took Alyssa to skating , came home, and found new vomit. So off to the vets we went. I thought it was Kaikai so she went first. It turns out that she has lost a few lbs since last year. But otherwise she is very healthy. We are thinking bad hairballs.
Then yesterday I took Cobbie. He has gained a lb.! He is the one I have the light food for.. WE are going to somehow how to just feed kaikai without giving cobbie food. He also otherwise seemed fine. So if nothing else I have piece of mind 100's of $$$ later that my cats are ok.

By sat morning my ears were clogged up and one was in a lot of pain. A trip to the Dr and I am on allergy meds, antibiotics, codeine cough syrup, and I got pain meds for that first day. We had an event sat night that I wanted to attend, but Felix felt that I was not 100% so it would not be fun. The problem was that we laid out 100$. I guess consider it a writeoff?
I cannot wait to have my hearing back. The coughing is getting better, and overall I have more energy. I did not like being at home all weekend. I did make it to the grocery store, but that was it. I felt extremely guilty that jack did not leave the house on Sunday. Either watched something on TV or played with webkinz. We did some speech and reading comprehension, and he did play some with lego, but that was about it.

This week is CRCT week, where Alyssa takes those big tests. These are the no child left behind tests that all the schools are judged on. Basically our public education has turned into "teaching for the test". I really disapprove of this NCLB thing. The thought behind it was probably good, but have our bad schools become better because of it ? All I see is that that schools/kids that did well before, continue to do so, but I feel that the education has changed and not for the better. Also, because attendance is part of it, if you want to take a family vacation outside of regular holidays, that is a big no no now. I think that should be up to the parent to decide if its worthwhile or not. Not up to the schools and social services.

Anyway, off my rant.

Sandy

This cold that started late Tuesday has probably been the worse cold I have had in a long time. Its the whole shabang. headaches, sore throat, bad congestion, coughing. I have not really been to work in 2 days. I do have to do the kids activities though every afternoon. There is no choice. Felix cannot be in two places at once , nor would he ever take off of work to do activities. He would sooner have the kids miss them all. I wonder what he would have done if I had been really sick on Tuesday to the point that Alyssa could not make her orthodontist appt with me at 2:00 last Tuesday. He probably would have asked me to change it versus taking off of work. This sorta would have really annoyed me.

Anyway Alyssa did great! She did everything they asked and she now has 2 braces and spacers put in to get ready for the bottom jaw expander. She was a bit sore, but handled it fine. Refused tylenol though. I kept offering it to her . She is old enuf that if she decides she would rather be in minor pain than take meds, I feel that is her choice. AFter braces she had skating. I do get somewhat bored hanging out at the rink for 2 hours and need to remember to bring the laptop. they do have a wireless router there. I wish her friend would be able to skate with her before lessons, but her friend has tutoring on Tuesdays.

Wed I did stay home from work, but got the kids and took them to gymnastics/theatre. I also had to look thru the school for Jack's stuff. Basically when Felix got Jack on tuesday he forgot his coat and his homework. Luckily the afterschool teacher put the homework in Jack's cubbie in his classroom. The coat was still MIA. Then JAck told me he had his lunch box, but he did not. So yesterday (thursday) when I got him I finally found his coat outside and he had found his lunchbox. yesterday I went to work for a while, then went home, went to get more drugs to try, and then got the kids. FElix took jack to baseball and I did take Alyssa to gymnastics. I could have just stayed home, but she is probably going to miss gymnastics in a few weeks when part II of the braces come on.

So I just wnat to be healthy. !!!! This truly sucks. Staying home and watching daytime TV is not fun for me. The problem with being here at work is that my brain is not functioning very well for the technical work I have to do. I am also starting to have a short fuse with the kids. Alyssa was not being very helpful in getting ready this morning and I was yelling at her a bunch. She should be old enuf to remember to bring down socks, put on her own shoes without complaining , etc etc. yesterday she forgot her lunch, which was right on top of her backpack. I had to go back home and bring it back to school. Most times I wouldnt have done it, but it had soft foods in it for her mouth. today she decided she wanted lunch as well, but that was 5 minutes before we were to leave, so I told her tough luck.

PR, is what I will refer to as Puerto rico.

We got up at 5am to catch a 6:40 flight . My dad suprisingly got up with up and took us to the airport. The strange thing is that we came back around 6ish on friday and at that point we had to take a cab. We could have taken our car and parked it, but figured we should leave it. Being passover it was hard to find something to eat at the airport. I had to settle for some yogurt. May not be really kosher for passover, but better than bread items.

The flight was ok. 2+ hours. We arrived and the luggage did take forever, but we knew that. Then we got our cab to our hotel. I had turned in my holiday inn points to stay at the Intercontenental for 2 days. The last day we were staying at the sheraton in Old San juan. (thru priceline, as what else would sandy do :) )
The hotel is on the beach at isle Verda. At 10am they were able to check us in already. WE did not face the beach, but rather the south side. This is the landing path for the airplanes, but the real noise comes from takeoff, which is the opposite direction, Not much you can do about that. We were hungry so we put on our bathing suits and headed to the pool/beach. I needed some shade due to the last few days crispiness on the top of my feet and a few edges. They do have plenty of shade around the pool if you want it. comfortable chairs as well. But good luck finding one!!! Came to find out that people are out at 7am reserving the chairs! I did understand since at least 1/2 of the guests were from NY LOL:). WE ordered expensive hotel food and drink. I had a salad. Hung out until around 3ish and then walked down the street to walgreens and to see what was there. Not a whole lot. The street in front of the hotel is a bit cheesie, with burger king, et al. came back and went to the beach to just sit. FYI, i had brought 2 books down.
Double trouble -- about a twin who fall sin love with her sister's ex. its a bit more than that, but easiest explaination
The 2nd book from the author of the Devil wears Prada. The people you know? I think was the title.. I cant believe I forgot the title. Anyway, I could totally picture the movie from this book. I do tend to do that a bunch. picture the movie from a book.

We then headed for dinner. there was a restaurant at the end of hte beach, right on the ocean. Felix had is mofungo. That is smashed plantains with other stuff. I had ribs (which believe it or not, PR is also known for). I did eat rice. Not completely passover, but had to do something. We made it back in time for American Idol. Believe it or not we fell asleep around 9ish!

Wed-- we rented a car. Got up early and got the car around 7ish. WE drove west . There were tons of cops on the roads. No speeding here. Went to the caves. If you dont get there early, when they open, you may not get the tour. Got there a little after 9am. That was a good tour. Those are hugh caves. AT the caves you can repel somewehre . I wanted to try that being on vacation, but we had other things to do. We then headed south looking for a good roadside stand, but somehow missed it and ended up in Lares to get the ice cream that Felix wanted. We did have to stop to find the center of town. We brought our navigation system, but it wasnt always 100%. Driving thru town, with the narrow roads, scared me. I was afraid felix sideswipe a parked car. reminded me of europe. We found our ice cream place after searching for parking. It has all kind of wierd ice cream flavors, such as beans , garlic, sweet potatoes, etc.
We got to try a few and I opted for strawberry cheesecake.
Afterwards we heard we can buy authentic coffee here, so we went to a small shop and got some for our cat sitters. 4.99/lb. We then headed to the largest observatory. We made a wrong turn getting out of town, and went on this winding road that could barely hold one car, let alone if someone had to come frm the other direction. Luckily the navi did get us back on track from this road. The observatory was interesting, but felix was disappointed that he could nto walk the grounds. Also, to get to it, you have to walk uphill. With his HCM, it was not easy for him.
He took tons of pics. which is his hobby. I was getting bored. THis happened a lot. We would stop somewhere and I would have to wait for him to take his pics. He did end up with over 1500 pics on this part of the trip.
We got done with the observatory and on the way back we went to the bacardi tour. you get free drinks and a free tour. Of course they hope you spend lots of $$$ buying rum. We did buy some, as gifts and a few for us.
We then tried to make it on the other side of san juan but west of where we were staying , to Condado. The problem was that the navi could not get us on the small bridge. We finally figured out a why via the real old fashioned map. I can read a map just fine. I love the Navi, but dont think its the endall that felix thinks. We finally just parked, as parking was hard to come by. We found a place to eat. We actually asked someone that looked like they lived in that neighborhood. This area also has tons of hotels and more places to eat than where we were staying. I had some fish for dinner. The bread looked great, but I did not take any, By this time I think Felix and I were sorting getting on each other's nerves a bit. Anyway, we headed back to turn in the car and back to the hotel. Got back around 9. Asleep before 10.

Teh next morning felix got up early to take pics. I joined him a few min later . The whole time I was tryin to get my laptop to work since the hotel was wireless, but my laptap wireless card was giving me fits. Only in the business center itself would it work after playing with it. I need to fix that. At this point, around 7am, we saw people getting their towels already, so we did so as well and got a decent place to sit. WE walked on the beach and felix took, what else, but pics. There is an old cemetary on the beach. We came back and went across the street for breakfast at this small place. Very reasonable for your std , 2 eggs, potatoes meal. Then we sat around for about 2 hours reading. We also met some people from long island that we talked to.

Around 11ish we checked out. We got a cab to go to our next hotel in old san juan.
Once again, we cfould check in right away. wtih priceline we did not get one of the rooms of the view of the cruiseship ports. This is a great hotel if you are taking a cruise and come in a day before. WE then found the trolley and went to the fort at the top of the hill. I could have walked it, but it was hot and felix and his health. This is where FElix musta taken so many pics. I just sorta sat there after I was done with the fort. I was like, "payback soon--lots of shopping". After he was down we went down each street and did some shopping for the kids and my parents. Stopped somewhere along the way. for lunch and I tried cold fish with onions. cerviche? I did not like it much. Got back to the hotel and relaxed a bit. Then we headed for dinner. this was the night before good friday. There are some cool churches in such a catholic town. It was neat watching the people around the churches. The place we wanted to go to dinner was closed though. we thought because of good friday,, but they are just closed on thursday night. We found another place not far from our hotel . It had been recommended, but it was ok. Interesting people watching though. We did get to sit outside. Got home late and stayed up past 10 that night!

Friday morning. We went back to the fort, but walked this time. WAnted to see if anyone was flying kites. Its a great place for that. The stores were mostly closed. Oh and we did have breakfast at this place that is the PR version of waffle house. Very famous place. I wish I could have eaten something other than eggs though. they have interesting pizza'a at these bakery/eating places. some shops did open eventually. I wanted to go back and get something and luckily that shop opened. we had also checked out, but left our luggage. After all morning we did stop at the restaurant that felix liked that was closed for a small lunch. Next time we really need to do dinner there. I wish I could remember the name. I am really bad with names. Took a cab to the airport and came back. Flight was about 1/2 hour delayed.

Ok. This was long and my fingers hurt from typing.

I know I should have started this right after we got to south florida so that I could remember more details, but I will do the best I can, the night before we leave. Originally we were going to leave today, but record low's in atlanta and snow flurries! made us decide to stay one more day and do the drive all in one day and be rushed when we get back.

We left friday the 30th and spend 2 hours in Atlanta traffic. Along with spring break traffic was the NCAA tourney that was in town. We left at 3pm . We would have been better off getting up at 5am on sat and going straight through. Anyway , we had friends leave the same time as us and they went through downtown and we went around town. Both had tons of traffic but they ended up 45 minutes behind us, so we made the better move. anyway, we got to our hotel in Gainesville, Fl around 10ish. unfortunately all we got was one queen bed. I made a bed on teh floor for jack and Alyssa slept in a recliner. There was NOTHING avail. I had used priceline and not gotten the hotel I thought we would get. I got extended stay instead. The site biddingfortravel.com did not have the ES listed as a potential or I would not have done it. I could upgrade to 2 beds but they had none.

WE got up and left on Sat morning and arrived at my parents around 12:30. We changed and headed straight to the pool. Everyone here is always using the grills and offering food to everyone. My parents happen to know everyone, so my kids got a "free" lunch. Grilled pizza if you can believe. We then ran into the people we met over Xmas. They have a son close to Alyssa's age and another 3 year old. They have a cabana near the pool, so that is always nice. They are also from Long Island and know my close friend's sister. The wife is russian and nice as can be. The kids had a good time at the pool. I cant even remember what we did Sat night at this point. Oh,, we got an early dinner from yet another set of people using the grill. The weather was beautilful of course. As a matter of fact, it did rain this week in S. florida, but only one morning while felix and I were away. FElix and I only saw 5 minutes of rain in PR the entire trip!

Sunday was pool/beach. WE got a cabana by the beach. I did miss a few spots on the kids , but luckiily they only got slightly red. I forgot the top of the feet and got burned there. Crispy around the edges. The kids played with the kids they knew and I even met some other kids for them. The pool /beach was so crowded with weekend crowd and spring breakers. That night we had the movie room to watch Prince of Egypt , considering it was passover and all. I had invited the kids we knew, but at first the mom said they could not make it. We had not figured out dinner so Felix picked up a quick small pizza to bring. then their kids ended up being there and their nanny got upset with us for not offering pizza to their kids. Honestly if they would have asked they could have had mine.. I just never thought, as it was 8pm to offer, and that was wrong. They always offer us food at the pool. I made a major faux pas. I guess I am used to kids asking for what they want. The nanny was really pissed, but then again, if I had known they were coming I would have gotten more pizza. I really thought they bailed on us. Bad bad sandy and we apologized and the next day we brought them wine and some coloring stuff for the kids to apologize.

Speaking of the next day, my mom was busy all day , and we were a bit "crispy", so we went to the big wine store here that felix loves. Also got gas for the car. Then went to this park we once went to before. They have a small playground, but also a big hill with a sorta fort at the top. the kids remembered that park from before. I met a SAHD while there with his young kids. (2,4). Afterwards we stopped for lunch at panera bread co. and made a stop at office max to get a new charger for the laptop as we had forgotten ours . We figure that a universal laptop charger is not a bad investment anyway. We then went up to boomers, which is a mini amusement park. It has a big building of video games (aka dave and busters ) as well as some rides. They are good about height requirements here, so the kids to do the tea cups,, the swings, and most importantly, the bumper boats, on their own. They also got to play mini golf. Alyssa did not want to do the rollercoaster and I did not push it. They also have an awesome gocart course. Alyssa was tall enuf to do it on her own, but prefered that I drive. Jack and felix went together. That was fun!

WE got back around 3ish and I took the kids to the pool while Felix helped my mom prepare passover. Her sister was coming around 6ish we thought. ended up she was here around 5. I came up with the kids and they were here. I had to shower the kids and myself and get them ready pretty fast.

the sedar went pretty well. Jack was charming as usual. I love that he asked the 4 questions and when the question came "why do we recline" , he made a comment about how we were not doing that :). After the sedar I had to a quick run to walgreens before we left for san Juan, PR, here on out called PR for short, at 5am. My father offered to drive us to the airport and leave our car behind. Our flight was at 6:40.. Of course I accidentally put one sunscreen in the carry on, which had to be thrown out. Luckily it was from the 1$ store. That is my favorite sunblock, believe it or not. It goes on so smoothly. I will write about our trip to PR in another entry, another day. Meanwhile back at the ranch here, the kids had $$$ to spend from finding the missing matzah. My parents took them to target and Jack got some type of remote control snake and alyssa got that password diary she wanted. My parents also got them some clothes. Alyssa some capri's, and Jack some boxers, a new bathing suit, and a pair of shorts. Also while gone they went to ft lauderdale and took the boat . AFterwards they went to this famous Ice cream place called Jacksons, where the ice cream could feed a small army. THey also got pool and beach time. THe target run on tuesday, the other stuff wed. Thursday my mom had stuff to do in the morning , so my dad took them to beach. While we were gone they were properly sunblocked, unlike when their mommy did it and missed a spot or two. I know that friday while we were gone, it rained in teh AM and they just hung out. Unfortunately the kids did something to my mom's wireless mouse, so webkinz became off limits. That took one less activity away, but they have the old non networked pc with games. They have those beads that they like, an art kit, some games,, and also other toys. So the kids had plenty to occupy themselves. While we were gone we decided that we would stay the whole day Sat (today) as not to be rushed and to miss the weather.

today was cooler , but still in the 70's. The good news is that the girls that alyssa met in Dec were back from their break (they went away with their mother) and alyssa had a blast with them at the pool. Jack , in his own words "picked up some hot girls". No kidding on that statement. He met some 16 year olds. He cracks me up at times! The pool was cool so all the kids wanted to be in the not so hot hottub. It was crazy. I read a book most of the day. Right now Alyssa is with the girls having a playdate. She really likes these girls and was upset that all week they were gone until today. She played with some other younger kids (aka jack's age) while were gone from what I understand.

Well time to go..

So coming soon, our Trip to PR....