Category: MLV

The last time I posted we just chilled out the rest of the night in the hotel. The boys played their DS’s, Alaethia had a fab time playing with her babies and pulling things out of everyone’s bags. We didn’t feel like going anywhere for dinner so we ordered in, though I can’t remember exactly what at the moment.

I forgot to mention on the previous entry that the day before while we were still at the Alamo Yadira got Matthew’s overnight Strep test results and he was positive for Strep. And he’d shared a drink with Alaethia. I was on pins and needles the rest of the trip, and was praying that if she got sick please, God, please make it before June 30th. The kids were denied their Chip insurance after that :(.

I was Myspacing Mario through my Centro but in a moment of desperation I went outside and tried stealing Wi-Fi from somewhere. Jorge followed me and watched me from our hotel room while he smoked a cigarette (I felt a little uneasy being alone…and apparently Jorge felt like that about me too LOL). We were right across from Burger King and if I stood at the corner of the 2nd story (where our rooms were) I could totally get signal! I could actually get it all the way in front of our door, but once I got in it disappeared. Bummer.

The next morning I woke up in such a good, rested mood! It was probably the arctic temperatures in the room but for the first time in a long time Alaethia slept through the whole night. She didn’t wake up for a bottle once. And I didn’t wake up to pee once, either!

We had breakfast at Cracker Barrel that morning. I wasn’t too excited about it; I would have much rather had breakfast at Denny’s, Ihop or even Burger King. I wanted pancakes like crazy and all they have there are fried pancakes—ew. I got some blueberry ones that looked deceivingly like they were nice and fluffy and non-fried in the menu, but nope, they were fried, too.
We made our way to Sea World after breakfast and managed to take a few wrong turns here and there but we eventually made it.

I texted Mario most of the day, letting him know where we were going next and whatnot.

We made plans to watch all the shows that day and do the rides the next day. Eenan was already in a foul mood and we’d just gotten there, but we tried not to let it get to us. He eventually got over it and we went to “Believe” one of the Shamu shows. It was really nice and I got some awesome shots of the whales.

Alaethia, who only wanted to be with Jorge most of our trip, was really enjoying the show. She didn’t fuss once. Well, until we got splashed with the ice-cold water! We were sitting in the “splash zone” and even though we were pretty high up we still got completely soaked! We were damp the rest of the time we were there.

The next show we watched was “Viva!” I love the opening show, which is about a funny plumber type guy who’s trying to contain a water leak. He’s the same exact guy that was doing the show back when we last visited Sea World in 2003.

Alaethia watched with admiration while the acrobats dove off of high platforms, danced around in the flying ring, and shot themselves off of the swings. She fussed once for snacks and once she got them she was all eyes and ears again.

I’m not sure what else we did after that. I think we left the park to go eat lunch. Yes, that’s what we did. And we made the mistake of exiting through one of the gift shops and Jaylen fell in love with a white sea lion pup plush and started pitching a fit. I promised him that when we got back, if he behaved, he’d get it.

Jose, Elda, Jorge and the boys went to eat at Rudy’s Bar-B-Q and Tommy, Yadira, their kids, Mary, my kids and I went to Subway. The boys were still complaining that their underwear were wet so Mary went to Family Dollar next door to buy them some tightie whities after she finished eating and got Jaylen a pair of shorts since, for some reason, he didn’t have extras. We all got into the car after that and took off again to the park.

Jaylen didn’t forget about his sea lion. First stop was buying it and then he was happy.

Eenan was complaining yet again when we got back about how he wanted to go to Shamu’s Happy Harbor to get wet. They didn’t have a change of clothes and it was still a few hours till we went home so it was a no-go. He said he’d be satisfied if they just went to play in the little jungle-gym type thing that they have. So there we go.

We went to The Haunted Lighthouse 4-D show after that. It was so fun. Not only was it 3-D, but the 4-D part came when they’d splash us with water or blow a stream of air at our legs to make it seem like rats were running by our legs. Mary was sitting with Alaethia and at one point Alaethia started screaming because the water they were spraying at us was really cold, so Mary walked out with her.

The kids had some cotton candy and drinks while we walked to the Sea Lions Tonight Show, which is a show featuring seals (named Seymore and Clyde) that parody all the shows at Sea World. It was too funny; probably my favorite show out of all of them. It was hilarious.

What was also hilarious was when Yazmin (who will kill me for telling the internetz this if she ever reads it) was telling me about a boy who was following her around at the Haunted Lighthouse show. She said she was so annoyed that if he went up to her to talk to her she’d tell him, “*cough*cough* I have Staph.” I just stare at her and say, “Um, Yazmin, Staph is a skin infection. I think you mean Strep.” The people behind us couldn’t stop laughing. I couldn’t stop laughing LOL.

We went to the other Shamu show after that. It was cool. They even had dance contests on the screen before the actual show. All the shows were done after this one so we walked around and looked at the crocodiles and gators and then made our way to the cars.

We went straight to the hotel after we left Sea World. I chatted with Mario for a bit. We ordered Chinese takeout, which was actually really good and very well served. I bathed all the kids and got into bed. It was 11:30 by the time I went to bed, but I had another night of awesome sleep!

On my way to San Antonio with Mary and my kiddos (and the rest of the clan) – minus my hubby :(. I am so sad about this, you have no idea. I had no intention of coming at all – one: we have no money and the extra money we do have is all being used to pay off our debt, and two: Mario hadn’t gotten his vacation request in on time (and even if he did, I found out later, he wouldn’t have gotten it for this week anyway because another guy who has seniority over him wanted this week first).

So we both decided we’d be staying home with Alaethia; the boys would go with Mary. Well, he’d be working and I’d be at home on my own little vacation, because just being at home and not working is vacation enough for me. But Mary offered to take us – the five of us – to Sea World and Fiesta, all expenses paid at the last minute. We hoped upon hope that Mario would be able to get the days off, but he couldn’t. So again, I decided I’d be staying behind too, as nervous as I was about the boys leaving with Mary. They are quite a handful.

The time comes yesterday when I’m packing the boys’ stuff, and it finally hit me: they were leaving for 4 days…longest I’d ever been away from them. The only other time was when Eenan stayed with Mary for 2 days while I gave birth to Jaylen and the next time was 1 ½ days when I left them both with Mary while I was in the hospital giving birth to Alaethia. I tried not showing my apprehensiveness in front of them because they were upset enough as it was that I wasn’t going. Jaylen even tried backing out of going a few times, but we convinced him otherwise.

Mario kept telling me over the days, “I still think you should go. You should at least get to do something this summer,” but I kept telling him, “No way. I’m not going if you’re not going.” I mean, the last time I went on vacation without him was back in 2001 when I went to California with Mary and the family and since I was still fairly new as a family member I felt really uncomfortable. I felt like Mario’s uncles were picking on me constantly, but unbeknownst to me that’s just how they play around. I now get along with them wonderfully, thank goodness. But, at the time, I felt awful and promised myself I’d never go anywhere without him again.

We got together for Father’s Day yesterday. Mario enjoyed getting familiar with his new camera, a 10mp Samsung, and loved his new Stainless Steel cross and chain. Elda made pozole for everyone and we sat around and chatted. Mario decides to take a nap on the couch. 8 o’clock rolls around and I’m suddenly surrounded by everyone and they’re trying to convince me to go on the trip. I start bawling, I’m not sure why…I felt confused, upset because Mario wouldn’t be going, because I could imagine him lonely and bored, and if I did go I hadn’t finished with laundry, washed dishes, ironed, or made him meals while I was away. I relayed my concern and Elda offered to bring hot wings for a meal and Yadira offered some taquitos LOL. Mario wakes up while I’m crying and tells me, “GO BABE. I’ll be fine. Really.”

So everyone starts shooing me out and Noelia goes to the house with me to start packing. Mary’s in the kitchen at her house making Mario meals for the next 4 days. The whole time I’m packing I’m thinking, “What am I doing?” Every time I think about leaving Mario alone my lip starts trembling and I start bawling all over again. Mom feels a little sad too because I’m leaving and starts to make me feel guilty for not finishing the CD she wanted me to compile for her. I’m doing laundry in a hurry and trying to get all of the clean laundry that’s already done folded and hung. Mario went out to the car and washed, vacuumed and cleaned out my mess for me, so we’d have a nice, clean car to go in.

I hugged Mario in the kitchen for a long time and got his blessing one more time to go ahead and go. I was so close to changing my mind so many times. It was hard leaving him this morning. But it’s only three days. Three and a half, actually.

At least we have our cell phones and Myspace to keep in contact with, though!

9:20am
We had a bathroom break at a rest stop back in Brooks County somewhere and just finished having breakfast at McDonald’s in Falfurrias. My batteries are charging, the kids are being occupied by Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Aly’s got her blankie and sippy and is ready to nap. I’m about to finish this entry and start on my new book, And Then He Stole My Boy Entrancers by Louise Rennison. Let’s see how many chapters I can read in 2 ½ hours (and while Aly’s in moods). I’m going to be alright, and so’s Mario. I’m really going to try and enjoy myself.

6:10pm
We’re at the hotel right now. I think I only got to chapter 2 or 3 on the road. We got to San Antonio and went straight to the Alamo. It was nice taking the kids around and introducing them to a little bit of history. They actually enjoyed it. We took lots of pictures outside, and even a few inside that I took without knowing they didn’t allow. Oops!

We got back to the car and followed behind Jose’s rental, which was behind Tommy’s car, to go eat at Las Palapas restaurant. I remember eating at one of those the last time we were in San Antonio, which was in 2003. Let me tell you, it SUCKS being last in the caravan. You have to swerve and switch lanes at the last minute. We almost died at least 3 times trying to get into another lane. 2 of those 3 times were due to yellow taxi vans swerving into our lane or not letting us pass. I was quite glad to finally get to the restaurant that started our long journey in the first place.

Alaethia was mostly well behaved. She started off with coloring “circles” on her menu with crayons and when she got bored of that she entertained herself with my tea. I held it while she drank and then she started splashing me with the straw. Once I took that away she was playing with her Gerber star puffs and when she threatened to throw her container all over the floor, the food came and all she wanted to eat was “Matoes” (tomatoes). Gosh, I hope these weren’t some of tainted tomatoes…

The boys were so full of energy that they hardly ate. Eenan made a mess of his enchiladas but Jaylen brought his chicken strips with him. Our next stop was checking into the hotel. Jaylen ate his chicken strips since it was a little quieter. I just about had a coronary when I called to the front desk and they told me they don’t have high-speed internet, but they do have dial-up and we’re supposed to bring our own “equipment”. Grr. I’d spoken to Mario just before that and he’d asked for me to upload pictures to Flickr so he could see. Poo. And we’d made plans to Myspace each other and now we can’t! I’m so sad.

After everyone had had a bathroom break Jorge stayed with the boys while Mary, Aly and I went to H-E-B with Tommy, Yadira, Yazmin and Angela.

Jorge succeeded in scaring the crap out of me, as always, though this time it wasn’t his plan. He was half-asleep when we left and we’re a few miles away from the hotel when he calls in a panic and asks if Jaylen’s with us. I laugh and tell him, “Uh, no. He stayed with you and Eenan,” because he’s always doing that to me–trying to trick me and make me worry. He says, “No really, he’s with you, right?” I said, “NO JORGE! He’s not with us! I left him with you!” I can hear him shuffling around and then he gives a big sigh of relief. He says, “Cabron, he was in the bathroom.” He muffles the phone and he tells Jaylen, “Why didn’t you tell me where you were going.” Jaylen just shrugged LOL.

We got a few things we needed from H-E-B (including two more rechargeable batteries, because I’ll just die if a really awesome photo op comes about and I miss it!). And now we’re here, resting. And I’m cold. And the kids (especially Alaethia) are running amuck. I’ll just read and maybe take a nap.

Today was my last day of work for the year, so tonight is my first official evening of summer vacation! I’m so excited and in desperate need of this break. Don’t get me wrong, work’s been awesome (even this last crazy week of endless inventory and seemingly longer hours), but I need sleep need like crazy. Alaethia’s been on this weird schedule (she’s currently kicking my legs and telling me to bring her more “monk”, which is “milk”), but that’s probably thanks to my mother, who allows her to sleep till 11am. Grr. She forgot about Eenan yesterday and let him play 9 hours of video games. 9 HOURS!!!

Anyway. I can’t believe this year’s over. I survived my first actual year of working after being a stay-at-home mom for 7 years. Okay, so it’s not an actual year since I only work about 9 months out of the year…but still.

It was something else, let me tell you. But I’ll never forget working at Nellie Schunior, our crazy packing and unpacking, getting the new library up and running, our field trips and the laughs and good times I had with Mrs. V, Pilar and Elvira :).

It was a busy, crazy week but I’m so happy to announce that I completed all of my tasks and did a little extra. I even helped the summer school librarian with a few things; she was impressed, which made me feel great. Mrs. V. treated me to lunch today (Whataburger) and we had awesome conversation, as always. We got back to work and finished up the final things and when I was gathering all my belongings she hugged me and said this is the first year everything’s been done and completed and it was all because of me. That’s the best thing I’ve heard in a long time :). In turn I told her that she’s the best boss I’ve had, and I mean that sincerely. I got to pick up the kids on time, go to all their assemblies and she just did tons for me. I’ve been truly blessed.

Natalie’s Quinceañera is this Saturday, so we started off my summer by going to the mall and getting a discount on Mom’s dress (she returned it and got $10 back with a coupon), she and Alaethia got shoes and then she treated us to dinner at the food court. She and the boys had McDonald’s and I had stuffed pizza (mushroom, broccoli — yes, broccoli –, cheese and spinach), and Mario met us there and had the same thing. He took off with Jaylen and then Eenan, Aly, Mom and I took a stroll through the mall and came home. Then I watched Mario and his dad (finally) fix our shower. It had been leaking and then the hot water pipe took a crap completely. Now I’ve got new, leak-free pipes AND a new spray/massaging shower head. Woo!

I helped Mary with a few things for the Quinceañera after that. We’ve got a lot to do tomorrow before the big day!

I’m going to savor this summer. I’m going to read, BLOG (I’ve got so many old entries to edit and upload), sleep and not feel guilty about it, hopefully get at least a new layout going on this thing, paint the kitchen and redecorate it, visit and have lunch with friends, get on Myspace (addicted, much?), clean!, get organized and just spend quality time with the family, especially the kiddos. We’re not doing much this summer since we’re trying to get bills paid off, but I’m hoping to do a few things with the kids, like going to the museum, movies, beach, and the library. I won’t have to take them much to the library…I went a little insane at the Scholastic warehouse and then at our own book fair. We’ve got plenty of reading material to keep us busy! Oh yes, and work on rekindling the romance with Mario! I had no idea working would put so much strain on a marriage!

I’m so tired. I hope Aly goes to sleep soon. And doesn’t wake up more than once during the night. And hopefully that one time wakes up isn’t half an hour before I need to wake up like she’s been doing. Anyway…I’m rambling.