Another Griswold Vacation

Let me start off by reminding you that I already apologized to the people of Osoyoos for the weather.

But I'll say it again. Sorry about that. I've never experienced a 5 hour thunder and lightening storm with torrential rains and winds either.

Hey. They needed the rain, what with all the forest fires to the north. Yes, that strange weather caused us to leave a day early as it was going to continue on for another whole day, but let's consider that it was a blessing in disguise. It was pretty parched out there.

The annual Griswold vacation wasn't all Clark and Ellen. We had a great four days before the weather changed. We spent our time playing at the beach, floating in the resort pool and lounging in the air conditioned 38 foot trailer. We worked on our tans, de-stressed, ate a lot of hamburgers and drank a lot of these:

My close friend and her husband (howdy KA and K!) drove down from Kelowna and we had a great visit.

There were a few Uncle Eddie moments. I am now the proud owner of a minivan with a mucked up rear bumper,courtesy of some idiot who drove their boat trailer into it and felt the need to not tell us. It's like the cosmos want me driving around a Griswoldmobile. I'm not a vindictive person but I have to say that I hope karma bites you in the butt, Mr. Boat Trailer Man.

I really mean that.

Plus there was the overheating minivan in Manning Park. That pretty much took care of all that relaxing I did for four days. There's something rather odd about it. Manning Park was also the scene of a little trip several years ago that we Mahoneys refer to as, "The Trip To Hell and Back" when the heater core, radiator and fuel pump all went on our car as we drove through the 65 kilometres that is the Park of Manning.

(There were no dents in the bumper of that car, but let's just say it earned its name, "The Beast" for a reason.)

Oh. Then we got back home (thanks to the 17 decades of the rosary I prayed the rest of the way home, thank you Mary and St. Christopher), only to try and move the car with the engine light problems and it wouldn't start.

But Troy the Fish didn't die and The Dog crapped on the kitchen floor and not the carpet, so, really, in the big scheme of life, I think the trip had more ups than downs. Yes....I have some mechanic appointments to make. Yes, the new minivan is on its way to transforming into a white eggplant. Yes, I have 8 loads of laundry to do.

But I'm choosing to focus on the fact that The Princess learned how to swim the length of the resort pool.
The Monkey made 26 buckets of soup on the beach - all of which were personally taste tested by yours truly. The Boy and his friend spent hours in the lake trying to catch trout and the attention of some cute teenage girls.

Many s'mores were made on the bbq. The Eldest baked herself to a bronze hue that would make any dermatologist shudder in grief.


The Husband played with fire and tried to catch the ragamuffins that kept turning off the water to the trailer.

I actually appeared in public in a bathing suit and although I blinded several people with my mayonnaise hued legs, I didn't care.

The kids watched Mother Nature put on a showstopping display of light and sound, water and wind like they've never experienced in their life.

We went on holidays. And we made memories.


95% of them great.

.....and they're off.....

The annual Griswold road trip begins tomorrow.

The van is packed. The food is ready. The house is a mess. And I am sitting in front of the laptop ignoring the piles of stuff everywhere.

Everything is right on schedule.

As The Husband has been so lovingly saying all flipping day, "Death con 3" is an accurate description of my state of being today.

Whatever.

So I best be off to do one more load of laundry and write out the "83 idiosyncrasies of The Dog" list for my absolutely wonderful brothers who are taking care of her.

I love my family. They're the best.

You can bet there's some pumpkin scones coming their way.

So, check back in next week where I'm sure to post some awesome pictures of the family enjoying way too much time together. And hopefully no pictures of us stranded by the side of the road or of any mechanic's butt crack.

Ahhh.....A Griswold Summer.

Sorry.

It's my fault. I'll take the blame for this one.

I should have known better. In fact, I DID know better and I did it anyways.

Yes. I signed The Princess up for swimming lessons at the local outdoor pool.

I'm really sorry I caused it to rain.

Yes! I know! I know! It was 30+ degrees out the day before her lessons started. I'm aware that summer had arrived and you were all enjoying your tanning and flowers and dinners on the patio.

But I just wanted her to learn to swim. Her dad runs an aquatics facility, for crying out loud. We have old time lifeguards come over for dinner.....word was going to get out that his 7 year old was not on the junior Olympic swim team yet.

It was the peer pressure that made me do it.

Ya. That's it.

And in my defense, I DID try to save your summer and sign her up for lessons indoors. But they were full.

Stop looking at me like that! I know I'm a Mahoney aka Griwold . I knew that I was taking a risk. And now I'm paying the price.

And so are you. Two weeks worth of crappy weather minus the weekend. 'Cause, there are no swimming lessons on the weekend.

Sorry.

And while I'm at it, I want to take this opportunity to apologize to the lovely people of Osoyoos. I'm sorry that the weather will be awful up there next week. But again, I couldn't help myself. I got all caught up in the thought of a nice family vacation on the lake and failed to think about you.

It was wrong.

But chances are we'll be paying for several of your mechanics' getaways to somewhere warmer, so that even out the ol' karma.

You take Visa, right?

The Weekend Away

The Eldest and I had a great weekend away.

Judging from the state of the house when we got home, the rest of the family had a great weekend eating takeout and not cleaning anything.

But they're all alive and that is what's important, right?

Right?

The Griswold Girls Weekend Road Trip to Kelowna started off with us deciding to get lost while on a quest to find A & W root beer. I've always wanted to see Boston Bar. Scratch that off the Bucket List.

I never wanted to discover Spence's Bridge. To be honest, I never knew it existed. But discover it we did, which was good because otherwise it meant we would have been visiting Cache Creek which was totally not Kelowna.

If you're confused, that's good. Now you know how I felt when we hit flipping Boston Bar.

And I totally don't blame the Husband for giving me the wrong directions on the phone. I take all the blame. I knew I should have bought him a GPS system for Christmas.

Plus, I learned something. There is no cell phone coverage in Boston Bar. Oh, and always ask the Eldest if she still has her cell phone after using the restroom in Merritt. I think I performed an illegal maneuver making that u-turn on the highway up to Kelowna.

Once we arrived in beautiful Kelowna, we had a great time. Lots of chocolate, salty snacks, great company, cell phone coverage and all cell phones accounted for the entire holiday. We found the perfect jewelry for the Eldest's graduation. As we wound our way down the correct road home, the sun was shining on the snow covered mountains, the tunes were playing and I ignored the reality that was waiting for me at home.

A wonderful trip with the Eldest who used to be my Baby.

Road Trip

I'm blowing this popsicle stand.

Getting the heck out of Dodge.

Hitting the road.

The Eldest and I will soon be driving down the road, in a car without booster seats, car seats, men, young children and fishy crackers.

We are heading out for a four hour drive to spend the weekend with one of my oldest friends. We are going to shop til we drop, find the perfect accessories for the Eldest's grad dress and eat 8 pounds of chocolate apiece.

There will be copious amounts of chatting, conversing, reminiscing, and clucking. Lots of tea. Perhaps a dip or two in a hot tub. A chick flick. Something salty. Definitely some Fuzzy Peaches.

Sunday will come in a blink of an eye, but for now, I'm heading to pack my bag, make a list or two for the Husband and get this party started.

And hopefully come back with a blog post or two.

Griswolds on a road trip?

Most definitely.

Fresh and Fabulous

Clearly, spring break with 4 children home, a 40th birthday and the Husband away is a recipe for Armageddon.

You'd think it would also be a recipe for some blogging moments but sadly, it's only a recipe for blogging moments on an anonymous blog.

Hence the quiet around this blog.

But I can report that something happy came out of last week....the week that was also known around these parts as, "Why SHOULD I go in the shower, we're not DOING anything anyways!" by one of my dear children who was a tad miffed our family was not having the time of our lives in Disneyland.

My little blog was given this:

If you want to go and experience what you could have turned out to be had you been paying more attention during home ec in high school, head on over to The 6 o'clock Stitch. Not only will you be inspired to create, but you'll be dragged into the world of Etsy. You'll need several hours. And your credit card. Don't say I didn't warn you.

So now, I have the honour of passing on The Fresh and Fabulous Award to two other blogs I think have that F and F quality.

Firstly, I am bestowing this award to Tentative Equinox , who is witty and thoughtful and writes about life as she sees it. She also writes about Aspergers, learning disabilities and her children's success with Fast ForWord. The great thing about her blog is you never know what she's going to write about. It's like opening up a box of Cracker Jacks. You never know what the prize is inside.

And I also bestow this award to Bake at 350. Because I love baking. And she makes scones. Lemon scones. You have to go see her blog just to drool over the pictures. I do. Although I'm pretty sure I could never recreate any of her baking wonderfulness, she writes like she thinks I could. I love unpretentious baking blogs!

Have a great day.

And make yourself a cup of tea before you go clicking on those links.

Consider yourself warned.

Holidays

When some people marry, the family silverware is passed down. Others are fortunate to inherit the family jewels (diamonds and gold, people!). Still, others may be blessed with a grandmother’s quilt, or dining room table, or family cast iron skillet (“Now, don’t you go an wash that there….thar’s bacon fat on that there pan from my granpappy’s momma. Yes sir, that there pan’s been seasoned REAL nice.”)

I inherited a curse. No, really. Ask anyone. People refer to it as “The Mahoney Luck”. Others in the family call us the Griswolds. This curse goes wherever we go, and seems to gather great strength whenever we get farther than 30 kilometres from our home.

I’m sure it’s from my husband’s side of the family. I do recall going on many an excursion as a child and not managing to pitch our tent next to a red ant hill or a wasp infestation. I recall one summer driving to Saskatoon and back and not once being stranded on the side of the highway. I think my reasoning stands.

People get a terrified look in their eyes when I tell them we’re going away.

“Have you mapped out the closest hospitals?”

“Did you update your life insurance including accidental death and dismemberment?”

“For the love of God, can’t you guys just stick a tent in the backyard and stop the madness!! You know nothing good can come from this!!”

Last night, Heath and I discussed our summer plans. We decided against the whole Europe thing (who wants to see a bunch of old castles and artwork?), said 'it doesn't really appeal to me' to all those flashy overpriced venues such as Disneyland and 6 Flag Magic Mountain, and vetoed the lameness of hopping on some silly monstrosity of a cruise ship that serves food 24 hours a day and has daycare for your children. Who needs that nonsense?

Which of course means we planned a road trip. We love those. Four kids in a minivan, driving far far away from our mechanic who's children we have put through college. Far far far away from the safety of our little home, where the electricity works and water flows. Far far far far away from sunshine, clear skies and a warm breeze.

This year will be better though, because we get to add a 70 pound dog into the mix. Let the Griswold Annual Road Trip begin.

I'd promise to post pictures, but the camera seems to break/fall in deep water/get run over by a wayward seniors bus/ eaten by a bear on our road trips. Perhaps Eilidh could draw a picture or two. I hear art therapy is a wonderful thing.