July Summer 2010....

It’s July which means Summer holidays!! The month started with Bruce doing an LA trip to talk to Borders managers, he jumped in the car made the drive (which doesn’t seem that long anymore) and had a couple of meetings with store managers at their managers meetings. I managed to find him a really nice hotel so he was at least getting a good night sleep. Apparently it’s all about the bed when you travel (so that’s something I’ve learned which is always a good thing – and a tip for everyone, always check customer reviews!!!) He made his way home after getting lots of orders and the next week jumped on a plane & went to Hawaii for a couple of days. Again got him a great hotel- he was inspired by the view and wrote a few Aloha angels for the managers to choose for sale in store, so job done. The boys and I just hung out at the house and I got things tied up so we could go on our vacation to VEGAS BABY!!But not before celebrating 4th July at the Cendros, we got dressed and went to watch the kids parade which was cool all the little kids with their USA stuff on and bikes decorated following the very loud fire engine. We went home and headed back over there for dinner and drinks with friends...always a great way to celebrate a holiday. The boys and I went over to Millie's so the boys could ride on Lexie's new go car thingy...very fun and they had a blast. Boys and cars DER!!

A couple of days making sure everything was done and everyone had everything they needed. Sunday morning, we set the alarm, woke the kids and we started to drive to Vegas. (Patty was playing (NBA Preseason tournament) at 4.00pm, and the boys had a choice between a show or the game, der they wanted to see Patty (which I did too) so we had to wake up with the birds to get there) It was a easy drive, freeway all the way, traffic going back to LA through the check point was HUGE, so Bruce decided we weren’t coming back this way (as always life is never dull! A different way home – of course!!!)

Straight to the stadium ,UNLV, which is just down the rd from the strip, so we did a quick drive by and the boys eyes were popping out of their heads, which is the reason we were here – check another thing off the list. We bought our Aussie flag and cheered and waved it (Conner thought it was not really that cool, but hey we had to get Patty’s attention somehow) there was another Australian family there so, Bruce being Bruce chatted with them. The game was great and Patty played great!! He came over to the edge of the court for a quick wave before he had to go in which made the boys day, not so uncool now hey Conner!!!! We filed out to the lobby and Bruce snuck inside to see if he could get a quick ‘Hello’ if Patty came out – which he did, Patty offered to get us tickets to the next game….you can imagine the boys smiles!! PRICELESS!!!!

We checked in at the resort and had a look around, as always it was gorgeous….Bruce and I headed out to the local supermarket for food while the boys chilled out at the apartment. We came home with supplies had some dinner and decided to chill out before hitting the strip tomorrow. The only bad thing about the apartment is that our room was right at the front next to the outside light – not good!!

We had a relaxing morning by the pool, the boys swam, I read, Bruce slept!! Then came down for a little while, we had some lunch and caught the resort shuttle into the strip. The drop & pick up point is at Caesars Palace which is perfect, pretty much in the middle. We decided to look around there first, what we didn’t realize was that it would take all afternoon….it’s HUGE!!! I’m not even sure how much we didn’t see. The pool –OMG!!! Although it was fabulous I don’t think it would be such a great experience relaxing with thousands of other people – which means I’m old but I don’t care – the boys thought it was cool. All I could say, which made Bruce laugh, ‘We’re gonna need a bigger boat’ – (apparently I come out with some funnys every now and then) I’m still trying figure out the movie I got it from…see pic! It was a long afternoon, we got back to the resort and had a late dinner, bbq’d before chilling out by the pool.

Tuesday – We were on the first shuttle deciding to try and get out before it gets too hot. We started to moring with a HUGE coincidence…we were at the Bellagio looking around the atrium talking about how beautiful it would be to stay here, then how gorgeous it would be to have breakfast looking into it at the restaurant over the other side. Bruce wanted to see what was over there so I was walking around when he yelled out to me to come back and see who was here. Yes, we went to Vegas to see our next door neighbors from Triumph court, Highton. It was the weirdest thing ever….they were on a family holiday for Blakes 21st and were leaving the next day to go home – TOO WEIRD!!!
Bruce heard from Patty that tickets were organized…YEAY!!!!

We made our way around the rest of the hotels, the boys saw the hotels & attractions they wanted to see, we stopped in New York, New York for some lunch and continued through the early afternoon until we were all dead on our feet and they were hurting too. I think we got to see everything we wanted to see though which was great, and I think the kids were pretty much done. We headed back to the apartment, had an early dinner and went over to UNLV for the Portland game. It was a great game and Patty played really well again, as always. The boys were more enthusiastic with the flag waving and cheering which was fun, now they knew Patty could see and hear them….the biggest fun was after the game when they interviewed Patty for NBA TV…Bruce told the boys to do a walk by with the flag – which they did and everyone around us were all in hysterics including the boys, they thought it was really funny. If you look back on the interview you can see Patty holding back a smile – again PRICELESS!!!! We waited to see if Patty would come out after he got changed but the bus had to go and he was running behind because of the interview so the boys were disappointed not to see him but it was a great time anyway – especially when they saw themselves on the computer later. Patty replied to Bruce’s Thank You text with a big LOL – tell the boys that was great!!!

We got back to the resort caught the last shuttle into the strip – checked out the Bellagio Fountain show, saw the Volcano erupt but missed the Pirate show (which is good it’s a little racier than it used to be) then caught the last shuttle back to the resort and had the pleasure of having to listen to this IDIOT poser at the back of the bus name dropping and being a no it all & rude to the driver the whole way back to the resort. We just told the boys that that’s someone you don’t want to be and left it at that. I think he scared them a little – loud and obnoxious will do that when you’re a kid. It just pissed me off!!!!

We spent our last day at the pool(s) – the boys wanted to go to the big pool, so we chilled out in the water all the boys ended up in a volleyball game with a bunch over older guys which they loved and these guys were really good to them. There ended being about 8 of each age group so it was a good mix. We had some dinner on the way to Hoover Dam – which was good but we didn’t realize you couldn’t get out of the car at night so that was a bit of a bummer, but we’ve seen it and drive over it…which as of the end of Sept you can’t do anymore. Another tick off the to do list. On the way back we drove through old Vegas and saw a glimpse of the Freemont street light show then ended up at the biggest souvenir shop in the world and grabbed a few things to take home and did one last drive down the strip…..

The next morning the boys got in the car and went to the ‘The Pawn Shop’ which is a TV show here while I finished packing and cleaning everything up for check out. We had one last swim had some lunch then headed for the road. Another way – remember..this time we headed in the opposite direction being guided by the GPS which didn’t fill me with confidence. Off into the desert we drove……..after a few hours and realizing that the GPS was taking us all the way North the Reno/Carson City – when we really needed to go South I stopped short of throwing the GPS out the window, although Bruce found it amusing that I was yelling at a machine I got the map out….after going through some gorgeous mountains and scenery and a road that was worse than any roller coaster (which we had to stop on because we were all feeling really sick) Bruce’s dad came out in him and I had to scream to not accelerate over the large bumps – no air under the car!) He thought it was great, the rest of us not so much.

We ended up accidentally at Yosemite National Park – check another thing off the list. It was gorgeous and we made a couple of stops…..it was well worth the extra time. We got home a few hours behind schedule with the boys sleeping in the backseat and the GPS telling us to go East when we needed to go West to get onto the freeway – me yelling at the machine again and Bruce laughing. Arh home!!!!!

No rest for the wicked, back to work the next day, Bruce had some catching up to do and I had some presentations to put together, it was a very quiet weekend, catching up with friends and getting Jamieson ready to start back to school.

On Monday Jamieson started school and we went to meet his teacher Mrs Mehas, she was really cool and apart from him being seated next to the really annoying kid I think he’s going to have a great year. That night we headed to back to school night – which was the usual. The great thing is that Mrs Mehas said that they are being taught a lot of responsibility in regards to their work, so it’s time to step back a little bit, any problems let her know but ultimately it’s time they made their own decisions, did their own work, took resposibilites for their decisions etc…it’s going to be a great year.

After the session was over we chatted with Mrs Mehas about our trip to Canada then headed out and ran into the principle, vice principle and a couple of other teachers, one whom is at another school because of the pink slip situation she found a job at the school the Rivera kids go so that’s good. Ms Travernia was also the basketball team coach so we know her well, we were all chatting about the new year, when Jamieson’s teacher from last year stopped for a chat and a catch up, Conner’s grade 5-6 teacher gave us a quick hug and hello…. It really is a great school and I think we will be missed (I hope anyway) We spent the rest of the week getting ready for our trip to Canada and the possibility that we might not be coming home – what to pack, what to leave!!! Paula and Karen said it would be fine – then said that it had to be because they didn’t want to pack up my house without me. (So cute)

Basketball started up again, training on Tuesday night, Bruce took both teams because Jamieson’s coach was away. Then training again on Friday night before a great dinner with Robert and Andrea on Friday night – it turned into a very late night, chatting and laughing and we did pay for it over the next couple of days, but it was worth it. Basketball starting on Saturday which was nice for the boys to get back into it again, although with it being summer and the high schools closed the courts were not the best to say the least…..Jamieson’s was a large court converted into two courts and they didn’t even mark a sideline!!!! Not happy Jan!

Early Sunday morning we packed up the car and started our way north then south then north again, although the direction changes were a long way in between. We made it nearly half way the first which was great. Dead beat we stopped to sleep at around 10 pm in a place called Dillon for the night. Nice hotel, good breakfast – hit the road again…sorry no photo’s being stressed isn’t conducive to wanting the take pictures.

We hit the Canadian border around lunchtime, didn’t make us get out of the car or even take our I-94’s out of the passports so off we went, made our way to Lethbridge to find the US Embassy’s bank, had some lunch then started heading north to the hotel in Calgary. Mid/late afternoon we drove through Calgary and found the Embassy, then found the hotel and checked in – arh!!! We had some dinner and an early night – TIRED!!!

We got up the next morning – Happy Birthday Jamieson, had a couple of presents to open then got ready for the rest of the day. Bruce and I both woke up very calm (not sure if that is ever good or bad) we leave early park the car and go to the coffee shop next door. We get to the embassy and things seem really great until the very nice lady there asks us if we are paying the rest of the visa fees upstairs and do we have the cash because they don't accept credit cards!! ARH!!!!!!! As of two weeks ago the fees went up from $150 per person to $390 per person! WHAT!!! Yes that's what I said very loudly!! right before the tears started to well up. They were actually really great and helpful, we just had to find a bank (but they have no Chase in Calgary) we walked around trying to find an imaginary chase which apparently was on Google, but couldn't. Bruce finally called Chase and said HELP, apparently you can go into any bank and do a cash advance, Phew! and bigger Phew for the deposit that went in yesterday!!!!!!!!!

One and a half hours later we walk back up to the embassy, ten minutes before they break for lunch or something (we had to be there before 11.30am to go up straight away) We walked in and the place was pretty much empty, good or bad sign, does this mean they go through the app with a fine tooth comb??? We paid the extra money and waited for a little while - probably about 30 mins then Bruce had a REAL interview - he asked about everything!!! the job, why we are still here, when we are leaving, his qualifications you name it he covered it.....(I suppose you could say he was very good at his job, eye contract all the time etc) in the end he said he didn't see a problem, we got the green stamps - the trip back in April dilemma wasn't on his system so hopefully that doesn't come up in the last over night checks and our passports will be ready at 3.00pm
We walked out of there exhausted..... at 12.45pm. So that was our morning, it's tiring just thinking about it again.

We went to the mall to have a look around and decompress, we went out to the local Costco to check it out and had a Canadian Costco lunch for Jamieson’s birthday. The boys went for a swim and then out to the movies and back to the hotel for a pasta dinner. It wasn’t the best birthday in the world but it was definitely something he can say no one else will ever do for their birthday – it’s an original 11th birthday story.

We spent the next morning at the hotel room, stressing, working, reading, homework. Then at 2.45 we jumped into the car and went downtown. Bruce walked down the street from the Embassy empty handed and I was just about to freak out again when the smart-arse pulled them out - you can imagine what I said next!! Lucky there were kids in the car, although I didn't speak to him for about 30 mins as we headed up to Banff.

Yes, we went to Banff (absolutely gorgeous part of the world) put it on your bucket list its worth the trip. Another tick off the list, the Rockies are an amazing site to see. We walked around Banff and bought some souvenirs, stayed for dinner at the Spahetti factory there, our waitress was from Quebec so her accent was cool and she was chatting so you know we loved that. It was like to usited nations they had waiters and waitresses from everywhere there was even a girl from Brisbane but she was in another section. We walked around some more, I got a henna tattoo (Another tick off the list – it’s the closest I’m ever gonna get to a tattoo so it was fun and the girl was nice) saw the most gorgeous hotel that looked like a palace – see pics and then before it got dark we drove down the mountain back to Calgary, Bruce didn’t want to have elk or any other animals jumping in front of the car....I'm glad we made the effort and took the drive. The only other bummer we saw on the way back was the Winter Olympic stadiums, they were awesome looking from the freeway I couldn’t even imagine how cool it would’ve been see them up close.

Thursday morning, we jumped into the car and headed home, go through the border (weird, the border guy didn't know you had to leave the country to get a new visa) so no one at homeland security really knows everything, I thought at least at the borders they would be NOPE! We took one large Phew and drove and drove and drove - 14 hours – ( it didn’t seem like that long with Bruce and I sharing the driving and relaxing while we weren’t driving. We slept in a really nice Marriott in Burley, Idaho (comfy big beds and yummy breakfast, mmmm) then arrived home to a HUGE Welcome Sign on the garage door from the Cendro's. See pics – do we have the best friends or what!!! We may not have a lot of them but boy did we pick good ones!!!

So you could say – we had a very interesting summer and we wouldn’t be lying AT ALL!!!!

Well, as of yesterday summer is officially over here – although by looking outside you wouldn’t know it. But as you read ours was a doosey!!! Lots of things checked off the list not it’s time to make another list – ‘what to bring home, what to buy and what to leave list!!’