No Work For Me On Saturday

My name is Kelly and I am a workaholic - it's true. I am very bad at delegating - no one can do it as well as I can.... Being a business owner makes it even tougher - if I don't work over time.. all the time... the income starts to trickle off and then I have to start all over again.....

Today - I came to the realization that my kids are missing me.... Even though I work out of my home office - I still have my office door closed - I might as well be out of the house.... I think my kids are okay with me working until 6:00 or later during the week day - they too have their work cut out for them... It's the weekends that drives my youngest especially insane... She is really missing mom and daughters time... I miss it too.....

So Kelly's Idea for Saturday - chuck it all - no work for me... I having girl time at the Happiest Place on Earth - We're going to Disneyland!

Something New for Easter

We are doing something new this year for Easter and I am really excited about it. Every year on the night before Easter, Dusty and I would set out to hide over 100 eggs for our kids...mind you, we only have two girls! In the eggs the girls would find candy and sometimes a quarter or two... I came to the conclusion that Dusty and I had more fun hiding the eggs than the girls did finding them..why because the last three years I have found several eggs that still contained their treasures ... I think because of the quantity it became overwhelming...
Now that my girls are getting older and are more into clothes than jelly beans , I have decided to give them some of their new summer clothes for Easter!!! Great way to save some money... I went over to the 99 cent store and purchased a bunch of pastel colored lunch bags..for you guessed it .99 cents. One bag will have a shirt another bag a pair of shorts another bag a tennis outfit and so on... I'm going to put their names on each bag and hide them throughout our home... Of course, I got most of the clothes at Target using my 10% off coupon...

Summer Imagination

When I was a kid my summer vacations consisted of hanging out with my friends, riding bikes, and using our imagination. Every day was a new adventure. I remember building a fort made out of cardboard boxes...it was huge. All the kids in the neighborhood came over and our imagination took over. One day we were fighting Indians and the next day we were the Indians.... We were too busy having fun to watch TV. We did not have game boys, ipods, or cell phones. Those things did not exist yet... I had a transistor radio and my favorite radio station was KFJ on the am dial....Motown was big and family values were high.... Our family took two big vacations when I was younger. Both were long road trips to visit relatives. My sisters and I would play I spy, read a book, play barbies, or sleep. We did not have a portable DVD player or laptops to occupy our time...
I love to do creative memory projects when I have some free time. The other day I was going through my family's summer vacation. My family meaning my husband and I and the girls. We have gone on two Mexican cruises, Lake Tahoe, Zion National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Bahamas, Morro Bay, and a two week road trip. In addition to our family trips, the girls went to camp with girl scouts and church. When we are home, the girls would attend tennis camp for a few hours everyday... I noticed while I was reminiscing that I have never let my kids just do nothing....meaning let them plan their own day...use their own imagination.... No wonder when there isn't a good show on TV they don't know what to do with themselves...
This summer I have made a decision. We will not go on a family trip. The girls will not go to tennis camp every day. They already have their lessons three evenings a week. I'm going to let the girls figure out what they are going to do. We live in Southern California so there are many things. They can go swimming in our pool, we can ride bikes to the beach, have their friends over, or maybe make a fort out of cardboard boxes....They don't know this yet...but the TVs will be taken out of their rooms... and I will have them read two books this summer. It's not too late to find the joy that I had as a kid...and for them to learn to use their imagination....

Mom and Daughters' Adventure

Last summer I went on an adventure with my two favorite girls. My twelve and ten year old daughters....we left my hubby behind.. Not that my husband isn't good company..he is...but there's something about an all girl trip. This was the first time in my life that I completely stepped out of my comfort zone and did something so unlike me. The results.... an adventure of a lifetime..
On June 29,2008 with the car loaded with luggage, DVDs, books on tape, tons of bottled water, snacks, and my new/used GPS we took off for the "unknown"..Okay we were still in the states but you know what I mean... Our destinations were The Colorado Rockies, Family and friends in Colorado, Moab, UT, and last stop Las Vegas.
I am the constant planner. I had every stop planned down to the time we would arrive. I had every motel booked months in advance and every tour and show booked and paid for. I timed my trip so I would only drive six to eight hours and only in the daylight...after all I'm a girl!
The Colorado Rockies are breathtaking, once we crossed over the Utah/Colorado border the Colorado River greeted us. It tagged along with us all the way to Glenwood Hot Springs Lodge. The "Hot Springs" turned out to be the largest natural spring pool in the world. It spanned well over 2 to 3 football fields.. During my research, I discovered a live cam on the poolslide..so I set up a "cam" date with my husband... People walking by must have thought we were nuts waving our arms and jumping up and down in front of a slide..well we'd never see them again.. talking on the cell to Dusty (my husband) and jumping up and down while he is watching us from work was hilarious.. good memory.. While we were in Glenwood we ventured up to Adventure Park. In order to get to Adventure Park, you must take a gondola up up up to 7100 ft. I am afraid of heights so my eyes were closed much of the time. My kids loved seeing the valley below. At Adventure Park there were Cave tours, bungee jumping, mazes, and lots of things for the kids to enjoy... The view was amazing.
Our next stop was friends and family. We had a great visit catching up with my best friend Karen and her family and also spent a couple of days with my favorite Uncle. We left Colorado after a week of visits - great memories...
We headed down to Moab, UT. The drive was spectacular. There were a million different colors of rocks, land, plants, and sky... I am not a good enough writer to describe the majesty of it all.... I had booked a couple of tours for Moab that took us out all day. The first was a jet boat tour on the beautiful Colorado River, by this time, I felt a kinship with Mr Colorado having hung out with him for several days. The jet boat took us deep into the caverns where mighty red walls surrounded us on all sides. From the jet boat tour we headed to the Arches National Park. There we had an off road jeep tour. When I say off road I really mean off road...the jeep climbed over rocks that in my humble opinion seemed to stand completely vertical..on this very bouncy trip we saw things that the average tourist misses. We saw actual dinosaur tracks...very cool. The Arches is a destination I highly recommend to everyone.
Our last stop Las Vegas...me the "always" planner booked not one not two but three kid friendly shows...since they were booked way in advance..our seats were awesome. The first night we went to a Luau at the Imperial Place. We watched many types of Polynesian dancers and fire throwers and had a generally good time..except it was
110 degrees outside..so we kinda stuck to our chairs... The next night was the Tournament of Kings horse show and dinner, and the last night was The Dog and Cat Magic show at Planet Hollywood. During the day, we hung out at the Flamingo's incredible pool. The kids had a great time going on the slides all day and I enjoyed relaxing with a good book. The second to last night.. Dusty surprised the girls by joining us for dinner at Caesar's Palace and driving home with us.
We made some incredible memories the girls and me. We call it "Our Adventure". Before I know it, the girls will be on their way to college, marriage, and their own lives... I want to horde as much of them as I can during the short time they are with me....
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