Let the Prom Drama begin....Like Aurora, her dress keeps changing

[mamacatnv]

Just a suggestion from a lurker--Why not spend 6 nights at Schlitterbahn--2 nights at the Riverwalk (that's plenty of time)--then 2 nights in Austin (visit the capital, the parks, the lakes--lots to do there.) Then you can leave from Austin without a lot of driving!

Piper:
Thanks for the input - that might be a good idea - we have never been to San Antonio. Will 3 days and 2 nights give us the time to go to Sea World for 1 day and the RiverWalk, Alamo and MarketPlace the other 2? I am looking at the Drury Inn and Suites Riverwalk because of Riverwalk proximity and free hot breakfast plus they have a pool that is a must with my kids.

We can't decide on whether changing hotels is worth the effort or just stay at Schlitterbahn and break up the time by going to San Antonio a couple of times on different days instead of doing each location individually.

I am horrible at making decisions for places I have never been. Don't want to be disappointed and at the same time don't want to miss out on something...

Sandy, Horseshowmom & Pam:
What you all doing this weekend?
We are actually kinda quiet - going out to Swensons for ice cream with some friends on Sunday night to celebrate their/our kids' good report cards. Their kid has been flunking Geometry all year so we haven't done our quarterly ice cream reward since last fall. He finally got his act together and we all get to go. That is the deal we have all 3 of the kids must meet the standard or no one goes, my kids have been putting the pressure on their kid for a few months now

 

[Sandy V.]

Sandy, Horseshowmom & Pam:
What you all doing this weekend?
We are actually kinda quiet - going out to Swensons for ice cream with some friends on Sunday night to celebrate their/our kids' good report cards. Their kid has been flunking Geometry all year so we haven't done our quarterly ice cream reward since last fall. He finally got his act together and we all get to go. That is the deal we have all 3 of the kids must meet the standard or no one goes, my kids have been putting the pressure on their kid for a few months now

Swensons sounds WONDERFUL. I haven't been there in years. I did a juvenile justice semester at American University in D.C. when I was a junior in college MANY years ago, and I remember eating at Swenson's regularly. When I treat myself to ice cream now, I'm a Coldstone Creamery girl.

We're riding our motorcycle tomorrow morning with another couple that we know. Don't really have any plans for the afternoon or evening.

On Sunday, we're going whitewater rafting through the Royal Gorge on the Arkansas River. I'm very excited and very nervous all at the same time. The water is supposed to be a lot of fun this time of year (lots of rapids), but I'm not the greatest swimmer, so I'm a little scared. They DO let you use their wetsuits, life jackets, etc., so it's pretty safe, but still . . .

Have a great time!! I hope everyone has a great weekend.

 

[mamacatnv]

Sandy:

Your weekend sounds like a lot of fun.

Swensons - Sticky Chewy Chocolate sundae with extra chocolate covered cherries! I actually like the cherries more than I like the ice cream but the ice cream is like lettuce is to ranch dressing, purely a method of delivery!

I don't like Coldstone and the reason is weird. I hate squishy ice cream, it must be super hard or I won't eat it. I am not a huge fan anyway, but when in the mood it must be the right consistency. Weird, I know

Pam - you continue to be in my thoughts and prayers

Horseshowmom: Hope you have a great weekend and that your conference is a success!

Maybe I will take DD to the waterpark tomorrow

Have a good one all....................

 

[horseshowmom]

I would eat the knobs off the cabinets if I could figure out how to get the salt to stick to them

Sadly, yes, I've had a LOT of those days (and the knobs seem to usually win )...

DH and I are having vacation dilemma.............

Have you checked into hotels near Sea World. There's one that's right by it (a Radisson, I think) that has a lot of water activities (lazy river, etc.). Also, the Sea World in San Antonio has a waterpark in it (included in the ticket price). We didn't check it out when we were there, but I remember it being part of the park.

Sorry about the "hitter". I hope he didn't hurt your DD.

He went on to hit DD's cousin who was also helping out and then hit one of the ladies working with the snacks while they were in there. The particular woman works at the school where this child goes, and she says he's absolutely awful, but nobody will do anything about it because his mother works in administration in the district office. Believe me, I would do something about it (as would DH) if he were in my class all day.

Both of the kids suffer from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome from their respective birth mothers. Unfortunately, some of the side effects are the behavior these kids exhibit.

I actually mentioned this to DH. This particular child came from a country where alcoholism is a problem. He's also small for his age. I wondered if that might be the case, but then you have the other two who also are "difficult" (not from the same place).

Enjoy your day off!
What, no hotels with maid service in your future I'm sorry

Alas, no hotels OR maid service coming up soon...

We are actually kinda quiet - going out to Swensons for ice cream with some friends on Sunday night

I used to love Swenson's! I went to college in West Palm Beach, FL for awhile, and they had one there. It was scrumptious (that and the Howard Johnson's that was also in the area)! I've never been to a Coldstone Creamery. I'll have to try that out the next time I'm near one.

 

[mamacatnv]

Good Morning Ladies:

Trying out a new schedule here - getting to work by 7:15 so I can bail at 3 ish and have the afternoon and early eve. with DD. Wheres the coffee??????

Swensons was yummy! We had a good time.

Saturday DH and I went and saw Oceans 13, I liked it, but I like the chemistry between the characters. We stopped at Baskin Robbins on the way and got "Blasts". We had popcorn at the movies and then tried a Chinese Restaurant that is very well known and we had never been too because it is pretty spendy and I am super cheap The food was good, I don't know if it was worth the extra price tag, but the service was impeccable which in this town is very rare. By the time we got home, we practically had to roll in the door with everything we ate but it was fun!

Other than some laundry and general picking up we didn't do much else this weekend.

We have a massive fire burning up at Lake Tahoe that started yesterday and has covered us with smoke - I have an uncle that lives up in the immediate area of the fire but have been unable to get ahold of anyone for information, so here I sit...................

Hope you all had a great weekend and Happy Monday!

Melissa

 

[Sandy V.]

Melissa, I thought about you this morning when the news mentioned the wildfires near Lake Tahoe. I hope your uncle is safe, and that you continue to be safe as well.

Busy weekend - almost TOO busy. Went out for dinner with friends on Friday night. Rode the motorcycle Saturday with another couple and stopped for breakfast along the way. Went to a cookout at another couple's home on Saturday night. Went whitewater rafting yesterday through the Royal Gorge, which was AMAZINGLY FUN! It was a bit scary, but we were fortunate to have a really good guide in our boat, so it's all good.

Just fell into bed at 9:00 last night and was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Back at work now, which has been very busy lately. Am taking tomorrow off because we're having DS's senior pictures done. Have to shop with him tonight to find a couple of decent shirts to wear.

Horseshowmom, I hope that you had a good day off.

Eliza, I hope that your DD is having a good summer (and you too!)

Pam, my thoughts are with you!!!

 

[mamacatnv]

Sandy, sounds like you had a busy but fun weekend.

I need to get going on Sr. Portraits - as far as I can tell we do the studio ones for the yearbook and then in the Spring we do the fancy ones for announcements. I have a couple of photographers in mind that I need to contact to make sure this is how it works, but that is how all my friends have done it. Also, DS's braces should be off by the end of summer so we are holding out.

I just got off the phone with my Aunt (Uncle's former wife). My Uncle thinks his house is gone, he was right in the vacinity of where the fire is at the worst.

Fortunately, unbeknownst to any of us, he has been staying with a friend in Sacramento and removed all his personel posessions and animals from the house about 5 weeks ago. He has had the house on the market for well over a year since his partner died a little over a year ago from Cancer. My Uncle has Parkinson's disease and everyone has been concerned for his welfare. His Daughter/My Cousin got ahold of him late last night and my Aunt figured it was too late to call me and fill me in. My Aunt and Uncle have remained close even tho they have been divorced for 10 years and Uncle went in a little bit of a different direction relationship wise.

Other than it looks like the smoke is headed our way this morning, we have not been directly affected by this fire. Yesterday the smoke was pouring into the Reno basin but we live well North of town and had we not been in town for ice cream last night we would not have even known there was a major fire burning up there.

 

[Sandy V.]

I need to get going on Sr. Portraits - as far as I can tell we do the studio ones for the yearbook and then in the Spring we do the fancy ones for announcements. I have a couple of photographers in mind that I need to contact to make sure this is how it works, but that is how all my friends have done it. Also, DS's braces should be off by the end of summer so we are holding out.

I just got off the phone with my Aunt (Uncle's former wife). My Uncle thinks his house is gone, he was right in the vacinity of where the fire is at the worst.

Fortunately, unbeknownst to any of us, he has been staying with a friend in Sacramento and removed all his personel posessions and animals from the house about 5 weeks ago.

Glad that it appears that your uncle is safe. Sorry about his house, though. They were talking about HUNDREDS of houses burning down this morning.

We do senior pictures in the summer before school starts. They have to have the shot for the yearbook submitted by the first week of September, which is way too early if you ask me.

As you can tell by DS's photo, he's on the fair side. So I've been a nervous wreck since we set this appointment, nagging him to slather on the sunscreen so he doesn't get burned to a crisp before the photos tomorrow. Fortunately, he's dodged that bullet. There's just today to get through (keeping fingers crossed).

I can see why both you and DS would want to wait for the braces to come off if possible for the pictures. DS had his taken off at the end of his freshman year in high school.

I can appreciate dealing with the smoke. We had a major fire about 12 miles from here on the other side of the mountains where we live back in June 2002. We had all of our prized possessions in the dining room, ready to be loaded in cars at a moments' notice. Fortunately, that didn't happen and it was contained before we had to load things up.

We've had a pretty wet spring so the fire danger is low now, but I do get concerned from time to time when the summer gets hotter and things get progessively drier. I guess that's the cost of living next to the forest.

 

[mamacatnv]

Sandy:
Do you get to submit personal photos for the yearbook? Ours they have to have the standard "tux" one done by the assigned school photographer.

My Aunt says that Uncle's realtor went up there and that the house is gone, but as you know with fires like that things get crazy and it isn't until the smoke settles that the damage is really known. She says at this point since he has had the house on the market that she hopes it is gone otherwise with all the destruction around him he will never get it sold.

We live at the base of a mountain but have a nice wide interstate between us and the mountain and our subdivision is only 10 years old so we don't have extensive trees etc, the fire danger to our house is minimal. We do however keep it in mind and always make sure there are no weeds etc along our fence line.

We have had a super dry winter here and the Tahoe basin is full of dead and dying trees. This has been an on going concern for as long as I have lived in the area (15 yrs). No one can agree on clearing out the dead and dying so it has sat and sat and sat, just continuing to dry out. Every year the forest service up there puts out severe warnings of the danger the area faces but as with anything some listen and some don't. This is the worst fire to hit the area and is the "nightmare" that the forest service has been worried about. The fire so far is about 5 miles from the lake itself so, so far the scenery immediately around the lake has not been affected, but this thing is a monster and when it is all said and done who knows what the damage will actually be.

 

[Sandy V.]

Sandy:
Do you get to submit personal photos for the yearbook? Ours they have to have the standard "tux" one done by the assigned school photographer.

Seniors can use any photographer that they want, but the photo that they submit for the yearbook must be a "head and shoulders" shot in an inside setting. Of course, as soon as you set a rule, there are always those that break it - I can look at last year's yearbook and see lots of violators. But most of the time the shots look fairly consistent.

They don't have to dress in a "tux" - they can wear whatever they want to in their shots.

For some casual shots, DS may have some taken in front of his car. Also in his letter jacket. And, of course, with his lacrosse stick!

Once they're done, we'll select a yearbook shot and then we'll get 8 x 10s for home, my office, and DH's office. When DD was a senior, we then gave framed 5 x 7s of her senior photograph as partial Christmas presents. And then there are the wallet photographs. The seniors hand out wallets to their friends.

We also get to do a 1/4 page baby ad, which we can usually put several pictures of when they were younger, along with a congratulatory message from the family. It doesn't sound as much fun as the full page collage that you are planning, though.

Fires are such hard things to control; the wind messes with things that they think it's contained and then it picks up somewhere else!! You're doing a good thing by keeping those weeds pulled just in case.

 

[mamacatnv]

Seniors can use any photographer that they want, but the photo that they submit for the yearbook must be a "head and shoulders" shot in an inside setting. They don't have to dress in a "tux" - they can wear whatever they want to in their shots.

For some casual shots, DS may have some taken in front of his car. Also in his letter jacket. And, of course, with his lacrosse stick!

I think that is great that you can submit a more personal photo - for whatever reason we don't have any choice on the style that goes into the yearbook. They look just like they did when I was in HS or when my parents were in HS for that matter

DS wants his portraits to include his letter jacket, his paint ball gun, his ski's and a football none of these items surprised me.

Getting them done in the fall does seem so much better, I like the Christmas presents idea, maybe I will need to get a move on a little sooner!

 

[Sandy V.]

I think that is great that you can submit a more personal photo - for whatever reason we don't have any choice on the style that goes into the yearbook. They look just like they did when I was in HS or when my parents were in HS for that matter

DS wants his portraits to include his letter jacket, his paint ball gun, his ski's and a football none of these items surprised me.

Getting them done in the fall does seem so much better, I like the Christmas presents idea, maybe I will need to get a move on a little sooner!

I think that your DS has chosen his items to be in his photographs well. Maybe he should wear the letter jacket and the skis at the same time, and hold the football in one hand and the paintball gun in the other?!?!?! That would make quite a shot!!

I can see my DS standing on top of his car, brandishing his lacrosse stick to hit some invisible "enemy"!!

 

[mamacatnv]

I think that your DS has chosen his items to be in his photographs well. Maybe he should wear the letter jacket and the skis at the same time, and hold the football in one hand and the paintball gun in the other?!?!?! That would make quite a shot!!

I can see my DS standing on top of his car, brandishing his lacrosse stick to hit some invisible "enemy"!!

The only question remaining is........................To wear or Not to wear the masks

Funny, how they are still "little" boys at heart

 

[Sandy V.]

The only question remaining is........................To wear or Not to wear the masks

Funny, how they are still "little" boys at heart

Nah, the football and lacrosse helmets would make it so we couldn't see their faces well.

You know what they say - the only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys!!

 

[mamacatnv]

Nah, the football and lacrosse helmets would make it so we couldn't see their faces well.

You know what they say - the only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys!!

My Goofy DS would want to wear his paint ball mask just for kicks!

I don't know, my DH likes electronics but DS and all his sports are way more spendy..............Just ask me about the size 13 Wide cleats we had to order from UnderArmour yesterday since the kid has square, flat resembles cave men feet! Oh and then there was the new UnderArmour shirt because his are getting "worn out" and then "Mom, if I spend more that $150 I get free shipping and I am at $149.99, can I get some cold weather socks to go with this"????????????
what is this "I" stuff? He had my credit card in his hand!

Then this morning, "Mom, I need the $175 check for football camp and another $150 check for my spirit pack"
I groan and DS says, "well at least this year Coach put 2 t-shirts into our spirit packs"
(yippee, wow, 2 t-shirts!)I think as I am writing out the checks!

I better go make sure DH is not cruising ebay again...........

 

[Sandy V.]

My Goofy DS would want to wear his paint ball mask just for kicks!

I don't know, my DH likes electronics but DS and all his sports are way more spendy..............Just ask me about the size 13 Wide cleats we had to order from UnderArmour yesterday since the kid has square, flat resembles cave men feet! Oh and then there was the new UnderArmour shirt because his are getting "worn out" and then "Mom, if I spend more that $150 I get free shipping and I am at $149.99, can I get some cold weather socks to go with this"????????????
what is this "I" stuff? He had my credit card in his hand!

Then this morning, "Mom, I need the $175 check for football camp and another $150 check for my spirit pack"
I groan and DS says, "well at least this year Coach put 2 t-shirts into our spirit packs"
(yippee, wow, 2 t-shirts!)I think as I am writing out the checks!

I better go make sure DH is not cruising ebay again...........

Yikes!! Okay you win the most expensive week award!!

Yes, my DS is expensive too - just spent $250 on last week's lacrosse camp. But at least he didn't buy a Harley like DH did. DS figures he can ask for a few things every now and then since Dad went out and bought a bike!

 

[mamacatnv]

Yes, my DS is expensive too - just spent $250 on last week's lacrosse camp. But at least he didn't buy a Harley like DH did. DS figures he can ask for a few things every now and then since Dad went out and bought a bike!

DH wants an older Porsche but I don't see him as a Harley Guy. Funny how the parents make the bucks but when we spend a little bit of it on ourselves, the kids try and use it as leverage! Brats!

Of course, I am no one to talk, I keep planning these big vacations!

Next will be what to do with son for his Sr. trip - him and I are going to do a Sr. trip. We have thrown around NYC or Washington DC - I really, really wanted to go to Europe but DH does not want us leaving the country. I'm still working in it, but DH's uneasiness has worn off onto DS and he wants to do something in the US.

 

[Sandy V.]

DH wants an older Porsche but I don't see him as a Harley Guy. Funny how the parents make the bucks but when we spend a little bit of it on ourselves, the kids try and use it as leverage! Brats!

Of course, I am no one to talk, I keep planning these big vacations!

Next will be what to do with son for his Sr. trip - him and I are going to do a Sr. trip. We have thrown around NYC or Washington DC - I really, really wanted to go to Europe but DH does not want us leaving the country. I'm still working in it, but DH's uneasiness has worn off onto DS and he wants to do something in the US.

Yeah, it's funny that the folks buying and riding the Harleys are OUR age. The younger folks can't afford them. It's been a lot of fun riding so far. We're going on a mountain trip with some other folks mid-July. Should be a lot of fun.

Like you, I love travel too.

We're planning on a cruise over Christmas/New Years. Haven't investigated yet, but need to start looking.

Probably going somewhere into the mountains here for a few days this summer. We would also like to go to Europe next summer - it's been all DH's idea, so hey, fine by me!!!

That's why I work - to have my vacation days!!!!

 

[mamacatnv]

That's why I work - to have my vacation days!!!!

I knew there was a reason I liked you

 

[Sandy V.]

I knew there was a reason I liked you

Nobody wins prizes at the end of their life for staying home. I want a head full of memories and albums full of photos.