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Archive for Travel Man

Fun Times here at Camp Grandma

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Renee Spindle

Two weeks of Camp Grandma have passed now. Evan has had some busy days here, and gotten lots of little projects done. I am fortunate to be able to have Evan here two days a week over his summer vacation. He comes to “Camp Grandma” on Thursday’s and Friday’s.

Each week I have something fun planned for us to do. Funny thing is when we have an extra person joining us for the day, Evan and I say we have a “special guest” with us for the day.

Our first week of Camp Grandma, we had special guest, Uncle Bryan with us for the day. On Thursday it was a gorgeous Southern California day, and we went to the beach. My favorite beach to take Evan to is Corona del Mar. Actually, I always took the kids to this beach when they were younger, because it’s a little inlet kind of beach, and the waves don’t get too outrageous. We packed a nice picnic lunch, threw the boogie boards in the car and off we went. Evan has so much fun in the sand and surf. He’s quite brave in the water, and made this Grandma just a bit nervous a few times.

Evan loves to be covered in sand and rolls around in it, especially when he is wet.

He spent tons of time in the water, and when we got into the car to drive home he was asleep in just a few minutes.

He got some boogie boarding lessons from his Uncle Bryan, and we decided he needs a little bit smaller boogie board to get his arms around. I wasn’t able to get any good pictures of the boogie boarding. I was too excited for Evan to be skimming across the water. He was a trooper and kept going back out into the water and eventually “caught a few waves” (translation – swam in on the whitewash of the waves!). Thanks to Uncle Bryan for being our first “special guest”, on our first day of Camp Grandma.

On Friday, of week one it was definitely a day of rest. We were so pooped out from beach the day before, that the only thing we did that day was read a book, went for a swim, and played some Go Fish (Evan’s favorite card game). Evan read “Go Dog Go” to me and our dog, Clyde. Clyde really liked the story, he went to sleep.

As a side note, the “Camp Grandma” phrase was coined by Travel Man. He’s excited for Evan and I to get to spend some time together again this summer. I think we’ll make some special t-shirts or hats that say “Camp Grandma”. I’m looking forward to lots of fun craft and science projects, and some reading mixed in there too. Plus we’ll mix in a few road trips to the beach, or the museum, or the aquarium. Stay tuned for more adventures with Evan and I in the weeks to come. Hope everyone’s summer is off to a great start.

No comments Posted in Around the House, Crafts, Evanisms, Family, Travel Man

Mark That One off of My Bucket List.

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Renee Spindle

The weekend is over, the daughters have gone back to work, and life is somewhat back to “normal”. What a weekend we had! As you may have previously read my kids gave me tickets to see Celine Dion in concert for Christmas last year. Well, Saturday night was finally the night we got to see Celine. And, oh my it was so worth the wait. Celine Dion is one of those singers that can just make anything she sings sound so smooth and wonderful to your ears. And I have to say it’s extremely difficult to put into words how her voice fills a room. The theatre at the Colosseum in Caesar’s Palace holds about 4100 people and the show on Saturday night was a complete sell out.

For me it was a truly magical experience. When you are having an experience like this and realizing that one of your dreams is coming true, it is just mesmerizing. Maybe that’s how I felt during the show, just mesmerized! he show lasted for about 90 minutes, and it was one good song after another. Celine sang everything from “Open Arms” by Journey to “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele, and of course a lot of her hits in between all of that. Her finale song was “My Heart Will Go On” from the Titanic soundtrack. Oh and her wonderful singing is accompanied by a 31 piece orchestra. Just phenomenal musicianship.

We did have a slight “faux pas” before we got to see the show. Hilary won’t want me to talk about this but I have to because it was part of our night. Hilary picked up the tickets at the will call window, tucked them in her little evening purse, and off we went to the gift shop. About half way through our browsing a gentlemen comes up to us and asks if we are going to the show. Of course we say yes, and he tells us that one of the employees found some tickets on the ground. Hilary checks here purse and the tickets are not there! We all have heart attacks, and Hilary finds the employee who found the tickets. He tells here they were taken to lost and found, and we try to calmly wait for the woman who took them there to come back. She gets back in the gift shop, and Hilary talks to her and goes over to will call to get the tickets back. Oh my – we were having conniption fits waiting. After the disappointment of not seeing the show in February, we did not need lost tickets. But Hilary calm, cool, and collective strolled back over to the will call window and got the tickets back with her big sister by her side. Naomi snatched the tickets from Hilary and put them in her purse. Our night went on without any other hitches. Just lots of girl talk, giggling, and fun times together.

Thanks to all my kids for such a wonderful gift. And a special thanks to Travel Man for putting up with our chattering in the car on the way to Vegas, and on the trip home. Hugs all around!

No comments Posted in Family, Travel Man, Travels

It’s Finally Celine Weekend

Posted on June 9, 2012 by Renee Spindle

Well ladies and gentlemen it’s the moment my daughters and I have been excitedly, yet anxiously awaiting. As you are reading this post we are on the road driving to Las Vegas. And I’m also happy to report that Travel Man is our chauffeur this weekend. I’m so glad he was able to make it home to join us.

Now, mind you it is not my normal modus operandi to pre-blog about an event, but this trip is worth giving you a little sneak peek. For Christmas last year my kids gave me tickets to see Celine in Vegas, in February, with my daughters. This is a dream come true for me. One of those items on my bucket list, as I have always followed Celine’s music, and love her singing.

In February the girls and I make a weekend of it. We leave for Vegas on a Friday after the girls are off of work to stay for two nights, as the show was on Saturday night. The girls do some zip-lining down Fremont Street (and no I did not join them, thank you very much), and we had a great time hanging out together Saturday morning.

Our sad Celine faces. Notice the billboard in the background.

As we are eating lunch on this particular Saturday, in February, I decide to check on the internet to see how long the show would be so we could make plans for after the show. And ugh! I found out that Celine has had to cancel her shows due to a virus. Boo-hoo! We were soooo disappointed, but daughter, Hilary, got right on the phone and got the tickets re-scheduled to the June 9th show. We ended up having a nice dinner Saturday night and made our way home on Sunday morning as originally planned.

So, today is June 9th. Celine’s return to the Colosseum at Caesar’s palace in Las Vegas. We are hoping for a fabulous, fantastic show that will knock our socks off! And if each of you could send us a little good juju (and if you’re a baseball fan you know what I’m talking about) we know that the show will go off without a hitch. We’re keeping our fingers and toes crossed, and will report on our triumph after the weekend, with pictures of course.

No comments Posted in Family, Travel Man, Travels

It’s Another Installment of When Travel Man’s Away

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Renee Spindle

Well friends I feel the need to share another saga in the “when travel man’s away” category. So Monday I’m all set to go and do some errands, a little browsing at Michael’s (one of my fave craft supply hangouts), and maybe stop for an ice cream treat. My car had other plans for my afternoon. I start the car, put the windows down, and clunky, clunk, clunk. I pushed the button to put see of it would go up, and nothing. So, off to the car dealer I went, with the window down. Luckily I could get there without going on the freeway. Oi! A quick call to Travel Man to let him know what had happened. “Just go to the dealer”, he says, ” Nothing else you can do for that one.”. Funny thing was Travel Man had taken the other car to LAX on Sunday so I didn’t have the extra car here like I normally would. I just love it when good ‘ol Murph pays a visit!

I get to the dealer safe and sound, get myself checked in with my favorite service guy, Jose, and leave the car overnight. I had talked to my Mom after this and she said, “Oh that can be a pricey fix.”. And it was. Just under $500 out the door. I did talk Jose down 50 $$ on the cost of the part, but ouch. And I didn’t even get to go on my little shopping expedition. I’ll save that for another day.

Just a friendly reminder that stuff can happen when you least expect it. It’s just a matter of taking care of business and moving on. And of course I want Travel Man to know that I am extremely capable of taking care of these things at home, so he doesn’t worry about it. That’s part of my Domestic Goddess job description you see. Happy Wednesday everyone, now let’s get through the rest of this week.

One comment Posted in Travel Man

Illuminating Blogger Award

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Renee Spindle

This is going to be a great week. This girl is starting the week with a blog award nomination. I have been nominated for the Illuminating Blogger Award by C.J at FoodStories. Thanks so much for recognizing my blog. It’s fun to share recipes and get food ideas from so many sources on the internet. It’s seems like your weekly menu planning can never get dull and boring with so many resources available.

It has been so much fun writing and sharing my stories of life, food, motherhood and grandmahood. There are so many things to learn about blogging and writing. Sometimes I feel like a big sponge soaking up all of the information available at my fingertips. Finding out that people like to read what you are writing about is just the icing on the cake.

In the spirit of the award here is some randomness about me. My adult life until last August was all about work and family. Sometimes I would get the priority of those two things mixed up, have to stop, breathe and re-focus myself. This can happen to you when all of your kids are in their twenties, like mine are. Now I am love, love, loving my new-found title of “domestic goddess”, coined by my husband, Travel Man. There’s not a whole lot that can compare to setting your own schedule, and doing what you want, when you want.

To my fellow bloggers – there are so many blogs I enjoy reading. If I list my top five they would be (in no particular order):

1) the thing about joan – Wonderful Mom stories. Reminds me of my days with 4 kids in tow, going everywhere.

2) Rantings of an Amateur Chef – Love the presentation of recipes here, and the stories that go along with them.

3) Shutterbug Sage– Such a great collection of pictures. I love photography, and love looking at the world through another photographer’s eye.

4) Maggiesonebuttkitchen – What a plethora of recipes to choose from. I am looking forward to making some of Maggie’s recipes over the summer. Yum, yum.

5) Meg Travels– Meg has great pictures of her travel adventures, and I love reading her tips and tricks for great travel experiences.

To accept your nomination please go this link at Food Stories.

Thanks again CJ for this nomination. It’s really fun writing and exploring other bloggers sites, and learning about what’s interests people. Happy writing and exploring to all.