December 2015- Vacation(s)!!! Who’s spoiled?

CHEERS!!!!!!

John and I kicked off the holiday season in one of our favorite places in the world..Wine country!!! We were off to the Napa Valley for a few days of R&R (that’s Riesling and Rose’) before the National Onion Association conference in San Francisco.

If you don’t drink wine….well, first of all there’s something wrong with you. But, secondly you are really missing out on a beautiful, educational trip. I drink a LOT of wine, but usually stick to my favorites and know next to nothing about winemaking. Touring a vineyard and wine cellar with someone who knows the ins and out of the business is really fun, AND you get drunk!! Theoretically, you are supposed to TASTE the wine and then spit it out into a bucket. But, my mother taught me that ladies don’t spit, so I thought I’d better finish it all just to be polite.

Isn’t it beautiful? Land prices start at a cool half a million dollars an acre, which would produce about enough wine for me and the family for a week or two, so I think my dreams of owning and operating a Napa Valley vineyard are dim.

After we scrubbed the red wine stain from our lips (you know what I am talking about), we drove back to San Francisco for a few days on the wharf with a little business mixed in. San Francisco is one of my favorite cities, so we spent time exploring the sites…and what better way to start than by having four (!!!) world-famous Irish Coffees at the Buena Vista. Shopping and walking up and down the hills was WAY more fun after that. We did our usual eating and drinking tour of the best parts of Chinatown and the wharf.

As much fun as we had, a week is a long time to be gone from my babies, and I couldn’t wait to get home to them. We had a lot to catch up on, and some Christmas to celebrate.

Meanwhile. back at the ranch look who lost her first tooth?!?!?! It was a momentous occasion because it happened while at school and she couldn’t have been prouder. The tooth fairy delivered a crisp $5.00 bill which Reese promptly spent on candy. The rest of those teeth will be gone in no time….

And at long last we were being treated to a proper winter, being that we live in Colorado. I don’t think in the last 5 years there has been a snowstorm that produced enough “good” snow to build a snowman. These poor kids had one of those kits with the hat, nose, eyes, etc and it was still in the box. It was finally put to good use and I think they made a pretty awesome Olaf…which Walter and Charlie quickly destroyed. It was just like the movie, where Olaf loses his behind. Damn dogs.

In other news, a certain little elf made her way back from the North Pole to make sure my little people were worthy of a visit from Santa. I’ll tell you, she had her work cut out for her in keeping an eye on habanero every day. In the end, Crystal wasn’t too naughty this year, and pulled a few cute shenanigans out of her hat….

So, you know the song “I’ll Be Home For Christmas?” Not this year.

“White Christmas?” Only if it’s white sand.

This year was going to be MUCH different than in year’s past, as we were going ON VACATION for Christmas. Grandpa Larry very generously agreed to (was talked into) take the whole family on a Caribbean cruise over the holidays. John and I love cruising and were very excited to include our little people. AND, we had never been on a tropical vacation with Eric and family. So, needless to say we were looking forward to it.

Someone was especially excited…..

We escaped the snow and cold on a Saturday morning and despite almost missing our flight, arrived in Fort Lauderdale unscathed. If you’ll look back a couple of months, there is a description of what it’s like to travel with John. I was terribly worried, because not only did we have connecting flights, but we were flying COACH…gasp! The horror! He was on his best behavior, and actually did an amazing job of keeping habanero entertained for the 6 hours of flight time.

Seeing the looks on the kids faces when they saw the ship for the first time was awesome. If you’ve never been, it’s really something to see. You can’t imagine how something that massive can possibly float….much like myself. Ha!!!

Anyhoo, our first port stop was Nassau, Bahamas. Part of the family went on a deep sea fishing excursion, but we opted out in favor of exploring the sites. John and I had been there before and thus had tunnel vision for lunch at The Fish Fry. First though, we ensured the kids experienced all that Nassau had to offer in the form of hair braiding and a carriage ride through the city pulled by a horse that was on his last leg….

Reese was mortified by the huge handful of Vaseline that this woman smeared onto her hair before braiding. This was a forced smile….

Funny story about this next picture….a true Rastafarian ran up and asked us if we wanted a memento photo of our vacation. And then asked for my phone to take the picture. He was a professional as you can see below, and had the nerve to ask me for a “few dollars to buy presents for the kids”. If it hadn’t been the Christmas season, or I had actually looked at the pictures, I would have told him where to stick it. You want money for taking crappy pictures with MY OWN PHONE?

Our next stop was beautiful St. Thomas, where we enjoyed some beach time. Jackson and his cousins did some snorkeling, while Reese and Malory just enjoyed the beach with their Daddy. I enjoyed the beer. Stick with what you’re good at, right?

We spent Christmas Eve day on the beach in Saint Maarten. The half of our family that gets up early (not us) staked out a good spot at Maho Beach to watch the airplanes come and go. Plus, they were able to get a good spot at the bar, and it’s rumored they had some shots.

So, our taxi driver took us to an awesome little spot in a more secluded part of Saint Maarten. The beach and the water weren’t quite as pretty as St. Thomas, but the sun was warm and the beer was cold. Perfect Christmas Eve, although vastly different from the norm.

The last 2 days of our trip were spent at sea. Santa was able to use the newly installed GPS on his sleigh and found both our ship AND our cabin in the middle of the Caribbean. We left the door to our balcony unlatched, so that it would be easier for Santa to deliver our goodies. Unbeknownst to us, leaving the balcony unlatched disables the air conditioning. Hot air + high humidity + tequila shots at dinner does NOT equal a restful night’s sleep. I should have offered to give Santa a break and taken over the South American leg of the journey. I was up after all….

We spent Christmas day eating sushi and multiple ice cream cones. We lounged by the pool and mastered the Flow Rider. Overall, it was a Christmas like none we’ve ever had, but was pretty awesome nonetheless.