Ahhhh!  Sweet Paradise!!!!  We took a cruise to Catalina Island and then to nowhere for 3 days!!!  Talk about relaxing, nowhere to go and all day to get there!!  Catalina Island is just off the coast of L.A.  The Wrigley's used it as a spring training place for the cubs, and then for a retreat for their employees.  It is very quaint and adorable, and suprisingly reasonably priced!!  If you get the chance to go it is sooo worth it!  The second leg of our cruise was supposed to be in Mexico, but with the whole swine flu thing we weren't allowed to go on shore.  As a trade off we spent a few blissful days at sea, that is once I got over the whole seasickness thing!!  Yikes!!  To compensate the lack of shore excursions, the ship had tons of activities onboard for those few days.  We even did a walk for the Susan G. Komen foundation. At the end we got real pink lemonade from real pink australian lemons.  Our cruise director Stu brought them with him.  We saw dolphins swimming at the front of the ship, who knew that really happened?!  There was a 24 hour ice cream bar, and the best chocolate cake in the world at dinner!!  

Brig is displaying her towel animal!!

 

There is sunshine in my soul today!!!  Finally, we have sun!!!  We really enjoyed the wonderful feel of warmth and sunshine, at least until once again, you guessed it rain!!!

Any sun at this point is a blessing.  I know, I know, we need the water.  After all we live in a desert, right?!  Is there a place where the desert becomes the next marsh?  We are there.  I tried to walk around my yard and was squishing through the grass.  How much water becomes too much, even for a desert?  

We bought a new piano this week, and Brig will begin piano lessons on Thursday.  If you can believe it she can hardly wait to get started.  I don't remember being this excited for my lessons, and my cousin Mckay is convinced lessons are extremely dangerous after 14 stitches.  Read Jodi's blog for that story!!  Having the opportunity to hear piano music in my home is really something I didn't realize we were missing until it was back.  Now we will have this joy (yes even while convincing Brig to practice, and enduring the attempts) for years to come.

I know you all think I have abandoned my blogging obsession.  I only wish it were that simple.  Instead life has gotten in the way of my lovely blog.  I was extended for a year on my sup job, it can be made permanent whenever they feel like it.  Probably when something really horrible needs to be done and they are looking for the sap to do it!!!  I get to move to another area at the facility and have been doing tons more training.

Brigitte made it through her spring show and now has a couple of weeks off while they clean the rink, yea!!!  Just my luck things would cool down so no warm weather to enjoy with the reprieve!!!

John finished his 3rd (yes 3rd) marathon and didn't do as well as he would like so he is now concentrating on the triathlons. He and Brig have been swimming like crazy to get ready.  

Brig is now out of school for the summer and started summer camp this week.  She is sooo excited so many of her friends are there again and the teachers all remembered her from last year.  She can't wait until her birthday, her best friend is in the activity days group with the older girls and Brig is left behind for another month.  Sucks to be young ( according to her, I would take it in a heartbeat )!!

We took a cruise to Catalina Island and then spent a couple of days at sea.  Once I was done being seasick we had a great time.  The kids camp was super fun and Brig made lots of new friends, I know, shocker!!  Catalina is gorgeous, totally loved it!  

When we got home from vacation, John still had a long weekend and needed a new project.  We couldn't get the wood we needed to finish all the floors, so we are in the middle of a bathroom remodel.  Our master didn't have a fan or a door between the bathroom and the bedroom.  We also had carpet throughout the bathroom that has now been replaced with tile.  Once we finish installing new lighting and patching the holes, we will be ready to repaint and that will include the closet, that they didn't paint and repainting the bedroom along with some new lighting in there too.  Ah, life in upheaval.  I wouldn't know any other way.