Monday, March 22, 2004
I think I deserve a round of applause...I just made the lowest grade of my college career...how do I know I wont ever make lower? Cause I would shoot myself before I ever walked into a test that unprepared again! But, am I too disappointed? No...spring break was well worth it and I will still finish off the semester with at least a 3.65. :) So...on to much more important things...like spring break...
Lets just say it is a tough call on which vacation was better...Caymans or Cali. Ok, not such a tough call since the Caymans is a tropical island where I spend $0 of my own...but pretty comparable! :) And, next to Hawaii in December and wherever the man lucky enough to marry me takes me for our honeymoon, this is the best trip I foresee in my life! Patty asked me where we will go next year...I dont know, but wherever it is, it has to be pretty freaking awesome!
So, we left on Monday at around 2 from jonathan's house. After being forced to take 2 loaves of the best banana bread ever and a huge bag of my favorite strawberry candy we were on our way!!! Ralf and Chris were in the backseat, I rode shotgun, and Jonathan was our chauffer. (sp?) We put in some james, hit 290, and next stop...sonora, tx. :) But, close enough to california I could almost taste it! :) Chris and Ralf didnt last long before falling asleep...maybe 5 minutes. :) I was determined to prove Jonathan wrong and stay awake for at least 19 of teh 22 hour drive, so I was pushing myself. After shifting myself about 200 times in the seat and changing the CD a million times, we made it to our first gas stop! Just kidding, the car ride was actually pretty awesome considering it was 22 hours! We had TONS of fun and TONS of laughs!!! Who knew a day could pass by faster than history class ever seemed to? Since the car ride didnt contain anything too exciting other than the most beautiful heat lightening storm ever and me not living up to my 19 hours of staying awake, I will move on! :)
We arrived on Tuesday and, because of the time change, it was 10 but felt like noon...we were eating mexican food about 5 minutes after they opened! :) We went into a surf shop to ask a few locals their opinion on what to do next, and once check-in time hit, we were gone! We took a much needed nap on beds that usually wouldnt feel so good, and then got all showered up. I figured I should wake up before the boys since I was the only girl and would take longer but if I had known then that Jonathan and Ralf tkae about 2 minutes to wake up, 3 minutes to roll over, 2 minutes to get out of bed and into each other's beds, 5 minutes to wrestle, 2 minutes to relax, and THEN get ready...oh man, I would have slept longer! But, that proved to be useful information as I woke them up the following days! We hit up Old Town, drank some margaritas at a restaurant, went to a few other restaurants in search of the "worlds largest margarita" for chris, bought some souvenirs, watched some glass blowing, and headed back. We stopped by Mission Beach to ride a roller coaster on the beach which looked over the ocean (Chris: I'm so proud of you! You entertained me for the entire 45 second ride!) and walked the strip on Mission Beach. We then decided not to go out since we had to get up early and surf the next day, so we headed home. On the way home we made one of what would be our favorite maneuvar of the trip: A U-TURN. We were searching for the rode to get to the very visible Dave & Busters but because California doesnt understand the concept of feder streets, we never found it. We went to a movie theater in hopes to see Starsky in hutch but, in true cali fashion, the movie ticket was $10!!! WHOA! So, we went to the hotel and watched a hilarious TV show that is now on my weekly watch list! We hit the bed and had a good nights sleep.
Wednesday was AWESOME! I woke the boys up with the most delicious continental breakfast ever, ralf asked chris how his convention went before realizing that was in his dream, and after Jonathan and Ralf's routine, we heaed to the beach! We dressed ourselves in ridiculous looking wet-suits that didnt agree with my thighs :) and learned to surf...on the sand! :) That was only about 20 minutes of the lesson but it was pretty funny. We hit the waves and Jonathan was a natural! I guess the years of snowboarding helped. Chris, being the natual athlete he is caught on pretty well too and the 2 of them were soon out with the Kahuna Bob on the big boy waves. Ralf and I, though catching and riding many waves in, didnt quite make it out to the big stuff...but had a blast anyway! While surfing I contemplated the advantages and disadvantages to never coming back to texas...I guess the disadvantages won out, but barely! After surfing and realizing there was no where to rinse off, we carefully loaded ourselves along with pounds of sand into the car, headed to a mexican restaurant for lunch, then back to the hotel for showers and yet another nap! :) No doubt it was just as hard to get the boys up after this nap and Jonathan and ralf were hesitant to even go out to the st pattys parade...chris made them though! :) the Gaslamp district had a concert, a parade, and some bars and clubs for entertainment and at 2 it was time for me to take the boys home! We crashed once more with a wake up call again set for 9 am.
Thursday morning I woke up and, once more, went downstairs to get the boys breakfast...this time with no help from them! (I didnt mind...I am the controlling type...:) I felt pretty dumb though when I cleared out the cinnamin roll tray, emptied the apple juice pitcher, and took more butter than humanly needed...eh well. I took it upstairs to wake the boys from their slumber to which they were very disappointed, and then we all fell back asleep! We had planned on going to the zoo at around 9:30 and then some museums...but, after sleep, noon sounded good! :) We went to the zoo around noon and while contemplating whether or not to buy the pass to ride the trolley we found out the zoo is on 106 acres! WHOA! We walked the zoo for 4.5 hours and I SAW PANDA BEARS! I have waited my whole life for that! I had no idea how beautiful they would be in person...peacefully relaxing in the shade and eating bamboo...I wanted so badly to jump the fence and give it a hug, but I took 8 pictures instead! :) After seeing the pandas, polar bears, meercats, hippos pooping while fish at it, and many other exciting animals we headed back to the hotel. We were exhausted as lazy college kids would be and took YET ANOTHER nap. This time waking the boys wasnt so difficult cause food was in their minds and nothing was in their stomachs. We went over to a seafood place where I enjoyed crabcakes and we shared many classic quotes. Wish I could share them, but you wouldnt appreciate the humor! All I have to say is, Chris is still clueless as to what a microbrew is! :) We played a little 42 and then neaded to PB for the nightlife where we were informed that 18+ clubs didnt exist down there due to the shootings...YIKES!!! We headed back, played some 42, and went to bed far too late.
Friday morning, once again, was a struggle to get up. Ralf went downstairs with me to get the breakfast but then he went back to bed when we returned! :) We did get up reasonably early though and went over to Balboa park where we visited a war veterans museum and the aerospace museum. Both were very nice museums and i really enjoyed them! Do we have such cool museums in Houston??? After we spent 3 times as long in the aerospace museum as planned we headed to Jonathan's uncles house in Orange County, with a short detour in La Jolla for lunch. We stopped at a pizza place and thought it would be like sbarro or something...but it was a sit down restaurant with tons of varieties of whole pizzas. It was good, but pretty expensive! After noting more ADD from ralf...in the middle of Jonathan's story he got up to go to the bathroom...we headed off to Orange County. Of course we couldnt make it straight there...we had to take 3 u-turns first. :) We finally got there and saw Bill, Jonathan's dad's brother, who is the exact OPPOSITE in every way! He was pretty fun...he took us surfing for a few hours, gave us some pointers, and probably laughed at our inexperience! Jared met us there too and it was AWESOME to see him! I have missed him so much. After surfing we went back to Bill's house for dinner and we chilled there for the evening...listened to TONS of stories about Bill growing up...he was hilarious and talking to him you would think he was 24 or something! I swear, he should meet my aunt laura!!! :) They would be a perfect match. We left around midnight an made the hour drive back to La Mesa and crashed once we hit the pillows! Saturday we got up, got breakfast, packed, ate lunch, and headed back to Texas. Of course, we had to stop 4 times for gas, many times for food, and once for casino where the bouncer wouldnt even let me stand outside the door!!! Eh well!
We made it back to Texas and 10 hours later back to Houston!!! :) I was excited to get out of the car, but sad spring break was over! I ate dinner with Ralf and Jonathan at Jonathan's house and then headed back here to my lovely apartment and my computer with a VIRUS!!! GRRR. I am currently on Alexis's computer and trying to find software that can detect the deadhat virus but all the download versions are too large for my disc. I HATE THIS!!! WHERE DID SAN DIEGO GO?!?!
So...some funny stories from the trip:
In Old Town we were walking back to our car and a woman stopped us to give is the biggest load of bull I have ever heard:
That over there is my son and we found out about 2 hours ago our car was stolen. We talked to teh San Diego police and they said that they couldnt help us and it is very likely our car is in Mexico adn we will never see it again. I left my purse with over $600 cash, my luggage, everything...we dont even have anywhere to stay tonight. We need to get back to New York and a bus ticket is $49.99. If you could give me anything...we would appreciate any help...
So, Ralf, being the genius he is, said "All I have is 2 quarters for a phone call"
She acted grateful, walked to the phone, and we walked to our car to go home. The irony of it. :) Her story was so rehearsed I couldnt help myself...I wanted to crack up the entire time. OH well.
Jonathan wanted to play 42 so he told me to explain it to Ralf in the car on the way back to the hotel...I was explaining, doing my best to make it simple, and Jonathan looks in the rearview mirror to notice Ralf was looking out his window. He said "Ralf isnt paying attention" then I stopped talking, looked back, and Jonathan said "Ralf, what is the last thing Amanda said?" "Um...something about me not paying attention" Then in the hotel I asked Ralf "Do you remember anything I said?" "That it is like spades" "no ralf...thats what YOU said..."
Chris also seemed to have a little bit of an attention problem...one morning he wanted to go downstairs to get MORE breakfast and he said "Do either of you want anything?" "no thanks" "you sure? nothing to drink?" "ok, 2 glasses of apple juice" "you sure you dont want orange this time?" "no, apple, thanks" a few minutes later...chris returns empty handed...
I think the two most used phrases of the trip were: Amanda, earmuffs and Jonathan, could you pop the trunk? Of course, it always took 2 attempts to ask him to open the trunk and I never used earmuffs...oops!
Well, the frustration from not having internet has reached a new high so I better get dressed, take my computer in, and begin working on my to-do list for today...so much to do, so many time conflicts, I know many things will be left undone...have a good day! au revoir
Lets just say it is a tough call on which vacation was better...Caymans or Cali. Ok, not such a tough call since the Caymans is a tropical island where I spend $0 of my own...but pretty comparable! :) And, next to Hawaii in December and wherever the man lucky enough to marry me takes me for our honeymoon, this is the best trip I foresee in my life! Patty asked me where we will go next year...I dont know, but wherever it is, it has to be pretty freaking awesome!
So, we left on Monday at around 2 from jonathan's house. After being forced to take 2 loaves of the best banana bread ever and a huge bag of my favorite strawberry candy we were on our way!!! Ralf and Chris were in the backseat, I rode shotgun, and Jonathan was our chauffer. (sp?) We put in some james, hit 290, and next stop...sonora, tx. :) But, close enough to california I could almost taste it! :) Chris and Ralf didnt last long before falling asleep...maybe 5 minutes. :) I was determined to prove Jonathan wrong and stay awake for at least 19 of teh 22 hour drive, so I was pushing myself. After shifting myself about 200 times in the seat and changing the CD a million times, we made it to our first gas stop! Just kidding, the car ride was actually pretty awesome considering it was 22 hours! We had TONS of fun and TONS of laughs!!! Who knew a day could pass by faster than history class ever seemed to? Since the car ride didnt contain anything too exciting other than the most beautiful heat lightening storm ever and me not living up to my 19 hours of staying awake, I will move on! :)
We arrived on Tuesday and, because of the time change, it was 10 but felt like noon...we were eating mexican food about 5 minutes after they opened! :) We went into a surf shop to ask a few locals their opinion on what to do next, and once check-in time hit, we were gone! We took a much needed nap on beds that usually wouldnt feel so good, and then got all showered up. I figured I should wake up before the boys since I was the only girl and would take longer but if I had known then that Jonathan and Ralf tkae about 2 minutes to wake up, 3 minutes to roll over, 2 minutes to get out of bed and into each other's beds, 5 minutes to wrestle, 2 minutes to relax, and THEN get ready...oh man, I would have slept longer! But, that proved to be useful information as I woke them up the following days! We hit up Old Town, drank some margaritas at a restaurant, went to a few other restaurants in search of the "worlds largest margarita" for chris, bought some souvenirs, watched some glass blowing, and headed back. We stopped by Mission Beach to ride a roller coaster on the beach which looked over the ocean (Chris: I'm so proud of you! You entertained me for the entire 45 second ride!) and walked the strip on Mission Beach. We then decided not to go out since we had to get up early and surf the next day, so we headed home. On the way home we made one of what would be our favorite maneuvar of the trip: A U-TURN. We were searching for the rode to get to the very visible Dave & Busters but because California doesnt understand the concept of feder streets, we never found it. We went to a movie theater in hopes to see Starsky in hutch but, in true cali fashion, the movie ticket was $10!!! WHOA! So, we went to the hotel and watched a hilarious TV show that is now on my weekly watch list! We hit the bed and had a good nights sleep.
Wednesday was AWESOME! I woke the boys up with the most delicious continental breakfast ever, ralf asked chris how his convention went before realizing that was in his dream, and after Jonathan and Ralf's routine, we heaed to the beach! We dressed ourselves in ridiculous looking wet-suits that didnt agree with my thighs :) and learned to surf...on the sand! :) That was only about 20 minutes of the lesson but it was pretty funny. We hit the waves and Jonathan was a natural! I guess the years of snowboarding helped. Chris, being the natual athlete he is caught on pretty well too and the 2 of them were soon out with the Kahuna Bob on the big boy waves. Ralf and I, though catching and riding many waves in, didnt quite make it out to the big stuff...but had a blast anyway! While surfing I contemplated the advantages and disadvantages to never coming back to texas...I guess the disadvantages won out, but barely! After surfing and realizing there was no where to rinse off, we carefully loaded ourselves along with pounds of sand into the car, headed to a mexican restaurant for lunch, then back to the hotel for showers and yet another nap! :) No doubt it was just as hard to get the boys up after this nap and Jonathan and ralf were hesitant to even go out to the st pattys parade...chris made them though! :) the Gaslamp district had a concert, a parade, and some bars and clubs for entertainment and at 2 it was time for me to take the boys home! We crashed once more with a wake up call again set for 9 am.
Thursday morning I woke up and, once more, went downstairs to get the boys breakfast...this time with no help from them! (I didnt mind...I am the controlling type...:) I felt pretty dumb though when I cleared out the cinnamin roll tray, emptied the apple juice pitcher, and took more butter than humanly needed...eh well. I took it upstairs to wake the boys from their slumber to which they were very disappointed, and then we all fell back asleep! We had planned on going to the zoo at around 9:30 and then some museums...but, after sleep, noon sounded good! :) We went to the zoo around noon and while contemplating whether or not to buy the pass to ride the trolley we found out the zoo is on 106 acres! WHOA! We walked the zoo for 4.5 hours and I SAW PANDA BEARS! I have waited my whole life for that! I had no idea how beautiful they would be in person...peacefully relaxing in the shade and eating bamboo...I wanted so badly to jump the fence and give it a hug, but I took 8 pictures instead! :) After seeing the pandas, polar bears, meercats, hippos pooping while fish at it, and many other exciting animals we headed back to the hotel. We were exhausted as lazy college kids would be and took YET ANOTHER nap. This time waking the boys wasnt so difficult cause food was in their minds and nothing was in their stomachs. We went over to a seafood place where I enjoyed crabcakes and we shared many classic quotes. Wish I could share them, but you wouldnt appreciate the humor! All I have to say is, Chris is still clueless as to what a microbrew is! :) We played a little 42 and then neaded to PB for the nightlife where we were informed that 18+ clubs didnt exist down there due to the shootings...YIKES!!! We headed back, played some 42, and went to bed far too late.
Friday morning, once again, was a struggle to get up. Ralf went downstairs with me to get the breakfast but then he went back to bed when we returned! :) We did get up reasonably early though and went over to Balboa park where we visited a war veterans museum and the aerospace museum. Both were very nice museums and i really enjoyed them! Do we have such cool museums in Houston??? After we spent 3 times as long in the aerospace museum as planned we headed to Jonathan's uncles house in Orange County, with a short detour in La Jolla for lunch. We stopped at a pizza place and thought it would be like sbarro or something...but it was a sit down restaurant with tons of varieties of whole pizzas. It was good, but pretty expensive! After noting more ADD from ralf...in the middle of Jonathan's story he got up to go to the bathroom...we headed off to Orange County. Of course we couldnt make it straight there...we had to take 3 u-turns first. :) We finally got there and saw Bill, Jonathan's dad's brother, who is the exact OPPOSITE in every way! He was pretty fun...he took us surfing for a few hours, gave us some pointers, and probably laughed at our inexperience! Jared met us there too and it was AWESOME to see him! I have missed him so much. After surfing we went back to Bill's house for dinner and we chilled there for the evening...listened to TONS of stories about Bill growing up...he was hilarious and talking to him you would think he was 24 or something! I swear, he should meet my aunt laura!!! :) They would be a perfect match. We left around midnight an made the hour drive back to La Mesa and crashed once we hit the pillows! Saturday we got up, got breakfast, packed, ate lunch, and headed back to Texas. Of course, we had to stop 4 times for gas, many times for food, and once for casino where the bouncer wouldnt even let me stand outside the door!!! Eh well!
We made it back to Texas and 10 hours later back to Houston!!! :) I was excited to get out of the car, but sad spring break was over! I ate dinner with Ralf and Jonathan at Jonathan's house and then headed back here to my lovely apartment and my computer with a VIRUS!!! GRRR. I am currently on Alexis's computer and trying to find software that can detect the deadhat virus but all the download versions are too large for my disc. I HATE THIS!!! WHERE DID SAN DIEGO GO?!?!
So...some funny stories from the trip:
In Old Town we were walking back to our car and a woman stopped us to give is the biggest load of bull I have ever heard:
That over there is my son and we found out about 2 hours ago our car was stolen. We talked to teh San Diego police and they said that they couldnt help us and it is very likely our car is in Mexico adn we will never see it again. I left my purse with over $600 cash, my luggage, everything...we dont even have anywhere to stay tonight. We need to get back to New York and a bus ticket is $49.99. If you could give me anything...we would appreciate any help...
So, Ralf, being the genius he is, said "All I have is 2 quarters for a phone call"
She acted grateful, walked to the phone, and we walked to our car to go home. The irony of it. :) Her story was so rehearsed I couldnt help myself...I wanted to crack up the entire time. OH well.
Jonathan wanted to play 42 so he told me to explain it to Ralf in the car on the way back to the hotel...I was explaining, doing my best to make it simple, and Jonathan looks in the rearview mirror to notice Ralf was looking out his window. He said "Ralf isnt paying attention" then I stopped talking, looked back, and Jonathan said "Ralf, what is the last thing Amanda said?" "Um...something about me not paying attention" Then in the hotel I asked Ralf "Do you remember anything I said?" "That it is like spades" "no ralf...thats what YOU said..."
Chris also seemed to have a little bit of an attention problem...one morning he wanted to go downstairs to get MORE breakfast and he said "Do either of you want anything?" "no thanks" "you sure? nothing to drink?" "ok, 2 glasses of apple juice" "you sure you dont want orange this time?" "no, apple, thanks" a few minutes later...chris returns empty handed...
I think the two most used phrases of the trip were: Amanda, earmuffs and Jonathan, could you pop the trunk? Of course, it always took 2 attempts to ask him to open the trunk and I never used earmuffs...oops!
Well, the frustration from not having internet has reached a new high so I better get dressed, take my computer in, and begin working on my to-do list for today...so much to do, so many time conflicts, I know many things will be left undone...have a good day! au revoir
Comments:
Post a Comment
