Wordless Wednesday: Photo Bombing at The Grand Canyon

This past weekend we headed out to The Grand Canyon for a much needed weekend of R&R. We were fortunate to meet up with a fellow blogger, Terrye, from The Adventures of A Misplaced Alaskan, and her wonderful family.

However, old habits die hard. Usually, I am the one behind the camera so if I want to be included in the pictures, I have to take self portraits.

When I uploaded the pictures, I couldn't help but laugh when I realized we had been "Photo Bombed!"

Happy couple enjoying a break from the stresses of life.

If you too would like to participate in Wordless Wednesday, check out Pictimilitude for submission guidelines!

I found the Alaskan who was Misplaced in Arizona

The end of 2012 was upon us and I knew I was in trouble... after all, I was getting a new neighbor.

Ok... so it really wasn't a new neighbor. I was already familiar with her. After all, I was listening to her advice about how to get dressed for a zombie apocalypse and how to make money illegally. What can I say, this type of information is invaluable!

What she didn't know was what she was in for. She joked about the crazy lady hiding outside her house in the bushes. But I bet she never imagined what that would lead to...

A couple hour train ride that lead to a big hole in the earth!

Ok - it could have been dangerous. After all, I am known for my bad acting skills. I once knocked myself unconscious acting out a scene done by Rick from the Walking Dead. Can you imagine acting out a scene from Thelma and Louis?

Well, my husband does have a life insurance policy out on me... but I prefer to stick around and torture him.

The reality of it is, when The Undiagnosed Mad Woman meets ups with The Misplaced Alaskan, we had a blast!

This is just one of the many pictures of The Grand Canyon.
Honestly, pictures just don't do it justice!

We met up at a hotel in Willimans, AZ. Our rooms were even right next to each other. We wore the kids down in the pool. We ate at a fancy restaurant  - AKA Pizza Hut - and arm wrestled for the bill. (Ok - there was no arm wrestling at all - I showed off my mad Kung Fu skills! Ok - so I stole the bill before they had a chance and refused to let them pay because they picked up lunch!) Then we put the kids to bed and caused commotion outside the hotel room by talking in loud voices about keywords, SEO, making money with Google Adsense, and naked mule riding!

Hey - us bloggers don't get out much!

The next day was a train ride to the canyon where we explored for a couple of hours and even had to endure a train robbery. There was no children or husbands or bloggers injured on this trip... unless of course you can consider laughing your ass off an injury.

You know it's gonna be a good time when The Misplaced Alaskan meets
The Undiagnosed Mad Woman in The Grand Canyon!

We had a blast and I find it fortunate to have such a wonderful blogger neighbor and I look forward to the next adventure we meet up for! Who knows... maybe next time we will take over Las Vegas!

Music Monday: Ring of Fire

This weekend... I ruined the song sung by Johnny Cash for Terrye over at The Adventures of a Misplaced Alaskan. It really wasn't my fault. Let me explain....

This weekend, Terrye and I dragged our families out to The Grand Canyon. Ok - so some may say we did it for the breathtaking view of this giant hole in the earth. Nope - we were morbidly curious about each other and we thought this was the perfect chance to meet!

Success!

Anyway, we decided to take the train ride to the canyon and on this couple hour trip, there was entertainment provided. This cowboy came and sang and played his harmonica. One of the songs... is my feature for Music Monday.

Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire

Now you are probably wondering how I could ruin this song for her... Well.... let's just say when I was in Cosmetology school, I have vivid memories of a girl singing this at the top of her lungs will doing her business in the bathroom.

There really is no need to explain further. Not sure if Terrye will ever think of this song the same way again.

Hope you enjoy! 

Flahsback Friday: 800 Miles of Fun

It is the beginning of 2013 and if you have any plans of traveling, usually this is the time that you start planning your vacation.

There are a lot of places to visit in California. But just because
it is in our backyard doesn't mean we go all the time. What
tourist spots are you wanting to check out?

My family is pretty fortunate. We are surrounded by tourist attractions. From museums, to theme parks, to natural interests like the Ocean, there is so many things that we can do right outside our front door.

That being said, I find it horribly ironic that we rarely do these things. We use the excuses that since we are so close, we can do it anytime. And what happens - We don't do any of them. We take these tourist attractions for granted. Last summer, I think we made it to the beach once. Ironic because it isn't like a trip to the beach is going to break the bank.

And yes, some of these places aren't very budget friendly. Just because Disneyland is right around the corner doesn't mean I go there every weekend (or even every single year!)

When my sister came out to visit a couple of years ago, I set up a plan that would show us what we have been missing around California, but what would still keep us within an affordable vacation budget. Whether you are traveling or you live in the area, don't miss out on the attractions because they are right there. You might be missing out on some great memories.

So, as my husband and I decide what kind of places we want to catch this year, I thought it would be a great time to highlight my sister's trip to California and how in one week, we put on more than 800 miles.

Flashback Friday this week highlights...

Attractions in Southern California: 800 Miles of Fun

It Really Could Have Been Much Worse...

Everybody is probably sick and tired of me whining about my crappy vacation. I mean... a person goes on vacation and you imagine it is going to be epic and fun and memorable and relaxing.

Well, this one was fun and to a certain extent it was relaxing... and it was definitely memorable. I mean, how many people can honestly say they got stranded in the midwest because their car blew up in Missouri. I am betting not too many.

However, among all the whining and the crying about this vacation, I have to say, it really could have been much, much worse. And that is really what I need to focus on... the positives of this vacation.

My husband and I have been traveling across the United States for as long as we have been together. It is something we will never get away from. After all, he is from California and I am from Wisconsin. The heart wants what it wants, and honestly, I don't mind the travel. (Although it would be nice to have a vacation not centered around visiting family!) So it is something we have to deal with... since we have had so many kids... we have decided road trips are the way to go since it seems more affordable. (Unless you count the therapy bills that will be needed in the future. This trip, I threatened to Duck tape my kids to the roof of the car!)

So after I took a couple of xanax and started calming down, I realized our situation could have been much worse.

Sick! That is how it all starts!

Yep, the second we got to my parent's house, my mom was sick. My immune system sucks. You could probably shake hands with your second cousin Ralphie whose aunt has a child who is friends with a kid whose teacher has the flu and I would probably get it. I knew the second I saw my mom walk out of the bedroom looking like the living dead, it was only a matter of time before I got sick! My dad followed shortly after. I fought hard.

But the reality is, I lucked out. While I did get the case of the sniffles and the occasional headache, and I was a little worn down, I really didn't come down with it full blown. And to top it off, because we were all kind of fending it off, we really didn't go out of our way to leave the house and visit too many people.

This is what we call quality time! 

What does that mean? I got to spend a lot of good quality time with the people most important to me. My parents, my sisters, my nephews and nieces... my immediate family members. If it wasn't for the cold going around, we probably would have done a lot more running around visiting others. While I am sad I didn't get to see everybody while I was there, I am grateful because out of all the times we have come home, this has been by far the most relaxing trip since we weren't out running around visiting. Next time I go home - they can come to me. All the running around is just too much.

Stuck in Missouri

As part of the trip, we had planned to stop by and visit our friends Kelly and Dave. Many of you may know Kelly as she is The Realhousewife! (Go check her out!) Kelly and I became friends online and when she went on vacation in 2011 to LasVegas, I jumped at the chance to meet her in person. Since then, we have stopped by their house on the way through to stretch our legs and say hi. This time, we planned on spending a little extra time with them to hang out. However, that didn't go as planned. A little extra time turned into a lot of extra time.

Our kids watching TV in comfort as we waited
to hear the news on our car repairs.

Overall, I understand how having company can get old after a few days. Believe me, my kids can be a handful. (I am sure my husband and I can be as well!) But through it all, if we were going to get stranded somewhere, this was probably one of the best places for it too happen. At least we knew people here. Granted, we weren't expecting to stay a couple extra days, but if you are going to be stuck somewhere, hopefully it is with good people.

The next place I would have wanted to be stranded was near Terrye from The Adventures of a Misplaced Alaskan. After all, I promised her that I would stalk her now that she moved and is a little closer to me. I guess I will save that for the next trip.

For the most part, I can only imagine how horrible of guests we must have been. We were stressed out. My kids were running around wild and eating all of Kelly's food. And we also took over both of their kid's rooms. They were all troopers for putting up with us.

But being stuck in Missouri was the best possible outcome because it meant we didn't have to worry about a tow truck, we didn't get stranded in the middle of nowhere, and we didn't get stuck in a hotel room for days on end. And ultimately, because my husband and I don't have credit cards, they used their credit card so we could rent a car. Luckily paypal is pretty painless to work with so I could pay them back. However I do question the worth of having the Mastercard or Visa logo on debit cards. It obviously doesn't mean much! My cash was not good enough apparently!

But I do thank my lucky stars for having such a good friend available in the area that was willing to open their heart and home to us during such a stressful time. There is honestly no way I can think of to say thank you enough to them! So if anybody has any great and creative ideas... let me know!

Although I am sorry to say, it will probably be a long time before I decide to venture out on another long roadtrip. Next time I go home, I am sucking it up and flying!

The Midwest Is Trying To Kidnap Me!

If you are looking for one of those cutesy, inspiring or nice posts, you might want to close the browser on this one. It isn't going to be cute. It isn't going to be full of inspiration. It won't even be nice.

I gave you a cute puppy... but this is the only cute thing
about this blog post!

So, here is your warning. If you are looking for a cutesy post. Leave now.

It was the best of vacations and it was the worst of vacations.

We left our house on Dec. 20th. We were excited. We had a nice long vacation and we were going back home to spend it with my family. Things were going too smoothly. I should have known then that something was going to happen. The packing went way too well and I was done without stressing at the last minute. Wisconsin was in the middle of what they coined the Snowpocolypse, but because of when we left, we were missing it. In fact, it was nothing but sunshine the entire drive there.

We drove. It is the most cost effective way to do these kinds of trips when you have 3 kids. We don't mind. Our kids have driven through a good portion of the United States because of our road trips and they have seen some great sights. However, the drive is never easy. To save money, we push straight through until we get there. For the most part, from my door in California to our first stop, it usually takes us about 40 hours. That is enough to kill almost anybody. But we do it. Why? Because we feel it is important to try to make it back to visit family at least once every year. Our kids are young and it isn't fair for them to be torn between two families because we met in the military and our families live thousands of miles apart.

So the trip is starting off good. I am all smiles. Except for the time when I threatened to duck tape my kids to the roof of the car if they wouldn't stop fighting in the backseat. But hey, 40 hours in a car is rough on anybody. We made it alive and the kids stayed in the backseat. Score one for us.

Upon getting to my parent's house, my mom was sick. Not much we can do, so we made the most of it. I spent a good portion of the vacation fending off the cold that took out both my parents. Because we were sick, we stuck to immediate family. I figured it was ok to share the germs with them (since they started it), but didn't really chance it by going out to see many friends. But it was a great vacation because we did get to spend a lot of time with family.

So now is the time to bring in the New Year. Unfortunately, when the clock struck midnight, things seemed to take a turn for the worse. As a glass went up for a toast, it shattered as it hit the ceiling fan. No big deal. No one was hurt. I got lucky. Two shards of glass were in my glass of champagne. I caught them before I swallowed.

Raise your glass but watch out how you raise it! If you catch
it in a ceiling fan, it is bound to shatter and spread glass
throughout the entire house!

I should have known by now that this was were things were going to take a turn for the worst. Shortly after arriving at my parent's house, our yellow check engine light went on. We had just had the car in for service, but we figured since it was just an emission light, we were good to go. Probably due to the temperature, we figured. But we aren't mechanics.

By the end of the day on January 1st, I was feeling the full effects of the cold that my mom had and I had been successfully fending off. I sent my husband to the store to get medicine. That was the first time our vehicle died.

It overheated and he coasted it into the Wal-Mart parking lot. Since there was no other option with it being a holiday, we put the car in timeout and hoped that by the following day it will have chilled a little. (The antifreeze blew out of it, we refilled it assuming the specs weren't right for the cold Wisconsin temperatures. The next day, with new antifreeze in it, it started up fine and was running like a champ! We tested the light and we were told it just needed a tune up. Easy fix - right?)

So we didn't let it stress us out. We didn't have the time to fix it there since there was no appointments available before we were heading out, so we figured it can be fixed when we got back to California because it was just routine maintenance... or so we were told!

We headed out on Thursday with plans to stop in St. Louis to visit my friend Kelly - The RealHousewife. This wasn't the first time we stopped by to say Hi on our way through. But, we did plan to crash there Thursday night, spend the day there Friday, crash again and leave early Saturday morning.

I am going to tell you right now.... That DID NOT happen!

We got there late on Thursday night...stayed up chatting and finally headed to bed about 3 a.m. It was a good night. Everybody woke up late the next morning and my youngest Max was burning up with a fever. That put a damper on any plans made to explore since we had a sick kid on our hands. However, he felt fine enough for the adults to head out for a nice dinner and then we headed back to watch a movie.

We were fortunate. Knowing someone in
the area made waiting on the car to be
fixed much less stressful.

Saturday morning we woke up, got everything packed up and said our goodbyes. About 30 minutes into the drive, the yellow check engine light started flashing. I had never seen that before. We turned around and headed back to Kelly's house. That way, we could get the car fixed real quick and we didn't have to worry about entertaining the kids at the mechanics.

With each call, the problems got worse and worse with the vehicle. For something that started out as a $200 dollar fix, quickly came up to $900. We went back to the house to wait it out. The place closed at 7 p.m. and we were thinking we would be on the road by then. That still gave us enough time to get home in time to get my husband to work and my kids to school.

That DID NOT happen!

By the end of Saturday night, the shop had closed and they still couldn't figure out what was wrong with the vehicle. In fact, it couldn't even be started right now.

I slept in late Sunday morning. A big part of me was secretly hoping that by the time I crawled out of bed, the issues would be resolved and we would be ready to hit the road.

That DID NOT happen!

What did happen... the bill jumped up to almost $1700 and they were still not sure whether or not that would fix the issue. So we needed to find an alternate solution. After all, we were starting to be the new fishy pet in Kelly's house! (You know the saying, after three days fish and company are the same... they start to smell!) We had to get home.

To make a long story a little shorter, we ended up renting a car, transferring and jamming every bit of our belongings from one car to the next. We were stuffed like sardines, only I am pretty sure the sardine stress level is usually a little less. We drove straight through... another 31 hours in the car.

I would love to say our luck started turning around after that, but it didn't. Not only is our car still stuck in Missouri, but our house keys were as well. Good thing we had some friends watching the house for us and they were able to let us in.

 Knowing our luck, we probably would have gotten arrested for breaking into our own house!

It just seems to me that the Midwest is trying to kidnap me. We moved to California in December of 2010 and were outrunning a blizzard. Every single time we have gone home and tried to leave, something happens. One time we had to wait out a tornado. This time, it was our car blowing up in Missouri. I have to admit, I prefer the weather setbacks. I am not sure the next time I head back to Wisconsin, we will make it out alive!