Texas Weekend Recap

I am sitting at my desk trying not to fall asleep. I have consumed much caffeine today in an effort to stay awake. I had another awesome weekend with my girlfriends....another one of those weekends where it takes me most of the week to recover from the lack of sleep and over consumption of alcohol

Kelly and I got to Texas Friday night and were picked up by the rest of the girls. We headed to a fanfreakingtastic Mexican place for dinner and margaritas! Back to the hotel where we proceeded to fit 8 of us in a 2 bedroom suite. Do the math people and it equals 3 girls in one king bed, 2 in another, 2 on a pull out couch and MOI in the kitchen on a blow up mattress. I have not slept in such a random place since an incident in a parking garage in Canada.

Sat day we kept it low key.....a little shopping, a little lunch and a little nap before getting all hussied up to hit a 2 step bar. Guess what....I don't 2 step. Lauren took me for a little spin around the floor and I did not trip over myself but I certainly did not impress anyone.

Pocket Edward also had an excellent time revisiting his state of orgin. Since I was going to visit the girl who sent him to me I had to take him with yes?

Rocking his cowboy boots y'all
Even vampires look hot as cowboys

Stopping to "catch" some lunch. Not mountain lion but it will do

I know I have mention this before on this blog but I love these girls. I am so blessed to have awesome girlfriends....the ones I have had since college, the ones I have at work and "those Internet friends" My liver may disagree with these weekends though that is for sure. By the time we were done with that hotel room I swear all we were missing were a baby in the closet and a tiger in the bathroom. Bonus points if you get that reference.

I love you guys and I wish we could see each other more often. Although if we did it may have to involve a rehab facility. Or the nut house. Whatevs.

Miss me?

I think this is the longest that I have gone without blogging since I started! I have been swamped since I got back from vacation and wound up taking yesterday off of work too to get caught up on laundry and go to the grocery. Today was catch up day at work.

We had an AWESOME time at "Mickey's House". Our resort (Disney Caribbean)was fantastic, the pools were great, the parks were SO FUN and the characters were EVERYWHERE! The only complaint we had all week was it was SO humid I thought I would die. One thing I will never get about kids is those little girls who insist on walking around the park in full out princess costumes. They had to be SO hot.

Our first day we hung around the resort at the pool. We got in at lunch time and just spent the day finding our way around and playing in the pool. Monday started the 5 days of park madness. We headed right to the Magic Kingdom and I just spent the day watching my children look around in awe. Pierce still remembers our last trip 2 years ago but this was all new to Mallory who was not even one on her first trip. I cant say she was a fan of many of the rides....they pretty much all scared the crap out of her except It's a Small World. But she LOVED being there and seeing all of her "friends". Pierce was SO excited to be tall enough to ride some "big" rides and loved going on Big Thunder Mountain. The look on Mallory's face when her idol (the mouse) came around the corner in a parade and she saw him for the first time....I will never forget!

Tuesday we headed to Epcot for about half a day. I love Epcot but other than the kick ass Nemo ride the kids were not all that impressed. Pierce went on the Soarin ride with Joe's parents, I am not a fan of simulated type rides. Wed we had breakfast at the Chef Mickey character breakfast where both kids pretty much grinned non stop and then we went to the Animal Kingdom where Pierce became scarred for life. He talked a big game getting on Expedition Everest which is an AWESOME coaster but it scared the crap out of him and he was all done with the "big" rides after that. It was SO hot that day that we called it a day and spent time at the pool and then to Downtown Disney to have dinner at T-Rex

Thursday was more pool time and went through the countries at Epcot so the kids could get their passports stamped. Friday was MGM which has really improved a lot since the last time I was there. There is a new Toy Story ride there that is SO fun and was the only long line we had all week (70 minutes). Joe and I even pawned the kids off on Joe's parents for 30 minutes so we could go ride the Aerosmith coaster (indoor, dark, lots of loops). Our last full day we went back to Downtown Disney for some shopping and then just played in the pool

No way could I recap the entire week. We had a blast, I love doing Disney through the eyes of my children. The kids are so into all of the characters and have full autograph books. I can't wait to go do it all over again in about 3 years. Here are a few pics that I have here at work

-PS...Im so sorry for being a bad bloggy friend. I skimmed through my reader 2 times while I was away but did not do any commenting. Im just now getting caught up!

Disney Bound

See you in a week!!

1st Annual Run for Row 5K Memorial Run

I made it back from Buffalo in one piece. Barely. I cannot even tell you what an honor it was to share this weekend with Andrea and her beautiful family. Her strength is amazing, she is beautiful, her babies are beautiful. It was awesome to see over 300 people come together in memory of her husband Matt.

This weekend was SUPPOSED to be low key....our lovely hostess had other plans and surprised us with a buffet and OPEN BAR at a restaurant the night we all got in. Things went a little downhill that night but it was sooooooo worth it. Sunday morning however was a little rough. We all made it to the run (barely) and the girls who ran it did AWESOME!!!! I was SO SO proud of them. I never intended to run it but once I saw people finishing 20 minutes in me and a few others thought we would be better suited to cheer our friends in and take pictures as they crossed the finish line. In other words, we bailed. But, we were there to support Andrea and the awesome charity for her kids and that was the important part for me.

Andrea, I love you to pieces....I love your kids to pieces. GOOD LUCK with the move this week. Can't wait till we can all come and ascend on you in LA

Sat night, before things got fuzzy.

Toasting to Matt...can you look close and guess which hand is mine?

Matt's family all wore shirts with his picture on the back, such a handsome man.....

All of us together post race. Not to bad since most of us were hungover. Andrea is in the very front in black.

Before we left yesterday AM. My car is a bit notorious because I have a personalized plate, a Mickey Mouse hitch cover and family stickers with Mickey Mouse hats. It's how I roll and they are all just jealous.


I'm going to let you use your imagination on the details of the weekend. It was not AS bad as the trip in Feb (though I did not puke on THAT trip...but I also was not drinking wine out of a carafe on that trip either) We had so much fun and even though I miss my friends, my liver is so glad we can only do this a few times a year.

Bittersweet

Tonight I am heading to Cleveland with my good friend Kelly to pick up 2 more of my friends so that tomorrow morning we can head to Buffalo. I am so very happy to be seeing some of my bestest friends this weekend but so very sad for the reason that we are getting together.

Last fall my sweet friend Andrea lost her husband in an accident that sadly could have been prevented by his company. Now Andrea is raising her young kids without the love of her life. Believe it or not I have yet to meet Andrea even though I have known her for at least 5 years through my mommy board. Even though I have never met her, I love her dearly, and I have cried many tears for her, Matt and their babies.

This weekend about 20 girls from our mommy board are coming together to support Andrea in the first annual Run For Row 5k. In which I will be walking, not running thankyouverymuch. I have no doubt that we will laugh ourselves stupid and have fun being together again but on the flip side I also know there will probably be some tears as we support our friend who in the past 9 months has had more on her plate then anyone should. While we love being together....especially since it only happens a few times a year, I wish it was not because Matt died.

Andrea, I know you probably wont read this for awhile (although reading my blog should take priority over, ohhh, MOVING right?) but I am so happy to be able to come and support you this weekend. I just wish we were meeting under different circumstances. Hopefully the train wreck that is this group of girls will make you laugh as much as we can this weekend!

In case you missed my last weekend trip with my mommy board besties....you can read about it HERE. I think it is a good thing that God did not allow us all to live in the same place.

I can run, but I cannot hide

Sigh. I wish I was still at the beach. Joe and Pierce wish we were still at the beach. Mallory, not so much. I'm also back at work today digging through one meeeelion emails. Because of that I am going to just leave you with this little nugget of goodness.

How on earth did I spend an entire week at my in laws beach house (not to mention 5 or so other times spent here) and not notice THIS little bastard hanging out above the kitchen sink

The constant goose eye is starting to make me nervous. I know the little demons are just waiting to take me down. Must talk to mother in law and find out who's side she is on.

Dear So and So.....Vacation Edition

On my last full day of soaking up sunshine in beautiful Holden Beach, NC I thought I would take the time to address the many people/things that made this visit awesome....as well as a few random things that I have waiting for me back home

Want to play along? Go link up with Kat. She is cool for a variety of reasons and her husband just got a promotion in the military so she doubly deserves a shout-out this week

Dear Holden Beach,
I heart you. I truly do. You have given us awesome weather this week....the water has been awesome too. Mallory does ask me to pass on a little message for her but please note....this reflects nothing on my love for you.....Mallory would like you to know that your constant waves in, waves out drama really sucks. She thinks you are scary and would appreciate you keeping the movement to a minimum next year. Pierce also asked me to pass along that he had an AWESOME time riding the boogie board and jumping your waves. Many thanks for wearing him out every single day
Until Next Year,
Cammie

Dearest 6AM,
I cannot tell you how awesome it has been not to see you one time this week. Apparently the secret to forever leaving The House of No Sleep is to move to the beach and play in the ocean every day. I don't mean to be a bitch, but I really don't like you 6AM....
See You Next Week,
Cammie

Dear Pierce and Mallory,
Mommy hopes that you had an awesome time this week. We tried new things (putt putt for you sissy, sleeping till 8 for both of you)and you pretty much behaved ALL WEEK. Pierce, you seem to have picked up that nothing really all that exciting goes on between the hours of 6AM and 8AM....what are the chances of you keeping this up when we get home? Maybe just on weekends? No? Suck. Mallory my beach hating princess.....I'm so glad that on your LAST FLIPPING DAY HERE you decided to accompany me down to the "wet sand". You let me hold you at the very edge of the water let the water get your toe toes. Next year let's try and get your knees wet. Please keep the fighting to a minimum on day one of our drive home tomorrow. Mommy does not want to have to break out the duck tape.
Love, Mommy

Dear Self,
Way to be a dumbass and decide that you don't need the camera on your last day here. Suuuuuure, we don't need the camera on the last day because you have taken hundreds of pics down at the beach this week. We did not need to capture that last day. The one wear Mallory actually let the water touch her, the one where we dug a HUGE puddle for the kids to play in....the one wwhere we caught some tiny little fish and put them in that puddle making Mallory bust out "The Sissy Squeal" which is one of my favorite sounds. Good job slacker.
Smacking Myself In the Head,
Cammie

Dear Betty's Waterfront Restaurant,
Oh how I love you. Thank you so much for the 5lbs you helped me gain in one meal. I love that your signature dish is a pound and a half of really BIG crab legs. I love feeling like a messy disgusting pig as I suck down every last bite dipped in butter....I will send you the bill for my stint placement.
Forever Your Biggest Fan
Cammie

Dear Makeup, hair product and on occasion bra and panties,
Thanks for taking a back seat in my life this week. I love beach living that even WITHOUT you I'm still prettier than some of the other people making bad fashion choices down here. I loved lounging around the beach house and on the deck with the neighbors having NO clue that I was flaunting my girly business under my cover up. Being as I DO have to go back to work on Monday we will be reacquainted soon. My co-workers will appreciate it.
Enjoying the Breeze,
Cammie

Dear Tivo,
Sweet Lord how we have missed you. Growing up in these times my children do not realize that when WE were little we had to put up with what was on, when it was on...not to mention that whole "change the channel with pliers once the knob fell off" deal. This week we were forced to endure constant episodes of Oswald and Pinky Dinky Do before it was time to head down to the beach on top of listening to Mallory bitch about wanting to watch Diego or Mickey Mouse. These kids would not have lasted 5 seconds in the 80s
Missing You,
TV Whore and Whore-lets

Dear 4 bottles of wine I picked up, the 4 more I will pick up in Mt Airy tomorrow and the bottle of bloody mary mix Joe the alcohol fairy brought while I was napping,
I love you, Let's make out when we get home
Yours Till My Liver Falls Out
Cammie

Wordless Wednesday

2004

2005

2006

2007

2009

(We went to the mountains in 2008)

Did You Know That The Ocean Is The Entrance To Hell?

That is the only reason I can come up with that Mallory hates it with such a passion. Today was a repeat of yesterday and the day before....Pierce my little water baby is wearing Joe out wanting to be in the water non stop and Princess Scowls A-Lot sits under the umbrella and looks at the water like it is the entrance to the pits of hell

Today she actually let me take her to the VERY edge of where the water was coming to a stop. I could have done a back flip and not dropped her as hard as she was clinging to me. After about 10 minutes I stopped torturing her and she ran back to the umbrella. We called my mom from the beach and she told her "I hate the ocean Maw Maw".

Meanwhile Pierce is the beach pimp. He already has a little girlfriend that is here for the week and they hold hands and jump the waves together. Pierce would keep Joe in the water all. day. long. if we did not make him stop for lunch. He was so tired that he actually slept until 8:15 today which only happens when I give them NyQuil the night before. Am I kidding? Am I?

"Cammie, where are all of your pics??" Oh, you want to know where pics are? Well Joe someone did not pack the USB cord with the camera bag which sucks as much as a goose attack...had myself all ready to upload pics every day and spend time editing them but that is not going to happen. So hear are some random ones from my phone.

Ready to go down to the beach.

Beach? No Thanks....baby pool on the deck? Rock On!!

We took them putt putting tonight....Mallory's first time.

"I hate the ocean and I hate you for bringing me here"

The coolest part of today? Realizing that everywhere you go you can find someone reading a Twilight book....like the middle aged lady on the beach nose into New Moon!

The best part of today? We found a restaurant with a raw bar and I sucked down a dozen raw oysters......YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She Sells Sea Shells

Hello from fabulous Holden Beach, North Carolina! We made it here without having to strap a single child to the top of the van! Hooray!!

We make our trek from Ohio to NC in 2 days because frankly I cannot deal with being trapped in such a confined space with my children for longer than the 6 hours on day one. I realllllly wanted to stop for some duck tape around 8PM last night when instead of falling asleep like sweet angels in the car they kept freaking talking all the way till 11PM

We got here around 1 today and after unloading the car decided to take a quick trip down to the water which is right across the street from the beach house. While walking up to the walkway Mallory asked me if she could have a coconut on the beach. Awwww, how sweet....she is going to LOVE the beach

If my daughter used the colorful language that I am fond of I think she would have said the following....."WHAT THE HELL IS THAT AND NO WAY AM I PUTTING MY ASS IN IT!!!!" To say she was not impressed with the ocean is a mild understatement. Add to the fact that she was running on no nap and I had quiet a witchy little thing with me. While Pierce ran around joyfully shouting that he loves the beach and loves the ocean and was having a grand old time Witchy McBrat scowled at the water, at me, at the other people on the beach and told me that she was NOT going to get wet. Bet me. I picked her up and carried her to the VERY edge of where the water was coming up and put her down on her feet. The water barely touched her toes when she went screaming holy hell back up to the blankets and told me to "get her outta there" She did find a bit of fun in collecting shells and putting them in her bucket and that may be the ONLY way we get her back down to the sand.

Made a quick stop to the store to stalk up on wine necessities and we are taking it easy tonight.

Tomorrow it is back to torturing one kid and building sand castles with the other

A plague upon my house

You know what sucks? Pierce getting strep. You know what else sucks? ME getting strep. You know what sucks the most? Pierce and I getting strep 2 days before we leave for vacation and just waiting for Mallory and Joe to be struck down

Yes the sickie ickies have descended upon The House Of No Sleep. No doubt caused by a goose somewhere. Pierce was sent home with a fever on Wed, diagnosis strep. I stayed home with him yesterday, started feeling a little nasty as the day went on so I took myself to the Dr. He handed me my amoxocillan and sent me on my way.

One thing about sick Cammie is that I do NOT screw around with sleep. I took the kids to school today and came home and slept until noon. I sound SUPER sexy and manly today...kind of like my name should be Marge and I should be driving a bus somewhere.

We leave tomorrow for vacation....we are beach bound and I am SO excited to play with the kids at the beach...praying that Mallory and Joe don't get sick in the next few days.

Please excuse my lack of comments these last few days....I was cuddling with my sick boy yesterday and today I'm just kind of laying on the couch feeling all BLAH. Since I have a sick obsession with my laptop I have a hard time being unconnected to the Internet I will be blogging away from the beach while we are gone!

Since I am fresh out of wittiness today I will leave you with a Pierce funny. Yesterday we were at the Dr reading a book in the waiting room and the story mentioned a housekeeper. Pierce asked me what a housekeeper was. I told him it was someone who cooked and cleaned and took care of the house and that mommy wishes SHE had one. His response....We do.....DADDY! God I love that kid.

DC Trip Part 2

We are finally home but not without a bit of drama of course. I swear I am like a magnet for it

The rest of our week was just as chaotic as the first few days. We were going non stop from about 6AM to 8PM each day. When they said we would be exhausted by the end of the week they were NOT kidding

The days are starting to run together so I am hoping I get this right. Wed morning we toured this random little jet called AIRFORCE 2!! That was SO.FREAKING.COOL!!! We got to sit in the cockpit, and in VP Biden's seat on the plane. While we were there at the base we also saw Airforce 1 come in to land but President Obama was not on it.

From there we went to the Pentagon and had a tour there. The coolest part of that was being able to spend some time in the 9/11 memorial there. It was very serene there, from the outside we could see the side of the building where the plane crashed, we stood in the area that was covered with debris

We also went to Arlington Cemetery to get a VIP seat for the changing of the guard. That was cool but even COOLER was getting to go into their quarters where they get ready to go out to the tomb. We got to see them get prepped to head out and talked to them a bit too.

Thursday was random do what we wanted day! Our escorts took us to see the White House and then over to the Washington Monument. We also spent about an hour in one of the museums...saw some cool stuff there. Thursday night was the formal banquet where the 6 winners were given a HUGE brass statue that had to be shipped to us, and some other award type things. The banquet was nice but I thought I was going to puke when I had to "escort" Joe down the stairs, through the entire crowd and up on the stage to be introduced.

Friday morning we got up at 4:15 to catch our 5:30 flight. Which got delayed. 4 times. Then got cancelled. Seriously...by this time I was SO tired that I just wanted to get home to my kids. So. We rented a car and drove 6 hours home. Seeing as I don't like to fly anyways it was not a bad deal for me.

This trip was AWESOME. It was a once in a lifetime experience and I am not sure I can ever go back to DC and just see it as a civilian. It was so cool to get the VIP treatment all week. I am so so proud of Joe for being one of the top 6 Airman in the Air National Guard.

That said....It was a long week of being nice to everyone, watching my mouth and kissing the butt's of super important people. That is exhausting. I told Joe that once we got back into Ohio that "The Week Of Joe" was over and all attention was to be focused back on ME. We have been married for 6 years and he had 6 days of all about him. That is an average of 1 day a year. Not too bad right?

Joe coming off of Airforce 2 pretending to be the President

Airforce 1 landing

If you look close you can see the difference in the coloring of the wall, that is where the building had to be rebuilt
More awards

Abe Lincoln's hat on display at the museum.

THE Ruby Slippers Some important guy lives here
So the squirrels in DC are super nice. This little guy was eating a snickers bar out of my hands. So very cute. Much nicer than geese.