One Grand Weekend

My bucket list got considerably shorter with a 

weekend road trip to the Grand Canyon 

viewing the canyon at rim level


Since it was the last weekend of summer hours,
there were very few tourists, the weather was mild, and the animals were roaming everywhere

viewing the canyon from the floor (ok, half way down)


I loved visiting tourist information centers and seeing the
geological displays. There were free movies everywhere.

preparing to view the canyon from the sky


And amazing meals in first class restaurants,
swimming after dinner (ok, I sat in the hot tub),
and sleeping in way past sunrise for a change.

Waiting on Baby!

Since it is all about me, I wanted to let you know that I am almost done waiting for baby.  Heavens no, I am not pregnant! I am waiting for my first grandbaby to be born and somehow got it in my mind that she would be here by now.

Especially since as the month continues to progress, my personal calendar continues to fill up to the point that I may not even be in the state or even country when she arrives, how jacked up is that!

NOTE TO FUTURE GRANDCHILDREN: Clear your birthday with Grandma before hand so she can share the day with you.

On the lighter side, I recently spent time with a beautiful young woman who is madly in love with my son and awaiting the birth of her first daughter and I realized just how fully my life has become as my children have started lives of their own.

Life lesson #603

On New Years Day 2012 Tracy and I made resolutions to work less, date more, and see Europe. Our plan was to book a vacation together and cross our finger for ourselves and each other that when the time came, either one of us would be in a relationship and the vacation would go to whomever had a significant other. It was our way of telling the world that being single did not mean staying home, and a I have a very short list of friends with the resources and time to travel internationally, Tracy seemed like the perfect choice.

New Zealand was our top pick but neither one of us could get the time of to commit to a 24 hour flight so in March I listen as Tracy told me why he wanted to see Rome, Athens, and Istanbul then placed a down payment to hold our spot on a ten day adventure.  Every couple of weeks I have text Tracy, or he has called me to ask whether or not we were being 'bumped' from the vacation, and as the departure in now just two week away, it would appear as if we both are headed to Europe, together.

In hindsight I do not think that planning a vacation to a countries where I do not speak the language was such a good idea.  And planning a vacation to a country in it's second year of austerity also probably wasn't a good idea, and most recently planning a vacation to a county which is taking enemy fire from it's neighbors to the west......not a good idea.

Life lesson #603 Sorry Tracy but next time I am booking the vacation. Someplace safe, like Kansas :-)

Chichen Itza, Mexico 2011

...ten...eleven...twelve

I have nothing planned today.  Today will be more or less the same day as yesterday, and as tomorrow. Today would be a great day to do something amazing. Like take a first solo parachute jump, or buy a car, or give birth.

Today would be a good day to get a tattoo, see the Eiffel Tower, or get married.  Dying today....not such a good idea.

The next day like today, ten eleven twelve (October 10, 2012), will be eleven twelve thirteen (November 12, 2013) which gives me 13 months to come up with amazing plans to celebrate an amazing day. And by the way, I don't remember the last amazing day, nine ten eleven, I must not have done anything amazing that day either.