Camp Beachmutt 2012

We've had three great week with the Girlz - first up at Malibou Lake house and petsitting for our friends Whitney and Gerrit. We did lots of fun things... visiting the Paramount Ranch lot where Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman was filmed... going shopping for cowgirl hats... bird watching... cleaning a canoe... spending lots of time with dogs and cats and more dogs and more cats... swimming in the pool with the flower power shower...just hanging out... deciding what to make for dinner each night... and catching up on all of the Disney and Nicolodeon shows! Then two weeks here in Oceanside, where we spent a lot of time swimming and playing in the pool, shopping, playing games on the computer, more shopping, playing with the beachmutts in the backyard, more pool fun, a day at Oceanside Harbour, spa day, pinata pool patio party and dinner at Islands, our new favorite restaurant. The girlz leave for Camp Marsten tomorrow and we leave on Wednesday to visit Rey and Kiyomi in Joshua Tree... sad to be leaving but excited to get back to Akumal. The trip this year is so different and it's very sad to be traveling without Missy but she is with us in spirit. Our itinerary is: Wednesday, August 8h - leave Oceanside, to Joshua Tree with the Ortegas Thursday, August 9th - Joshua Tree to Tucson, AZ, staying at La Quinta on Broadway (free night with points!) Friday, August 10th - Tucson to Ft. Stockton, TX, staying at La Quinta (free night with points) Saturday, August 11th - Ft. Stockton to Eagle Pass, TX, staying at La Quinta but with a stop in Del Rio, TX first for awesome BBQ! Sunday, August 12th - cross the border at Piedras Negras and down MX 57S to Las Palmas Midway Inn in Matehuala - restaurant with bar on site, plus pool and mini golf! And pet friendly! Monday, August 13th - Matehuala to Puebla, staying at a new La Quinta there - hope that we can find it from the carretera! Tuesday, August 14th - Puebla to Villahermosa, staying at Hotel Costa del Sol - an auto hotel that is pet friendly and has room service and a big grassy yard area for the dogs to run around in! Wednesday, August 15th - Villahermosa into Akumal and HOME! Hopefully, Ernesto takes a detour or better yet, just fizzles out... and no one else decides that they want to visit our little paradise! I'll be posting to Facebook so you can check there for our progress too...

Back in the US again...

And it is really hard to adjust, especially to cold, rainy weather! I'll be updating the blog and sharing the tailes of our latest adventures in Akumal! Stay tuned... photos too!

Yearly Update!

Just checking in to make sure that I don't lose my spot on the blogosphere. I have so many tails to tell and stories to share and photos to post. Stay tuned - I'm going to get around to getting it all on here soon!

More Oceanside memories

We stopped at McCabe's - we kept driving past it and it seemed like a fun place - PLUS - they advertised FUN EVERY FIVE MINUTES! So, after Sunset Market on Thursday night, Bob and I stopped for a beer --- can you say dive bar?? Well, I can cross it off my list!

Some shots of the beach at the Third of July - I'm not sure that I could ever get used to sharing my beach, let alone with so many people! I've gotten spoiled! ;)

We went to La Jolla cove where Bob, Rod and Eliza snorkeled and Isabelle had fun exploring in the rocks and tidepools.

Some finches built a nest above the outdoor speaker on the patio and we had fun watching the babies chirp and get fed and learn to fly - and they emptied the nest the day before we left - just a sign that it's time for us to fly too!

Here we go to Mexico! Day one - Oceanside to Tucson, AZ - 7/20/09

The time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things

Of sailing ships and sealing wax

Of cabbages and kings

Of why the sea is boiling hot

And whether pigs have wings...

The time has come for us to end our wonderful time together in Oceanside and head on down the road to Mexico. It's only 55 miles away, at Tijuana, but we don't want to be in Tijuana, and we don't want to drive across Mexico... so we are driving across the US and will cross at Weslaco/Nuevo Progresso, just west of Brownsville/Matamoros. I love it that the border towns have two names!

We left Oceanside around 10 am - I was pretty good at not crying until we got down the street! The girls and the dogs said their goodbyes - and we did too... the car is still crowded - I don't know where Bob got all this stuff or why he needs it. :) It's ok, almost all of it will be staying in Akumal. At least, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

First stop - Petco to get flea/tick medicine for the dogs - I ordered some online but they sent the wrong weight order - so had to get some there to take with us. Then it was onto East 78 to Interstate 15 and then to Interstate 8 to ...driving, some interesting landscapes, some boring... I dozed off for a bit for about an hour and woke up thinking we were still in the same area! Lots of high desert - 4,000 feet and it's hotter than Hades! Stopped in Yuma, AZ for gas and lunch and a rest stop... got out of the car and it was really windy - it felt like standing in front of a giant hairdryer. Poor Vina couldn't get comfortable and was panting almost the whole trip. Cejas settled down and actually slept after about two hours... Bella and Missy just cuddle up together on the back seat and go to sleep - although Bella likes to be a seat hog and stretch her legs out and kick the other dogs and even me sometimes. We drove through a thunderstorm that was the weirdest one we had ever been in ... big drops of rain hitting the car and had to use the windshield wipers... sun shining the whole time, really windy and big dust storms on the side, with lighting flashing. And then like that - snap - it's over.

The dogs are glad to be back together with us. They stay in the garage in Oceanside so they go in there after dinner and we don't see them too much until the morning... they have adjusted to it and seem to even like the garage - it's cool! We are at the La Quinta Downtown Tucson and they have carpeting so we don't have the slippery tile issue with Mr. Cejas!

Not too much new and different this trip... we are off tomorrow to Ft. Stockton, Texas.

I'm tired - I've been up since 5 AM and it's 10:30 now...so more manana...

Oceanside - June 29 - July 20, 2009

How I spent my summer vacation:

Rescued a lovebird. Went to Oceanside Beach for the 3rd of July. Went to a party for the Fourth of July. Had a Fifth party on the Fifth of July. Went swimming in the pool - a lot! Every day! Taught Isabelle how to get a Pacifico, in a koozie, with a lime. :) Played with my girls. Made friends with Victoria (pooh tinky!) Rode bikes with Eliza and Isabelle and improved my knee (who knew?) Had fun with Samantha and Jimmy, the kids down the street, who came up to play and swim. Learned what a Gogurt is. Cuddled the four Maine Coons - Jasmine, Max, Daniel and Selena. Slept with the dogs in the garage one night when Missy was nervous. Had sleepovers with Isabelle and Eliza in the family room. Went to Joe's Crab Shack at Oceanside pier for yummy crab lunch and some fun! Wore peace themed outfits and matched. Dance party on the patio - shake shake shake! Sang Mr. Cejas' song over and over and over... Mr. Cejas has spotty eyebrows, he's just like a dog... (really - a guy recorded a song about Cejas and gave it to me)... had my hair start to turn green from being in the chlorine in the pool... learned all about pools and pumps and chlorine and Davy Jones sweepers and more than I ever wanted to know! ... Went to Target and WalMart and PetSmart and spent way more than we should have! Got a lot of cute new swimsuits tho! :) ... had fires in the outdoor fireplace and made S'mores... made strawberry mikshakes and Oreo cookies milkshakes... waffles for breakfast and New England Clam Chowder soup for lunch (see, I CAN cook!)... cheeseburgers in paradise... visiting the cats up for adoption at PetSmart and wanting to adopt them ALL!... outdoor living at its best! ... had a Fiesta with a pinata.... had a Woodstock party with Peace, Love and Happiness and another pinata... shopping for seat covers for the car and finding all the fun stuff in an auto parts store... annoying the girls with my constant questions... did you brush your hair? did you brush your teeth? did you put on sunblock? Making schedules for thto put on the refrigerator to check off when we got all of those things done... daily prizes and presents for the girls... feeding Tweet and cleaning his cage and covering him up and uncovering him in the morning... getting dead spiders and crickets out of the bottom of the pool (that's really BOB'S JOB!!!)... Uncle Grumpy!... so many memories, so little time...

Remember, I am only here to annoy! (the button that the girls gave me to wear while I was there! )

The dogs had a great time... Missy served as Lifeguard Dog on duty - any time anyone jumped into the pool and made a splash, she would jump off of "her" loveseat, run to the side of the pool, and lick them to make sure that they were ok.

On the road again - SF to Oceanside, June 29, 2009

So - we're doing it again - driving to Akumal with the four beachmutts.

We started getting ready for the big adventure - have a house/pet sitter staying with Maya and Miska while we are gone (thanks Coby!) Took all four dogs to the vet together and got their health certificates and current rabies certs - thanks Dr. Dave! And then loaded up the CRV with all of the essentials, including a set of dishes for the condo (hey, c'mon, they're really cute and they are blue and green and yellow and have seashells, sailboats and nautical themes on them!) We were taking some stuff down to Oceanside for the girls too so the car was packed to the brim - poor Vina's head was only about a foot from the ceiling! No worries, it won't be that packed and full when we go to Mexico!

We left San Francisco on Monday, June 29th and drove to Oceanside, CA to spend three weeks at my brother, Rod's, house with his wife Nicky and their three daughters - Eliza, age 9, Isabelle, who will be 7 at the end of August, and Victoria, who is 18 months. We were niece-sitting while Rod's work was in shutdown. We had a great time and it went by wayyyyy too fast! There was a whole list of things that I wanted to do with the girls and places to go and we didn't get to half of them but that's they good part about vacations - when you leave you want to go back! We'll be stopping back in December on our way home. We spent our days playing with the dogs, who loved running around the yard and basking in the sun... and the girls and their friends and I spent a lot of time swimming in the pool... and shopping til we dropped at Target and Walmart... we even rescued a wayward lovebird that was flying around the yard, eating with the wild birds. We went to PetSmart, bought a cage, put some food in it, and he walked right in, sat right down and started eating and I just closed the door - he's been living happily ever after since! His name is Lucky Tweet and he is very sweet and loves to tweet at you when you whistle or talk to him. The girls spent a lot of time teaching the dogs tricks and doing training with them and of course, the dogs loved getting all of the extra love, attention and TREATS! This is their idea of Disneyland - the happiest place on Earth!