It sounds so cliché, but I truly can’t believe we’re in 2009 already. It seems like just yesterday that we were celebrating the new millennium in Park City with a 5 month old Abigail, and having a major freakout (me) / celebration (Neil) over the news that I was pregnant again.
I won’t be making any New Year’s resolutions, since those are pretty much guaranteed to be ignored after 2-3 weeks of rigorous stick-to-it-ness. But I would like to blog more, and scrapbook more, and play more games with the kids, and read more books.
One thing I would like to commit to is taking a photo a day in 2009 – Project 365. It’s not so much the number of pictures that’s intimidating (I took over 700 this past December – about 3 were decent), it’s the task of remembering to pick up the camera every day and photograph something of interest. Or something boring – whichever. I’m not picky when it’s 11:59 PM and the leftovers from dinner are the most exciting thing around.
I’ve done the photo-of-the-day thing before (back in October ‘07), and when I look back at those pictures now, I especially love all the little things I documented – Travis’ “sound survey” from school (where he noted that he heard me talking on the phone every day), the glistening spider web in the school parking lot, and Abby’s face paint from kids-eat-free night. It was a nice little slice of life. Of course, I would have documented the big events – Elaine’s wedding and Halloween – anyway, but I probably wouldn’t have bothered with all of the random pictures of naps and trips to the park. The spiderweb would have been appreciated in the moment, and forgotten about by the next morning. Now I’m really glad I made that trip back home to pick up the camera.
The nice thing about having kids, especially anal ones like Abby, is that they tend to remind you incessantly about your commitments. She asked every day what I was posting, and there were a few times where we were scrambling right before bed, looking for something to take a picture of. I haven’t told her about this project yet, because I’m hoping that I won’t need to be nagged at least for another week or two.
I definitely won’t be blogging every day, but my plan is to do a “catch-up” post every so often (weekly? maybe more?) and post the daily photos all at once. They may or may not have captions or explanations or apologies. And sometimes, if I feel like it, I might just post more than one photo a day. Something like this:
Day 1: Jan 1 2009
We spent the last week at Larry’s ranch in the middle of nowhere (about halfway between Del Rio and Rock Springs). There are thousands of acres of hills, rocks, cacti, mountain laurel, deer, and about 12 people. My dad would love it. Actually, we all love it.
Moose is a huge weenie and was less than thrilled with the fireworks (he climbed up into Larry’s lap at one point – the 100 lb. lap Lab), but he relaxed after we gave him some Tuaca.
On New Year’s Day we rode around the ranch, took the kids down into the cave, and extracted what surely must have been the world’s most painful cactus needle from Travis’ big toe. It took pliers to pull the thing out, and I think our ears are still ringing from the screams.
Needless to say, he recovered after a few minutes, and was happily bouncing along in the back of the Ranger.
Day 2: Jan 2, 2009
Our family plays a lot of games – board games, the dorky kind. We try to play something every night, but get sidetracked occasionally by school and sports. Lately the kids have been more interested in having me read to them (currently, The Mysterious Benedict Society), which is fun too, but I’ve been missing our game nights. We got Settlers of Catan for Christmas (To: Mom From: Mom), and cracked it open before we left for the ranch. It’s rather complicated to set up and to figure out the rules (Travis was standing on his head and running laps around the dining room at one point while I was reading the directions aloud), but fun to play once you get it all straightened out, since each player is involved for every roll of the dice. We had to stop mid-game when we left, and finished it up Friday night once we got home.
Day 3: Jan 3, 2009
Normally I’d say that it’s a bad idea to play on the trampoline with the sprinkler in early January, but it got the kids out of the house. Did I mention it was 83 degrees today? Jan. 3. Seriously.
These pics were on my other memory card, and I almost forgot I had them until I took random photos this weekend and finally downloaded the whole thing. There are definite downsides to having a Compact Flash card collection.
I think I already mentioned that Aruba is unique in that the sandy beachy side is protected – there are no waves, and it’s almost like a beautiful salt-water lake (with very few Mormons). So you have sparkling white sand, crystal clear water, and…jet skis. And tubes. And these silly banana boat things. Also, inflatable couches that they drag behind really fast boats (I’m not even kidding). Luckily, they rope off a swimming area outside of the resorts, so you aren’t run over by drunken tourists – unless they are skilled enough to hop over the buoys. They also give extensive lessons: “Go. Slow Down. Stop.” That pretty much covers it.
Since Neil is never content to just sit on the beach drinking fruity beverages and pouring over the latest issue of People (what is WRONG with him anyway?!?!), he signed up for a tubing excursion with his manager Todd, and inside sales rep Billy. Neil is an experienced tuber (it’s true!), and he also likes to pretend to be really macho, so I didn’t think there was any way our driver would be able to flip him off the tube. Clearly, I underestimated him (the driver, that is, not Neil). I’m pretty sure Billy had no clue what was about to transpire, if the pleading and begging about halfway into the trip were any indication.
Everything started off well – a leisurely drive while the lines got straightened out, and the boys settled into their tubes.
I think at this point they were wishing they had brought their beers along. Then the driver punched the gas. I managed to strap myself to the metal framework of the boat before I took the Cannon for a dive, and we took a quick pass back by the hotel.
And that’s pretty much the last in-focus picture I took. The rest were a blur of feet and tubes and bellies in all the wrong places, and glimpses of Billy cradling his head in his hands, and muttering, “Please, for the love of god, slow down!!!!” and “DUUUDE! Did you really have to take that corner at 50 mph???” Our driver just kept flashing his huge grin, and chatting up the random boats whizzing by with equally terrified tourists. His favorite technique was to let out a ton of slack in the ropes, and then suddenly take off, whipping the tubes around until they smashed into the wake or each other.
Neil didn’t really seem to mind. I think the beer had kicked in at this point.
They all had some spectacular belly flops that I wish I could share with you, but I’ll leave you with the last stunt of the trip, performed by Todd:
I think if the Olympics adds a tubing event in 2016, we’ll have a serious contender.
In which we take a look at the animals of Aruba:
The lizards:
These little guys were so cool – they were running around in the sand and near the pool. When the sun hit them just right, they’d sparkle.
And of course, iguanas:
I love iguanas, but their uber-long back toe kind of creeps me out. What’s with that thing? These dudes hung out with the black swans at the hotel, sunning themselves and bobbing their necks whenever another one got too close (I guess these 2 are friends).
Macaws:
Pretty bird! That top one tried to eat my hair while I took a picture of his friend.
And ostriches:
Yes, ostriches. Seriously. We thought it was weird too. They weren’t running around wild like the iguanas (thank goodness), but some guy thought it would be a great idea to start an ostrich farm in Aruba, and then they bribed the jeep tour people to take all of the people (tour-takers? tourees?) there. I’m pretty sure the only people who go to the ostrich farm are the ones that get trapped into it on the tour – maybe I’m just jaded, but I’ve seen plenty of ostriches, and they aren’t any more fascinating in Aruba. They served ostrich burgers, but they don’t use the ostriches at the farm for those (???). We passed on the burgers.
There were also tons of morning doves – they hung out on the beach and begged for food. Kind of like our grackles, but prettier and less annoying.
More pictures coming…eventually. 
If I knew how to say “2″ in Dutch, I would have used that instead. I wonder why it’s ok to call the language Dutch, but not the islands? I guess Netharlandese has too many syllables.
The first day we got to Aruba we scoped out the beach and the pool, and met up with some of Neil’s coworkers / friends. The entire trip (plus a few extra days) was paid for by Neil’s company, and most of his current and former team were there. I know for some (most?) people, going on vacation with coworkers would be a complete drag, but everyone was really cool – the kind of people you’d enjoy hanging out with even if you weren’t working with them.
For dinner that night, we struck off towards all the restaurants and shops north of the hotel, and passed up Tony Roma’s (seriously) and Texas de Brazil to eat in this little place behind the Marriot, right on the beach. The hostess sadly informed us that we’d have to eat “inside”, which actually meant outside, but not ON the beach – we were forced to sit under the huge gazebo about a foot from the beach and 30 yards from the ocean, instead of being able to wiggle our toes in the sand as we ate.
After we recovered from our extreme disappointment, she led us to our table and we all decided on the bbq buffet. The buffet could have been great had they had enough food. But it was less all-you-can-eat and more almost-but-not-quite-enough-to-eat buffet. I had decent timing and happened to get there during one of the rare grilled shrimp (YUM!) appearances. I missed out on the grouper, but took a bite of Neil’s, and it was one of the best pieces of fish I’ve ever tasted – spicy and flavorful and perfectly cooked. Good wine, good conversation, and good food – the perfect combination.
I was exhausted after dinner (not sure if it was the 3 hours of sleep or the 3 glasses of wine), so Neil walked me back up to the room, then hurried back to the casino to join everyone else. We’ve adopted the don’t ask, don’t tell policy of how much money was lost gambling, but suffice it to say that we did not leave Aruba richer than we came.
The next morning we went to this little cafe across the street from the Hyatt. The food was unremarkable, but the cutest little birdy flew in and perched on the syrup dispenser on the next table.
He looks kind of hacked, doesn’t he? Maybe because he couldn’t seem to get to the syrup?
I took a look at some of the shops around the restaurant. The shopping in Aruba is interesting. If you’re in the market for Cartier, Louis Vuitton, or Coach, you’re set. And if you need a fake iguana or a embroidered dress or some hand-painted maracas, Aruba’s your place. And that pretty much covers all your options. But there were these really cool Dr. Seussian trees on the way back from the shops:
More to come, but it will have to wait for tomorrow!
How I’ve missed you. Well, that’s not entirely true. Since actually, you’ve been here all along, and I’ve just been too busy doing fabulous things to stop and write. Normally I would be totally kidding about the fabulous part, but it’s true*. Mainly because we went to ARUBA! Without the kids! For free**! It’s fun to say ARUUUUBA really loud. Kind of reminds me of the sound of those old-fashioned car horns, or the noise Neil makes when he blows his nose. Anyway, without further ado, Aruba:
I know what you’re thinking: “Aruba….isn’t that the place where that girl disappeared?? Natalie something-or-other?” Yeah, that pretty much covered the extent of our knowledge of Aruba before we left as well. Also, the Beach Boys apparently dig Aruba, but would prefer to take you to Kokomo.
I envisioned Aruba somewhere around all those teeny islands in the Carribean – maybe around St. Lucia, or in the Bahamas. (sidenote – is Google Maps just playing dumb, or are all the islands in the Bahamas actually called “The Bahamas”? That can’t be right.)
Aruba is actually nowhere close to either of those – it’s waaaaay down there by South America – about 15 miles north of Venezuala! I had NO idea. None. Until I looked at the map, obviously. Google Maps did have the courtesy to name Aruba, but Curacao and Bonaire got shafted. All three islands are part of what I’ve always heard referred to as the “Dutch Antilles”, but apparently I’m way behind the times because obviously everyone knows they are now called the “Netherlands Antilles”. “Dutch” isn’t PC I guess.
It was a looong plane ride (first to Houston, then 4.5 hours to Aruba), but we did get to see the movie 27 Dresses (women cheered while the men collectively groaned). Continental needs to go back to the drawing board with their steamed-burger-in-a-bag “dinner” though. Blech. Getting through customs when we landed was uneventful, and we hailed paid a random guy a dollar to hail us a cab.
The cabs in Aruba are very fancy – Lexus and Mercedes and Toyota SUVs mostly. They are just regular (luxury) vehicles – no yellow paint or stripper signs hanging off the trunk, and no meters. Apparently, if you want to be a cabbie in Aruba, you just affix this little plastic “Taxi” sign on the roof and you’re good to go. This makes for some interesting negotiating when you’re going anywhere. I’m fairly convinced that most people in Aruba just buy a really nice car, get a Taxi sign, and pick up fares until they can make their car payment.
When we got to our hotel, we were pretty much floored. The hotel lobby was all open air, and this is what you see when you walk up the stairs into the entry:
Beautiful! I know it’s hard to see in this picture, but the water was an incredible shade of turquoise, and everything at the hotel was amazingly lush (even more remarkable since Aruba is quite literally a desert island). Here’s another view of the lobby, taken at sunset:
This picture doesn’t really do it justice since Neil was shooing me along, but I loved the light fixtures and the orchids in those white vases. It was all very feng shui.
And when we got up to our hotel room, this was the view we had from our balcony:
Seriously – the water really is that blue. Bluer actually. I’m not sure if you can tell or not in this picture, but the wind is blowing like crazy towards the water. The weirdest thing about the ocean here is that there are no waves. People were skiing and tubing right off the beach! The trade winds all hit the rocky north side of the island, and all of the hotels are on the south side. It made for some very relaxing floating, and lots of entertainment watching Neil and his coworkers getting flung around on tubes.
More pictures and stories coming tomorrow – I promise!
*ok, so there was one week of fabulousness, but who’s counting?
**gambling and pre-vacation shopping expenses excluded
