Princessa/Going Away Party

Hi Everybody. If you are reading this it means you've made it to the new site! Congrats. The other blog site blocked me out so I had to start again. I hope you enjoy this one as much as the other one. I'll try to keep it interesting, which I don't think will be too hard now that I'm living in Cabo and here there is one story after another. We are in the middle of one big adventure. And to kick off this adventure we threw a Princessa birthday/going away party. We invited all of the princessas and pirates we knew, and even some we didn't know but wanted to meet before we left. It was a wild time with most kids dressed up, Nana's garage doused in as much pink as we could stand, and at the princessa her self's most special request chocolate cupcakes with pink frosting. The princess party kicked off the night but as the sugar crash set in most of the kids went home. As the kiddo's were gearing down the adults were just getting started on the peach sangria I'd made. Wasn't that good? I'll totally toot my own horn on that one. It was the only thing that was completely drained by the end of the evening. Nice work guys. It was a great night. Pretty crazy and hectic for me as I was playing hostess and caterer. Not the smartest choice even though I had great help I was still doing more running and less conversing. Next time I will have to stick to just hosting. Though I got to talk to many of you there were so many people that I missed. I saw you come in and I saw you leave and that was it. For those of you who I did not get to spend some q.t. with I am so glad you came and I hope that you were well fed and maybe we can catch up on that q.t. here in Cabo. For those of you who were able to stay it was well worth it. It got just a weee bit crazy in the end.

We had bought some face paint for a kid party activity. Surprisingly the kids didn't really get into it. A few of the kids got a heart or a flower on their face but most chose a temporary tattoo. However, even more surprisingly, my mother's friends somehow found the paints and REALLY got into it. We're talking, full facial. A tribal chief, Pocahontas, a tiger and a fairy. My mother insists that there really wasn't that much alcohol involved. But according to the pictures I'm not so sure. Either way they were one fun group to have at the party. Those who survived the face painting escapade were able to catch a rare performance of Anni and Katie's original synchronized swim routine of Cher's "Do you believe in life after love" now carefully adapted into a land based format. Face paint and dance both high lights of the evening.

I was glad so many of you were able to come, and came bearing gifts. Though I had thought I had said no gifts necessary, more than one person said they neither heard nor saw such thing on my invites. Perhaps a subconscious thing. I love presents. And even though I really didn't know how much we could bring to your gifts were perfect. O received quite a few travel toys and books which I know made the plane ride for my mom and O a breeze. They had one thing after another to keep that girl busy. We are still using the water color books and princess sticker books on a daily basis here at the time share. We've been practicing our Spanish with the bilingual and vocab books and just really enjoying all the books in general at bed and nap time. Though I have to be admit something and I wanted this to wait until another post in which I tell our Baja travel stories, but this seems as good of time as any to admit to one of my many idiotic moments. Mine as well just get this one out of the way.

I had been reading in all of the Baja travel books that one should bring extra gas for the long
drive down Mexico HWY 1 in which gas stations may be few and far between. So I packed a little two gallon can that I had found in my garage and brought it along. When we neared the border in Yuma I decided to find the gas can and fill it. I was so proud of myself for remembering it, and feeling pretty awesome that we were about to embark upon something that could very possibly involve us needing spare gas. That is cool. I was going to be prepared. The only thing was, upon closer inspection I realized that the little tank needed two covers, one for the spout and one for the air hole so the gas might flow faster. I was missing the cover to the air hole. Ummm.... I went into the gas station to find a solution. There it was right next to the really big gas tanks, which by the way did not seem to have air holes nor the need for a cap for one. To me the air hole was beginning to seem like more of a pain than a necessity. But as I looked further in the gas can section of the gas station, I found my solution. Electrical tape. Duct tape is used to fix just about any problem under the sun. I can't imagine electrical tape being any different. The only reason we use duct tape more often is because it's that pretty silvery color. I bought the boring black electrical tape, filled the gas can wrapped up the air hole good and tight ( even made sure the tape was sticking to the inside part of the grooves) and put it in the car top carrier so we wouldn't have to live with the smell of gas, (just because I had over filled the can a little and the outside was soaked, not because I didn't have faith in the tape in the hottest muggiest weather I'd ever seen). I nestled the can right between my tent, camping chairs and O' toy and book bag. Perfect. We might just need that and if we do I, ME, will have thought to be prepared. I got back in the car, Katie was on the phone with her mom, I told her we had spare gas if we needed it. Focused on the border, we were off. Well a few days into our voyage we find a place for our first camp. I open the car top carrier to get our amping gear that I was so excited to use for our first beach camp, only to be SHOCKED at what I found. The electrical tape had come off and soaked everything in two gallons of gasoline. Did anyone see this coming? All of my camping gear was soaked ( I will tell you how we dealt with this later) and most of O's books. So when we finally arrived to the time share I aired out all of her books and even used a match test on the stinkiest of them ( had a gallon of water right by me just in case, I learned that lesson, which I'll tell you about later). Anyway the books past the test. At least none of them ignited, but some were so stinky we could not keep them around. We kept most of them and even though some still have a hint of gas we enjoy them just the same. Ha. Good one huh. My mom thought I should be too embarrassed to share but you all know me so just shake your heads and move on. You gotta take the good with the bad.

We had many adventures and stories on our journey but this post's focus is on the party and express our gratitude to you all for coming, the other stories will come. I really did want to use this opportunity as a mass thank you card as I wasn't able to write one to everyone before we left. We really got some awesome well thought out things. Princess gifts, travel activities, Spanish games and books even a magic princess necklace from Karen. I also got a few going away presents for me and the trip. My gramma gave us and angel to hang in the car to keep us safe (she earned her wings on this trip) some travel treats that lasted way longer than you would expect. We were eating chocolate rice krispy bars well into Mexico. Her chocolate chip oatmeal cookies made fast friends with our fishing, snorkeling guide in Mulige. We dug into Dick Field's pretzels even before we left MPLS but they lasted well into Yuma. We savored each treat and thought of home. Sue Fahey made O some PJ's and for me a quilt, which meant so much I brought it along. The time that must've gone into those projects is really special. The biggest shout out to Gertie and Katie who came over to decorate and party prep. You know how much I love you. I'm really going to miss friends like you. Thanks to Deb for putting out the food and keepin' it comin'. You are awesome. Thanks to everybody. It was a great party and a great send off with things to remember you by. I will be keeping track of our lives on here so come on by anytime, leave us a note or just read about our adventures. We'll love hearing from you.