First off, we couldn't get our extra timeshare week (seriously, stop giving us weeks...we can't even use them all) booked anywhere except a resort that's 15 minutes from our house. But, you know, it was a free week, so why not at least get outta the house, have somebody else do the laundry and enjoy beautiful Newport Beach while we're at it? Sounds like a good idea, right?
And it was...right up until the night before when I got that ominous phone call from the kid's daycare (those calls are NEVER good news) telling me "Ryan has a temperature of 101." I swear, those germs just KNOW when we are supposed to leave on vacay and that's when they strike! This is the FOURTH vacation in a row where he's either gotten sick the day before we leave, the day we leave, or the day after we arrive.
By the time I got to the school and picked him up and got him home, his temp was up to 102.
Sigh.
So, I had a pow-wow with everyone else who was going and, since they were all in various phases of "getting over being sick" and "just finished being sick" (I told everyone in no uncertain terms that from now on, *I* am vacationing alone...all you sick people can stay HOME with your GERMS!) they all agreed we should go anyway. Mr. Sicky McSickerson will NOT stand in the way of this group's vacation (especially since we were so close to home and he can sit in the room and watch cartoons just as easily as he can sit on the couch at home and do the same thing).
Got to the resort and immediately set up a quarantine area for the kid and his germs.
And then we went on with our activities (with one person staying behind to keep the kid company, keep his medicine topped off, and keep an eye on him - we rotated this duty). Saturday evening was the official tree-lighting ceremony at nearby Crystal Cove beach. They had carrollers, hot chocolate and cookies...and Santa arrived via lifeguard rescue vehicle (I guess the reindeer don't do sand).
Here's a picture of the tree...a little underwhelming in size, I thought, since it's an outdoor tree, but it was decorated nicely. The striped awning is the outside of the famous Beachcomber restaurant.
As we waited for it to get dark enough to light the tree, I took a photo of the sun setting over Catalina Island. If you look REALLY closely, you can see the tiny triangle of a sailboat. By the way, for those keeping up on current events, the waters off Catalina are where Natalie Wood drowned (with or without help...depending on who you believe).
See...vacationing 15 minutes from home does have SOME perks. Too bad the weekend BEFORE we came it was 80 degrees and it was more like 65 when I took this picture LOL!
But it made for a great lunchtime view. This is from the pool deck restaurant looking out the other way over the ocean. If you squint, you can see Santa Catalina in the distance again. I wish I'd taken a picture the day before because we'd had Santa Ana winds for several days that really cleared up the air and Catalina looked so close you could practically walk there AND you could also see the island further out (which is almost never visible and which is called San Clemente island. )
For those with an interest in geography and history, both of these islands are part of the same chain, known as The Channel Islands, as San Nicolas island - the setting for the book "Island of the Blue Dolphins."
Since I didn't have my camera on the day when the view was the best, I used my zoom to re-create the effect...but it actually looked even closer than this.
So, that's the tale of our vacation...that sort of wasn't a vacation...but still had a few good moments. The suites were nice, the pool and view were great and there were lots of things for the (healthy) kids to do. Oh, and I got jewelry made..which I will post as soon as I have time to get the photos processed.
Oh, and SickyPants is doing better now, too thanks to an antibiotic. He was, however, NOT HAPPY about the amount of homework he's had to make up. We worked on it last week while he was home and hours over the weekend...and we're STILL not done. Honestly, I was at the point last night where I was thinking "how bad would it be if I just finished it so we can be done?"
And yeah, I know, WORST MOM EVER, but seriously, the amount of drill on stuff that he ALREADY KNOWS is just ridiculous. It's like work for work's sake. The worst part is that I KNOW the teacher didn't even send home everything...this was like just the most important stuff.
I sure hope he doesn't accumulate much new work today because we still have stuff to finish.
KJ
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