Musings of a Michigan Mom

In case you are looking for a great place to stay in the Orlando area, take a look at this home!  I just love their video for it!   What’s really nice is if you have any issues the owner lives in the same development instead of states away!

A couple weeks ago we ended up doing our big vacation for the year!  One thing I was looking forward to was the use of our new GPS that my parents got us for Christmas.   Using it around home and to the Detroit area I already knew I was going to like it, but on our vacation I found out how much more I would like it.

I do have to say I have a lot more pro’s than con’s about it.   Here is a list of my pros…

• You don’t have to study on a map or mapquest how to get somewhere… instead you just punch in the address on your GPS and hit go!  (I still recommend having a map in the car with you just in case she goes off track a little.. I have read horror stories about that)
• It shows you what the speed limit is and how fast you are going!   I used that feature on it a lot as I hated the speedometer on the van we had rented as it showed 20, 40, 60, 80…. not 10, 20, 30, 40, 50. 
• If you miss a turn she will let you know and will recalculate to get you back on track.
• It will show you were the nearest doctors/hospitals/police.. etc are.  So say you are driving through Plano Texas and you break a tooth.. you can look up Plano dentist and it will show you where the closest one is!
• It has a clock on there that will show you at what time you will arrive at your destination.   The only thing is if you stop for gas, supper..etc the time will change so they don’t put in account you stopping for gas even.

Cons:   I really can’t think of to many, but here were a few

• Sometimes they will tell you to turn on a “road” which could be a two track (that was our case.. but we used our better judgement and just kept driving) or a seasonal road.   I’ve read in the papers about how people got stuck in snow on a seasonal road and was stuck for days on end.  So while it’s nice to not have to think and do what the talking lady says.. you also have to use your better judgement as well.
• Sometimes it can be a little hard to understand ours at least.  It always sounds like she is saying our next turn will be on the left.. I’ve now learned to look down at it to see which way for sure I will be having to go.

One thing I wish they could add to it that would make me love it even more…  I wish it would beep at you when the speed limit changes!  That way I don’t always have to look over at it to make sure I didn’t miss a speed limit sign.. I could just listen for the beep!   I actually am surprised they haven’t come up with that one yet.

Do you have a GPS?  If so, do you like it?  Or do you have more con’s than pro’s with it?

It’s amazing how much I put my skin through on this vacation.  First off we leave Michigan and it’s a little cold, but for winter not so bad.  We arrive in Florida and it was warm enough where we got to go swimming, but then that night it started raining and got a little colder.  The next 6 days were COLD and WINDY!   Put it this way… Wednesday night was so cold & windy we were debating on staying for the Spectromagic parade and fireworks.  I honestly was ready to skip the fireworks as it was so cold and we were dressed for it except for our hands since we forgot gloves and no store down there had any.   That night when I got home my face was red and it wasn’t from the sun.. it was from the wind I’m sure!

Now that we are away from Disney and are in Orange Beach my skin is still being exposed to many different things.  It gets hot when sitting outside on the belcony away from the wind, to it getting dried out when you go swimming in the coline filled pool to getting the cold and wind when you go out to watch the Mardi Gras Parade.

So what did I learn this vacation?  Don’t forget to bring your exposed skin care treatments at home, because you never know what you will be exposing your skin to!

I have a “friend” ( guess you could say an acquaintance since we have never met and have only talked online) who owns a vacation rentaldown in the Orlando area.   On facebook he asked a question and I just thought I would ask my loyal readers as well.

When you are looking for a vacation rental (House with a garage), what would mean the most to you?  Having the garage be a real garage where you could park your vehicle inside instead of just parking it in the driveway?  OR would you rather have the garage made into a game room?  Have some garage flooring work done so it doesn’t look like a normal garage floor along with a pool table, Foosball table and whatever else games they would put in a game room?

I know for me I personally would rather use the garage as a garage, but maybe that’s because my kids are to young to play pool & foosball? 

So what would you rather have?  The garage or the game room?

I can’t believe we leave for our 2 week vacation tomorrow!   It’s funny, usually when we go I start packing weeks in advance.  This time I started this past weekend and everything is packed from our swimsuits to our battery chargers.  The only thing I have to pack yet is the last minute things like toothbrushes, toothpaste, that sort of thing.

The only bummer thing is Katie has gotten ill and tomorrow morning while I’m getting Kevin ready for school, Paul will be calling the doctors office hoping to get an appointment before we leave tomorrow afternoon.  All I know is I hope she starts feeling better soon.  Right now it’s a nasty cold, but starting tonight she refused to eat because her throat hurt too.  So between the sore throat and her rattly cough I can say she’s had better days and won’t be going to school tomorrow. 

So wish me luck tomorrow!  Finish packing, hopefully have an AM doctors appointment for Katie, pick up our van rental, pack the van, pick Kevin up from school and then start our 20 hr drive!  Sounds like fun doesn’t it?

I can’t believe in 12 days I’ll be leaving my family behind and will be flying out to Las Vegas with my friend and a couple of her friends for her 40th b-day!   I’m excited, but nervous at the same time.  I’m excited as I’m so ready to get out of here and go on a vacation (even though in a month we will be heading down to Florida & Alabama) to somewhere different.  The only time I was in Las Vegas was when I was going into 4th grade and honestly I don’t remember to much except for circus circus. 

Now.. what am I nervous for?  I’m a little nervous for the flight out there.   I worry anyways about the airplane going done, but after the terrorist attack on Christmas I’m a little more nervous than ever.  All I know is I’ll be  praying like crazy that I will be able to come back home and watch my kidlets grow up.   

I’m also a little bummed that I didn’t try loosing the weight like I had hoped to.  Here I’m stuck around where I was when we decided to go on this trip and honestly I have no clothes to wear so I’ll be having to go shopping for some ew things.  If I didn’t weigh so much it wouldn’t be a big deal, but because of my weight gain this past year I HATE going shopping for clothes.  Let alone clothes that are more on the dressier side that this will probably be the only time I ever wear them.  Plus I need new shoes too!  I have gym shoes to wear during the day, but I can’t wear gym shoes into a night show or something like that.  Yes, I have some black shoes, but they are not to comfortable and since we will be doing  a lot of walking my thoughts are I better get some new ones.  So needless to say you know what I’ll be doing this week.

Then there is the whole packing bit.   All 4 of us girls are going to try and fit all our clothes into one carry on bag!  I have no clue how I’m going to do this.  I know we also get to carry a personal item so I think I’m going to borrow Kevin’s backpack so I can put some things in there too.  Parts of me wants to bring my laptop, but since I’m nervous about bringing what I can in my carry on and any extra will have to go in my personal item I’m thinking I’m going to have to leave it home.  Wish me luck as I don’t think a day has gone by since I’ve gotten my first computer here that I haven’t gone online.   Good thing we will be busy.. maybe I won’t notice!  LOL

Have you ever been to Las Vegas?  Is there anything you would recommend we see or do?

I can’t believe that in a couple weeks I’ll be heading out to Las Vegas with a friend and a couple of her friends for her 40th birthday!  It will be interesting to see how it goes since I’ve never been away from my kids for that long.  I think the longest I was ever away from them would of been this month when I went to Birch Run for the DAY.  (yes… only 24 hrs) 

I was already getting a little nervous about going anyways since the only person I know that will be going is my friend whose Birthday it is, but now with the terrorist attack that failed happening this past weekend it honestly gets me nervous/scared to fly out there.  Of course we still will, but I will be praying the whole time that we won’t be have a travel emergency while we are on the way out there, while we are there and also on the way back.

Isn’t it weird… while I am excited to be going away, I’m also anxious to be back home with the kids at the same time.  Why is that?!?

I still have a couple years before our 10 year anniversary, but me who likes to dream is already dreaming where would we go if we could go away just the two of us? Parts of me would really LOVE to go to Hawaii as that’s some place I have never gone before, but Paul just doesn’t seem to interested as he had been there when he was younger.  (He went with his sister and parents and all I hear was how both him and his sister were crabs the whole time)

It seems like quite often people head to Las Vegas, but since Paul and I are not big gamblers I’m not thinking that would be the place for us even though I bet if you searched online for Las Vegas hotels you could find some really great deals and if you know Paul and I we are all about finding the deals. 

Then I start thinking, is it selfish for us to go on a little vacation for just the two of us? Instead of it being just for us, should we take the kids with us? After all, I’m sure if you ask parents whose kids are in college and out of the house they would say they wish they would of done more things with their kids. Of course I know it’s also important to have alone time too.

Thankfully I have a couple years to decide, start saving and hopefully changing Paul’s mind about Hawaii. ~grin~

If you were going to go away with just you and your spouse, where would you go?

As I’m sitting here watching Without A Trace I’m able to hear the light pitter patter of the rain outside my window I can’t help but wish I was on vacation. My dream vacation as of right now would be to be able to rent a nice private home with a swimming pool (like you see on those reality shows) that over looks the ocean! To have some of those pool floats lounges for Paul and I to be floating on, soaking up the rays and sipping on a drink!  Of course then my dream gets all wet because Kevin just did a big cannon ball right by me!  Now that I’m all wet the game is on and Kevin and I start splashing each other when Katie & Paul join in on the fun!

So what would your dream vacation be like?