Let the Games Begin...

As of Friday I started my mini vaca. The kids & I got up early, loaded the car, and headed to Perry, Oklahoma. They're spending the week at their Dad's in Texas for Spring Break. Yay! The best part of the trip is the Sooners Corner Restaurant's fried pickles. It's like a piece of heaven & an awesome reward for the 4 hour drive to get there.

After the exchange, I headed back to Kansas to get myself packed to head to the Ozarks with Hawks to celebrate his Grandma's 90th Birthday. I love that woman so much. She is an amazing woman and always has a funny story to tell. Before we went though, I had a surprise for Hawks when he got home from work - NERF GUNS! I won't go into it but I will say that he has a better aim than I have and apparently there are no rules.

I love going up to the cabin. It's so peaceful. Hawks' Mom always feeds us tons of food & the weather is usually great to just sit on the deck & watch wildlife on the creek. Certain times of the year you can hear bullfrogs & other loud critters. We've seen snakes, turtles, fish & birds down there that you normally just don't see in Kansas.

All of his siblings were there & set up a ping pong tournament in the basement. I'm not good at ping pong, not at all. I'd love to think that had I not been in so much pain (thighs & back) from my Personal Trainer workout the Thursday prior, that I would have played better. Excuses excuses excuses, but really I was in major pain.

We came home yesterday and each took small naps up til time to go find somewhere to watch the KU game last night. I'm not going to get into all that because that could be a blog post on it's own and most likely will be. Hah. Anyroo... Happy Vaca to me!

Oh and one last thing - A big thank you to Josh for babysitting our doggie Astrid for us while we were away. We cannot thank you enough.

No New Tale to Tell

For the life of me I'll never understand people who capture the flag, run off to another and leave the flags captured completely defenseless. Seems it's an Alliance thing mostly. Hey Alliance, that's why you almost always lose battlegrounds, you derps!

Blood & Honor or something! FOR THE HORDE!

Anyyyyyrooo...

Not much going on 'round here. Bunky's first swim meet is today in Emporia. Sadly I can't go. I'm at work until 4, then I have to hit the gym - hard. Hawks is hoping to go to the meet if he gets off work early enough & I *did* buy her flowers this morning as a "Hey G'Luck you Queen of the Butterfly Stroke!" Wooooo Go LHS Lions!

Tomorrow starts my mini vaca & the kids' Spring Break. Huzzah! They'll be off to their dad's first thing in the morning which is currently stressing me out for reasons I won't go into. My vacation is Fri-Thurs & I have fun stuffs planned for Hawks & I. Mostly my vaca was going to just be me being lazy which also sounds great, but then I had to go & get some great ideas in my head. I'll definitely blog about them next week but for now they are surprises for Hawks.

See? Not much going on. Oh completely unrelated but earlier when I went outside I could close my eyes & feel like I was standing on the beach at Newport early in the morning. Sounds of seagulls, cool breeze & everything. It was awesome & slightly weird but overall pretty damn cool.

Spring Fever

It snowed yesterday. I blame Hawks. After a few gorgeous days last week he got a wild hair to remove the soft top from his Jeep. Two days later, it snowed.

It didn't just snow but I do believe it dropped the estimated 3-6 inches. It snowed all night and most of the day yesterday. Then the sun came out & BOOM! By the time I left work yesterday it was scattered sprinkles but the snow was almost completely gone.

Today we're sitting pretty with blue skies, sunshine, and holding on at a cool 42° F. I really wish I could be outside in it. Soaking up Vitamin D sounds a lot better than tweaking admin systems & building websites.

Speaking of - my vaca was approved & starts this Friday (thru Wednesday). I'll have 6 glorious days off to do nothing. It may sound pathetic because I have no big trips planned or anything exciting at all, but trust me - I need just that.

Day #1 - Drive to Oklahoma & drop kids off with their dad. (Sooners Corner fried pickles - Yum!)
Day #2 - Celebrate Grandma's (Hawks' Grandma) 90th Birthday.
Day #3 - Take Astrid to muttrun.
Day #4 - sleep in, laundry & light housecleaning. Go to the farm & pet horses.
Day #5 - sleep in & do nothing.
Day #6 - sleep in & more nothing. Mayhaps read.

Vaca Crazy!

Today is the first real nice weather day since winter blew in and I'm going stir crazy. I found out this week that I have 16 vacation days to use this year through work & WOOOO that is exciting. The bad news is that Hawks has significantly less. Sadness.

Since I moved to Kansas, Hawks & I have taken vacations, like real ones, every year. I've never had that before in my life, like ever. In 2009 we went to a Bed & Breakfast on Oklahoma. It was romantic & sweet. Then last year, 2010, we went to San Antonio, TX & stayed on the River Walk for a few days. Very awesome. We visited the Alamo, took a boat tour, went swimming, went to Sea World and soaked in historic San Antonio.

This year, we're undecided. We talked about Colorado, but nothing jumped out at me. We have a few road trips this year that are mandatory family needed ones that we have to take & we will.

Today I was looking into Dodge City, KS. I love cowboy history and anyone who knows me well - knows that I'm desperate, almost foaming at the mouth to own my own hobby farm complete with animals. So if I can combine my love of cows, history & vaca together that sounds like one hell of a fun-gasm!

While I was looking into Dodge City, I came across Farms, Ranches and Wineries in Kansas. Clicking that link opened huge possibilities. I mean HUGE!

Cattle trails, ranch rodeos, threshing bees and harvest festivals provide many events that highlight Kansas agrarian roots. Take a trip home to the family farm, reminisce about the family farm or learn a lesson in how the food found on your plate all started on a farm. Enjoy the fresh produce or take in the sites of a Kansas harvest time or all year-round at one the farm experiences across the state.

Ridin' and ropin and blazin' the trail! Take to the trail like the cowboys of lore at a real working ranch at one of Kansas' many ranching experiences.

Wait - like the movie City Slickers? Ranches really do that?

Oh, they do & I found one just outside of Dodge City & it's calling my name... Moore Ranch - Raising Longhorn Cattle in Western Kansas. *Squuueeeee* As I read further, I almost peed myself when I noticed:

We Provide the horses and all the equipment you will need. Lodging and three meals are also included.

Short Cattle Drive. We will drive the longhorns to our south pasture about 8 miles from the ranch. We will camp out that night under the stars or in cowboy teepees. The next day we will ride back to the ranch.

Seriously - I almost peed! This is the vacation I want neeeeeeed. Now to get Hawks on board. Wish me luck!