Ramblings of a traveling consultant

SO I have been in Fort Pierce Florida for the past week - Edinburg (McAllen) Texas the week prior - total of 30 hours at home between trips. Kinda exhausting.

Things I have learned while traveling:

1. 7 year old little girls are really good at guilt trips. I miss you too Sammi :)

2. Water in airports is expensive!

3. People are people no matter where you go. May have different backgrounds (met a lady who grew up as a migrant worker (her parents were), one guy came from Mexico 5 years ago and didn't speak ANY English three years ago. Speaks English better than most Americans do. I need to learn a second language.

4. Everyone I have met wants to do their job and do it well. Makes me feel good about the middle class....

5. Sometimes I forget what car I am driving. Last week I had a red Hyundai, this week a maroon Mitsubishi. I came out of a restaurant this week and saw a car similar to the one I had last week. After 5 minutes of cussing at the car to open up.....I accidentally hit the panic button and figured out I was at the wrong car. I laughed at myself all the way to this weeks car.

6. Texas has the weirdest highway system. What is up with all the frontage roads?

7. I love my Swiss Army backpack. can hold all sorts of stuff in it and it has a laptop compartment to protect my laptop, which is also quick to get out at airport security checkpoints. Quality zippers, rugged construction. Nice backpack. Still haven't found the toothpick....

8. Hotel breakfasts are pretty good.

9. I like to get lost on purpose. With the GPS I know I will eventually get to where I need to be. I get to see lots of cool/interesting things doing this.

10. The best steak EVER wsa at George's Steak Pit in Florence Alabama. Less expensive than Ruth/Mortens and such - more than Applebee's/Chili's - worth EVERY penny.

11. I like to try local beers. Sometimes they are very good. Most of the time they are better than the "common" beers.



Little pet peeves along the way....

1. Rental car companies - What is the deal with cabling two keys together? The whole purpose of having two keys is to have one in reserve - you know in case you lock one in the car? Could you come up with a better system please? They don't fit in pockets well - especially if they are the big fat keys (remotes) and the tag used to identify the car. Next time I am bringing a pair of cutters to separate them.

2. American express isn't taken everywhere. Especially the local eateries. I hate having to carry two credit cards.

3. Waiters/waitresses that forget about you. Sorry - you lose a big tip when you do that. On the flip side, I gave your tip to the wonderful waitress that served me for lunch today. She deserved a big tip with all the people she was waiting on.

4. Airport security. So a 7" screwdriver is a no-no, but one that comes apart is okay? When I put it together, I can still use it as a weapon if I had too.....just sayin'

5. Expense reports suck. Necessary evil I know, but they are a pain in the butt.

I am sure I will add to this list in the future.....

And Rachel :)

Teaching Ashley how to do this :)

Hopefully someone will update this more often now :)

HOT! Holy Crap it's hot!

So Sammi and Ashley had their last soccer games today. Sammi's was at 10-11 am and Ashley's was at 11:30 - 1pm. It was so hot after Sammi's, we almost didn't go to Ashley's. Ash was a trooper and played 3/4 of the game. They lost, but ALL the girls were beat from the sun. I wasn't even out in the sun that long and my melon got burned. Thank goodness I brought the fold up tent. I think I was the most popular person today :) When I got home - the temp on our little thermometer was 99.4! It is in the shade....I started working on the patio (for the inflatable pool we are going to put up) But it is way too hot to get much done. I got one more side done before calling it quits (it is a 20' "diameter" octagon) Hopefully will get pictures up soon of it and the kids........

Kelly and Rachel are in New York at a dance class (for Rachel). The Vipers dancers all went up to a professional dance studio in New York. I think someone knows someone or something like that - else I am not sure why they would need to go to NYC. But it's quiet around here :) Ashley was invited to a last soccer game/birthday swim party. Picking her up around 7ish.

Last day of school was yesterday. Went to Sammi's kindergarten graduation. It was really cute. Sammi won the award for most BARK bucks (given by teachers or bus drivers for good behavior), most athletic (for always doing cartwheels outside) and best helper. Ashley and Rachel had awards on Thursday. They both received many - but Ashley received one for most improved in Language Arts. Thought that was really cool :) So as a reward (and since we were not going to NYC - we went to see Kung Fu Panda. It was really funny and entertaining. Even if you don't have kids - it was fun to watch.

I have too many pictures

But not one of the whole family together....I shall try to remedy that.

Congratulations go out to Rachel and Ashley - both on the honor roll again! Ashley is on the distinguished honor roll for the first time ever! Way to go girls! We are very proud of you!

Thanks mom and dad for coming out and helping while Kelly was in Vegas - couldn't have done it without you. The girls are all wondering when you are coming back, but they really want to go to the lake ;) We will try for August I am hoping......

Testing the blog....

Going to try this, because it seems like it is a great way to inform peeps on how things are going in our lives.....