The Redeemer

This is Miss, S,K,G and T I was takin the picture and Miss A is not a morning person.
So my very good friend has a little house on the coast in Aptos. I have blogged about it before. We had decided to do a girl trip again. Well the week before we were set to leave her garage caught fire. YIKES. They now have to move out of their house for about three months. Well her fabulous husband said to go ahead to the beach anyway. What better way to feel better then a weekend at the beach.
The day we left was great. No traffic, perfect weather. It was about 70 degrees when we got there. My kind of vacation. That night we went to a little Mexican restaurant around the corner. It's great because we can walk. Well before we left, one of the girls (not one of the regular crew) had a couple drinks. No biggie, then at the restaurant before we sat down she had a couple more. Then the bartender decided he liked her and started sending shots of tequila to her. YIKES!! RED FLAGS!! She just kept on takin them. By the time we left the restaurant she was plowed. Well I have seen her drunk and so had one of the other girls in the group. The others had no idea what was in store. We got her home. Then she started in on a rant, verbally attacking one of the other girls. (there were 6 of us in all) Well poor little Miss S has never seen anybody this drunk and on top of it is very sensitive. In the middle of the drunkin rant With me and Miss A trying to get Miss T to just go to bed the power go's out. Great. I go out side to see if I can fix it. I am really the only one who even has a clue about this stuff. (Thanks Hunter) I get it back on and an hour later it go's off again. This time I can't get it back on. Miss T is still on a drunkin rant. I sent Miss S, G and K off to hide in the bedroom since they were the targets of the rant. Finally Miss A and I get Miss T off to bed. The next day was beautiful if not a little awkward. I got up and went for a run along the beach. Then we went to down town Capitola for a little shopping and lunch. By the time we got back the electricity was fixed. Turns out it was the line from the house to the pole. Any way. We had a great homemade spaghetti dinner and Miss G's 85 year old aunt came over. We call her Aunt Fairy or Fairy Godmother. She drives a sports car with a license plate frame that says "sexy ol' lady from Aptos" I have decided I want to be just like her when I am 85. She still plays tennis three times a week.
On Sunday we walked along the beach had a latte and walked back. When we got in the Van to leave the damned battery was dead. The neighbor was nice enough to charge it for us while we went down and had some pizza. It's a great thing that everything is within walking distance.
All and all It took the bad taste from the snow trip out of my mouth. That's right I would rather deal with a nasty drunk then go to the snow.
I can't wait to go again but I don't think we will inviting Miss T.

New year disaster.

So for those of you who don't know I do not like the cold or the snow, or rain or mud. I love being from California. I would also not mind living on the face of the sun. I love heat and dry and flat. I also love the beach.
The Hunter's cousin has a cabin in Mineral, Ca. I am pretty sure Mineral has a population of less then 100. It's very close to the Trinity Alps and Lake Almanor. It snows there. The Hunter and his cousin decided we should go up with the kids for the weekend. It just happened to be New Years weekend. I was told there was a finished garage with a loft so we wouldn't have to share space in the teeny weeny cabin. OK I said. I'll be a sport. This was decided on Friday night with final plans made Saturday morning. Not only would it be my family but also 4 other adults and four other children ranging in age from 2 to 9. Oh joy.
Well we got a late start which really annoys The Hunter. We are up about 5:30 everyday and he doesn't understand why everyone else can't be on his schedule. Not to mention he is a task master and we can be ready to leave and move out within 20 minutes. (I know I am super lucky to have him).
Well every one else lolly gags. About an hour in to our 4 hour drive TLC decided it would be a good time for a melt down. Well The Hunter is not used to this because he seldom go's on long drives with us. Instead of just letting him cry a bit and fall asleep he turns the radio on full blast and yells back. (Yes yelling at a two and half year old. Very productive).
I am about to loose my mind at this point. Well TLC screamed and cried till we stoped as a gas station for a pit stop. He got out stretched and played with a cousin for a few and was good to go. The rest of the trip (and hour) was fairly pleasant.
When we got to the cabin there was about 3 feet of snow. Yuck. The two men along tried to get us into the drive way closer to the cabin. A fruitless effort. I went into the house and started a fire. The house was freezing!!! Not to mention no one knew where the key to the garage was. By 6 we found the key to the very very very cold garage. There was no loft. Just a regular old garage with a vaulted ceiling. Well there is no way we were going to be able to heat that up by bed time. Finally it was decided that we should go to the Mineral lodge for dinner not thinking any one would be there because it is such a little town. Boy were we wrong. The very snotty waitress (who almost earned herself a black eye. I have a short fuse when I am hungry) wanted us to wait for an hour. Yeah right. I told hunter to take me back to the cabin. We would eat jerky and cereal. I ended up having to share a room with The Hunters sister and her little girl. Not bad except that I was sleeping on the bottom of a very questionable bunk bed and every time the heater kicked on it woke me up. In the morning I thought OK. Now the kids can have some fun. NO again. Turns out TLC likes the snow for about 10 minutes then wants to come in the house and sit ON me. I told Hunter I could do that at home. He was super awesome about it and we went home.
TLC didn't even cry on the way and he slept. I think it's safe to say I will not be returning to the cabin any time soon.