The Aftermath of a Fam Vacay

A little over a month ago, my family and I took an amazing week long vacation to Cabo. We had the best time and did nothing but layout, eat, drink adult beverages, eat more, play some games, wade in the pool, make fun of each other as much as we could, drink a few more beverages and talk about major life decisions such as; should we get the steak nachos or the ceviche and if Dylan (Christina’s Maltipoo) could talk, what accent would he talk in and what would he say. It was the most relaxing trip I have been on where we literally did nothing all day, yet it was the funnest trip I have been on. The following people went on the trip and here is an email chain that happened after the trip.

Fasha: My dad

Natalie: My dad’s girlfriend/wife/man of the house

Bryan: My bigger smaller brother

Ciara: His new GF (the bravest one I know going on a vacay with some of these crazy people that she had never met)

Uncle Freddy: My dad’s funny brother

Aunt Beth: Freddy’s funny wife

Melissa: Angry older cousin, Freddy’s daughter/son

Jon: Melissa’s wife, I mean husband, the SLEEPIEST MAN IN THE WORLD

Christina: Funniest person in the world

Uncle Fernando: Cute little guy

Aunt Lina: Fernando’s cute little wife

 The whole gang!

Email chain started by me………………

ME: Well familia, Its been almost a week since we were basking in the sun, eating like hippos, frying like eggs, wadding in the warm watered pools due to xtinas excessive amount of yellow bodily fluids and playing games and I miss all you goobers already. With that said, I would like to see all of your faces again soon, aka anyone who took any pictures on the trip, can they please post online for the rest of us to enjoy as well! Muchas gracias!! Lets do it again next month weeeee.

AUNT BETH: You crack me up, Cole!  I miss everybody and I miss 11 am happy hour in the pool :)  

NATALIE: Thanks for the laugh, Nicole!  I needed it ;)  I miss 11 am happy hours too, but I miss day long happy hours even more!   I think all the pics we had are on your Dad's FB so I'm relying on the camera carriers too!

PS. My new windows desktop is the mexican traffic jam (aka. mr. donkey on highway 19):

JON:I miss my naps

AUNT BETH: Oh course you would, “SLEEPIEST MAN IN THE WORLD” ;-)

Background: Jon received this title after sleeping the entire trip. If we ever did not see Jon in our site, sure enough we found him sleeping in the following areas: in the bed, lawn chair, on top of footrests (see pic below), in the pool, at dinner, and on the couch.

NATALIE: I've always thought mandatory naptime was wasted on grade schoolers of America.  I bet you did great in kindergarten, Jon!

MELISSA: Oh jeez... You probably carried "nap time" into college!

JON: I used to get my name on the board and 3 check marks next to it ALOT....is that good??

MELISSA: Exactly

CHRISTINA: The SLEEPIEST MAN IN THE WORLD is also apparently a comedian when he is awake!

      I miss the following things:

      1) Waking up sleeping next to Coley and our noses almost awkwardly touching.

      2) Waking up every morning to my sister's "whispers" at 6:45 a.m. and being 

      extremely angry.

      3) Turning over the looking at the SLEEPIEST MAN IN THE WORLD not hear

      one of her "whispers" because he was sleeping.

      4) Going down and laying by the pool.

      5) Happy Hour (which apparently was only from 10-11- who would have known!)

      6) Going up stairs to grab some more sunscreen and finding the SLEEPIEST 

      MAN IN THE WORLD taking his  mid-afternoon nap.

      7) Eating Ceveche by the pool and steeling some nachos from sister.
 
      8) Watch the SLEEPIEST MAN IN THE WORLD come down because he 

      smelt nachos.

      9) Making fun of "Gym Girl" and her inappropriate work-out habits.

      10) Watching Dad and Uncle Mardo play child sports.

      11) Going for a dive and having to step over the SLEEPIEST MAN IN THE 

      WORLD because he is sleeping in the pool.

      12) Breakfast at The Office.

      13) Our Banana Boat Ride ( The SLEEPIEST MAN IN THE WORLD couldn't

      make it because... guess what...he was sleeping)

     14) Getting ready every night to eat dinner while the SLEEPIEST MAN IN

      THE WORLD was taking a nap before he fills his belly.

You may all add to the list...

MELISSA: Omg I literally just lost it!  I have tears pouring down my face... #11 got me

ME: Me too, my eyes are filling up with water!

MELISSA: This should be the cover of our Family Vacay album!

CHRISTINA: Is Jonathan Ok from getting run over by the bus his wife was driving just now? (Inside family joke. One time, in another long funny family email chain, Melissa “threw Jon under the bus”, Natalie asks, Jon, how did that feel to get ran over by that bus? Natalie’s mom thought he really got ran over by a bus and asked if he was ok, so now its an ongoing joke.)

NATALIE: OMG!  Is that pic for real!?)(#*@$

AUNT BETH: OMG, your dad & I are sitting her in hysterics!

MELISSA: Yes that picture is real...he literally feel asleep like that, while we were all sitting there hanging out...so I grabbed the camera.  I wish you could see just how many pictures I really do have of him sleeping!  His nickname is no joke!

ME: lets make a full picture book titled "A day in the life of THE SLEEPIEST MAN IN THE WORLD”

MELISSA: omg I literally have enough for an album!!

NATALIE: PS.  Jon, my mom hopes that you are not too hurt from the bus incident

JON: Is there such thing as a "Sleep Model"?

Can someone look into that, I wouldn't mind the supplemental income to help pay for my medical bills!

CHRISTINA: 18 points for Jon... 18 points for Jon. I wish there was some type of reality show that could be created just for how ridiculously funny our family is!

(meanwhile there is some chitter chatter about what my new blog name should be, I had not started it at this point)

MELISSA: and her first post can start off with the attached image saying:

"fill in the blank......my cousin Stine is thinking what?"

 What is really happening in this picture is a jello shot getting shoved down her throat almost unwillingly.

That's what happens when you lose a game of tic-tac-toe in Mexico.

NATALIE: tears are rolling down my cheeks that is soooooo funny

CHRISTINA: Darn it sister! That was a scary moment in my life... a PRIVATE scary moment.

MELISSA: and then her next post can be:

"I love my cousin so much...she is going to be the best lawyer in the world!"

CHRISTINA: Operation "Melissa going down". Starts now. Nicole- Sadly.. I have depended on you just like the rest of your followers. Thankfully for technology, I can continue to ask you what the meaning of life is on a daily basis, what sneakers I should buy and what pet food I should feed my loyal british mate.

After this last email another email went out for Operation Melissa going in an attempt to take her down, but it was unsuccessful. So until the next family email chain....................! Adios.

Living Life on a Whim

Being recently unemployed has been such an amazing experience and I know it sounds crazy but I have not been this happy in a long time. I love being able to live life in the moment and do things on my own schedule and not have to worry about working a boring Monday through Friday 8-5 job. I always knew I was not cut out for the normal working world, having a boss and a set schedule where I also have to sit for 8 hours a day does not work for me. I honestly would be fine working 80 hours a week as long as it’s on my time, with no boss and doing things for me and not someone else. I plan to take full advantage of this unemployment time and I definitely have so far.

My most recent fun last minute adventure was with my good friend Ali Murphy. Saturday was a beautiful day so I texted her to see what she was up to, she said she was thinking of heading to the beach where her parents have an awesome house one block from the beach. Three hours later we were off to Rockaway Beach for the night. As many of you may or may not know, the Oregon beaches are not really your typical beach. You wouldn’t say, hey lets go to the beach and lay out all day and go swimming. It’s more like, hey lets go to the beach and walk around in full jackets. We arrived around 8pm to a fresh seafood buffet caught and prepared by her parents and aunt and uncle. It was amazing, I can live off seafood only if I could. After dinner we sat outside by the bonfire making s’mores and sipping on zesty summer beer until the wee hours of the nite.

The next morning we got up and had a nice breakfast in “town” (a tiny yet adorable little street) and did a little vintage shopping (another favorite shopping time of mine), then we hit the beach to go geocaching (a treasure hunting adventure you can do from anywhere in the world, check it out). Boy did we get lucky on our long walk on the beach with one of the few gorgeous days the coast sees. There was no wind at all (which is extremely rare), the sun was shining bright and warm (I could have had a first and worn a bikini on the beach that day had I have one with me), and was accompanied by great company with a pup named Rex. After the long walk on the beach, and our failed geocaching attempt, we went back to the house and played a few rounds of Skip-Bo. Soon after, the parents arrive home from another fishing excursion all day and spoil us with another amazing seafood feast with that days catch. I was in heaven. After inhaling many sea creatures and M&M’s, we were off headed back to Portland and exhausted from a fun unexpected 24 hours. I am love living life on a whim!