Holding Bubbles

Remember when I said my dream vacation involved nothing but a lounge chair and an umbrella?  My dear sweet husband scraped together all the change he could find under the couch and made it happen.  Free flights and a ridiculous hotel discount helped but Disney charges $10 a piece for these little bits of heaven and, MAN, did they add up.

Totally joking. Despite my occasional frantic texts to Matt on his way home CRISIS: NO WINE! We might need milk & diapers too, not sure, BUT BUY WINE... turns out I'm a lightweight and only had two of these pre-mixed plastic glasses of deliciousness the whole weekend.  All of my Irish ancestors are disappointed in me.

Should I feel guilty?  

You know what's even more relaxing than margaritas?  SLEEPING.  I arrived Thursday, Matt arrived about 6 hours later (separate flights, of course), we spent Friday by the pool and "napping" (*cough*), and Saturday we went to Epcot's flower expo, because Matt thought I'd like it.  What a sweetheart, right? He is off dish duty for a month, at least.

Whee!  No dishes!

I should make a crack about the mass commercialism and Machine that is Disney, but damn if it just doesn't make me happy.  Also, I have topiary fetish - which they lavishly indulged.    

When I retire, I shall have topiary.  

Look!  It's a peacock! 

Just 'cause it's silly.

There was a garden-expo-y thing going on -  

This.Thing.Is.Genius.  

(Ignore the cutesy house on top)

 Look closer - it's a giant PVC pipe with holes drilled out.  

I could grow strawberries this way!

 100 year old Bougainvillea Bonsai.
Bougainvillea reminds me of CA & makes me happy.
Not sure about the tortured, stunted bonsai though.

Living walls.

And roofs.

I love my new camera phone

The wonders of mass planting.  

White:

Yellow.

Pinks & Purples. 

(You probably didn't need those labels, did you?)

We saw a movie, ate WAY too much, remembered that we were once able to discuss things other than bills, schedules, & children's temperatures, and we slept (no, I mean really slept).  It's amazing how late I can sleep when no one is tugging on my pillow asking for pancakes at o'dark thirty.  We returned home in time for a Mother's Day picnic, hugged the minions, admired the cutest mother's day card in the world and then dove headfirst into the icy cold waters of our reality.  The end.

Not so icy, this. 

Or this. 

I kept hoping I'd have something more profound to say about our little vacation but inspiration hasn't struck.  It was a vacation.  It was incredibly relaxing.  Flowers make me happy.  My husband knows that flowers make me happy, which makes me happy.  I could wax poetic about trying to hold onto that little bubble of bliss for these last couple weeks, by way of explanation for my blogging absence, but really?  Vacation has triggered my L.A.Z.Y. gene and so after working and tucking the kids in, I've been barely able to muster the energy to work the TV remote.  Where's that cabana boy now?

This would be a good spot for a poolside/cabana shot.  

Ha!  No way in hell I post a picture of myself in a bathing suit on the internet.  

How about a squirrel we saw at the pool, instead?  

[Awkward segue to follow]  Sooo, speaking of children's temperatures, and being busy, and reality:  While we were gone, The Girl had a little GI trouble (HUGE THANK YOU AGAIN TO MY IN LAWS FOR MINDING THE MINIONS -  ESPECIALLY AFTER THE INCIDENT THAT SHALL NOT BE DISCUSSED) and so we were on high alert that first week back, waiting for a call from her daycare - because nothing says Five Star Employee like taking time off after taking time off.  The first week luckily passed call free but then this last Friday, on his 7th Birthday, the day before his family party, The Boy spiked a fever.  I'll tell you some other time about The Meanest Most Awfullest Urgent Care Doctor Ever, but we had to cancel his party (leaving us with vats of sangria because Matt bought the cheapest wine ever made but it was undrinkable until Mommy doctored it up.  Voila!  It's a sangria party!).  Luckily Aunt Mary was here and always brings the fun (especially with all that sangria), so he wasn't devastated, but he's STILL randomly spiking fevers, even today, 5 days later  (What was I saying about taking time off?).  We started meds yesterday because there is a bubbly cauldron of pestilence swirling around the neighborhood and no one knows if it's viral or not but 5 days is the extent of my "Fevers are Natural" holistic streak.

No small children were eaten by giant bubbles during the production of this shot.
Also, some reference to the giant blissful bubble that was my vacation.  

The fevers come and go.  This morning he got dressed for school without being asked - too bad he wasn't going.  Poor munchkin is missing all the fun stuff last week of school and I was cursing the 24 hr fever free rule.  We went outside to use his giant bubble maker, but by noon he was back up over 100 degrees and went upstairs to sleep, again without being asked.  He's all grown up.  How is it I have a 7 year old?  Happy Birthday Little Boy.  (Try not to breathe on the cake.)

I'm as surprised as you are, buddy. Seven?  Really?  

Anyone comparing my yard to the flowers at Epcot will be summarily shot.