Girl’s Trip 2024

We were off on another adventure. This time to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. We met up at Miami Airport to begin our journey.

For those who haven’t traveled to the Dominican Republic, you have to fill out paperwork on line to board the plane. You also need to fill out paperwork to leave the country. It all gets very confusing so start early.

Alas we arrived at our hotel, the Royalton Bavaro in Punta Cana. It is an all-inclusive resort.

We booked a family suite to accommodate the three of us.

The resort has so much to offer. We all went to check out the beach and the water was quite rough.

The sun was almost setting with a vivid pink sky promising a beautiful tomorrow.

Kadyn and I went for a swim in the infinity pool while Lauren went to the gym. The swim up bar was closed for the night.

We stopped briefly to check out this swim area we called the cave. It actually was part of the lazy river.

For dinner, we decided on Zen, a restaurant specializing in Japanese cuisine. It was a lot of fun and Kadyn even cooked a bit!

After dinner, we watched a Michael Jackson Tribute Show.

And some great break dancing.

It was a wonderful first day.

Tuesday we slept in and then headed to the gym.

We stopped at the cafe for a coffee and some pastries.

And off to the beach.

We relaxed on comfy loungers under a thatched roof umbrella. The ocean was lovely. Many vendors came by to sell their wares but not overly aggressive. One guy had an entire garment rack.

We spent time in the pool afterwards and went around the lazy river.

We were served virgin pina coladas in pineapples.

For dinner, we ate at Rios, a Brazilian steakhouse. It was memorable because the good was so bad.

We watched a late night show and then off to bed.

#dominicanrepublic#royaltonbavaro#rios#girlstrip#puntacana#beach#michaeljackson#allinclusive#vacation

A Million to ??

If you had a million dollars to give away, who would you give it to?

Actually I would set up trusts for our grandkids. We have 9 of them so they would have money for college or to buy a home.

A million doesn’t really go far when you have 6 kids. But we’d help each of our children out with a bit of money. The rest would be invested. They can fight over the rest when we are dead!

Hurricane Preparedness

Hurricane Milton is heading straight towards the state of Florida. It’s a massive storm and it just was clocked in at 150 mph. Its a cat 4.

Hopefully, we will be spared but we are preparing anyway. We are filling up on gas. It’s always good to have a full tank. The lines were long but we are t in a rush.

Its important to have drinking water. And canned goods. Power outages can last for days or weeks. So it’s important to have enough drinking water.

Flashlights are essential and batteries. Candles are nice but could be dangerous and lead to a fire.

We are collecting rain water in case we need to flush toilets.

All little items outside the house are brought inside. That includes wall hangings.

We stacked our community pool furniture next to the pool house. And put away anything that could be a projectile weapon.

We are mostly prepared. Awaiting further developments to see if we need to put down our shutters. As of now, we will have winds and rain, and gusts up to 50 mph. I don’t think its necessary to put down shutters unless it is forecast to 70 mph. We have hurricane windows.

For now we are ready in southeast Florida.

A Trip To North Carolina

My daughter and her husband were going away for the weekend so Bruce and I flew from West Palm Beach Airport to Raleigh on Breeze Airlines. It’s a relatively new no-frills airline started by the guy who started Jet Blue.

Our seats were roomy which cost a bit more. And the plane was clean and apparently pretty new. They were two-seaters. They served free coffee, tea, or water but everything else was for purchase.

We made it to Raleigh in good time and picked up our car at Budget. The first car, once started, said it needed service so they gave us a different one.

We spent some time with Lauren and Mike at Sully’s Golf and Gather before Kadyn and I headed back to the house.

Friday, Bruce and I met up with some old friends and had coffee and cake. Afterward, Kadyn and I went to the nail salon.

We had our usual pedicures. And Kadyn had a special manicure.

For dinner, we ate at Kobe’s Japanese Steakhouse. We ordered a sushi boat. Boy was that delicious.

To top it all off we saw an amazing sunset.

Saturday we did a little retail therapy in preparation for the homecoming dance.

Spent some time playing with Breezy the bunny. She loves blueberries and will do tricks for them.

Now for the fun stuff. We met up with Kadyn’s date at Sully’s and played some simulator golf.

After a light supper we drove them to the dance.

All in all, a fun trip to spend time with my granddaughter.

#raleigh#northcarolina#sullysgolf&gather#breeze#weekend

Losing Possessions

What would you do if you lost all your possessions?

Would I cry? Maybe a bit.

Would I be sad? Maybe a bit.

Would it devastate me? Probably not!

Possessions are just that! Possessions!

People are more important. Relationships are more important. So maybe I would be sad for a little while over irreplaceable items. However, as long as I have the people I love and care about in my life, I have everything that I need.

Pausing When Agitated

What details of your life could you pay more attention to?

I’ve worked on a lot of things about me over the years. From living in the moment to mindfulness to eating healthy and keeping my mind challenged, I’ve been pretty good.

But pausing when agitated still is problematic. Sometimes I think I am really doing well with this and then I get one more problem phone call and I’m screaming. Occasionally just in my head but sometimes at the person on the other end.

So how do I work on this? I symbolically draw a finger across my mouth – meaning zipper it.

I smile and reframe whatever the person says to make sure I understand them. I quietly walk away. I ask a question. I take deep breaths. Yes, I focus on the breath and do a brief meditation.

So now all I need is to put this into action. Not scream. Not bang doors.

Breathe!!

Great Advice

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

I loved my Dad. He had a wealth of wisdom and he passed along some sage advice to his kids.

One of his best sayings was Don’t sweat the small stuff. And yes he said this long before that little book was published.

Not sweating the small stuff helps me get through easy and trying times. He was ravaged by cancer, hooked up to a bladder bag, a colostomy bag, and a portal. Yet he would still say don’t sweat the small stuff.

I remember asking him if this wasn’t big stuff, what is? His response was it’s all small stuff.

My father went out fighting. Living life to the fullest. And as his favorite vocalist, Frank Sinatra, sang, he did it “My way.”

A world without music would be total silence

What would your life be like without music?

Music is everywhere. When we think of music, we think of singing, instruments, bands, and orchestras.

But what about birds? The musical chirping that may wake us in the morning. Or the pitter-patter of rain as it falls from the skies.

Music is the melodious sounds of bees working their magic in the hives.

Music is the subtle splashes of waves ebbing and flowing in the tide.

Music is the cooing sounds a baby makeslearning it has a voice.

Music is the sounds all around us and without it we have silence. Stark. Lonely. Sad.