Boston Work Trip - Day 3 - Cheers!

It was day 3 of training and again after staying up past my bedtime because of the time change I was only a little tired in the morning.  I slept in a little later after the realization the day before that it didn't take me as long to get ready in the morning and I didn't have far to go.  A cup of coffee and a little Boston news and I was ready to go to day 3 of training.  The training was so good that it made me excited each morning to continue on the journey of data warehousing!  I started the morning too with texting Derik since he said he was having issues with the time change as well and was taking a sleeping pill the night before to get some sleep.  I didn't get an answer, but sent a text Mark and told him to stop by Derik's room and knock on the door or call him to be sure he was up and getting ready and I headed to class.  We had basically the same breakfast as the other mornings.  A little blah for breakfast, but oh well, lunch definitely made up for every day.  Jared, Derik and I were chatting that morning when we were all there and it kept getting closer and closer to class starting and Mark was nowhere to be seen.  I text him a few more times, but wasn't getting any response.  At that point there wasn't much else I could do and class was starting.  We got into groups that morning to do some test runs on stuff we had learned and while we were in our groups I did finally get a text that Mark had overslept and was on his way.  He slid in pretty much unnoticed.  At our first break we took he decided to make up excuses of why he had overslept and these continued throughout the day.  First it was that he just didn't hear his alarm, next it was that he worked for 3 hours after we had gotten back from the bar the night before and then, the real kicker, he tried to blame me for keeping him out too late.  The last excuse obviously did not fly well with me.  People really need to take responsibility and own up to their issues -seriously!  I was more than a little perturbed by the last excuse and if you know me I'm not that great at hiding it.  The day went on and I did feel a little bad that Mark felt like an ass in front of us, his co-workers, that he had been late that morning. We all pushed it aside and let it go because tonight was the night we were all excited for.  We were heading to the Cheers bar!  We (or maybe I) had been planning this for awhile.  Who wouldn't want to go see where the TV show Cheers was filmed!  We had another great day of training and my mind was working a mile a minute with thoughts and processes and ideas of how to start our data warehouse project and get buy-in when we got back.  We also were out for the first night with all four of us.
After class was over I told everyone that I needed at 30 minutes to go to my room and just have a little down time to myself.  30 minutes, that was all I needed.  I needed some time to myself to recoup.  So we all agreed to head back to our rooms and then meet up for supper.  We started out by walking around and thank goodness the weather was more bearable than our first night.  The winds had calmed and the temperatures were not frigid to walk around.  I still walked around and was in complete amazement by the buildings.  I couldn't believe the apartment structures.  They are nothing like Minnesota or Colorado.  They are just beautiful.

Apartments as we were walking around.

I was in a pretty fun mood that day and decided as we were walking to the Cheers Bar for supper that it would be fun to pretend that I was walking into one of these prestige apartments and pretend I lived there.  The guys thought it was funny for the most part and were game for helping me take pictures.

I fit in well here - don't you think?!

We kept on walking and finally made it to Cheers.  We figured that it would be packed and we would have to wait awhile to get in, but we lucked out and got a table for 4 right away. There are 2 Cheers Bars in Boston, but this is the one that they actually filmed at with the steps walking down into the bar.  We of course (or I guess I should say I) had to take a few snap shots.(and of course a bunch inside!)

Almost to Cheers Bar - Yes, yes, I know I get a little overly excited for things!

Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got. 
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot. 
Wouldn't you like to get away? 
Sometimes you want to go 

Where everybody knows your name, 
and they're always glad you came. 
You wanna be where you can see, 
our troubles are all the same 
You wanna be where everybody knows 
Your name. 

Me outside the steps to the Cheers Bar.

Mark and Derik outside the Cheers Bar.

The great part of the place was that the outside area and the steps going to down to the bar were absolutely from the show and it was so much fun to see it that way.  I know it made me a little giddy to be there.  Once we got inside however it was just another burger and beer joint with a menu of funny names for their hamburgers.  We had a fabulous time though enjoying a few beers in our Cheers mugs and discussing all the ideas and thoughts and training that we had been through the last three days.  The conversation definitely did not have a dull moment.  A nice couple sat next to us and noticed that I was trying to take pictures with both my camera and my phone and offered to take some photos for us.  We chatted with them for a little while and they were so nice and a pleasure to talk to.

Derik and I at Cheers

Mark and Jared 

CHEERS 

Mark, Jared, Derik and I 

Here's to a fun trip!

And as in every other post nothing goes without incident. I went to the rest room and somehow ended up ripping the toilet paper holder off the wall.  How in the hell that happened I have no idea and no I wasn't drunk.  I went back to the table and told the guys and by day 3 of being with me you pretty much just shake your head because something is bound to happen and it was probably no longer a shock to them.  After we finished supper and enjoyed a few beers in our Cheers mugs it was time to head out.  We could buy our Cheers mugs for $5.00 or some amount and I definitely wasn't leaving without mine.  They brought me a clean mug and I had left in on the table and decided that I wanted some souvenirs and headed over to the gift shop.  I was taking awhile checking out the different t-shirts and shot glasses and buying things for me and my family.  It also took me awhile because the worker manning the register was on her cell phone chatting away and could have cared less if I was ready and waiting to check out or not.   Jared came over to the gift shop to check things out and then went back to the table and Derik and Mark had already left and our table was cleared out.  Jared came back to see if I had my bag with my mug and I didn't. We figured that the someone had either taken it or the waiter had it.  Jared went over and talked to our waiter while I was checking out and even though they hadn't grabbed my mug from the table when they cleaned it Jared talked the guy into giving me a new one to be sure I had one to take home.  He probably told the guy - Look, I am stuck with the crazy chick for a few more days and she going to freak on all of us if she doesn't have her mug - help a guy out here will ya!  Well, either way he got me my mug and I spent another $70 bucks in their gift shop when all was said and done.  We walked outside to meet back up with Derik and Mark and low and behold they had my bag with the mug I actually paid for.  They all then looked at me and asked if I was going to return one of the mugs and I said, "no", now I have two - thanks!  

We started walking again and Derik decided that he was gonna head back to the hotel and skype with his family.  Jared, Mark and I headed down the street and found a nice bar to have a beer in.  We sat and had our beer and had some interesting conversation about growing up and family.  There was definitely a difference in how we grew up - some had money and some did not.  It seems that people that grow up with money may never really appreciate it and cannot grasp the feelings or understandings of those that didn't.  Interesting to say the least.  We called Derik when we had a few beers and told him we were going to go out and find another Irish Bar and that he should come back and meet up with us again.  He said he would and would head our way.  It was perfect timing as we were walking out of the bar to head towards the hotel there he was and we all walked together and found a new Irish bar to hang out in for the night.

At our new hang out for the night it was time to experiment a little bit and come outside of the comfort zone! I had been getting a little shit from everyone for drinking only bud light.  So I decided that since everyone else was having weird named beers and beers from Boston that I would go ahead and try a Boston type beer as well.  I had tasted a few (and I may have actually had one of these at the previous bar?) but I ended up drinking some beer called UFO for the rest of the night.  Jared was drinking some beer called Harpoon IPA and Derik was drinking Smithwick's which we very quickly found out from the bar tender is not pronounced how it looks.  

When pronouncing the name, the 'W' is silent. In Ireland, it is generally pronounced as 'Smithicks', 'Smitticks', 'Schmiddicks' or 'Smeth-icks'. The variation of pronunciations is mostly due to differing accent and dialects of the Irish.

So for the rest of the night while ordering beers it was a test to see if we could actually say it correctly.  I think maybe you had to be there to enjoy this part of the story.  This bar was attached to a very nice hotel and even the bathrooms in this place were pretty spectacular.  After a few beers ya never know what is going to come out of my mouth.  Mark and I met a lady at the bar that was from Colorado and was also in Boston on business and she worked for Budweiser.  I talked to her for a little while about the new bud light platinum.  I gave the lady my business card and said if you ever need any taste testers or anything let me know I would love to come and participate.  I was getting a little bored with the conversation at this point and after I handed her my card she asked me what I did.  I looked at her and said - it's on the card.  Yes, yes, yes, that was dumb.  I left Mark to continue talking to her for the night.  

It was eventually time to make our way back to the hotel and we took a nice walk and we were all joking around with each other and having a great time.  We walked through this one area and Derik decided to climb and hang from a tree.  We all laughed and I of course snapped some pictures.  He said that it was his thing to hang from trees.

Above are a few pictures of us while we were walking around.  The churches were gorgeous there.  Unfortunately a lot of pictures are dark because I didn't have a big enough flash, but I tried to take some.

Back at the hotel and a night cap before bed and it was another fantastic and fun night in Boston.

Boston Trip - Day 2 - Time for Training

After staying up way too late the night before in my room because I couldn't get to sleep, 6:30 am came really fast and considering for me it was actually 4:30 am was exhausting.  I wanted to get to the training room around 8am.  I figured out this very first morning that with only me to get ready and not have to go anywhere except for down the elevator that I did not need to get up quite so early to get ready for the day - what a pleasant thing that is. The one unpleasant discovery of the morning was figuring out that I had not packed a pair of my jeans which I needed to go with one of my shirts and I had planned on wearing the next day.  I was going crazy in my room looking in my empty suitcase and through all my drawers and realized I had washed them and laid them out to dry and they never made it into my suitcase - damn it!   I made myself some coffee and took my time getting ready and then finally headed downstairs.  I walked into the room and there was definitely a little bit of a culture shock.  There were people from everywhere and about 50 of us in the class.  I found my co-worker, Jared, and parked myself next to him in the front row since I knew for sure that when we went back to work we would be working together on our Data Warehouse project.  We hadn't seen Jared the day before so we all caught up quick while finding our seats and eating some breakfast.  As our class started the instructor went around and was guessing what different types of companies everyone had come from.  There were huge corporations, insurance companies, banks, etc. and then here are us 4 from a small local government.  Next we needed to find out who came the farthest for the training - this was unbelievable to me - there were people that came from Peru, China, Kuwait - they flew in from all over the place.  We all immediately knew that this training was a very, very big deal and felt pretty damn lucky to be there.  We had a fabulous first day of class all about requirements gathering which is a piece of my job that I thoroughly enjoy and the training in that we were receiving was going to help me out in all aspects of my job other than just the data warehousing project.  I was thrilled and excited.  They also served us lunch everyday and the first day was great.  They had a huge spread of food and waiters in a private room for us and even dessert.
I was fretting about the missing jeans and needed to go do some shopping.  Jared of course took off after class since his wife was still there and was out sightseeing and I drug Derik and Mark out shopping with me. We walked around some new areas of town and stopped in multiple stores and I tried on only a few pairs of jeans and the shopping was a bust, but the guys were troopers.  I was shocked that they went with me, but it was pretty apparent that I wasn't go out and wandering by myself.  We found another nice place to eat.  After supper we hit another store and still no jeans to take home.  I would have to make due with what I brought with.  We headed back to the hotel and Derik decided to skype with his family and stay in for the night.  Mark and I met up and walked back to the Irish Pub we were at the night before.  We had a few beers and enjoyed some conversation.  We were sitting at the bar and eventually started talking to the two other guys that were sitting there.  One guy was from Boston and had stopped in for a few beers and the other guy was a programmer on a business trip from Canada.  The Canadian guy was one weird dude.  He did not have good street smarts and definitely fit the profile of computer geek (although I'm sad to say that all 4 of us probably were because we were all talking the talk, ugh, what have I become?).  We had a lot of good laughs though that night, but of course again nothing with me goes with out incident - so here come's # 2 of our trip.  As the Canadian guy was getting ready to leave the bar and was saying good-bye to everyone I am an idiot and asked him which hotel he was staying at.  Yes - I know now how horrible that sounds and how a man would take that from a woman.  My interest was not in him and the his room.  I of course go into curiosity mode and travel agent mode and want to size up the hotel - what's it like, is it nicer than ours, how much does a room there a night cost - but no I just blankly say - what hotel are you staying in.  My co-worker looks at me like "what the hell?" and the Canadian nonchalantly tells me his hotel and room #.  I gasp of course and scoff and say that is not what I meant!  I just wanted to know if it was a nice hotel and what accommodations it had.  I do not want to come to your hotel room weird Canadian guy! Once that was covered and everyone once again laughed at me then it was time to head back to the hotel.  It had been another long day and night.  Again back in my room I could not go right to sleep.  Who knew that a 2 hour time difference would affect a person this much.  I had another beer and checked facebook and such and finally went to bed.    

Work Training - Boston Trip Day 1 - Arriving in Boston

It took months to finally get this work trip decided, approved, and reservations booked, but it was finally time to take a trip for work!  I couldn't have been more excited, my own little personal get away paid for by someone else!  Our original plan was to head to training in Austin and it was going to be me and one other co-worker, but after looking at different training options it was decided we were heading to Boston and they found some money to send four of us.  I love to travel so it really didn't matter to me where we went, but at the beginning I wasn't thrilled about going to Boston.  I can say now after having gone that I would head back again no questions asked.
We were heading to training with the Kimball Group to learn all there is to learn about Data Warehousing. We would be gone for 6 days.  We finagled an extra day due to the flight schedules.  Our last day of class was Friday and we were supposed to be done around 3pm or so, but the only flight out that evening was at 5pm.  This would mean we would have to be packed up and bring all of our luggage and everything with us to class the last day and possibly have to leave early to head to the airport.  I of course was whining about this and I was looking into all of the flights and we asked if they would be willing to pay the extra night at the hotel on Friday and we would fly back on Saturday.  They agreed and I was ecstatic.  This meant we could do some possible sightseeing on Friday and go out on Friday night and not worry about getting up on Saturday morning early!  We booked an afternoon flight on Saturday to head back to Colorado.  My husband was not too thrilled that I was traveling for work, not thrilled that I would be gone for 6 days, and really not thrilled that I would be traveling for a week with 3 men.  Because I didn't want to leave Dan watching the kids alone for 6 days and cause any stress from my trip on either of us I invited his parents out to our house to help watch the kids while I was gone (and I didn't tell him until later).  With everything planned out it was time to finalize everything and get packing.  It was so much fun researching things to do for our group outside of the training.  One thing that we figured out fairly quickly was that most of the places that you can take tours at close at 5pm, which of course was when we would get out of class.  I had fun digging into information anyway.  We did decide on a few things we were for sure going to do while we were there.  Now on to the trip!

My trips always start the night (or entire week) before I leave.  I anxiously was watching the weather forecast.  I hadn't been on an airplane for 4 straight hours in a very long time and was pacing around the house the night before our departure going through my to do lists and having a few Bacardi limon's.  Dan's mom thought I was going crazy, but she just laughed at me.  I was up early in the morning having coffee and waiting for 2 of my co-workers to pick me up.  We had arranged to take a county van to drive and park at the airport and Mark and Derik picked me up at my house.  Our other co-worker, Jared, had taken off a day earlier with his wife so they could enjoy some sightseeing together and make a short vacation out of it.  Mark and Derik arrived at my house and shook hands with Dan and they loaded my larger than life suitcase and laptop bag.  I gave hugs and kisses and said good-bye, grabbed my coffee and we were off to the airport.  I had already pre-warned the guys that I am a terrible flyer and I'm pretty sure they figured that out by my craziness on the way to the airport.  We had great conversation along the way talking about recent county gossip and happenings going on.  Of course the chit chat was short lived and my anxiety kicked into high gear when we were getting closer to the airport.  I noticed that the windmills were going crazy and assumed it was the wind and it set me off.  Of course the closer we got I realized they were a different type of windmill and it wasn't the wind causing what I was seeing.  I probably would have noticed this much sooner had I had my glasses on.  My palms were sweating at this point and the guys were watching me.  I then realized that we were closer to the airport than I thought and we were going a different way then how I am used to getting to the airport.  We also parked in a different parking lot than I normally park in.  This did not bode well for my anxiety and just about threw me over the edge.  And if you know me I am pretty vocal about everything and voiced that this wasn't the route I take and wasn't the parking lot I park in and it was throwing me off on how I prepare myself to fly.  Not that Mark and Derik really cared, but I did tell them.  Once we were in the airport I pulled myself together to get through security as I always do.  There was a small glitch while we were in line with our airline and checking in, but it all worked out fine and we were finally checked in and through security.  As soon as we found our gate I bid the boys farewell and was off to find the smoker's lounge, I needed my pre-flight drink.  I had told them I was going to do this before the trip and I'm pretty sure on the way to the airport, but they still looked at me like - What? Really, you are going to drink on a Monday morning at 8am.  The answer - absolutely. I have a 4 hour flight to make it through and you may not want to sit by me if I don't.  I headed off to the smoker's lounge and enjoyed an amaretto sour and answered some emails for work.  Back at the gate and ready to board the guys were both great in trying to calm my nerves.  I think they were a little surprised that I actually was that nervous about flying.  We took off for our 4 hour flight.  The nice thing about Jet Blu was that we each had our own TV to watch.  I sat back and enjoyed some Real Housewives for a bit and actually managed to even take a little nap.  There was a little bit of turbulence during the flight and coming into Boston wasn't the best landing that I have had.  I was a mess when we got off, and was trying to collect myself and it did take awhile, but all was well and we got our bags and grabbed a cab to our hotel.  
Prior to our trip I had checked out the hotel.  It had a really nice, fancy looking bar in it.  I had told my co-workers that when we checked in I was going to get a free drink at the bar because its the only right way to start my work trip/vacation.  I'm not sure if they believed me or not or if they believed that I could get one or not.  As I was checking in and talking to the hotel workers there was a little mix up with our reservations about them being reserved for us vs. being booked and paid for.  We all had to dish out our credit cards to reserve our rooms.  It wasn't a lot to worry about we could deal with that later and get it sorted out.  As I was talking to the guy checking me in and making some small talk I mentioned that we were obviously staying in the hotel for 6 days and if he wanted to make my stay really great he could start it off great by a free drink in the bar.  He had no issues with grabbing a card and writing down 2 free drinks!  I was all set.  We were all pretty excited to be in Boston and had the afternoon and night to do as we pleased.  We decided to check into our rooms and then meet in the bar for a drink before heading out to explore.  I went to my room and fell in love with it immediately.  There is something about having my own space for a few days that are all mine.  I had a huge bed, lounge chair and a desk and the room was great.  We were staying at the Radisson, Downtown Boston.  I immediately starting unpacking my entire suitcase and was just about ready to go down to the bar to enjoy my free drink.  Of course for me nothing goes with out an incident.  As I was unpacking my suitcase there was a knock at my door.  I opened the door and one of the hotel workers was there.  He looked a little shocked to see that someone was in the room and said - you must have just checked in and I said yes, is there a problem?  He said no and was about to go on his way, but I had a few questions first.  I first asked him where the nearest liquor store was.  He explained to me there were 2 nearby and both were about 15 minutes walking - What?!  That seemed like an awful long walk to me at the time.  As we went over where these were located (which really I wasn't paying much attention because I directionally challenged and would get lost anyway) I then switched subjects and said where is the nearest gas station.  Again he looked at me like I was crazy and proceeded to tell me that there was only one gas station in Boston.  I was then the one in shock - one gas station - really?  I probably repeated this and questioned him about it 3 times or so.  How can there only be one gas station here?  I went on with this with him for a little while and then said - okay, nevermind about that - where would you go then to buy cigarettes then?  He said a 7-eleven.  I said, yes, that is like a gas station.  He then looked at me and said - we call then convenient stores.  Well, okay then.  The guy at this point I could tell was wanting to get away from me and my inquisitions, so I let him go.  I finished unpacking my last few items and then one of my co-workers knocked on my door and we headed down to the bar.  As we were in the elevator I was telling him about the gas station conversation and I am very animated as I am telling this story to him because I am still in shock that there is only one gas station here.  There were other people in the elevator including another hotel worker.  The hotel worker was smirking and said "what" and then looked around at the other people in the elevator and immediately felt like an idiot.  How could I believe this guy that told me there is only one gas station.  The other hotel worker said there is more than one.  We got off the elevator and headed to get a beer and wait for Derik to join us.  I told Mark at that point that I guess I better watch myself because I sounded like a dumbass and who knows if the people that were sharing our elevator were going to be in our class tomorrow or not - ugh - nothing like a good first impression of not being the smartest person.
Derik finally joined us in the bar and we enjoyed a few beers before heading out to explore.  Our first stop we wanted to make was to find one of these liquor stores and scope out restaurants along the way.  It was super windy and cold as we were walking around.   It was a biting wind that made your face and fingers freeze. It was so cold out, but we made the best of it.  As we were walking I was in complete awe of all the buildings.  I couldn't believe how beautiful they all were.  It's like nothing I have seen before walking around a town.  I felt like I was in a different country.

We did eventually find the liquor store and each us grabbed some beverages for our rooms and decided it was best to bring this back to the hotel and then venture back out for supper.
I was looking for a nice restaurant to dine in and ended up getting cold and I gave up and said we could go to the one that Derik had read about on-line that we had seen earlier and was close to where we were.  We ended up at The RattleSnake Bar and Grill.  I'm not that big into food other than being a picky eater.  I'm rarely wowed by any meal.  We sat down and ordered and I have to say that I was amazed.  I ordered the chicken quesadilla, always a safe bet for me to eat because who can screw that up.  This has to be one of the best meals that I have ever, ever eaten.  It was unbelievable and Derik and Mark completely agreed about theirs as well. It definitely made me excited for the week ahead and trying out other places to eat if they were all going to be this damn good. We walked around checking out some of the buildings again after supper and then made our way back towards our hotel.  It was still early to us with the 2 hour time difference and we still had excitement running through us over our fantastic meal, being in Boston, and our exciting week ahead of us so we started looking for an Irish Pub.  We found one not far from our hotel and had a couple of more beers.  The bartenders were super friendly and I of course was loving listening to everyone's accents.  It was about 10:30pm in Boston when we headed back to the hotel for the night.  We did have class in the morning and we figured it best to go to bed.  Of course when I got back to my room and realized I wasn't tired at all I grabbed a beer and hung out checking out the views from my hotel room.  It was only 8:30pm at home - how was I going to go to sleep?  I ended up staying up late in my room, but eventually did get some shut eye.

Fishing with Daddy

Anyone hungry for the catch of the day?

Dan took the kids fishing one afternoon and they actually came home with fish this time.  The kids were so happy.  Dan got all of his fishing stuff out and then watched him gut and cut the fish to prepare for supper.  Of course after seeing that Katelynn was none too thrilled to eat them and really neither was I.  We put them in the freezer for another day.  

Palm Springs - Day 7 - Hiking and a Little Adventure

Our last full day in Palm Springs had arrived.  We decided that we were going to do a little hiking that morning.  After much debate about where to go hiking, shuffling through random printed internet papers, and then trying to figure out how to GPS a "hike a mountain location" we packed everyone into the car.  We did get lost and played follow the leader for awhile through town and out of town and back around again, but we did eventually find somewhere to hike.  It was beautiful and we really enjoyed it.  The kids did pretty well too.  We realized fairly quickly that our family was not in any kind of "hiking" shape.  We kept seeing older people walking by us and they had their walking sticks and said they had just finished a few miles and here we all were panting already after we had just started.  We did however really enjoy the hike and wished we had gotten up and moving in the mornings earlier and had gone on a few more during the week.
Here are some pictures from our hiking experience.

Once our successful hike was done we headed back to our house for lunch.  The afternoon plan was to split up since we all had different things we wanted to do.  Jeff and Tonah and the 2 boys were headed to her aunts for a visit since they lived a few hours away.  My mom and Dad and my 2 kids wanted to spend the last day at the house relaxing at the pool (and my kids wanted to swim the day away).  Landon and I had an adventure to go on.  A co-worker had told me about a few places he had went to when we was in California and they happened to be only an hour or so away from Palm Springs.  Landon and I grabbed my Iphone and his Ipod and we were off to our first destination - Salvation Mountain.  Out in the middle of nowhere is a man made painted mountain.  Landon and I had previously done some Google Searching to learn the history of the man who built this mountain and why he built it.  It is all very interesting.  As we pulled the car up (after stopping in a very small, strange town and asking directions cautiously) we were pretty much in awe.  It was hard to believe that one person built all of this and lived here.  Leonard King was no longer living at Salvation Mountain due to some health issues.  

Here are some pictures of our little excursion:

Back in the car Landon and I started heading back toward Palm Springs to our next destination - Bombay Beach and the Salton Sea.  According to what we read this is one of the poorest towns in California (or around the area).  There is a lot of history for both Bombay Beach and the Salton Sea.  Landon and I drove slowly through this run down town toward the lake.  Closer to the Salton Sea you can sea a large dike built of dirt.  We found a place to drive in closer and parked the car.  We walked over the dike and walked around for awhile.  You could see where houses used to be and other items from where a town was.  Everything now covered in salt from the water.  It was very interesting to see.

Here are some of our pictures from Bombay Beach:

It was time to head back to Palm Spring as it started to get dark outside as Landon and I left Bombay beach cautiously driving through the almost vacant town on the other side of the dike.  We had a nice drive back listening to music and chatting along the way.  When we arrived back in Palm Springs I needed to gas up the car so it was full for returning it the next morning.  We pulled into a gas station and I had noticed the gas price on the sign.  I jumped out filled up the car and was in a little sticker shock when I saw how much filling up the tank cost.  As we were driving away I started to freak out.  I thought maybe I had put diesel in instead of gas.  We started to Google what would happen if I actually did put in diesel.  I kept thinking the price for gas on the sign did not much what I put in, but I am not a dummy - I wouldn't put in diesel, but then I just couldn't be sure at that point.  Google told us we wouldn't make it very far if I had and we did make it back to the house.  I also kept thinking that I didn't get the insurance option when I rented my car for the week and could be in big trouble if I didn't make it to the airport the next morning for our flight home.  All did end up well, but I really still don't know if I did it or not?
Jeff and Tonah hit a ton of traffic on their way back to Palm Springs from her aunts house and we were all a little upset that Jeff wasn't there earlier for our last night of vacation.  (You can't have a good vacation without a little fighting and drama, right?!)  We let the kids do some night swimming because we knew they would probably miss having a private pool the most from this vacation.  We also decided to hit the hot tub after we put my kids to bed.  We had a few beers left to drink and we couldn't waste them!  Jeff and Tonah did arrive back safe and sound that night and Jeff joined us in the hot tub.  We had a blast visiting and talking and laughing.  It was a good way to end the vacation.

My dad after sitting poolside all day and then hot tub!
Yeah - me and Jeff are pretty proud.

We went to bed that night and in the morning we did some cleaning and had to head out.  We were the first to leave.  Our flight ended up getting delayed at the airport which was a bummer that we had to sit there for 2 extra hours.  That is not an easy task with 2 little kids winding down from vacation.  It all worked out fine and we cannot wait until our next big Dickhaus Family Vacation!