The O'Doyles Family Vacation

We are currently on a family vacation in Colorado. Here is a summary of what happened on the way over here--I'm sure we'll have more stories of the trip itself and the voyage back home.

• Bryan & I bought corn nuts and beef jerky to eat on the plane. Little did we know they would stink up the plane to high hell.
• Part way through the long leg of the flight, Bryan decided to unbutton his shirt all the way down because he felt "fat & sweaty." Those of you who have never seen this man--think of a big linebacker with a belly. Yes, it was appetizing for the first-class passengers (we were seated in the first row immediately behind the first class section.)
• Nick puked as we landed and the entire drive from Denver to Estes Park--from eating too many Skittles on the plane.
• Brandon puked in the middle of the wedding we were attending in Estes Park.
• As we rushed Nick off the plane due to puking, we ran over an old lady and Bryan yelled "O'Doyle Rules!"
  
  

Bear Scare

Here we are, hiking up a mountain in Estes Park, and the boys just wouldn't slow down and hang back for us old folks. So Papa Bear taught them a lesson.

Create a free slideshow

Big Giant Gaijin

(at Zojo-Ji Temple with Tokyo Tower in the background)

Even though I am dead tired when I get home from work, I am still reading books. One of the blogs I follow (I can't remember which one, I'm ashamed to say) recommended Memoirs of a Gaijin: A Humorous Look at the Daily Life of a Foreigner in the Japanese Countryside. This caught my eye for two reasons: 1. I have co-workers who relocated to Japan and told me many strange and funny tales of their own experiences, and 2. my job eventually sent me to Japan where I stumbled into my own funny circumstances.

My boss had traveled to Japan several times before me, so I followed his recommendation to pack extremely light even though I'd be gone for 2 weeks. I only took a backpack, my computer bag, and a carry-on (yes, amazingly light for a woman) so that I could easily hop on & off all the trains I'd have to take from the airport in Tokyo to my final destination of Yokosuka. The hotel had a reliable laundry service that would return clothes in 24 hours, so that enabled me to pack only one pair of pants (it was summertime, so I wore shorts when I wasn't at work.)

That Saturday I turned in my pants to have them clean in time for Monday morning. Sunday I stopped at the front desk to retrieve my clean pants, and they told me that the cleaners did not work Sunday--I wouldn't get my pants until Monday afternoon. I had to work Monday morning. No problem--there were many places in Yokosuka where I could buy some new pants, and my co-workers & boss were looking to walk around the city shops anyway.

We hit one of the malls first. Since we didn't know what the conversion was between Japanese and American sizes, we had to ask a sales lady if they had anything for me. She got wide-eyed and ushered me over to what turned out to be the extra-extra-large Japanese sizes. Of course, this brought some snickering from me and my two male co-workers. The lady handed me the largest size they had, and I went to go try it on. To my amusement, I couldn't even get one leg in--it got stuck on my lower thigh.

So we moved on to the next store. Same thing: wide-eyed sales lady who took me to the "big & tall" section. Again, did not remotely fit. Lots more snickering from the males who were accompanying me. Now, I am not a big girl--I am an average American size 10.

This happened repeatedly at two more malls before we realized that we were out of luck with Japanese stores. We had to go to the Navy Exchange on the US base to find some giant American clothes for this apparently fat gaijin (pronounced "guy-jean"--the derogatory Japanese word for foreigner.) This is one of two stories my co-workers love to tell when anyone asks how that trip to Japan was. I'll save the other one for next time I have nothing to write about!

(Don't ask--I don't know why all these people dressed in strange attire and offered free hugs while flashing peace signs everywhere. They hang out in Harajuku, Tokyo.)

Weekend Getaway

A couple of weekends ago Nana and Pops volunteered to take the boys so Bryan and I could have some relxing time without them. I was very excited--this could not have come at a better time. My job has me at my wit's end, the kids were getting on my very last nerve, and I feel like I never get to see Bryan due to our crazy work schedules. At first I started looking for good weekend deals for a Las Vegas getaway, or even Atlantic City. Thankfully, Bryan pulled me in and reminded me that even though it would be cool to hit Vegas for the weekend, it would be such a rush to get there, play hard, and come back that it wouldn't be relaxing at all.

So we pointed the car toward the mountains and drove without plans. We stayed off all the interstates and major highways and took in the view. We drove by beautiful Lake Anna and realized it just might be the place to invest in a future family vacation spot. When my parents come up for Labor Day weekend we may go check it out again. Anyway, Bryan & I ended up at Luray Caverns that afternoon.

I've been through Cave of the Winds in Colorado, Mystic Caverns in Arkasnsas, and a few small caves carved out in Palo Duro Canyon Texas--but none of them were as pretty as Luray. When the weather gets cooler and all the summer tourists are gone, we plan to take the kids. We did have one funny glitch there--Bryan ran into our neighbors in the gift shop bathroom! Stalkers... (just kidding!)

After driving through the little town of Luray and not finding any hotels we felt like staying in, we drove on down the road to Blacksburg--home of Virginia Tech. This was the first time I'd been to Blacksburg, so I was excited to see the home of the big East Coast college football team that everyone around here seems to talk about. We stayed the night there and visited the campus in the morning. And what a beautiful campus it was! All the buildings are built to the same theme--like huge, stone castles with giant wooden doors. Kind of reminded me of Hogwart's (I know, I am a dork.) It was just beautiful surrounded by trees and mountains--I would love for one of our boys to go to school there just so I could visit! And it snows there in the winter--just gorgeous...

Since it was Sunday, we had to start making our way back home to get ready for the next workday. Our final stop before picking up the kids was the Natural Bridge. George Washington actually carved his initials in the side of this thing--he carved so deep that it's still there today. Amazing.
And here's a rather unflattering photo of us in front of it (no, I'm not preggers--that's just how this shirt fits).
So we had a great weekend getaway in the mountains while the kids spent quality time with their grandparents. And thank you, thank you, THANK YOU Nana & Pops for doing this for us--we really needed it!!

Brandon Catches his First Fish (Angel Fire, NM)

PaPa baits the line.

Brandon patiently waiting for a bite.

Granny and Tyler watching the ducks.

Reeling it in!!!

Brandon's first catch!