Vacation 2009 Day 05
I was up around 8:15 this morning. I decided to get online first thing to try and get stuff done early. Naturally the internet was not working AGAIN. This time though the LAN cable wouldn't work either. So I gave up on trying to use the net after a while and just wrote my journal entry for the previous day.
I finished writing my entry around 10am but for some reason forgot to post it before we left. I didn't realize it until we had already left so I just figured I would post it later. I got ready for the day after finishing up the journal and by that time the internet was working again. I SWEAR my dad is doing something to keep people off, but it's counter productive since the best time for people to be online is when he is sleeping. -_-
Anyway I got on Facebook for my daily app stuff. Around 2pm we finally headed to lunch (at Arby's…as always. -_-). I ended up riding with dad in his SLK which he decided to take to the Tri Cities since we only needed room for one more person. Apparently PJ and Michelle were supposed to meet us at Arby's at 2pm but in true PJ fashion he didn't know it was 15 minutes past 2pm when we called. -_-
PJ and Michelle finally arrived just about 10 minutes before we were going to leave. I grabbed my cell phone and snapped a few pictures with the camera. I mostly wanted to get a picture of PJ and Michelle to send to Erik but I also got some good pictures of my kids posing with both Michelle's sunglasses and PJs' glasses. I will have to re-teach my daughter how to not be blaringly obvious when I am trying to get a discreet picture. -_-
Around 3pm we headed out from Arby's and hit the road to the Tri Cities. I rode with my dad again in the SLK. We actually stopped to get gas first at the Chevron and I took the time to put on some suntan lotion. I realized we were going to be driving for hours with the top down on the SLK and didn't want to get more sunburned than I already was from yesterday.
Once the car was filled up and I was done we headed out. I quickly realized that I should have put my hair up. It was flying everywhere so I improvised a quick bun, which stayed put nicely. I attempted to take some pictures of the cloud formations and dramatic sky on the way down. I only had my DV with me so I don't know how good they look yet.
Our first stop in town was Costco (which I think is traditional). I decided to look at new monitors and CF cards for cameras. I found a great deal on two 4 gig CF cards for $35 and picked up the reservation card to buy it. I also found and played around with Dell's new touch screen all in one PC. I thought it was fun to play with but am not happy with their use of N-trig software still so I will wait it out on that one. I also looked at some nice flat panel monitors to replace my older tube monitor on my desktop. It's starting to wear out and I can't rely on it for good color anymore.
We wandered around some more and I picked out a movie for them to buy (17 again). Mom and dad also picked up a mini fridge to put out with the video games in the garage. They were worried about the fridge fitting in Mom's car. I told them that it would fit even if we had to take it out of the box to get it in the trunk. With that they decided to buy it.
My daughter asked for some of the brownies and I told her to ask mom and dad first. They made her put them back so I had her retrieve them and bought them myself. I also went to get the CF card reservation and my dad had put it back. -_- First he said I didn't want it then he said I had the wrong kind of card. I think I know what kind of cards my camera uses…
Once I got the reservation card again and bought my stuff I headed to the counter where they hand out the actual items. The lady helping me accidentally brought out the wrong kind of card the first time. I had to correct her and she said I was right, that she had grabbed the wrong one. -_- So in the end I got my two 4 gig cards! Yay! :D
Once we got outside it was time to see if the fridge fit in mom's car. I know I got an a/c into my trunk that was bigger than this fridge so I was sure it would fit. The problem turned out to be the width of the trunk opening from the top of the trunk to the back of the trunk. Mine is wider with a longer opening. So we took the fridge out and it looked like it still wouldn't fit. I pointed out that the difference was very small and that we might still accomplish getting the fridge in the trunk if we took out the floor cover in mom's car. With that out of the way the fridge slid in nicely but with little room left. We had to put the floor cover in the back with everyone else but that was a minor inconvenience and wasn't in the way. Dad was glad I was around to troubleshoot the problem and actually come up with ideas. ^_^
After getting the fridge into the car finally and getting everyone back into the vehicles we headed over to the mall. Mom and dad wanted to discuss when to meet back up at the mall while standing outside. I told them to discuss it, meanwhile we would be inside where it was cooler and figure out what was best. They followed us into the mall and we decided to set the time at 6:45 (one hour from then). I knew it wouldn't take me much time because I was focused on what I was going to get.
Mom and I headed out to the stores to find a couple more things for my birthday. The first stop was Victoria's Secret where I got some new items and picked up some new Beauty Rush perfume. The Honey Dew smells so good!
After that we headed over to Lane Bryant and found a skirt and new top. Both are really nice looking and I look forward to wearing them to work.
Once we were done with that we headed back towards the food court. My kids met us half way and my daughter showed me what she picked up from Hot Topic. Then they re-directed us to Hot Topic so my son could pick out a shirt. He ended up getting the Lady Gaga shirt. 9_9 I looked around for something to buy for myself but as very sadly disappointed in their selection. I ended up walking out with nothing.
Mom and the kids headed to the food court where I meet up with Bo and dad. Everyone was pretty much ready to go except that I wanted to check out one more store before leaving. It was a gifts store with random stuff in it. They also had the moving waterfall pictures and the LED light pictures. I looked through what they had but decided against anything. I also found a few items that I could get as gifts for up coming birthdays. I ultimately decided against the plaques though because it just seemed kind of tacky and not the kind of thing I would get as a gift.
We headed back to the food court where everyone else was and decided it was time to head out to dinner. We went to Granny's Buffet, which seems to be tradition now. I like the wide selection of food and salad. ^_^ At one point I asked Bo to get me another soda since he was heading to the desert bar. It seemed to take him a while so looked for him. He was wandering through the desert bar. I asked my son to get the soda for me instead since Bo was busy. When Bo came back I asked if he was just eating while at the desert bar (jokingly). He said that he could do that if they would let him (implying that there was a LOT of good stuff there). ^_^
After dinner we headed out towards home. It was about 8:30 when we left the restaurant. I asked dad if he felt ok driving and he took that to mean I was trying to drive his SLK. -_- He said he was fine and we headed out. This time he left the top up on the car.
I tried to rest on the way home but it's insanely hard when he kept crossing either the centerline or the shoulder rumble strips. -_- He wouldn't give up the driver's seat though…and he wonders why people don't want to ride with him anymore. _~_
When we got home we unloaded the fridge into the garage and I put the cover back on the floor of trunk of mom's car. Once all that was done I went inside, wrote up the notes for my entry and checked Facebook before heading to bed. Just as I was finishing up my daughter noticed that her wallet with driving permit was missing. -_- I told her we would call around tomorrow to see if it was turned in. I then headed to bed around 12:30.
I finished writing my entry around 10am but for some reason forgot to post it before we left. I didn't realize it until we had already left so I just figured I would post it later. I got ready for the day after finishing up the journal and by that time the internet was working again. I SWEAR my dad is doing something to keep people off, but it's counter productive since the best time for people to be online is when he is sleeping. -_-
Anyway I got on Facebook for my daily app stuff. Around 2pm we finally headed to lunch (at Arby's…as always. -_-). I ended up riding with dad in his SLK which he decided to take to the Tri Cities since we only needed room for one more person. Apparently PJ and Michelle were supposed to meet us at Arby's at 2pm but in true PJ fashion he didn't know it was 15 minutes past 2pm when we called. -_-
PJ and Michelle finally arrived just about 10 minutes before we were going to leave. I grabbed my cell phone and snapped a few pictures with the camera. I mostly wanted to get a picture of PJ and Michelle to send to Erik but I also got some good pictures of my kids posing with both Michelle's sunglasses and PJs' glasses. I will have to re-teach my daughter how to not be blaringly obvious when I am trying to get a discreet picture. -_-
Around 3pm we headed out from Arby's and hit the road to the Tri Cities. I rode with my dad again in the SLK. We actually stopped to get gas first at the Chevron and I took the time to put on some suntan lotion. I realized we were going to be driving for hours with the top down on the SLK and didn't want to get more sunburned than I already was from yesterday.
Once the car was filled up and I was done we headed out. I quickly realized that I should have put my hair up. It was flying everywhere so I improvised a quick bun, which stayed put nicely. I attempted to take some pictures of the cloud formations and dramatic sky on the way down. I only had my DV with me so I don't know how good they look yet.
Our first stop in town was Costco (which I think is traditional). I decided to look at new monitors and CF cards for cameras. I found a great deal on two 4 gig CF cards for $35 and picked up the reservation card to buy it. I also found and played around with Dell's new touch screen all in one PC. I thought it was fun to play with but am not happy with their use of N-trig software still so I will wait it out on that one. I also looked at some nice flat panel monitors to replace my older tube monitor on my desktop. It's starting to wear out and I can't rely on it for good color anymore.
We wandered around some more and I picked out a movie for them to buy (17 again). Mom and dad also picked up a mini fridge to put out with the video games in the garage. They were worried about the fridge fitting in Mom's car. I told them that it would fit even if we had to take it out of the box to get it in the trunk. With that they decided to buy it.
My daughter asked for some of the brownies and I told her to ask mom and dad first. They made her put them back so I had her retrieve them and bought them myself. I also went to get the CF card reservation and my dad had put it back. -_- First he said I didn't want it then he said I had the wrong kind of card. I think I know what kind of cards my camera uses…
Once I got the reservation card again and bought my stuff I headed to the counter where they hand out the actual items. The lady helping me accidentally brought out the wrong kind of card the first time. I had to correct her and she said I was right, that she had grabbed the wrong one. -_- So in the end I got my two 4 gig cards! Yay! :D
Once we got outside it was time to see if the fridge fit in mom's car. I know I got an a/c into my trunk that was bigger than this fridge so I was sure it would fit. The problem turned out to be the width of the trunk opening from the top of the trunk to the back of the trunk. Mine is wider with a longer opening. So we took the fridge out and it looked like it still wouldn't fit. I pointed out that the difference was very small and that we might still accomplish getting the fridge in the trunk if we took out the floor cover in mom's car. With that out of the way the fridge slid in nicely but with little room left. We had to put the floor cover in the back with everyone else but that was a minor inconvenience and wasn't in the way. Dad was glad I was around to troubleshoot the problem and actually come up with ideas. ^_^
After getting the fridge into the car finally and getting everyone back into the vehicles we headed over to the mall. Mom and dad wanted to discuss when to meet back up at the mall while standing outside. I told them to discuss it, meanwhile we would be inside where it was cooler and figure out what was best. They followed us into the mall and we decided to set the time at 6:45 (one hour from then). I knew it wouldn't take me much time because I was focused on what I was going to get.
Mom and I headed out to the stores to find a couple more things for my birthday. The first stop was Victoria's Secret where I got some new items and picked up some new Beauty Rush perfume. The Honey Dew smells so good!
After that we headed over to Lane Bryant and found a skirt and new top. Both are really nice looking and I look forward to wearing them to work.
Once we were done with that we headed back towards the food court. My kids met us half way and my daughter showed me what she picked up from Hot Topic. Then they re-directed us to Hot Topic so my son could pick out a shirt. He ended up getting the Lady Gaga shirt. 9_9 I looked around for something to buy for myself but as very sadly disappointed in their selection. I ended up walking out with nothing.
Mom and the kids headed to the food court where I meet up with Bo and dad. Everyone was pretty much ready to go except that I wanted to check out one more store before leaving. It was a gifts store with random stuff in it. They also had the moving waterfall pictures and the LED light pictures. I looked through what they had but decided against anything. I also found a few items that I could get as gifts for up coming birthdays. I ultimately decided against the plaques though because it just seemed kind of tacky and not the kind of thing I would get as a gift.
We headed back to the food court where everyone else was and decided it was time to head out to dinner. We went to Granny's Buffet, which seems to be tradition now. I like the wide selection of food and salad. ^_^ At one point I asked Bo to get me another soda since he was heading to the desert bar. It seemed to take him a while so looked for him. He was wandering through the desert bar. I asked my son to get the soda for me instead since Bo was busy. When Bo came back I asked if he was just eating while at the desert bar (jokingly). He said that he could do that if they would let him (implying that there was a LOT of good stuff there). ^_^
After dinner we headed out towards home. It was about 8:30 when we left the restaurant. I asked dad if he felt ok driving and he took that to mean I was trying to drive his SLK. -_- He said he was fine and we headed out. This time he left the top up on the car.
I tried to rest on the way home but it's insanely hard when he kept crossing either the centerline or the shoulder rumble strips. -_- He wouldn't give up the driver's seat though…and he wonders why people don't want to ride with him anymore. _~_
When we got home we unloaded the fridge into the garage and I put the cover back on the floor of trunk of mom's car. Once all that was done I went inside, wrote up the notes for my entry and checked Facebook before heading to bed. Just as I was finishing up my daughter noticed that her wallet with driving permit was missing. -_- I told her we would call around tomorrow to see if it was turned in. I then headed to bed around 12:30.