40 is Fabulous

Remember when you were in high school and you looked at your parents in their 40's and thought they were ancient? I can't believe I'm there. Surely I'm not as old at 40 as they were at 40. Well, you'd think that 40 would bring some kind of HUGE celebration, but I didn't really end up having much planned. On Friday, the 13th, (I'm not pointing out the date because I'm superstitious. That was just the date.) I had a meeting in Chicago, so Richard went with me and we went out for lunch. That was really going to be the extent of it as far as I knew. I had book club that night and I didn't want to miss it because it's always fun. And surprise, surprise. . .when I got there there was a big party planned for all of us who had a March birthday and because mine was the 40th everyone dressed in black and gave me "40 things". . . like 40 suckers, 40 stickers, 40 chocolate covered pretzels, etc. It was really fun. I have a great ward with so many wonderful women that I get to call friends now. We have a lot of fun together. Thank you Plainfield Ward.

So, the next day (real birthday) I was planning on taking it easy and doing anything I wanted. Which is pretty much what I did. The little girls made me breakfast in bed (with Richard's help, of course). . .yummy omlet and fresh fruit. So I lounged in bed for a while before getting up. Then I took an at home spa day, leisurely bath, facial, pedicure, everything. And when I got done with that I did something I haven't done in a while. I wanted to play Rock Band, uninterrupted, 'til I was blind, deaf, and dumb. And just to get in the mood, I put on the 80's make-up (yes, lots of eyeliner), did my hair a little bigger than usual, got out the AC/DC t-shirt, and turned up the volume as loud as I dared. I guess it was my mini-mid-life-crisis. I don't foresee I big need to do that very often, but it was pretty fun. When I started getting kinda bleary eyed I let Maddie join me. We have fun together. Richard played a very important role in the day. He kept all children occupied and entertained so I could have my day of solitude. It was a marvelous gift and a fabulous day.

Florida Escape

Our busy Feb. ended with a much needed (mostly wanted) trip to Florida to escape the cold. We stayed at the Lowes Portofino Bay Hotel which I highly recommend if you are planning a trip to Universal Studios. They have two fabulous pools with a water slide and beach area, perfect for little kids and then another more adultish pool with everything you could possibly want in a pool area--shade, no shade, beautifully manicured lawns, pool service of food and drinks, etc. It was very nice. We were really lucky that this is where Richard's conference was held. You also get Express Pass to all rides with your room key and there is a boat shuttle that goes directly from the hotel to Universal. It was really nice. We got on every ride with NO WAIT, which makes for a very nice 4 days of ride whatever you want and then go back to the hotel for swimming as long as you want.
The WORST ride was the Pteradactyl Swing. There is no express pass available and they warn you beforehand that it's not worth the wait. But Lauren absolutely insisted that she had to ride it. So we waited in line for a full hour for the 80 sec. (that's what they claim. I can't believe it lasts that long) ride, which actually was a pretty fun little ride, but soooooo not worth the line--even Lauren admitted it in the end. Oh well, not a big deal when you consider that we didn't wait for anything else.
Favorite rides were the Incredible Hulk, and The Mummy. Kids liked Men In Black and Fish ride in Seuss Landing. We all went on the Jurassic Park dinosaur water ride. It was pretty fun until the big drop at the end which scared Lauren and Ellie (and Richard) silly. Most nausiating ride has got to be the Simpson's Adventure (simulated ride). It's a cartoon roller coaster and it seriously made me want to barf and I don't usually get that. Not for the queasy at all! Lauren got scared to death of the Jaws ride, but had to try it again the next day just to prove to herself that she could handle it. It was much better the second time around.
We had such a great 4 days and returned to beautiful weather in Chicago. But don't be jealous yet. It has been a constant downpour for the past 2 days. I'm ready to go back to Florida. I'm realizing that having "all four seasons" isn't really all that important to me.

Caricatures

I have always wanted to get a caricature done and while we were in Florida we finally sat down and did it. Two different artists did them so we could all be done at the same time. I just love them. I think they did an amazing job of capturing everyone's little details and personalities. Everyone's hair is right on--Maddie's cowlick, and mine, Emma's whispy bangs, Lauren's never-there part. Richard's little beady eyes are there and my pointy chin, cheeks, nose. It's perfect, for a caricature.

A Joke

We've just returned from our little Florida vacation where Richard spent part of his time attending seminar classes. The chief economist, Marty Regalia, that spoke talked about the difficult times ahead. Here is his joke.

McCain and Obama had an ice-fishing contest. On the first day McCain got 20 fish and Obama got 0. On the second day McCain again got 20 fish and Obama got 0. For the third day Obama sent some spies to see why McCain was doing so well and on that day McCain got 20 fish and Obama got 0. When Obama consulted with his spies they reported that McCain had indeed been cheating. He was cutting a hole in the ice!