CHANGE

Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better…King Whitney Jr.

I am making a big change. I have accepted another position at a different hospital here in Tucson, Tucson Medical Center. When I was first hired at Oro Valley Hospital in July, 2004 the construction was not finished. We worked out of trailers out in the fields behind the hospital. It was an exciting time, working with a few wonderful people, opening a hospital. I have learned so much; have seen dozens of people come and go; but I will always remember this experience as one my best. It is now time to move on, learn something new, challenge myself, meet new people. Am I scared? Yes...excited? Yes....  But without taking risks, we never grow. I will be relaxing for a few days in the mountains, then at home before I start my new adventure, working with the Physician Electronic Medical Record.

Happy Birthday Ken and USA!!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Our flight arrived in Vegas around 9:30 am. We had a layover in LA, which was weird. We had no problems; took a taxi to Mandalay Bay and checked in early. It is a beautiful hotel. We changed in to our bathing suits and went down to the pool area (there are 6) to check things out. We had some lunch and then went swimming in the wave pool for awhile. I decided to book a massage. We called Jason and Lola had a bad night, running a little fever and threw up. She seemed to be feeling better, so we planned to see them when he got off work. Now it's time for a nap. :) We set the alarm for my massage. Ken said we don't need to set it, surely we won't sleep 2 hours. Good thing we set it!! I had my massage (which was great), Ken hung out at the pool.


After my massage, I joined Ken at the pool. We decided to look for a shady area that we can bring the girls to tomorrow. It's 100 degrees and sunny and we know we will need some shade. They have cabanas for rent, but they are all booked the entire weekend. They do get cancellations, so they tell us to check back each morning. They won't give you a price (except they start at $ 250) because the price changes based on supply and demand. They anticipate that on Saturday and Sunday they will go for at least $ 1000 per day. I don't think we will be doing that. We can be more creative than paying that....we WILL find shade. I have a raspberry mojito, Ken has a beer, then we call Jason. He will pick us up at 6 and we will stop to get pizza to take to his house.


We went back to our room to freshen up. Our room is on the 30th floor and offers a beautiful view of the pool areas. It's easy from here to look for a shaded area. We see an area by the lazy river and decide that is where we will go on Saturday and Sunday. Tomorrow the girls are not coming until 1 PM, so we won't stake out a place; not really right to 'save' a place when you're not going to be there.


Jason picks us up and we pick up the pizza, salad and some frozen custard. The girls greet us in the driveway..it's so good to see them. We haven't seen Lola in 5 months. She has grown but mainly it's her vocabulary that is so more advanced. It's great to be together....both girls asked where Justen is? They assumed he would be with us.


We had a nice evening, catching up, playing with the girls. Lola kept saying, 'come on GeeGee, let's play'. We'd go up to her room and get her toys out. She is much like Josh was...most of her toys are broken. When Josh was born, I still had all of Justen and Jason's toys, neatly packed away, most of them in great condition. As Josh grew and I brought out age appropriate toys, he would quickly have them destroyed. Lola broke one of the Hippos in 'Hungry Hungry Hippo' so we played with 3 :)


April is taking Bella and Lola to the movies tomorrow morning before they come over to our hotel. Bella has her outfit laying out and wants me to help her pick out some jewelry and shoes to match. I love doing this with her...it makes me feel so happy to be a grandma.


We sit outside for awhile and chat before we head back to Mandalay.


Friday, July 2, 2010


We slept in until around 7:30. We went down to get a latte at Starbucks, but the line was so long, we decided to get breakfast at 'Red, White and Blue restaurant' in the Mandalay resort. We'll get our lattes there. Breakfast was good: ham, mushroom, Swiss cheese omelet, home fries, (we shared), OJ and lattes.


We went back to the room and put our bathing suits on and head to the pools. We hung out at the wave pool until it was time to meet April and the girls. We meet them in the lobby and they are so excited. We go up to the room to get them changed. They have to take turns hitting the elevator button and using the key card to the room.


We lather them up with sunscreen and head downstairs. We find a few good lounges right near the beach. The girls are hungry, so Bella and I go to the grill to get something to eat. Service is very slow and it is hot. We take the food back to the lounges and we eat right near the beach. Lola saw other kids with 'floaties' including a 'turtle floatie'. She had a turtle floaty when we lived at the condo and she thinks we still have it. I told her her daddy would go to Walmart and get her a turtle floaty for tomorrow. She accepts that, but asks me many, many times, if her daddy is going to Walmart to get her a floaty. :)

After a couple hours, it is getting hot, so we go back to the room, take baths/showers and take a rest. The girls insist on putting their 'jammies' on. Pops 'rough houses' with the girls and then we watch a 'Scooby Doo' movie. There are not a lot of choices.

For dinner we went to StripSteak. It was excellent. Bella had: duck, crispy thigh, duck egg with bacon. I had lettuce cups with Crab Louie and avocado. Ken had Grilled halibut and classic baked potatoes. Lola had some french fries and strawberry sorbet.

After dinner as we were walking around, we saw Jason. He is meeting April and some friends for an evening out. Lola reminds him that she is staying with us. :)
We went back to the room and went to sleep pretty early. Everyone was worn out.

Saturday, July 3, 2010
We plan to get an early start. The pool opens at 8 am, it's Saturday and a holiday weekend. We wake up with 1/2 hour to spare, so we quickly wake the girls, dress them in bathing suits, grab our stuff and head to the pool. We happily find lounges right next to the lazy river. There is sun now but soon it will be shade and have shade for the rest of the day. I love how Ken can look up in the sky and determine this. We lay our towels and bags down and head to 'Red, White and Blue' for breakfast. Bella gets a banana nut muffin, OJ, Lola gets a blueberry muffin, OJ and we order bacon for them. Ken and I split an omelet again.
After breakfast we head to the pools. I call Jason to remind him to bring 'turtle floaty' as well as some tubes for the lazy river. The hotel does not provide them.
Jason and April arrive with lots of 'fun' tubes and of course Lola's floaty! We have a wonderful day...down the lazy river, in the wave pool. We take a break and have a wonderful lunch at the grill. The service is slow, but that is good. It gives you time to relax and cool off.

Justen has called and he decides to join us in Las Vegas for the rest of the weekend. Andy and Cara are heading up to visit her mom in Vegas and Justen will join them. They won't arrive till later but we will have all day Sunday to celebrate Ken's Birthday and the USA's B-day!
After a full day, we head up to the room with girls to get cleaned up; Jason and April head home. They will come back at 6pm to pick us up to go to dinner. We went to 'Brio's', a wonderful Italian restaurant. Everything was delicious! They drop the girls and us off at Mandalay. They are going out with Justen and Andy tonight.
We have fun in the room, wrestling with Pops, playing with the floats; but everyone is worn out so we go to sleep pretty quickly. As Lola is laying down to sleep, she says to me: how many sand castles are we going to build tomorrow? Wow, that kind of says it all, doesn't it...the joy of being a kid, wondering how many sand castles you are going to build the next day....I go to sleep wondering myself..

Sunday, July 4, 2010
We sleep later that expected and we have to rush. Today is going to be the busiest day; we want to get the same chairs in the shade, so we wake up two weary girls and rush down to the pools. We have success, put our stuff on the chairs and go for breakfast. We decide to go to Starbucks. We get muffins, OJ and lattes.
We head to the pool. Jason, April, Justen and Andy show up and we have lots of fun. The girls are worn out and April decides to take them home for a nap. The fireworks don't begin until 9PM so if they are going to survive, they need some rest.

We have lunch at a Mexican restaurant near the pool. I decide to go to the room and take a nap, while Ken hangs out with Jason, Justen and Andy. Later Andy and Jason go home and Ken and Justen came up to shower.
We decide to have dinner at the China Grill in Mandalay. We don't want to miss the fireworks so we want to stay close.

Dinner was wonderful. Right at 9 pm, we go to the beach and the fireworks started. They set them off in the pool, so we are really close. I've never been so close to fireworks. It was so fun! As we were walking out to the beach, Ken and I were at the back, Justen was holding Lola, Jason, April, Bella were ahead of them. Ken says, 'this is the best birthday present I could ask for'.
Look at Lola's face...she is in awe of the fireworks.

We said goodnight....Justen stayed with us, the girls went home.

Monday, July 5, 2010
We slept in, we got a late checkout since our flight does not leave until 3 PM.
We had breakfast at 'Red, White and Blue' one last time. We relaxed in the room until it was time for Jason to pick us up. Bella was flying back with us to Tucson. She was going to visit her Dad for a few weeks before school starts. She will be going to school in Vegas. When Jason picked us up, Lola kept saying 'I'm going to the airport with you GeeGee'. What she meant was, 'I'm going on the airplane with you GeeGee'. It was so sad. As we got to the airport and it was time to get out of the car, she began crying. It about tore my heart out. Justen held her and we quickly left. I'm sure she didn't understand why Bella got to go and she did not.
It was a wonderful weekend...great family time. Let's make it a tradition!