Elisa's Daily Scoop Welcome back to a new week!! Boy, have I got some week ahead!! You know those kind of weeks that just have so much that has to get done, that you are overwhelmed at the thought of it?? Well, that's what this week is for me. It appears that each day there is something major happening. Today, I have to take Gianna back to the oral surgeon so he can check to see that her gum has healed correctly. From there, we have to stop at the seamstress to get two of Gianna's dresses altered. Then the usual, homework and dinner. Thank goodness yesterday, the girls started packing their suitcases for Yellowstone. After dinner, I'm going to go through them to be sure they didn't forget anything. Mine is 90% complete, so I'll finalize things tonight as well. That will be a load off my mind for the rest of the week. Tomorrow, Tuesday, I have to get some shopping done - food shopping and last minutes items for our Yellowstone trip as well as some items needed from Home Depot for my day of working on the house with Lisa Thursday (see below). A little pampering is on my schedule for Wednesday with a mani-pedi in the morning. Later in the afternoon we have Kelsey's Brownie Troop excursion to Build-a-Bear in the mall. This trip was earned by the girls from all the cookie sales. They will be making a special Girl Scout Brownie Bear!!! So looking forward to this! Thursday, I'll be driving out east to meet Lisa to do the final painting on the house we are selling. It also happens to be the set-up day for the Father-Daughter Dance, which takes place on Friday evening. The evening set up will go until "whenever" everything is completed. Last but not least, is Friday. The day of the Father Daughter Dance - last minute set ups and then getting the girls all gussied up in their dresses with fun hairdos!! WHEW! I'm tired just thinking of it all!  Selfie at REI yesterday Ok so let me tell you how my day went yesterday - it was a day of shopping with Gianna. We hit the mall and REI and did some major purchasing damage!! At REI, we looked for hiking shoes, but then decided against it after speaking with Tanya who advised me that we really should be ok with sneakers and warm socks. Why? because even though we will be doing our fair share of walking, we will be sticking to trails rather than rocky surfaces and climbing.  Gianna tried on these cute hiking shoes but said they were very uncomfortable so we decided against them However, at the end of the day, we did manage to get a few clothing items for both me and Gianna that were on sale. I got a Columbia fleece gray vest, a cute blue sweater and a cute gray hooded pullover. I also treated myself and the girls to some back packs to hold our water bottles and other belongings while walking the trails in the parks. Next stop -- the mall. We concentrated our efforts at JC Penny, where Gianna found an assortment of casual tops, sweatshirts and leggings for our trip. I was pleasantly surprised that everything came to only $105! I was expecting it to be much more. If you live on Long island, you might be aware that the Simon Mall at Roosevelt Field is under tremendous construction and a major expansion. The old food court at Roosevelt Field is all boarded up and we assumed that we had to wait until the construction was complete on the "new food court area" so Gianna and I decided to head to Bloomingdales, where they have a cute little cafe. We grabbed a few tuna salad wraps and sat peacefully. But, as we left Bloomingdales, and began to walk towards Macy's (our next stop), we "stumbled" upon the NEW food court area!!! OMG - what a surprise! It is beautiful and full of so many different eateries. Oh Well, there's always next time!! We did luck out in Macy's with a pretty black dress for Gianna to wear to the Father Daughter Dance. Now, I just need to get it over to the seamstress for some altering. This morning, I'm meeting Denise for a short and sweet coffee klatch at Starbucks. She was off all last week and this is her first day back to work, so she is a little crazed to say the least. I thought it would do us both good to start off, what will be a VERY busy week, with a few laughs and good conversation. So, here is where I must say so long and get my butt moving! Oh, and please remember to vote for us!! ---->>>>---->>>>---->>>> Looking forward to chatting with you tomorrow! -E xoxo  | Tanya's Daily ScoopOdds and EndsGood Morning! Good Monday! And here's to a Good New Week! Week 16 of 52 just in case you're curious. As you are probably aware, the kids and I leave tomorrow morning for our Pre-Cousins Yellowstone Road Trip! The trip itself is going to be over 3k driven miles! Amongst everything else going on today, I'll be going to pick up the rental and hopefully by DEPARTURE time we are all ready and rearing to go!!!  I've been on top of checking the road ways and have confirmed that as of April 17 the following roads are scheduled to open: Mammoth to Old Faithful; Madison to West Entrance; Norris to Canyon. Which is of course GREAT news, because if they weren't going to be open then we'd be unable to enter the park! Plowing park roads is a monumental challenge each year. Unpredictable spring snow storms or other events can slow plowing progress. It is not uncommon for plowing crews to re-plow sections of roads when weather events happen. Each spring, road crews clear snow and ice from 198 miles from main roads, 124 miles from secondary roads and 125 acres of parking lots inside the park as well as 31 miles of the Beartooth Highway outside the park's Northeast Entrance to prepare for the summer season. (Courtesy of www.NPS.gov)  Today here in SoCal it'll be filled with various odds and ends in preparation of our trip, both in and out of the house. Which will include finishing up with the packing, and plenty of running around town right up until our usual Monday night IPC choir rehearsal and why not add the monthly IPC Board Meeting to the list while I'm at it! LOL While today is full of errands and chores, yesterday was full of fun and fun! I might have been just slightly a tad bit over ambitious when I scheduled so many activities for the day - and I ONLY say that because I scheduled them rather late (on Saturday). When meanwhile other family members were unaware of all my busy plans and they had plans of their own and hadn't made me aware that the kids were involved in their plans! So therefore I did not do everything that I wanted to do. BOO. But what we did, we had great time doing!
 Dominic - Bouldering
 I'm almost to the top! And after our arms were spent from indoor rock climbing, it was time to go biking!     Cosette and I at the halfway point  The boys! After the ride came a bit of schedule hectic-ness, and then Dave and I went to have a late lunch at Seabirds Kitchen - they have a seasonal menu, so there's always something new and delicious to try! We tried the Empanadas for the first time and they were to die for...soooo GOOD!  Amazing Empanadas And although I just had them, I could already go for having them again! The kids went to see a movie, whereas being that our schedule got a bit messed up Dave and I missed the last local showtime (6:40p) of the movie we had planned. And after all of the running around Dave was still willing to go play tennis with me, but I knew that he really needed a nap. So we finally went home. I hope that you had a very fulfilling weekend and that you too had plenty to smile about! I'll catch ya from the road tomorrow which will kick off my LIVE blogging from Day 1 of our Road Trip! Ciao 4 Now, -T  |
