The Vallecillo’s

Today we all headed out to Van Alstyne, TX (I had to look it up too!), out to Chris and Amy’s (Mandi’s sister) new land for a day away from the city. It is about a 1.5 hour drive from our house, so it isn’t really that far away at all. Remember, this is TX and the “country” is not very far from anywhere.

Their land is fairly new and at the moment they just have a fenced area for their horse Bevo, and a barn that was finished just a few weeks ago. No running water or electricity just yet. They have another horse that is boarded at a different place better suited for riding. We were at their land for a relatively short time, but long enough for at least a quick horseback ride. There is really nothing else out there at the moment, but they have plans of eventually building a house.

Although I have many years of equestrian riding experience, it has been at least 10 years since I have ridden a horse. The upside is that it is just like riding a bike in the sense that you never really forget. The downside is that riding involves muscles I rarely use anymore, which means I’m going to be sore for a very long time if I don’t take it easy. On top of my lack of any recent riding, all their gear is “western”, but all my years of riding were done “english” style. Trust me, there is quite a difference between the two.

The first horse I rode is one that hadn’t been ridden in months and is supposedly known to be a bit wild at times. Great horse for my first ride in 10 years, right?! I did ride him, but a slow “walk” was as fast as we went. This horse really didn’t want to move, but I wasn’t about to push him to his limit and risk my first horseback fall in at least a decade. I’m afraid my ability to simply getup and try again at 40 is not going to be what I remember it being back in the day.

Things were better/different once we got to the place where their other horse is boarded. Their main horse, Patriot, has better training and doesn’t require to be “broken” in order to be ridden. There were also other horses there to ride, so we all had a chance to ride for a little while. Mandi was the one person with the least riding experience, but the one who did the most riding of all. I was trying to be smart knowing I’d be paying the price within the next 24-hours, but Mandi wanted to get that horse to a gallop no matter how long it took. Her determination and stubbornness at their best.

You can check out the photos from that day at my Flickr photo page.

This weekend we packed our bags and drove out for an overnight birthday party in Mr. Pleasant (yes, in Texas). We drove about 140 miles east to Lisa’s (Aidan’s mom) sister house, out in the country…the real country. The idea was for the kids to camp out in the back yard (we are talking the “woods” here) and then spend the next day playing games (cow chip toss and all!), fishing (small pond = small fish), four-wheeling (with crazy aunt-Lisa at the wheel) and culminating with the birthday party.

Even though there were 2 huge tents available, the Vallecillo’s ended up staying in one of the bedrooms inside the house. It was cold outside, and thankfully Larsen wasn’t really into spending the night outdoors when there was a perfectly good available warm bed inside. I love that kid!

After all the kids finally collapsed for the night the adults crowded around the fire pit until the conversation turned to guns and hunting. Coincidentally that was when most (yours truly included) checked out. Some were more ready than others and I suspect the moonshine that was being passed around the fire may have had something to do with it.

The next day was all about having fun, so Larsen decided it would be “fun” to drop someone else’s Maglite flashlight into the pond (I do love him, but sometimes I’m ready to sell him to the highest bidder). After everyone’s failed efforts to retrieve it from the pond using every pole and broom at hand, I finally decided to take matters into my own hands and use the best tool for the job: ironically is was my hands. Even though I was able to rescue the flashlight, getting in knee-deep freezing water with jeans hardly seemed worth it was all said and done. Oh, and if you have ever wondered…yes, Maglite flashlights are truly waterproof!

As seen on I-20 during our drive back from Abiline this weekend. Now that’s something you don’t see every day!

As expected, we had a great time at the Westin Rio Mar resort. We had plenty of fun, sun, rain, food, sand, chlorine, and a dash of drama. More on that in a bit though.

We arrived on a Monday, but after we got all settled-in and finished rounded up all the troops it was already mid-afternoon. Just enough time for a quick swim with Larsen and then off to get ready for our dinner outing. We were in search for some good seafood that night, so after everybody got ready we headed off to Fajardo where there are two restaurants we know well. We ended up at Sandy’s (King’s Seafood was closed) where even though the food did not disappoint, we faced the wrath of a boy who shall rename nameless (OK, it was Larsen) who was beyond hungry and tired – a lethal combination. So about 4 glasses of Sangria and a set of teeth-marks later we were back at the hotel putting the little monsters to bed. It is a good thing it was bedtime too, we were about ready to start pulling fingernails off!

After some much needed rest we started Tuesday the right way. After some breakfast Larsen was ready to get into the pool and go down the water slide. He had been wanting to ride it since he go there, but it was closed by the time we got to the pool the first day. The first few times down the slide required a bit of hand-holding from us, but after just a few times Larsen was off all on his own. A couple of hours later, and about 50 rides down the slide, we moved off to the beach. The waves and sand were no match for the water slide, so no less than 20-minutes later we were back at the slide. Oy vey!

Wednesday came along, and more of the same was in store. We fed the iguanas (they do this for the kids several times a day) and tried to get as much fun in the sun as we could since in about 24-hours it would all be over. For our last night we had all planned to have a nice dinner at one of the hotel restaurants, and the kids were all going to go to spend a few hours at the Kids Club while we dined. Of course, there is just no such thing as a perfect plan. As we were being seated we (and by “we” I mean Mandi and I) were reminded there was a dress-code for the restaurant and jeans was not an option. I don’t know what I was thinking, you always bring slacks when you are headed to a beach resort! At least Mandi had a skirt to change into, but besides my jeans all I had were swimsuits. So I borrowed Bill’s pants and took care of the extra inches in the waist with my belt.

Unfortunately we lost Papo in the shuffle because of how offended he was by the way the Maitre D’ approached us about our failure to meet the dress code. I agree it could have been done much more tactfully, but I was willing to look the other way since it was our last night there and I was starving. I went back to try and convince Papo to come join us, but he had already made up his mind. Although he was missed during dinner I fully understood his stance. It’s a Vallecillo thing, you wouldn’t understand

We have been in Puerto Rico for a few days now, and in that time Larsen has shown Sara what a computer is (I’m not sure she understood a word Larsen said, but it is the thought that counts…right?), re-acquainted himself with some of the toys left-behind since our last visit, went for a tour of Bacardi Rums, and showed abuela some good ol’ grandson-lovin’.

For the Bacardi tour you are taken to a different building on a trolley car, and as the tour comes to an end you are supposed to get back in the trolley in order to get back to the starting point (and you really want to make it back quickly since you get two free drinks at the end of the tour!). We were at the front of the pack so we were one of first ones bac. As we sat there waiting for everyone to board the trolley Larsen decided to strike a conversation with the people sitting directly behind us. That conversation went something like this:

Larsen: “I have an Apple Macintosh computer, it’s an eMac. What do you have?”
stranger: “I have a Windows computer.”
Larsen: “You need to get an Apple Computer”
stranger: “And what do you use your computer for?”
Larsen: “I use iPhoto and iChat and iMovie”
stranger: “Oh really? How do I get one of those?”
Larsen: “You need to go to www.apple.com and buy it”
stranger: “You know, your kid should be getting kick-backs from Apple for this”
Me: “I know!”

We decided that while we are still in Orlando we need to make the best of it, so we decided on an outing to either SeaWord or Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Since we had already gone to SeaWorld last year, we decided we needed to do something new. Animal Kingdom is not as big as the Magic Kingdom, so you can actually get your fill in one day.

We carefully tried to device a plan that would take us to the best 4-year-old-friendly rides, which included the Kali River Rapids. We went there first, but we ended up backing out of in lieu of staying dry and warm. Unfortunately we decided to go against our instincts and rode DINOSAUR anyway. I will say that I blame the stupid Animal Kingdom map because that ride did not have the “might be scary for children” icon next to it like so many others did. This ride was not only deafeningly-loud, but also very dark and scary with big dinosaurs jumping out of the dark. It was so dark I was unable to see Larsen’s face throughout the ride, but I felt his little hands grab a tight hold of mine once the ride started to get scary. I thought for sure we were going to leave that ride with a crying and hysterical child, but surprisingly enough he was not. We know he was scared because he has been telling us ever since, so I’m very glad that for whatever reason it didn’t send him overboard.

On a positive note, he did get to see Mickey (his favorite) and did not pull his usual cover-the-face-with-hands move he so often does when he is either scared or embarrassed (more than I can say for his picture with Chip and Dale). As usual he is not completely happy because he remembers his cousins Ali and William had autograph books back at the Magic Kingdom a few days ago, so we are already hearing about how he did not get Mickey’s autograph because he didn’t have an autograph book. I’ve already got a list going for next year

I guess we started this little tradition about 3 years ago when Cuca decided to invite the family to Orlando for Thanksgiving. I guess she didn’t realize this would become a yearly gathering, but now it is too late and it is what it is. It seems every year a few more join the festivities, thus the ever growing need for expansion. It is always great to see the family together so I say: “the more the merrier.”

In fact, there were so many more people this year that John, Papo and Dan (Cuca’s boyfriend) had to build an extension to the dining room table just so that we could all fit in one sitting. This extensions wasn’t by any stretch of the imagination a work of art, nor was it meant to serve as an example of fine carpentry…but by golly the darn thing did its job and nobody even notice once the table was all prepped up and ever-so-nicely decorated. Oh, did I fail to mention the extension had to be tied to the main table with ropes so that it wouldn’t wobble?

As with any Thanksgiving day I’ve ever known, food was aplenty and we ate as if it was going to be our very last meal…EVER! Another thing there was plenty of: kids! This family has been “busy”! There was (in no particular order): Larsen, Rylie, Kelsey, Ali, William, Pierre and Sebastian. OK, so there were only 6 kids…but I swear it felt like there were at least 7! The kids had a blast though, but I really wonder where they get all that energy. I mean, for the most part they don’t eat…but they can run full-throttle from wake-time to night-time. The Army should look into this…really!

It was now dark and suddenly Pierre shows up with a box full of fireworks, and I immediately became his assistant (yes, pyromania is present in the Vallecillo gene-pool). We had no clue how powerful or wimpy these fireworks-in-a-box were, but we wasted no time to find out. I have to tell you, Pierre is crazy (no, he really is!) and, as you can plainly see, does not fear the whole powder-fire combination. Me, well…have you seen how much gel goes into my hair? Exactly…fire hazard! I tired to keep my distance as much as possible.

Seriously…how can Thanksgiving be complete without fireworks? Just list the pilgrims did! (with the help of the Indians, right?)