The Grounding

MacBoy and Mini-Mac BOTH got grounded within days of each other.

Mini-Mac was just a fight over her room. But MacBoy really screwed up. He took his car out for a drive even though  he's had no lessons and only has a learner's permit. Then he got caught and drove the car over a curb and burst three tires and dented three rims.

It's going to cost him $1300 to fix his car and he's grounded until the end of the year.

Save the date - Nov. 21, 2010

No, no one is getting married... but I'm doing my first Ironman event on Nov. 21, 2010 in Tempe, AZ (suburb of Phoenix) and I'd love it if any of my family and friends who could make would come out to support me. You'll get a Team t-shirt, if you do!

I haven't named my team yet or decide on what color for the shirts but I think they should be as bright and obnoxious as possible. I noticed other friends & family doing this at IMAZ this year and it really helps the athletes find their supporters out on the course.

RIP Chase

One of our chinchillas died today. It's very strange because he hadn't been acting weird or anything and we have no idea what caused it. He was just laying on the bottom of his cage stiff as a board looking like he was trying to run, only on his back.

It's not a good memory for our Thanksgiving, that's for sure.

Everyone is very upset as he was the Good chinchilla -- the friendly one with lots of energy. Ariel, aka Ms. Crankypants, is still going strong. She's finally gotten used to us and actually lets us pet her. A bit. On the head only. She still fights when we try to get her out of the cage, but it's still progress even if slow.

On a good note, our dining room table is actually cleared off so we can start eating off it again. It's only been about 3 years since my business took it over.

Damn economy

Mr. Mac got a raise. Good. But he also has to do an involuntary furlough day once a week for the indefinite future. Bad.

MacBoy is licensed

MacBoy got his learner's permit. So the roads of Northern California are no longer safe!

(Heh, he'll be so happy to read that.)

We're going to Vegas

Okay, Mr. Mac and MacBoy are going. It's for MacBoy's birthday. He wants to drive to Vegas, see "Love" at the MGM Grand, and drive home. MacMadame said it was okay if a parent went and she's busy the two weekends he wants to go. Plus he doesn't want his punk kid sister to go so someone has to stay home with her.

But no she has to go to the SJ Rock 'n Roll Marathon and she's not happy about that.

San Diego Trip - Oct!

MacMadame is going to San Diego for the weekend in October. It's kind of a long story... she was going to this event on Sat. but it was canceled but now there is a different event on Sunday that is even better in one way.

But a lot of the details are up in the air... if she pulls it all together, she's going to meet Chrissie Wellington!

New car!

I got my new car! It's a Toyota RAV4 and it's purty. It's "Pacific Blue" with a gray interior. Limited trim with a back-up camera, leather seats (heated!), dual climate control, hands-free bluetooth, etc., etc.

I actually wanted the Sports trim, but it didn't come in leather.

The car is really for Herbie, my bike. She's tired of being knocked into the bike rack every time I take her some place.

School starting up

Mini-Mac and her friends are so excited that school is starting that they can hardly contain themselves. They keep posting things like "two more days" as their FaceBook status and squeeing about seeing each other again.

MacMadame is more in "where the heck did the summer go?" mode. It seems like they just got out of school a few weeks ago. Not that I'm not happy to have Mini-Mac back in school. But I wanted to get more done this summer.

MacBoy is going to college

I can't believe it. I kind of figured this day would come, but I figured it would take longer.

He's going to start the Fall semester on Aug. 31st at Ohlone College, which is a community college right here in Fremont. He can ride his bike to it.

The plan is to take some courses that interest him and get his General Ed requirements out of the way, then transfer to a 4-year university at a later point.

New iPhone!

I replaced my iPhone today. They wanted me to spend $500 on it! But we finagled something and I got it for the normal "upgrade" price. But now Mr. Mac can't upgrade his for another two years. Poor baby.

Mini-Mac is back from camp

Mini-Mac had a good time at camp. She informed me she got married four times and divorced three and remarried one. Or something like that. She and her friends would do that in pre-school but the boys were marrying the girls. Okay, one boy married two girls, so it was still not mainstream. But apparently the in thing with the tweeners these days is to marry other girls. I'm not sure what to make of that. It probably explains Zac Efrom and Dave Archulleta though.

Someone stole my iPhone

I left my iPhone in the bathroom at the "Not-so" Great Mall. I discovered it right away and ran back and it was already gone. I am majorly pissed about this.

I bet I can't use the built-in GPS to get it back, either.

Tahoe

We're up in Tahoe this week. MacMadame is doing a triathlon at Donner Lake on Sunday so we decided to make a family vacation of it. MacBoy decided to stay home. He's too cool for family vacations any more. Though, if we ever get back to Walt Disney World or take a cruise, I bet he'll he be right there.

We're staying at a place called (don't laugh) Terrible's Gold Ranch RV Park and Casino. It's just across the Nevada border. It's pretty close to Lake Donner and to our relatives who live in Incline Village.

Getting here was interesting, as there is a lot of construction going on in the area and that made for some very narrow roads. The Behemoth didn't like that, nor did it like climbing all that elevation. But we made it!

Yesterday we went to Lake Donner and MacMadame ran around the lake. The air is THIN up here and she thought she was going to die at first, but then got into it. Her time wasn't too bad. Maybe she'll be able to break the four hour mark in her triathlon after all.

Mini-Mac went swimming even though the lake is FREEZING. She's pretty hardy that way. Then she sunbathed like we all used to do before everyone worried about skin cancer. She had plenty of sunblock on though so didn't get too tan.

Then we went to Northstar at Tahoe to meet relatives for dinner. We had an old gift card that Grandma Mac gave us the last time we were out here so we bought some clothes with it. It was five years old, but it still had money on it! Mini-Mac made a candle and MacMadame made some earrings.

We went to a sushi place for dinner and then The Chocolate Bar for dessert. Mr. Mac had their version of a brownie sundae and it was quite good, but Mini-Mac's chocolate mousse cake and MacNephew's mud pie were just okay.

We have to go back on Friday to pick up Mini-Mac's candle as it needed time to harden.

Today we're going to Reno. We'll visit a train museum to make Mr. Mac happy and then go to an enormous mall to make MacMadame and Mini-Mac happy. (Now that she's a size two, MacMadame needs lots and lots of clothes and is always shopping.) If we can, we're going to see the new Harry Potter movie too.

Tomorrow, we'll visit the niece, nephew and grand-niece at their place including some more swimming. MacMadame thinks she'll bring her wetsuit this time. We may mountain bike too.

Saturday we'll go back to Donner Lake to pick up MacMadame's race packet and have a BBQ with some people from her triathlon club and she wants to bike the bike route as a last hurrah before the triathlon. Mini-Mac wants to kayak too and there is a place to rent them there so it's likely we'll do that or some boating of some sort.

Sunday is the triathlon, which MacMadame will write about in her personal blog (Fatty Fights Back) and then Monday we'll come home.

Tahoe Vacation

Only two more weeks before we go to Tahoe! We're taking the RV and staying at some Casino RV Park in Nevada. That cracks me up.

MacBoy Graduates!

Today is the last day of school so that means MacBoy is a High School graduate!

We're still finding this hard to believe.

Graduation ceremony is tomorrow, followed by the end-of-the-year party.

Next step: MacBoy looks for a job!

DVS Camping Trip

We just got back from the annual DVS camping trip. We took our RV, which was interesting. First of all, the RV reminds MacMadame very much of MacMIL and, as we were cleaning it and stocking it and packing it, she kept thinking of Greta and how much she would have enjoyed all the trips we have planned this summer.

Mr. Mac said it made him think of his mom too.

Anyway, we chose to have an RV spot instead of parking in the group parking lot for our site. This turned out not to be such a great idea because the only spot that fit the Behemoth (what we call our RV) was very far away from the group camp site and schlepping things back and forth the first day to get the kids set up in their tents and such was a PITA. Also, we didn't get to use a lot of the stuff we brought because it was just too much trouble to go get it.

It was nice to go hide out in it when the group thing got to be too much. MacMadame needed a big nap after her 2.5 bike ride all over the hills of Livermore and it was nice to nap in the air conditioned RV instead of in a hot tent. But, by slinking away, we missed more of the group feeling too. So it was a double-edged sword.

Next year, we're parking in the group lot!

Our next trip is to the Lake Donner area. MacMadame is doing a triathlon there in July. Then we had planned to do another weekend at Del Valle in Aug. but that probably won't happen. So it's Bike MS: Waves to Wine in Sept. and Santa Cruz in either Aug. or Oct.

MacMadame would like to go down to San Diego at some point, but Mr. Mac is leery of driving that far. Hopefully, as he gets more used to driving the Behemoth, we can branch out a bit in our trips. MacMadame still has "see the Grand Canyon" on her list of things to do before she dies and that would make a great RV trip.

DVS Open House

We had our last Open House of the year at DVS today. It was PACKED! A lot of the families seemed truly interested too. I'm hoping we'll meet our enrollment goal of 40 students next year. There are four interviews set up for next week, so it looks hopeful.

Happy Easter

We aren't doing anything for Easter. Everyone in the house is either an atheist or an agnostic. Plus I don't want to deal with the candy and Mini-Mac certainly doesn't need it. MacBoy doesn't care and Mr. Mac didn't feel like doing anything either. So there you go...

Mini-Mac did whine about not getting her plastic eggs filled with money. So we did do that. She's getting better at finding them. Maybe next year I'll actually try to hid them in places she can't find them.

We'll probably go out to dinner later and I'll wear my new pink dress I got at Old Navy. It's a size small!

We're Getting an RV!

MacFIL is giving us his RV because he can't drive his trailer and his RV at the same time. I'm so excited! I already have three different camping trips planned out. Mr. Mac thinks I'm crazy so maybe I won't be able to convince him to go on all of them. But that won't stop me from trying.

Plus we can do more vacations because we won't have to pay for a hotel.

I want us to camp when I do my triathlon next weekend. And now I want to go to the Avia Wildflower triathlon and scream for one of my friends... it's also a music and camping festival. That's the one Mr. Mac rolled his eyes over. Then we have the school's annual camping trip at the end of May.

That's probably enough for now. But I'm hoping we can take at trip to San Diego at some point and maybe even the Grand Canyon.