Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Getting Ready to GO!

Whew, what a busy week THIS is! Yesterday I had to get new tires on my car, and take my mac in to the Apple store to get the OS reinstalled ...and the technician promptly DROPPED my iMac on the conuter when he took it out of the box, so today I picked up a brand NEW iMac (with twice as much RAM, yeah). We also had the Yearbook Party at the boys' school, and in the evening I had an appointment with my therapist (boy, did I need that!).

Today was really crazy. After I dropped off the boys (David took Sofia), I ran some errands and then went to get my haircut. Then back to the mall to pick up my computer, then picked up Sofia at school. At home, more prepping for the trip...including attempting to confirm our reservations.

Oy, was that a mistake. Then followed about 5 hours of frantic phone calls to:

- the Intercontinental Hotel worldwide reservations line
- the agency we booked through
- the travel wholesaler they booked through
- my friend who is a travel agent (yes, I SHOULD have booked through her!)
- the hotel in Tahiti directly

Upshot is that there is a glitch in the reservation system, and the number that looked like a cancellation number to the Internet reservations groups is actually a reservation number to the hotel. So we are indeed booked...whew. But boy, was that a tense afternoon!

David just gave me my anniversary present, incredibly beautiful diamond earings.

I'm almost done packing. Need to run a few errands tomorrow, and get my toes done.

And there's not really any useful Internet access on the islands, just dial-up, so I will be off line for the next 2 weeks. So here, for your amusement, are a few pictures of my kiddos...

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Best wishes to everyone recovering from whatever they are recovering from, dry thoughts heading out to friends in flooded areas, calming thoughts to all those facing the end of school, and peaceful summertime thoughts to all.

3 comments:

Amy Flege said...

diamond earring? no fair!!!!! Have a wonderful time. I will miss you while you are gone!

Pam said...

Thanks for the picture fix!! Sofia is getting so big!!

I hope you have a fabulous time!! Thanks for the little thought on my blog too, that was WAY cool!! Made me grin!!

((HUGS!!))

Anonymous said...

I just listened to a short but powerful segment--the last 10 minutes of This American Life with Ira Glass on National Public Radio (NPR). In my area, this program will repeat on Sunday at 2 o'clock. I recommend it, if you can get it in your area, and if not, do consider looking it up at =the NPR/This American Life archives website (after Sunday). The segment has to do with Sophie, a child with Down Syndrome and mental retardation. Sophie's mom, like so many of us, has been a stage-mom in getting early intervention services for her daughter, now age 4. Her daughter has done well. A test is performed by the school providing many of the services--OT, PT, Speech. The test shows that Sophie's I.Q. is 83, and she is NOT technically mentally retarded, and so her services must end. The mother must decide if she should let go of Sophie's label (mental retardataion) in order for Sophie to continue to get services. For all of us who have been in the bind, where services have improved our children's skills to the point where the child no longer qualifies for services . . . you will find this particular "Sophie's Choice" poignant. I leave you to wonder if the mom chose to lose the label or continue the services, keeping the label. Sophie's father says it is a "no-brainer," this decision.) After the decision is made by the mother, she sees a "vision" of her daughter's future . . . also poignant. Do check it out.