Hola!

The night of B's birthday party (a week ago tonight), the friends we were with asked if we were planning a trip or anything for B's graduation. We answered (truthfully) 'no, we don't want to spend the money'. And it was true. At the time, it was totally true....but, it got me thinking - and looking for options. Just something quick. Maybe one of those 3 or 4 night cruises down to Baja? We could drive to Long Beach or L.A. and spend a few days aboard an ocean liner, enjoying the 'all included' pricing structure.

It seemed good - but 3 or 4 nights didn't really seem like enough. 7-8 nights would be great but they were considerably more expensive - and I just couldn't spend that much money.

The looking process made me miss Mexico - having spent most of my childhood on a beach in Mexico, I love that country and I love the beach. That led to looking into Cabo or Mazatlan or Puerto Vallarta - etc.

So in a moment of pure madness, I used all our frequent flyer miles and procured 3 tickets to Cancun. We went to vrbo.com and rented a beach-front 3 bedroom condo for 7 nights for $1800 - not bad for a week. We had to buy one full fare ticket - we managed to snag two non-stop tickets one night this past week for 35K miles each - but by the time I'd logged out of J's account and signed back in to my mileage account, the available dates and flights had TOTALLY changed. So we waited a couple days for a miracle - and then decided to just go for 'standard award' level and spend 70K on B's ticket. [I was totally and completely stressed out that the two people who actually had tickets were J. and H. - and that left B. (who's graduation is the reason we are celebrating with an out-of-country sojourn) possibly spending a week in ....Stockton. Two days of freaking out about all that was enough and 70K miles didn't seem like a bad deal at that point]. So we had all three guys on the same flight and me still possibly enjoying a week alone in Tracy. I could have flown US Air for only $550 round trip - but it departed from SFO at 6AM, meaning we'd need to be there by 4AM and then J. and the boys' flight didn't leave until close to 9. That's a long morning for them. So, after much fretting and worrying and fretting some more, I finally just bought a full fare economy ticket - so we're all on the same flight. Departing on July 18th and returning July 25th. It's year-end at work and there's a part of me that feels crazy for considering it - but honestly, I need a break by then from the budget set-up madness. And I have a great team and they'll work away while I'm gone to get things done...and I will make sure I work like a maniac before I leave to get as much done as possible in advance.

We called a family meeting - which is what we have to do now to get all four of us in the same room at the same time. We agreed to meet as soon as B. returned from work - just after 8. That gave me 3 hours to torture H. with 'what is the meeting about?'. He kept asking and asking until I finally told him 'fine, I'm not supposed to tell you 'cuz we wanted to all be together when we told you - but you're making me crazy, so I'll tell you. Your Dad got transferred and we're moving to Arkansas'. He reacted as you might expect - and said 'I'm not going'. 'Oh, yes you are - and the REALLY ironic thing is: YOU HAVE TO GO. You're only not quite 16. But your BROTHER became a legal adult last Friday and he now has the option of NOT going....so there's much to discuss'.

Of course, I couldn't pull it off forever - but it sure had him going for awhile. He was relieved upon hearing the REAL news. And they looked at pics of where we're staying and are now even more excited. The town we're visiting is Playa del Carmen - sounds lovely and the condo's look beautiful. An infinity pool and the beach is 5 steps out the door! Wow, that's cool.

I am guiltily excited. Throwing caution to the wind is not my nature - but I need a sign that it's all going to work out - this whole 'economy in the toilet' thing has me flummoxed and I need something fun to look forward to...besides weekends.