Unable to Connect

… and I don’t care. We are ‘getting away from it all’ so well that we have no internet available. Can you even imagine that? Our cell phone coverage drops in and out too. I’m typing this up on Windows Live Writer and shall save it in draft for when we do have internet again, maybe when we are on down the Pacific coast somewhere, in whatever hotel we find ourselves in next. In the meantime, I am sorting through various photos from recent adventures and plotting future blog posts. I’ll catch up eventually, even if it isn’t timely or in order.

Currently… meaning, as I write this but who knows when I’ll get to push the ‘Publish’ button… we are staying at a cute little vacation cottage within easy walking distance of the beach in Bandon, Oregon. We’d planned a few days here, and I’d researched hotels, but a vacation rental actually turned out to be very competitive. Can’t beat having a 3bdr/2 bath home, with kitchen and laundry room, over a cramped hotel room with only the basic amenities… at a very reasonable and highly (seriously) competitive price! Isn’t it cute?

Bedrooms with tired sleeping kids in them… they were tickled to get their ‘own’ rooms here.

There’s also a master bedroom suite that I do not have pictured. The cottage sleeps 6.

Here’s the family, awake now, relaxing after a morning at the beach.

The house is outfitted with everything you could need, inc. a grill. A hotel can’t beat this! And it really is a short walk to the beach. A pretty walk too… with flowers and nice houses to gaze at on the way.

Gorse and wild rose.

Brad’s grandparents used to live here, right down the road and to the left, on a bluff overlooking the beach. It was fun to take our kids to a place where their dad and his siblings used to play when they were young.

The folks who run the place are wonderful and we set up all of our lodging arrangements by email before our arrival in country. This is a link to their website:

Dave & Eileen Schradieck

Bandon Beach Vacation Properties, LLC

www.bandonbeachproperties.com

888-441-8030

and I highly recommend you consider doing business with this family-run company if you find yourself with some time to spend in Bandon.

Why would you want to come here anyway? I mean, there’s no internet (lol!), and this place is blustery and downright cold in July …. 50s and 60s … yea, us hot weather folks are feeling pretty darn wimpy and frozen about now…  well, more photos in a bit (again, no promises on timeliness or logical sequence of events, we’ve been busy!), and you’ll see! It is very pretty and definitely worth toughing out the chill. I think that today we might go for a horse ride on the beach, and perhaps go hunting for agates.

Going to the Beach, Jordan style

Aqaba is about 4 hours away from Amman… a lovely drive actually, through the desert and amazing views of the edge of Wadi Rum rock formations. We had company come to visit us, and she wanted to go snorkeling. I made reservations at the Tala Bay Moevenpick hotel, and off we went.

We hired a driver and van to take us down south (more details later) and after a bit of trouble with our reservations… not too serious, and the lady at the desk worked hard to get things straightened out… we got into our rooms, which were very nice. Modern, clean, spacious. Very comfortable. Everything in the resort was easy to find and within easy reach.

It was HOT for the weekend we were there! Not just desert hot, but heat wave in the desert hot. There was also blowing dust and sand for most of the weekend. High winds were almost enough to cancel our snorkeling trip, but not quite.

The beach, to be honest, needs sand… wear water shoes or your feet will hurt! There are rocks in the water, but it was cool and refreshing.

There was enough sand to play in, and not at all scalding hot. The kids spent a good hour or so digging and playing by the water.

Near the shore, the water was churned up because of the wind and waves, but I saw an occasional small fish, and Honor found (and placed in the water) a rock with a plant-type thing growing on it. I bet it would be nice and clear for beach-side snorkeling in calm weather.

It was very windy!

The resort was wonderful too. On the small side, but it had everything and the staff was friendly.

There were multiple pools, all lovely, some better for kids, some more suitable for adults. We never felt crowded.

Running around the pool area was a ‘river’ loop. The water was a great depth for swimming laps – chest deep for adults, but fun for kids who swim well too.

There was also a dive center located at the resort and we went out on a boat to explore a nearby reef. The wind was blowing hard, the sea was very choppy, the boat ride was bumpy… but the kids had a blast getting out there. They’d NEVER worn swim fins, mask, or snorkel before. Even the life vest was a new experience… and we take them out in a cold, salty, bumpy sea, and dump them in with Nemo. They did great!

They tried with all the gear, but didn’t have the practice to make it work well. The fins went back in the boat, as did Honor’s snorkel. Honor also had to open her vest, as it was too big and tried to eat her up when zipped. It worked well as a float. Both kids are strong swimmers and we had one kid per parent. 

Honor decided to sit out exploring the sunken ship… she’d had enough sea water to drink after swimming around the reef!

The weather was tough.. hot, windy, hazy.

It was relaxing and nice anyway.

Wish I could share more of how brilliant blue the waters were… even with the wind and waves. View from the dock… but it was like this out deep too.

After this, we headed back to Amman, stopping at Petra on the way. Photos from that excursion later!

The Evil Drain is Evil, and other chaos

I haven’t been blogging lately because the kids are out of school and we’ve been happily busy. So happy in fact, that the bits of chaos that keep jumping into our lives haven’t done much beyond make me go get the mop, smile, and hope that it’s dried out from the last mess I had to clean up.

First are the evil drains. They ‘speak’ to the cats. There’s nothing in there but water. Ever. We’ve never seen bugs or rodents, but the drains call to the cats. “Remove the cover” it tells them. “Plaaaayyy!” Covering the drains with rugs does not work…

Nor is it healthy for the rugs… which are beginning to look a bit ‘plucked’.

The drains in all three bathrooms are now taped down, and I feel it’s only a matter of time before the one in the kitchen is too. Of course, it would be more practical if the darn things would latch, but they don’t. Oh, and why drains in the floor? I really do not know. It is handy to clean the floor and swipe excess water down the hole, and it really came in handy the one day when a pipe fell out of the back of the bidet and started shooting water all over the room… and guess who had no access to the shut off switch??! But handy as they can be, I wish they’d stop teasing the cats.

Anyway. We finally got a pretty new kitchen table!!! Look at this:

Simple, solid, practical. I like it! (State folks: Look! Chairs to use around kids WITHOUT white cloth seats!)

Why is this in a post about chaos? Well, back to the cats. For one thing, cats are smart… or, smart alecs… actually, both, depending on what suits their needs at the time. They believe that a new table means that all the old table rules were tossed out with the old table. Extra chairs mean the cats are allowed to sit at the table too, right? And more room on top means plenty of space for the cat to hop up and have a sniff or two. Um… no.. The funny thing is, they are past the need to grab people food whenever they see it available. When we first brought them in, we had to watch our plates! Not sure if it is a feral cat thing because Misty and Ramses did the same thing when they were tiny. It takes a bit for kittens to become secure about their food supply. These days, they will, more often than not, turn up their noses when offered food from our plates, but it doesn’t mean they do not want a sniff, taste, or at least the offer from a human plate. The other reason this new table is mentioned here is because it is slippery. Ninja came running through the kitchen one day… desperate to greet us after we returned from an outing… and she leapt to the table to say hello. And slid all the way across, taking out several glasses (plastic thankfully) that had been left out. Tsunami in the kitchen! Unfortunately, a couple of the glasses had a bit of diluted juice in them so we were scrubbing counters and walls as well as the floor.

I spent another day scrubbing the kitchen when a shelf fell out of the cabinet. Crappy shelf support just gave out and bottles and jars came leaping out at me. Of course, I was sitting at the table, back to said cabinet, when it happened. When I recovered from the heart attack, I turned to find that 9 jars had fallen. Three in the sink, one broken. One on the edge, broken. Five on the floor, one broken. Salsa and tomato sauce exploded EVERYWHERE in the kitchen. I had to clean all six chairs, the top and bottom of the table, all the appliances, etc. When I posted this on Facebook, friends were quick to assume it was the cats… this time/mess, they were totally without blame.

My meringue is getting more successful. Isn’t this pretty? 

Unfortunately, my pie was a total failure… the custard was more like sloppy pudding. Back to practicing… If I come up with a successful recipe, I’ll share.

There has been a ton of arts and crafts mess too. Pixie has been running off with pens and paint brushes… not sure what she’s been up to.

and both girls like to help Honor with her artwork.

Honor set up a concert for us the other day. Pictures, decorations, chairs set up with our names on them, etc. She also had the idea to serve finger food, and she practiced making little sandwiches with crackers and cheese earlier in the day. The concert was after dinner though, so we were not hungry. Honor was the star, and played several songs for us on her toy organ. She made them up as she went, and her performance included funny faces and other drama. She really is a star!

Anyway, despite the messes, we’re having a nice relaxing break, and hope you are too.