2000 Miles

Our 2000 mile summer vacation began a day before school officially let out. We made it to Legoland in 12 hours, which for us is like super easy. Considering we had just been to Legoland in October, I did not have high expectations that the kids would still be in love with it, but boy was I wrong. Lego Friends room and all!

We met up with our very good friends Jason & Lindsey and their 2 boys Landon & Logan. We let our kids do what they wanted at the park and then met at the hotel for dinner and swimming. It was awesome to have the time to catch up with them as well as let the kids catch up too!

With Legoland behind us, we traveled up north to our "hood." I was so excited to see my brother Jonathan, who recently exited a 14 month rehabilitation program. When I last saw him he was in a bad way...and I can't express how grateful I am that he not only had the courage to enter a long term program, but also the finess to work his way into an extended stay knowing that it was for the best. I am so proud of how far he has come and I am excited to see what the future holds for him and our relationship. He was able to join us at the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose which was a childhood favorite of mine and the kids felt the same way!

Memorial Day weekend we spent in Calistoga to celebrate the wedding of Tony's cousin Andrew and his fiance Maggie. I had the absolute pleasure of seeing my favorite boss who made special time for Tony and I to drink, eat and watch the Warrior game! We had a blast reminiscing about the time that Tony showed up at Nordstrom while we were working in his camo gear and started to reach into his special "duck pouch" to show me all of the ducks he just killed on a hunt. It was a blast catching up with her and spending a weekend without the kids!

Memorial Day we spent at Tony's brother's "slough life house." It's hard to fully explain what slough life is. If you grew up in the Bay Area you definitely have an idea. For us it means sketchy water, sketchier people, family and lots of beer! We were blessed with so many friends and family who made the trip out to the house for a BBQ, fishing, floating, sports watching and drinking. One of my best friends from middle school, Lindsay, was able to join us and we had an impromptu baby shower for her and the twins she is expecting in October. It was a fantastic day. The only thing missing from the day were t-shirts that either said "Mazotti Family Reunion" or "All Star Camp Reunion!"

It is not often that I leave CA with sadness in my heart but this trip was especially difficult for me. It is hard returning to a place where you have a memory on every corner and the people who you grew up with know who you truly are without you having to say a word.

On our way back to ABQ we just had to stop by Disneyland. It is one of my favorite places to vacation and even with the kids getting older it is still a magical place. For instance, the kids got super lucky when we just happened to be in the right place at the right time...and they were asked to be in Star Wars show that parents wait in line days in advance to sign their kids up for. We didn't even know that the show existed, but after stumbling upon it and asking some questions, being told that we were the only people at Disneyland that did not know about it and being put on an eternal waiting list, we got a tap on the shoulder and asked "we have exactly 2 open spots this morning and you guys are here so if your kids want to...." Such luck!

As if having a one on one light saber battle with Darth Vader was not enough, they also got to meet their future nannies (also known as Storm Troopers.)

But my absolute favorite magical memory of all was when we were standing in line for California Soarin. A little quarrel transpired between the kids in line and I remember saying something to AJ about it to the effect of "did you think she did that intentionally? If not, did you really need to come over and tell us hoping that she got in trouble?" I can't quite remember exactly...but out of the blue one of the ride attendants says "You! Come here. Yea you! Come over here." He was so direct I thought that I was actually in trouble and it wasn't until he told me that I was not in trouble that I walked over to him. He opened up the barricade and told me that he was so impressed with the way that I handled the situation between my kids that he was going to let us go to the front of the line. I felt like I had won an Oscar! I even started to tear up! All these years I was absolutely convinced that I was doing it wrong and finally the validation that not only was I doing it right (in this very gruff man's eyes) but I was being rewarded for it in the best way possible! Not having to stand in a long hot line at Disneyland!

And we rewarded the kids for misbehaving and allowing me to have my moment of greatness with a trip down Splash Mountain!

Oh yea...and we also rewarded them for good grades with a trip to Downtown Disney and Build-A-Bear Workshop and Ride Makerz. Cha-Ching!

I still love watching the magic in my children's eyes when they see their favorite character or are amazed or terrified by a ride and although they are getting older they have not lost that innocent way of looking at the world as if anything is possible.

It was an epic 2000 mile road trip that I will never forget! Summer 2016 is off to a fantastic start!

Mine All Mine

I would like to take a moment to brag a little about my family. They are awesome. They are talented. And I am so lucky to call them mine!

Cienna is my first born perfectionist. She wants to do it all and she wants to do it perfectly.

Gymnastics

Talent Show

Student Council (She Won!)

Anthony is my natural. He would rather be playing video games but everything he tries he is a natural at!

Grappling

Soccer

Diesel is my unassuming movie star. Everywhere he goes people want his picture but deep down he is just a goober who sleeps with his tongue out.

And Tony is my hard working and loyal best friend. Through life's ups and downs he is always by my side. Calling me. Texting me. Asking me to remind him to do things. And I wouldn't want it any other way.

Spring Break Slow Down

Spring Break 2016 was spent doing something that the Mazotti's never do...absolutely nothing! Knowing that our summer is already booked solid, we decided to not cram in any travel and instead focus on finishing our guest area at the cabin and do some fun stuff around Albuquerque.

We began the week with an Easter favorite...dying eggs. I braved Walmart on a Saturday to get color, boiled the eggs, got everything set out and all of the sudden it hit me. Brown eggs don't dye! I'm a loser. That is what I get for trying to be one of those cool moms who buys organic. I am going back to being awesome and buying the cheapest food money can buy!

FAIL

He Made The Best of It

After talking the kids off the ledge (I told them under no uncertain terms that I would not be going back to Walmart to get white eggs), we decided to take a walk along the bosque. Well that walk turned out about as great as the Easter egg project. AJ + anger + punching himself in the face = him saying "uh oh" + blood gushing from his face + mom freaking the funk out and seriously considering a one way bus ticket to Guadalajara, Mexico (for me.)

Why God, Why?

Easter Sunday was not a fail. The kids still LOVE following the clues the Easter Bunny leaves around the house to find their baskets and they were a bit surprised that the bunny stepped up his game this year and made the eggs pretty hard to find outside. I mean for God's sake they are 6 and 9!

In A Frenzy!

We then spent the week having a staycation of sorts. Trampoline parks, miniature golf, movie theaters, Meow Wolf, NCAA basketball finals in Houston....well for 1 of us!

Shirt Not Planned

All in all it was a fantastic Spring Break 2016!

Weekend Warriors

What a long cold winter it's been. Since December, we have been weekend warriors, piling into the car each Friday after school, making the 4+ hour trip to the cabin, skiing Saturday and Sunday and then back home Sunday evening. The kids have been real troopers throughout, but the one who gets the most credit for tolerance is Diesel. Poor guy has really put in work this winter.

There have been ups and downs this season, starting with Cienna wrecking her very first race. But she rebounded nicely by coming in 1st place in the Lake City downhill.

It was at that moment that we realized that all of the long drives, late nights and (sometimes) tears were so worth it. She was not only getting better...she was thriving. She made some new friends and so did we. We learned how to streamline our ski day process by pre-planning breakfast, packing our own lunch, arriving early and having the kids carry their own gear!

Last weekend was the last "official" race of the season and once again a valuable lesson came from it. (Actually 2 valuable lessons came from it.) Wolf Creek hosted the event and asked for parental volunteers to help with all aspects of the race, from setting up the course, providing lunch, registering racers, finding donations for the raffle, etc. Since we were in Florida the weekend before we did not get the list until we got back. By then the only job left was "gatekeeper." No one told us that gatekeeper meant standing on the steepest part of the mountain in your ski boots for 4 hours while radioing in any falls, gates down, etc. I was...how do you say...MISERABLE. Tony on the other hand made the best of his flat position by and I quote "digging himself a fox hole" hunkering down and drinking beer that he had brought with him. He kept shouting at me to "come down to his fox hole" to hang out while I was taking my job seriously as skier after skier continued to wipe out or almost wipe out right near my post. I was...how do you say...WANTING TO KILL HIM. Lesson learned. No more gatekeeper for me!

Cienna learned what it felt like to be Ms. Universe for a second. After posting the results in front of God and everyone showing Cienna in 2nd place, another parent quickly realized that the times near the bottom were quicker than the times near the top. She actually got 4th place. After a few tears, I told her the story about Ms. Universe and how they had announced her as the winner and gave her the crown and the flowers and then "ooops! I read it wrong! Give me that crown back and those flowers while your at it!" She started to smile and agreed that it would have been much worse to have been standing on the podium wearing the medal when they said "just kidding!" Another valuable lesson learned.

It was a great season for all of us. Even AJ rebounded nicely after loosing one of his skis on his 2nd day of skiing (they told us to come back when the snow melts.) He learned not to lie when you have a GoPro on your helmet recording everything. Or maybe he learned not to wear a GoPro. You would have to ask him. But after going on a run with sister, breaking off the trail and ending up in the parking lot, coming up with a story about someone "pushing him" down that way and then realizing that the entire event was recorded, he had to have learned some lesson. We will forever make fun of him for that video and most importantly "It's A Trap!" He will never live that one down. Ever.

Without Tony I could not have done it. I would like to think that without me he would not have been able to do it. But most likely he would have been fine because he's a much better driver than I am in the snow and the kids are scared of him. Still, I couldn't have asked for a better partner this ski season or in life.

Awesome season our "Lil Ripper!"

Flauridaa

After weeks and weeks of being NM - CO weekend warriors we decided to relax make a true trek across the country and spend the long weekend in Florida! Call us crazy, but we were ready for some sand instead of snow, and sun instead of...well...SNOW!

We left Thursday afternoon and everything was going splendidly smooth until about 5 MINUTES INTO THE TRIP when we were checking in and Tony realized he forgot his wallet at home. Awesome. Just awesome. So while he grabbed the shuttle back to the car to drive back to the house to get back on the shuttle to get onto the flight, I relaxed by the gate with the kids wondering what insanely unbelievable story Tony would come up to blame me for him forgetting his wallet.

After arriving in Ft. Lauderdale very, very late we met up with our friends from New Jersey who had flown down to meet us. We said hi and bye quickly and planned to "pool it up" the next day for the kids (our Cienna and AJ and their Gianna and Benny.)

After awesome weather and a relaxing day by the pool, we all went out to dinner and met up with my brother Jay and his wife Monique who recently relocated from CA to Boca Raton, FL. After dinner, they came back to our hotel where the kids had a lot of fun beating the hell out of him during a pillow fight. Maybe it's all that WWF wrestling that we used to watch, but my brother is the best at taking a beating and making it look "authentic."

Saturday we spent on the "A1A" strip in Ft Lauderdale, watching the kids collect seashells in once again beautiful weather. Benny and Gianna's aunt Phyllis flew in that day and joined our growing group in the fun. She served as a tour guide of sorts as she has a condo overlooking both the bay and the ocean. It was magnificent!

Sunday we spent at the world's largest swap meat / flea market / mercado extraordinaire with my brother. It was huge, dirty, smelly and totally something that we would do!

Monday we tried to go to the Miami Zoo, but the weather said NO! So we headed to a shopping area on the water and discovered a boat show that would forever change my mind regarding what a "boat" truly is. Boat to me now means LUXURY. I get it now.

It's hard to say what my favorite part of the trip was. The pool, the food, the beach, the sun, the sand, the friends or family. Maybe it was when the unmarked police car tried to warn Tony to slow down and he gave the guy the finger. Maybe it was when the guy didn't have the jurisdiction or the reason to pull him over and he had no choice but to let us be on our way. It's hard to say. But Flauridaa as we like to call it (thanks to our New Jersey friends!) was just what we needed to beat our winter blues!