White Trash Invades Red River & San Diego

We headed to Red River with a perfectly decent tent trailer. Then I had to make things interesting by neglecting to unlatch the hardtop. Thanks to a few foul words, beer and a 2x4 we were able to prop up the busted end and spend the weekend in the ghetto trailer you see before you. White Trash 100%. Eric, the innovator, rigged it for use and really enjoyed having the interior ceiling roughly 6 inches from his face. We laughed so hard, particularly when observers' passed by our remote site...whispering. Alas, all is well that ends well...more on this down the page. We had fresh trout for dinner following Gavin's dismay at my cleaning of the catch.

The remainder of the weekend was a total blast with the catching of fresh brook trout caught not only by my pole but by another Eric innovation; a butterfly net with a fishing knife fastened to the end. In my entire life, I have never seen someone so determined to catch a fish. Frustrated at all the trout we could see but not catch, Eric chose to spear fish! Oh my, what a sight. Between the screwed up camper, the ghetto spear fish apparatus and the two mangy dogs, we were the epitome of white trash.

Getting the trailer home (this is the more later part) was far more entertaining, requiring a hacksaw, which we gladly used, along the highway, at the dismay of the hacksaw and upscale RV Park Owner. He was scared, very scared, and happy to see us roll on home. Red River is lush, quiet and filled with hiking and fishing opps. We can also tell you where to find a hacksaw-should it be required. :)

Our second white trash invasion landed us in San Diego for 7 days of 4th of July fun in the sun, LegoLand, the San Diego Zoo and amazing local neighborhood food we found thanks to TripAdvisor. Oh my gosh. We saw the most enormous fireworks display involving three ships dispersed around Mission Bay for all to see. We laid on the beach and watched them go off in sequential order for nearly an hour. We porked on fish tacos, homemade Italian and lotza cold beverages. Gavin, the Fish, swam constantly. He can dive down to 5 ft and is swimming underwater like a pro. Alas, more time for us to sit on our !@# and relax while he met new friends each day. Eric's Surveying conference went well and the business was happy to provide this all expense paid adventure!

On other fronts, we have at least two more camping trips planned, thanks to the opening of the National Forest and the handy welding skills of a local mechanic who is fixing the tent trailer as I write! Big news...we have decided to move into town and ditch the endless trips back and forth each day. The house hit the market last week as did our mixed emotions; we love the peace here and we have a gorgeous house (that we built). Alas, it is to big for us to maintain and to far out of town for an active family. Wish us luck!

Spring Ala Collins-

We have had quite a spring-beginning and ending with fun and friends. Easter brought two Easter Egg hunts, a basket to find on the tractor, annual fire truck ride, hugs with Smokey and plenty of wind for kite flying or crashing as it evolved! School ends this week and then my world gets rocked! We have signed Gavin up for all sorts of activities so I can squeeze in some work-it promises to be a very fun summer. Vacations are planned (mostly) through September and we are looking forward to blowing this popsicle stand! My job is more fun than ever as we begin target marketing to hospitals in the West. Eric has earned the trust of two large prime contractors, one from AZ and one from ABQ and those jobs have been a real bonus.

Finding Our Ass

Finally, a new blog post, following more than two months of utter chaos at our place! We are just now finding our own ass as we recover from it being handed to us-repeatedly: 1) Six weeks of extreme pain on Eric's part to culminate in the emergency removal of the most disgusting gallbladder to date. (They actually kept photos for research purposes it was really ready to blow!)

Puzzle time with Papa!

2) Pink Eye-another memorable gift from Kindergarten. 3) The actual product launch of the MakH20Pak at a Las Vegas Trade Show 4) The finale-intestinal flu, another stellar gift from Kindergarten.

Candy-making just for Gavin hands!

In between all this, we ran away to Texas for Spring Break and had a total ball. My family spoils us rotten-I got to sleep in (a novelty) and take a break from the kitchen and kiddo duty while my Mom, Sister Becky and Husband Dave took care of everything else-We had so much fun! All of the following pics and video are from said trip. Thank you for all the special memories!

Mema, fixing a stuffed animal for Gavin, following and early Easter basket of goodies!

Uncle Dave working from home and then serenading a very hyper and thus blurry Gavin.

Dallas Zoo was awesome...
Our goal for Spring Break? At least, one new adventure everyday while in Plano-starting with the Warren family themselves. You can always count on killing something around the house-an insect or rodent, a good loud and late night of swapping odd family tales, too include trials and tribulations, fixing random broken items, plenty of homemade food, including Mema's butt busting desserts and Becky's liver fix of bar-tending magic. There you have a standard Warren retreat with all the upgrades!

More Dallas Zoo and the 200 Acre Nature Preserve and Massive Playground for picnic with Mema and Papa.

You need a wipe pipe (broadband) to download this video-go to Starbucks' if your home connection sucks. It's worth it and dedicated to my Sisters' who always tell me what I need to hear even if I don't want to hear it! Love you both!

"Fargo" Returns

Fargo is a film about a small town chock-full of people who have been indoors for too long during yet another long Dakota winter; the townspeople get very agitated and begin to engage in very odd and often dangerous behavior. Ruidosoans' experienced a small taste of this over the last three weeks of sub-zero temps, broken pipes and water-problems yet unresolved. School was cancelled for an entire week, which meant kids were couped up inside, for FAR TOO LONG and parents' were looking for a place to run! After so many days indoors-with brief bouts of sledding, you run entirely out of things to do with a kid. So, as my friend said so eloquently, you resort to "rotting their brains on T.V." By Sunday evening, of a very longgggg week, we were joking about the wood-chipper scene and how we could relate! The coyotes contributed to the Fargo ambiance by hosting a deer-leg roast less than 10 yards from our front door-thank God our backyard is fenced! We subsequently took the leg to a Super Bowl party and threatened to BBQ it as our dish!

So, after we finished all the Valentines crafts and hosted our third stuffed-animal tea party-I told Gavin I would be leaving him at his Teachers' house if school was closed another day! The entire County has been under a state of emergency due to vacation homes with broken pipes leaking thousands of gallons per minute-unchecked. Restaurants, schools and other business' are still trying to get pipes and damage fixed and will continue for months-it was a great time to be a plumber! We were largely unscathed but our well pressure pump was froze solid and the gauge was toast. So, a full ten days with little water and plenty of dirty laundry didn't help the mood! I was even crabbier than usual! Our neighbors are a Godsend-working under our house for hours in the freezing cold and providing wine and showers as needed. Thank God-my hair felt like it had Crisco in it! As if there has not been enough turmoil in our house, Gavin and Eric continue to bring home and share germs. One is well, one is sick, one is well, one is sick. Poor Eric has been sick most of the winter as his immune system just ain't working. Like many of our friends we have just had an illin' winter. Knock on wood, it has all been minor but persistent as hell! On other fronts, as a distraction we repainted and redirected Gavin's entire room. Out with the construction theme and in with outer space. New paint, new wall border, new decorations and bedding and it looks awesome. Much of these items glow in the dark and the solar system above his bed has been a great way to teach his Mom about our Solar System-not my finer subject! He was ready for a big kid room and we love the outcome.

Gavin is growing up quickly; his interests are changing, his routine and overall maturity. We have noticed big changes in the last three months. He speaks of people who mean a great deal to him more often and with memory and he is excelling in all areas at school. Even the bull-ish behaviors have stopped-thank goodness!

My job will be heating up as we head into March so Gavin will be going to school for a full day, rather than half. After 5.3 years, we are both ready. I have been cutting back his nap gradually and he is adjusting well. He wants to return to gymnastics so that is on the radar for Spring. We are delaying team sports (t-ball and soccer) until we think he is mature enough to get the real concept-right now it is all about what he can get his body to do!

D.T. Collins has been really slow with foul weather and the recession continuing to bear down, year three. Eric is hanging tough as we realize this may continue for several more years'. Thankfully, real estate is picking up despite the downward spiral of construction itself. After thirteen months of being on the market he was offered cash for his Dad's old house and it is under contract to close at month end~ironically, just two weeks following the three-year-anniversary of his death. The house contract is a total blessing as nobody can seem to get financing these days and with cash we did not have to go through all the machinations involved with a bank deal. Eric negotiated to have the buyers' clean out the rest of the house and we are just responsible for removing what we want...a boat, a tracker, some personal items. Another weekend of cleaning out over there and he is finally done. A very emotional-tumultuous time for him but after three years of taking care of the house we are anxious to move past the responsibilities associated and focus upon one household. We hope the new family has many happy years' in this very well built house and that we do not experience any hiccups between now and closing!

Collins' Christmas 2010

Happy Holidays! We had a handful of Warrens' and the Collins' to our house for a four-day-baking-eating-drinking and gaming extravaganza! Rarely changing clothes, we just rotated between outfits-those with flour on them and those dribbled with liquor.

Homemade cinnamon rolls, peanut brittle, peppermint bark, gingerbread cookies and a lemon birthday cake made for me, rounded out our bellies and the memories we had growing up with Mom in the kitchen for days. The Guiterrez family looked great-happy and healthier than they have been in many winters-having been stuck inside for months on end while living in Chicago.

Needless to say, none of us can button our pants, despite the walks we took and the day of sledding. Knowing we won't see these goodies for another year makes all the bloating, weight

gain and under-eye-bags so worth it!

Gavin really got into Christmas with help from Becky and Mema who had planned special projects to do with him while here. They made modeling clay ornaments and really fancy gingerbread people that looked just like our family-wider than tall and without inseams! If we could have thrown in a few hammer-toes and moles they would have been a genetic match!

We missed those who were not with us but that meant more 42 for others and a new trivia game-yes Becky and Mema kicked all our butts. Ryan kept us all laughing with the sense of humor he has been graciously given by his folks and he was a huge help, following his Father, with the mountains of dishes, garbage and beer bottles that accumulated by the hour. We can't wait until he moves to Texas so we can see him even more! Happy New Year to All!

Mazatlan-Mulligan!

Happy Holidays!

A mulligan, or a do-over, for those of us who do not golf, is a perfect way to describe our trip; we had so much fun and would love a repeat of Mexico with the Scott's. We had many adventures planned just for an active young family. Carla and Doug tailored a trip just for us with a hike, beach volleyball, a stocked fridge in our HUGE suite, club card for the resort and many amazing meals of fresh from the sea shrimp. I think I ate a pound a day! Not to mention they did a great job of entertaining Gavin with beach-side restaurants. Gavin is still telling everyone he slept on a boat! His classmates think that is really cool. Despite struggling with a double-ear infection, he was determined to have a good time while we were out and about. Carla chronicled our trip on her blog so I will be brief. See our pics on this page and under the slide show at your right. For more please visit her site; http://followingmoondance.blogspot.com/. Big hugs and thanks to the Scott's who we will miss dearly at Christmas time in Ruidoso. Merry Christmas to all!

Scooby-Doo ala Collins

We enjoy Halloween almost as much as Christmas~maybe because we can act weird (which comes naturally) and we don't have to cook!

Dressing up, eating junk and asking strangers for food while in disguise, only comes once a YEAR! Before we had Gavin Halloween always involved an all night adult-only bash at my sisters house. Now we are just a bit more mellow but enjoying it just as much.

We hit the First Baptist Church-several thousand square feet of preschool-old school games, roasted corn, hot dogs and an endless supply of candy. As if this wasn't enough, it was FREEE! I love living in a small town.

After Gavin had burned off his initial sugar hit in the jump house, we met friends and went trick or treating in an older neighborhood. No hill, houses close together and inhabited by people we largely already know...by 0730 the kids were coming off their second sugar hit and the runs from door to door became aimless meanderings.

We went as the Mystery Crew from Scooby Doo-Velma, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo. My Mom made Gavin's costume from scratch-no pattern exists due to copyright (will plan to keep that one for Gavin's kids.) He was so warm and authentic. The kids loved our costumes and knew right away who we were...the adults were a little slow!

On other fronts we are super busy as our volunteering gets ratchet up for the holiday season; Eric is really busy with Santa's Helpers and I with a Scrip Fundraising program at Gavin's school. We both love volunteering and the kids in our community deserve it. Eric's crew will deliver food and gifts too more than 400 families 700-800 kids. Gavin's school is raising money for another Student-Aide and setting some aside for a building fund (we are using the lower elevation of a very large and generous church at present.) In addition, Eric's work is truly busy. Finally, construction and land development are picking up after two years of hanging on...

We are leaving for Mazatlan in a few days to spend an entire week at a resort where Carla and Doug have their boat docked. We can't wait to lay in the sun, see some sights and get out of the 20 degree nights in Ruidoso. Their is a childcare service, plenty of nightlife and lots to do so we can't wait; thanks to the Warren's for helping with the timeshare! More from me when we get back from Mexico!