Lizards and Overnight Bags!!!

Yea, even this picture gives me the creeps.....

There are two things that happened on our trip to Mexico...several people have told me that I needed to post these (mostly people in my family because they understand the people they are about which makes the stories even better.) I will do my best to explain...

On our way down to Mexico we stopped at my Grandma's house (we like to call her Nona). Nona lives about 20 minutes from the border (about 2 hours east of San Diego). Nona is sooo fabulous! She is the sweetest person I have ever met! And so much fun to be around. She is always invited on all of our adventures and has been with us on some of the most memorable ones. It's always so much fun to be around her!! She has a cute little house in Brawley, California. Brawley is a little farming town that gets sooooo hot in the summer. The last time we were there, in May, it was 118 degrees! We always get to her house very late at night and she always has a huge meal prepared for us when we get there...so huge you would think it was Thanksgiving. When we visited her in May, during the chaos of getting all of my family, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, etc etc into the house, a small lizard crept in through the front door that we had left open. My sister came walking in with her bag and about died when she saw the lizard perched on the rug of the entry way. We are a bunch of wimps in our family...we are all terrified of any creature that moves, except my mom she is very brave...but of course she is, she grew up in Brawley with the rattlesnakes, tarantulas, lizards, and even the Bear she claims she saw at her bedroom window one night. Anyway, my sister screamed and ran to get back in the car, followed closely by me, my other sister Micalyne and my brother Eli close behind. My nephew JJ was in heaven, chasing it all around the front room growling at it. It took my two brothers in law to get it out of the house. Our cute little Nona was standing with her hands on her cheeks saying over and over again how embarrassed she was that a lizard would be in her house...as if there was anything to be embarrassed about, her house is immaculate and we were the ones who let it in.

Well, this most recent visit was not much different. We arrived at 11:30 and she had a huge meal prepared for us as usual. During the process of trying to get our bags into the house 2 small lizards found their way in. I am sure they had been waiting at the front door for the first chance to get out of the sweltering heat. I ran screaming into the house like a little girl while Uncle Will chased the lizards down. Nona was standing in the same position saying over and over again how embarrassed she was that this had now happened twice!! It took Uncle Will a while to catch the lizards because they are just so quick. As he caught the last one, he grabbed it by the tail and the tail immediately broke right off...which sent me into more panic (I am such a baby!! On a trip we took to Mexico a few years ago I was so freaked out by the little geckos that were everywhere, that I couldn't even sleep at night...especially after one morning when we got up and my cousin Bridgette, who was sleeping in the same bed with me, said..."a lizard got in our mosquito net and was in our bed last night. I put my hand down by my side and felt something weird so I starting petting it and then I heard it run across the bed. I didn't tell you cause I knew you would freak out!" and she was right I was freaked out!!!)

After Uncle Will announced that the tail had broken off of the Lizard the following conversation occurred...

Uncle Will: Oh shoot the tail broke off in my hand.

Nona: Will it grow a new one?

Uncle Will: Yes, Lizards can grow new tails.

Nona: No, will that tail grow a new lizard???

She is sooo cute.

The second story is about Uncle Will. Uncle Will is very cool and very fashionable. Anyone who has met him knows that he always knows what is "in" and is always dressed accordingly. Our flight left on Friday night, so I went straight from work to his house so that we could catch our plane to San Diego. When I got there he wanted to show me this really cool overnight bag that he had found at TJ Max. He was so excited cause it was the perfect size for an overnight bag and would be perfect for all the overnighters he goes on...(I think it was one of those things that seems so useful and practical, so you buy it and then when you get home you realize you don't really go on overnighters...). The next day when we arrived at our beach bungalow in Mexico, Uncle Will started to unpack his "overnight bag". I was sitting on one of the beds watching him unpack when he pulled out this mat. It was a rectangular pad about 2 feet long and 1 foot wide. This is the conversation that followed...

Uncle Will: This came with my new bag, I am not quite sure what it's for. I think it

must be used to separate your dirty clothes from the clean ones.

Me: No, I don't think so....is that a diaper bag????

Uncle Will: No, it's an overnight bag.

Me: No, that's a diaper bag...that's a changing pad you are holding.

Uncle Will: No way!! So these pockets on the outside of the bag must be for bottles??

Me: Yep, that's a diaper bag!!!

We laughed for days about this...poor Uncle Will...he thought he had found the best overnight bag ever and it turned out to be a diaper bag. He was soo embarrassed! He had to haul around that diaper bag for 3 days, while people were probably thinking what a great dad he was to carry around the diaper bag...but where's the baby????