Monday, March 30, 2015

Jennifer in the Panhandle

Jennifer mentioned coming for a visit several months ago...
She somehow ditched her 3 kids to spend three days with mine.  :)
Jennifer did such a great job with the kids-- I think she might be known as "fun mom" now... 
This is what I came out to after slipping into a coma on the couch on Sunday afternoon (thanks for the nap and for doing the dishes!)
Owen got to spend some quality time with daddy at Barnes & Noble at the train table in the kids' section.

We had to do at least one touristy thing before Jennifer left: 
Cadillac Ranch with a can of spray paint.





Still GREAT friends after 20 years!!!

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Spring Break in Scottsdale, Arizona

Although we took Shanny & David's car for this trip, this is typically how we look in the back of the Prius: proof that 3 carseats fit!  :)

My favorite quote from the backseat, 
"I like Arizona... they have dinosaurs."


The boys are getting old enough to ride on the Razor scooters... 
Kaden REALLY got good over the week.  
chicken/sausage gumbo at Mary & Doug's

Cousin time at Stephenie's pool/hot tub.
5 kids 5 and under

Art lessons with Mary on the back porch.


One highlight of spring break in Scottsdale is getting to go to spring training baseball games.  We thought about going to a Texas Ranger's game, but this game (at talking stick) was only 5 minutes from Mary's house and much easier considering all of the little people.




our lawn seats

Owen has had a fascination with mascots ever since we went to the baseball game in New Orleans.
We spotted the Rockie's mascot and caught up to him for a picture.

Desperately wanting to catch a ball 

Too much fun was had on Tuesday (no nap)
Owen wasn't ready to join us for dinner at Frank & Lupe's. 😁

Mary finally getting a good look at Grace once the boys were asleep.
Mary is very conscientious about giving the boys a lot of attention; "they will remember the attention, while Gracie won't when she's this young." 
Can't argue with that. 

Kaden way up high in the Phoenix Children's Museum
painting

Stephenie & Brayden painting the castle
playing with salt-dough
Owen & Brayden


a little iPad time

Mr. Owen with his frog floatie
Kaden has taken 2 swim lessons at the Townclub so we were working on some of his skills this time in the pool (hold his breath with his face under water, pushing off the stairs, and using his arms to propel).  We really saw improvement by the end of the week.  He was even able to hold his breath to get rings off the bottom of the pool.  
Go Kaden!
One can never have too many floaties. Ha!
Owen, always the character.
Ms. Grace hanging in her carseat.

Learning to handstand in 2015... 
forearm stand- harder than it looks.

Ben's view from McCormick Ranch golf course

Mary & Doug have a good-sized grapefruit tree in their backyard.  
We ended up picking the tree clean as they needed it done by April 1st... to make sure the roof rats don't choose to take residence in their backyard with lots of grapefruit to dine on.
some BIG fruit in spots!

Kaden and Owen bagging up everything.  
By the end we had 7 bags to take back to Amarillo.



photo fun at Slanted Rice restaurant
Grace Dow after a bath
3 kids
(Kaden 5 1/2, Owen, 3 1/4, and Grace just shy of 3 months)
bye-bye palm trees of Las Villas
Owen, feeling cold at 62 degrees (how quickly we acclimate)... 
bundled up and ready for the long ride home. 
We realize how lucky we are to be able to stay with Mary & Doug and escape reality for a week at a time. 
I always get sad driving north on this highway when leaving Phoenix (it's just so damn pretty here)
BUT it's also good to get back home and settled into our normal routine. 
One can only eat, swim and laze so much before feeling like a complete sloth, right?