El Paso Trip

Coinciding with our anniversary, Tim was able to get his days off scheduled back to back so we had a long weekend. My brave sister and her husband accepted the challenge (once again!) of having our girls stay with them. We took off Friday afternoon and spent the evening hanging out with a group of Tim's academy friends in El Paso. It was fun to hear stories of the academy as well as the differences in the locations they all work now. Our gracious hosts were Roxanna and "Ponchi" who insisted we stay at their home. Saturday we spent sightseeing in El Paso and Las Cruces. We had dinner in a historic old town called La Mesilla. The restaurant was not only interesting (pretty cool info here - http://www.laposta-de-mesilla.com/index.html) but the food was great!

After dinner we went to a hotel in Las Cruces where Ponchi was performing his comedy routine. I was surprised just how funny he was. One of the other guys that night was horrible and the headliner was hilarious so we enjoyed it.

Tim sang karaoke for the first time, with Ponchi, after the comedy was over. I don't think he enjoyed it as much as he thought he would.

Roxana, me and her friend Laura enjoyed the evening.

Back to their house that night to rest up for an emotional day on Sunday. Earlier that week (on our anniversary, actually) one of his classmate's daughter drowned in the family pool. The memorial service took place Sunday and as much as Tim was dreading the emotion we knew we had to be there to show our support since we were already in El Paso. The daughter was just a few months younger than Tessa so it was very difficult not to compare her cute photos in the slide show. It tore at our heart strings to speak to her parents, standing next to her in the casket. That day served as a reminder to value what is most important in life and to be so grateful for the family we have been blessed with.

Hanging out with Heather

After Heather and I returned from our girls' trip, Tim headed back to work and it was our challenge to find fun things to do with the kids in tow. First we hit the Desert Museum. It is part zoo, part botanical garden, part history museum. We saw the mountain lions, the lobos, some prairie dogs, snakes, birds and this cute little squirrel. They made an enclosed habitat for some small critters and they made some underground tunnels with glass or some transparent material. Tessa and this guy had staring contests and he kept high-fiving her when she put her hand to the glass. She loved it.
Part of the man made habitat included a tunnel you could navigate through. Tessa was very nervous the first time but after she braved it through once we had to force her to leave it.
Finishing off with an ice cream cone. Perfect on a hot Arizona spring day.
Happy Phoebe.

On our way home we decided to stop by the Mission San Xavier. They have finished restoring half of it so this was the first time I saw it without scaffolding in front. The chapel inside is still used for Catholic mass by the Tohono O'odahm people whose land this mission is on.

A plaque on an outside wall.

Girls' Trip!

My friend Heather needed to burn some vacation time and we decided that after she flew in from Texas we would hit the road and see the sights in Arizona.

Montezuma's Castle - We got the 5 minute tour as the park was closing up when we got there. You can't get any closer than this, so we didn't mind. Spent the night in Flagstaff then, after a delicious crepe breakfast at a little stand in downtown Flag, headed toward Sedona the next day. It was drizzling and foggy the whole day but that didn't dampen our spirits. It also made the scenery even prettier.

We stopped to walk around Slide Rock State Park and checked out the old homestead, cabins and the apple packinghouse. Some family made this their home about a hundred years ago and farmed apples. It's so remote, even now, but what an amazing backyard they had!
The river cutting through the red rock. There were a handful of people insane enough to be swimming in this. The air temp was at best in the low 60s.
Walking the trail above the river gave me an excellent view. Heather wouldn't go near the edge.
Loved the colors of the wet wood.
We also shopped at an Indian Trading Post (a real one, not a tourist trap building with plastic chachkis inside) and bought a couple pieces of handmade jewelry. Later we saw Jerome, an old mining town and had a late dinner at Carraba's before returning home to reality.

Preschool Commencement

Tessa isn't going to Kindergarten yet, so it wasn't really a graduation, but the preschool did have a little program to show off some songs and the pledge of allegiance they had memorized. She loved school and did really well. They used a smiley face system, where bad behavior meant crossing out a smiley face. She rarely got one crossed out and we always made a big deal about her coming home with all three.

She did well during the program in doing her hand motions and singing. Most of the kids just stood there. I like this shot because the boy on the right has to go pee. His mom ran up to the stage and I didn't know what was going on, until she grabbed him and ran out the door, then came back a couple of minutes later and returned him, dry and able to concentrate again.
No stage fright here!
Walking across the "bridge" to shake hands with the principal.

Good Times with Good Friends

Looking through photos from the last month I realized that we had a quite a few "occasions" to get together with friends. I decided to lump them all together in one post.
Catching up with Tim's Academy friends.

Picnic in the canyon with Sadie and Maddock.

Tessa took this picture all by herself. I didn't know it until I was taking the pictures off the camera. Not bad for a 3 year old. This is our friend Jessie and her youngest, Lisette, when she and all her girls came over for dinner and playtime.

Phoebe's best friend....a horse, any horse, as long as it is rideable. We got to "test drive" TROT before their spring session ended. She is on the list to ride next school year.

Hanging out in the culdesac. I thought it was funny that our street is all boys except for my three (I was babysitting Hailey that night). The boys were having gun and sword fights and somehow they formed an audience while Tim talked about real guns.

Tessa doing what she does best. Making a mess. Our neighbors Cameron and Nicholas joined in.

Field trip to the zoo with her class.Our friend Lina getting nibbled by a giraffe. They didn't let anyone pet them, they just wanted to eat the biscuits people handed them. Lina must look like a biscuit. Three monkeys...Tessa, Lina and greybeard. :)

Day three of CA trip

The last day of our quick trip to CA was spent hanging out with my family at Balboa Island.

Tessa enjoyed being buried, as all kids do!

Phoebe loves Gramma. No doubt about it.

I love MY grandma. An enjoyable lunch at Wilma's Patio with mom, dad, grandma, grandpa and Uncle Brent.

Tessa thought this dog was hilarious because he jumped with excitement at the visitors on his beach. I think his name was Fred?

Tessa met a little buddy named Oden. His mom Michelle and dog Wolfie were fun to hang out with. Tessa talked about Oden for weeks and even remembered him when she returned to Balboa later in the summer.

More Memories in CA

In the past year, Phoebe's birthmother, Melissa, has been in direct contact with us rather than going through the agency like we used to. I have really enjoyed this new stage in our relationship. It's not necessarily more casual, but having occasional, direct contact feels more natural and puts our relationship in a dynamic like others that we have more experience with, such as close friends and relatives. Melissa coincidentally made a comment about wishing we lived in CA so that I could take some portraits for her, right as we were planning our trip to CA. We talked about the possibility of meeting up and when the weekend arrived we both decided that it was a good idea. We met Melissa and her husband and three boys at O'Neill park, not far from where we used to live in RSM. The portraits came out pretty good and the kids had a blast playing with each other. Melissa made peanut butter cookies as a bribe for the boys to smile for pictures, so they were all on a little sugar high. Tessa is just a little older than Cody and they were pretty funny together. Ryan, 5, was able to show off a little more prowess on the playground but Phoebe got tired after just a few rides on the slide. I love the picture of Tim and Phoebe at the bottom of the slide, and all the other kids who slid down and ended up in the pile. They were cracking up over that. It was a fun couple of hours, and I really enjoyed spending time with Melissa for the first time since Phoebe was tiny. She said it was a good experience for her too. On the way home I was inspired to talk to Tessa a little bit about adoption, and explained who we had just played with at the park. She actually listened (previous attempts to broach the subject went in one ear and out the other). She repeated back some of the words I was saying and several times during the following week she would bring it up again, talking about babies in tummies, and birthmothers. She would always talk about Phoebe's birthmom so I made sure to clarify that she has one also. She has a long way to go before she will really understand what adoption is and why it makes our family special, but I am just laying the foundation for now. The current view in the adoption world, which I totally agree with, is that children will better understand and accept adoption if they are aware of it from the beginning, and not have a "big reveal" moment at some point in their adolescence or adulthood. I think adoption has changed for the better in recent decades and there is a new attitude about the whole thing. In an age where being a single mom is totally accepted and supported by society, the women who choose to (temporarily) sacrifice their own happiness for that of their child is a true hero in my opinion. So, here's to modern day heroes (and heroines).

First time at Disneyland

We were suddenly inspired to take the kids to Disney when we saw the commercials for a free ticket on your birthday. After reviewing the calendar, it appeared that the best birthday to coordinate a trip to Disney around was mine. Yippee! We left Friday afternoon, picking Phoebe up from school along the way (she's 45 mins north of us) and arriving at Tim's parents around 11pm. Up at 7, but still didn't get to the park until 10. I couldn't believe how long it took just to get in the gate. Then we still had to get lockers (it was supposed to rain so we brought coats) and get a wheelchair pass at City hall. Once we finally got all that settled, and precautionary trip to the restroom, we were off to have fun! Pat and Julie came along and it was Jaleina's first trip as well. Dad came with us too, but mom stayed at Balboa with her parents. So, we hit Fantasyland first and the girls loved it. Tessa shrieked with delight when she saw the castle and wanted to put on the princess dress she chose to bring from home. She twirled around Main St. with glee and we hadn't even been on a ride yet. Phoebe liked watching the horse drawn carriages go up and down Main st. Our first ride was Dumbo, which they both loved. Tessa asked for it all day and we did go for a second time eventually. After a crazy bathroom break/waiting in line fiasco we did get to meet some of the Princesses. Not Tessa's favorites, and she had to go again when we were taking pics with them, so I don't think she really got the full enjoyment of that moment. Oh well. Phoebe's favorite ride was Small World, thankfully, since even the wheelchair line was half an hour at that point in the day. After Pirate's broke down, Julie and Pat decided to go home since Julie has an annual pass now. We however, intended to milk our day for all it was worth. We stayed until the kids fell asleep, right after fire works at 9, but by the time we got all our stuff, found the right train ride, etc, etc it was 11 when we got home. We were ready for a leisurely day on Sunday! Tessa won't stop talking about California, Disneyland, Sleeping Beauty's castle, etc. We definitely created some memories that day!

Playing Catch Up

Since I have several family members who receive my posts automatically I thought I'd explain what might be coming your way soon. I am planning on going back through my photos and posting about past events, using the backdating feature on my blog. I have not managed to "scrapbook" in exactly 7 1/2 years (gee, wonder why that exact number....) and don't see myself getting caught up real soon. I know that there are companies who can turn a blog into a book, so I hope to do that at some point, thus creating both a journal and album in one. I think I will still scrapbook the kids baby days and events in separate books, but for the family in general, the blog is so much faster (being digital) and easier to just get something in writing right now. I hope you enjoy the trip down memory lane....