Happy Birthday J!!!

Today on J's 3rd birthday, lets take a moment to review him over the past year...

A thunk in the night..

turns out to be J, who has rolled out of bed. Good thing he is in the bottom bunk.



(picture taken in July at Mystic Springs Resort in Utah)

Home sweet Home

It is so nice to be home. It is nice to visit and see new things, but nowhere is like home.

I totally got to blog about this...

The carrot cake recipe is sooo going to have to wait .

Today Aba and I made a brief stop at the mall to pick up a new padres hat to replace the one that I ruined (well I was trying to clean a mysterious stain off in my usual way of an overnight oxiclean soak... but forgot to take it out before the spin cycle on the washer Oops!!!) and I had to make a pit stop at the bathroom. So off to the food court and we went and found the "family lounge" Oh. My. God. This place is great!!!

It starts with a sitting room with 8 arm chairs and side tables, and a tv with children's shows on. then 4 curtained off armchairs and side tables for private nursing, then down a small hall to nice built in actual changing tables ( not the fold up kind) with a sink and a bottle warmer next to each one, and diaper disposal bins. round another bin and you will find an additional sink and a microwave. Before you even get to The Bathroom.

The Bathroom with 2 sinks, 2 toilets; an adult sized one and a child sized one, and 2 real mirrors. This place is great. I almost wish that we could have stayed longer, but then again it is only a bathroom...

30 hours in LA

What can 1 mommy with 4 little kids do at grandmas house with 30 hours in LA?

Well for me it started with reminiscing about how much times have changed, and how things look differently and the demographics have changed. The schools I have attended are still there, but different somehow. The houses? Almost all torn down and McMansions put up in their places; except for a few holdouts that have not jumped on the remodeling bandwagon. I am glad I have left, and I miss it all at the same time.

What do I miss about it? I miss the way things were, my childhood, and the certainty of life. Things that are still in my memories but are no longer the reality of my little town.
What don't I miss? The traffic, and graffiti (2 words I got the joy of teaching my children Mommy why aren't we moving? It is called traffic honey where there are too many cars and we all slowly crawl by, or turn the freeway into a parking lot. Mommy, look a circus train!!! Where ??(looking around while sitting in traffic) Over there!!! Oh, that is not a circus train (chuckling) that is graffiti.(on the wall next to the traffic on the freeway) What is graffiti? Graffiti is where some very bad people paint where they are not supposed to, because there parents didn't teach them not to. Ooh, they need to clean up there mess and get a spanking. Yep they sure do....

We visited the Zimmer children's museum, and the kids had a great time, N played Rabbi, and J visited the wailing wall. We went shopping and I got new clothes (thank you Mom!!) and we saw Hairspray, you know the new one in theatres??? Apparently I am the only one in the Universe that did not know that John Travolta was playing the part of Edna Turnblatt; It was great, B was dancing the whole time, trying to mimic the dance moves and bopping around.

And of coarse we went to my favorite place to eat, Pachanga, the chicken quesadilla is still as good as ever. As we were leaving and made a pit stop at In-n-out I realized another reason I am glad we have left, I saw 2 girls I went to school with, 1 single and living at home with mom, because it's the only way she can afford to stay, and the other old and haggard looking overweight; unloved and used. As I glanced around at my little family I knew I had the best life and just what I always dreamed of having.

Surprisingly it was the best trip to see my mom I think we have ever had; we got our argument s out of the way before we drove up, and stayed a brief enough time that it was enjoyable by all.

the land of the sun is where time runs away...

I have no idea what happened it is like as soon as I crossed over the Colorado river the blogger in me went on Hiatus! I have been running running running!

The munchkins and I have been to a birthday party, a family BBQ, inflataworld with Bampa, the beach, etc. etc. etc.

Everyday a new and exciting adventure that leaves me wiped out from the heat and the humidity that I am no longer used to...

I fall asleep as soon as the kids do and wake after them ( thanks to Bampa who seems to love watching early morning cartoons as much as they do).

I promise I will write more soon.

Setting out...

So, day 1 was definitely an adventure. Starting out with leaving so late that we ended up lunching less than 90 miles from home, driving through5 or 6 sunny rainstorms, and bypassing arches because we were to far behind schedule!!! With a pit stop in Green valley partly because the kids were going nuts, and partly because it was the last gas stop for 110 miles. We filled up with the cheapest gas in town at $3.22 a gallon, and then headed over the town park, complete with a huge missile in it to play on the olde school equipment; a metal twisty slide and merry go round.

When we arrived in our destination of Monroe Utah, we stopped at Bullies, this only place to eat in town and had some really great eats that didn’t take a huge dent out of the pocket book. 3 kids meals, 2 sandwiches, fries, rings, and 2 large drinks for under $25. Next it was off through the quaint little town, you know one of those one streeters? And got lost. Yep we managed to get lost!! But that’s okay – some nice ladies pointed us in the right direction and we found it. We were at Mystic springs at last! Aunt LaLa’s first reaction was a bit much, but she slowly warmed up to it, and finally seemed to enjoy herself.



After we had fun in the soaking tubs, and while we were headed back Miss B was running ahead in the dark, in wet sandals, on a dirt road, in her wet swimsuit, and well you can pretty much guess what happened next, Whump! She tripped and down she went and came up covered neck to knee in insta mud. Which of course meant a detour to the showers.

Just when we though the day was over and made a goodnight call to Aba, J of all people had the loudest tantrum I have ever heard from him, and one of record length, an hour of inconsolable screaming cries before he finally tired out and stopped, the cause of this tantrum? That he had to sleep in the pull out beds with his brother and sister and the adults got the real beds, well that combined with the heat, the overtiredness, and the complete change from what he is used to…

34 days left!!!

I am trying to get all of our ducks in a row for the kids and my annual haul to California. This year I am blessed relieved to have a road trip buddy for each leg of the trip. Auntie LaLa will be joining me and the 4 kiddos from our house to Bampas, and we have a trip planned to a H, not quite to a T. We are making a stop over at Mystic Springs and another in Viva Las Vegas. We are planning to make many pit stops along the way, the Hoover dam, Ethel M’s chocolate factory , and Arches national park for sure.

Grandma with the fishies is accompany us on the way home (lucky her!) and our trip is sorely lacking, not for trying though. We are staying at the landmark Wigwam hotel one night, but are hotel less for the other 2! Cimarron sounds good, but Grandma is not to sure… We have nixed Phoenix, flagstaff, Yuma, and Tucson, as well as Santa Fe… and we are getting close. This is a toughie I need to keep working on some more. One thing we do know is we will be stopping at fridge hinge for sure! Well, if we can find it we will be!