Amigos and BBQ

Ed had to work yesterday and Dawn was watching Miles so we decided to do an impromptu daycare date. Wren (mom), Niah (4 yrs), Grae (3 months), Owen (3 yrs), me (mom), Dawn and Miles (3 yrs) piled into Dawn's van and headed downtown to the Arizona BBQ festival. It was gorgeous, with good food, music and games and utterly exhausting.


The three amigos. It's so fun watching these guys grow up together. They now have full on conversations with each other. It's kind of sad because all three will be leaving the daycare by summer and heading off to different preschools. We (the parents) were going to try and keep them together but we all live in different cities so it wasn't realistic.


Miles and Owen act like they are brothers. They like each other one minute and start beating up on each other the next. Right now, they love finding what irritates the other and exploiting that to its fullest. By the end of this trip, I was exhausted just trying to keep peace.


Niah is an incredible little girl. She is this curly haired wild child. She is such a handful but can get away with it because she looks like Shirley Temple. Owen is on a Niah kick right now and talks about her all the time. Niah is good for Owen because she is outgoing yet acts like a bigger sister to him. She was in the bounce house at the bbq festival and Owen was nervous about getting in. So she gets out and says, "What wrong Owen? You need help or something?" and proceeds to pretty much throw him in the bounce house. After which Miles tackled the crap out him. Gotta love friends.

Jen and the Boys

Jason and Jackson realize that being a snowbird could be nice.


Good food, good company, and a little nap


Playing with the hose in the Arizona sun.


Chheeessse!

Double Trouble

We haven't even finished posting our photos from our San Diego trip and we have another round of photos we need to throw up. Jason, Jen and Jackson are in town soaking up the sun and enjoying spring training in the desert. It's been wonderful for us having them around though Owen may disagree at times. He loves Jen and Jason but this baby.... well he's not sure about this baby.


Mom! Baby made mess. He in trouble.

Mom! Baby touched toys. He in trouble.

You get the picture. Fortunately Jackson is one cool cat and doesn't take it personally. In fact, he seems to be getting attached to this little man that he calls, "O."

Seeing Grandma & Grandpa At Seaworld: Owen's First Choco-Hooter

The reason we went to San Diego is because we got last minute word that my Dad and Carol were going to be in town. Carrie and I recognize a choco-hooter when we see one so we jumped in the car and headed west. It was very nice to see everyone we love and it was also great to be back in a city we love.


Owen's getting the run-down from Grandpa. Owen got a chance to spend quite a fair amount of time absorbing Grandpa's pearls of wisdom. I think they both enjoyed that.


The only sad part of this trip was that it had to be over so soon. Everyone was in great spirits and I know we had a wonderful time seeing everyone. A few hours with family is just enough time to remember how much you miss them.


Nick and Tanya made this trip an impromptu family reunion. The think I love about Nick is he lives in the moment. I don't think I've ever known someone who is as up for anything at any given moment. These are two very special people and I am so happy for them and to be a part of their life together.


Watching people in an inner tube get sprayed by people on the sidelines brings smiles to everyone's faces.

Somehow shoulder rides on Uncle Nick's shoulders are more fun. Tough to say why.

Quote of the trip:
Ed: There they are across the street in that playground. Nick, why didn't you see them?

Nick: I'm tall, I don't have X-ray vision.

Speaking of favorite quotes, if you're curious about the post title, it's an Al Bundy quote.

1st Family Road Trip

Owen's excited; he has no idea that a 6 hour road trip is in store for him. I think the excitement wore off at around hour 4 or so and he didn't care about the beach anymore. All was well when we actually got to the beach though (more on that later).


I'm also excited, despite my knowledge of the time commitment. I had a lot to look forward to: our first road trip as a family, going back to San Diego, my Dad & Carol and Nick & Tanya occupying the same space and time as us, Sea World with Owen & the fam, and lastly, giving our new car a chance to shine (Nice, comfortable road-tripper and 38 mpg round-trip to boot).


Pit stops take on a new dimension when traveling with potty training toddlers, though. To his credit, Owen was by and large a rock star the entire trip, even when he had reason not to be (again, more on that later).

Pit stop!

Street Fair Fun

We had a very nice weekend. Yep. Very nice indeed. The weather was gorgeous. We got two trucks loads of free dirt (more on that later). We finished our weeding. Finally, we went to the M7 Street Fair and Car Show and happened to run into our favorite Phoenix couple Staci and Brandon.

I absolutely love street fairs. Those and farmer's markets would have to be my happy places. This particular street fair made Owen happy too because it also included a car show.


Checking out the old cars. Owen was bummed he couldn't drive them.


First thing he does when he comes up to car is check out the tires.


Enjoying some food while listening to a band play. We took Owen to Coldstone for the first time last weekend and he is completely hooked on ice cream. He was supposed to share that bowl of ice cream with me but when I asked if I could have a bite he sweetly said, "No ice cream. But you can have daddy's popcorn!"