Where Have We Been?

You might be asking yourself if I've given up on blogging. The answer is no - I've just been traveling a lot lately and hubby doesn't know the log-in password. Hehe! I've spent the past two and a half weeks working in Atlanta while Rob stayed home with the kids. It's not ideal, but it's helping to pay the bills right now and the kids love having Daddy all to themselves. Not so sure Daddy is as thrilled as they are, but he enjoys it. As a side note, I had the most peaceful, quiet, boring Mother's Day ever. I snoozed on the couch while watching a marathon of America's Next Top Model and eating tortillas, salsa and macarroni and cheese. It was my only day off during my entire trip and it was NICE!

So here's the funny thing about my trip to Atlanta. I left a few days after the Swine Flu was declared an epidemic - which also happened to coincide with my first ever full-blown allergy attack. To top that off, I also developed a double eye infection which was lovely. So I get on the plane with red, crusty eyes, a persistent cough and a continuous runny nose. Would you guess that no one sat next to me? I don't blame them - nothing I had was contagious, but you wouldn't have guessed it by looking at me! I felt like I needed to have a sign around my neck that read, "It's allergies, not the swine flu" At least I had extra room on the plane, right?

Phoenix Zoo

The day before I headed to Atlanta, we took a trip to the Phoenix Zoo courtesy the Phoenix Library. Thank you for the free Culture Pass Tickets! The kids loved all the animals but Mommy didn't love all the pollen and dust! Not a good idea the day before you spend 5 hours on a plane when you already have a double eye infection, but we'd been waiting for these tickets for a long time. Here are a few of our favorite pictures from the day.

This owl lives in holes in the ground in Arizona.
Caleb was in love and wanted to have one in our backyard.

This was our lunch companion who loved carrots, bread and granola.

Myah was super excited about lunch for some reason.

Caleb was in heaven when he found a smooshed penny machine.
They are his souvenir of choice and we try to get one whenever we take a trip.
He also thought he was cool hanging out on the elephant's trunk.

Birthday Party

Last weekend Caleb was invited to a friend's birthday party at Enchanted Islands Amusement Park. It's a small amusement park that has free admission and is completely for kids. There are only nine rides, but when you're 7, the number of rides doesn't really matter - it's how many times you can go on those nine rides. Caleb and his friends were treated to ride bracelets so they could ride as much as they wanted. Myah got a bracelet too, since there were a few left over. I don't think I've ever seen a child so serious about her rides. lol

The shot on the bottom was taken at a different park five years ago. The shot on the top was taken last weekend. Wonder if he'll let me take the same picture five years from now?

Coming to a Salon Near You...

Caleb decided to help Myah with her hair this weekend.
I think we can cross 'Hair Dresser' off of his list of careers.

Phoenix Children's Museum

We recently went to the Phoenix Children's Museum courtesy of the Phoenix library's Culture Pass program. You 'check-out' tickets to visit local museums for free. It's a great program for families, especially if you're looking for fun stuff to do on a budget.

This is called a 'LegWay' (think Segway - just kid-powered) and Caleb loved it!

The Easter Bunny Cometh...

Last weekend we got quite a bit of a surprise when we woke up to pouring rain and temperatures in the 50's. Of course, Caleb's main concern was the Easter egg hunt, not our backyard which was quickly turning into a lake. Around 11am we decided we might see a break in the clouds so we headed out hoping that by some small chance, the egg hunt would still take place. After loading up the inner tubes, I mean Easter baskets, we headed out to the park. Amazingly, we were able to hunt for some eggs. Caleb was first in line and swam, I mean ran out to grab a bunch of eggs. Myah got her turn a little later and she thought it was great to gather up eggs and put them in her basket. In fact, she's been playing 'egg hunt' since we got home. Caleb got his face painted while we were there and we all had a hot dog lunch courtesy of a local church group. On Sunday morning (after bunny pancakes) we headed to church and the kids had a great time there too. Caleb was very surprised (and excited) to learn that they were having an egg hunt too. Since we had our fill of plastic eggs and candy for the weekend, we took the rest of the day easy. Both kids just got their Easter baskets today because Caleb decided he'd rather wait until the Easter stuff was 50% off so he'd get better stuff than normal - smart kid, and he's only 7. Myah didn't have a clue but as soon as she saw her stuffed duck she let out a loud scream. It's almost as big as she is and now resides in her crib with her bear, monkey and pink bug. It's amazing that there's any room left for her! She's such a girly-girl because one of her favorite things was her bows - she carried them around for quite awhile and kept trying to put them in her hair.