Zoo on a hot day.

Riding the train (because we had free tickets!)

Checking out the komodo dragon.

And the aftermath of not enough sunscreen/shade/shirt. Ugh.

Silent Sunday, Father's Day

WWZ and a "new" dryer!

Yesterday was a busy day. We started early at an 8am soccer game. Gwennie's rash was still pretty bad looking so I had her stay with me and not play in her game. My parents came up to watch the games, too.

And they brought with them... a dryer! Whoo hoo! (Did I mention that our dryer was squealing/squeaking worse every time I used it?) My awesome sister-in-law and brother had an extra dryer hanging out in their garage and offered it to us. My dad brought it up and installed it for us. (Will is away at drill this weekend or he would have helped.) My parents also took the old one away so that we didn't have to hang on to it until bulk trash pick-up the first week of March.After that, my parents had planned to take my nephew, B, to the Wildlife World Zoo. None of us had ever been there before.It was cold. I brought coats for the girls but forgot to bring one for myself. I had to make do with a hat and scarf. In the sun it was nice, but in the shade I was cold, all day long.
Rhayn loved that feeding the giraffes was "free" as she picked up pellets off of the ground under the machine. We did buy a little bit of pellets for them for 50 cents. She got slimed by the giraffe's long tongue and told me it was really rough.
In the aquarium we saw many neat fish and sea creatures. This one was Gwennie's favorite. It was hard to tear her away from watching this guy cleaning the tank. She went back to watch him 3 times. She flat out refused to touch the sea creatures that she could have touched. This wasn't surprising, she doesn't care to touch the sting rays at the Phoenix Zoo, either. She loved touching the next animal, though. This axis deer was in the petting zoo. .There was a really nice petting zoo area, complete with an area to get up close and personal with tortoises. Rhayn learned why the sign said "DO NOT FEED". She was pulling the lettuce our of a crack and feeding it to one, who was a little excited and clamped down on her finger. Ouch.
We walked all over, and probably didn't see all of the animals. We managed to be at the right place at the right time right before we left and got to watch an animal encounter show. They asked for volunteers and Rhayn's hand shot up. She was picked and gladly held this Madagascar Hissing Cockroach while walking in front of the crowd. The roach kept trying to climb up into her sleeve. She loved it, and can no longer say that she "never gets picked". All in all it was a good day. I remember why we never, ever go into gift shops at the end of the day. Nothing makes parents as mad as whiny kids who want you to buy expensive, plastic crap that will break on the way home.

Me = Lame

So I had big plans for Tuesday, it marked my 6th bogging anniversary. But instead I took the kids to the zoo (Rhayn had a 4 day weekend). We only saw one animal, but the kids had a great time playing at the play area and getting soaking wet at the splash pad. Then Wednesday I thought I would write something but I didn't. So here it is Thursday evening and I am still slacking.

Shall I write more about my pregnancy? Everything seems to be going well. "Ab" (what I am referring to the baby as) is a wiggle worm and a few nights ago I actually felt a kick or punch or flip from the outside. Its not going to be long before the rest of the family can feel "Ab" moving. I am excited for that.

Additionally my pelvis hurts. I am pretty sure it is pregnancy related, but it hurts nonetheless. I am trying not to sit cross-legged in the chair, but that is how I usually sit, so it feels weird to sit "normally".

Zoo trip

Summer Heat

Instead going to the movie on Friday like we usually do*, we went to the zoo.

We got there early enough that the heat was tolerable. Unfortunately I didn't sleep that well the night before so I was a little tired at the start of the day. It was good to get out of the house. When you stay in all of the time depression comes easily. We all need sun, its one of the best cures for depression. (15 minutes in the sun raises my spirits, but too much is a bad thing and you may end up with a sunburn on your back that matches the backpack straps you were wearing. Oh, wait, is that just me? I forgot to apply sunblock on my back, doh.)

Gwennie eating some kettlecorn, she is about to "get us"! Notice the squinty-eyed stare?

We first hit the Arizona trail to see the reptiles. It seemed like all of the animals had been fed recently, as there were little dead things in most of the cages. In the vulture/turkey exhibit there were dead fish on the ground. Dead mice and rats littered the owl and condor exhibit. The coati were out eating what looks like a ham bone. This gave us an up close look at the coati. I love the look of these guys. They fascinate me. After walking around and seeing many cool animals, we stopped at the new splash pad/water cave. Amy and I sat whilst the kids ran and played. That place is awesome for kids, but they didn't make enough seating for the adults. Also? Some woman in black stretchy pants bent over right in front of us, her enormous backside was in Amy's face, and you could see her black and white striped underpants. The squat is much better, and you never put your backside in others' faces, plus it is good exercise.

After a long while at the splash pad, a couple of the kids wanted to see the goats.We headed to Harmony Farms after which we headed out. This fan and mister was close to the elephants. Rhayn loved it, and was soaked through when she was done. It was all in all a great time at the zoo. We followed it up by a trip for lunch at Denny's, and a little shopping for Amy's kids. I found a shirt I absolutely loved the cut of for $15. I would have bought it if it had been a different color. It was lilac, pretty and it wasn't bad in me, but I would have liked a different color. I didn't need it anyway.


*Summer Movie Fun at Harkins $7 for 10 weeks of older movies. This week was Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs. I hate Ray Romano's voice. Its like nails on a chalkboard. Which is funny saying as most kids have no idea what that sound is since classrooms often have whiteboards instead of chalk, but I digress. Luckily for me, my good friend Amy came up with the great idea of going to the zoo.

Another week in Pictures

This week has been miserable for me. At least it was spring break and I was able to take some time for myself. Monday- we went to my grandma's house to meet our newest family member (and to announce the arrival of another, but I wrote about that already.) This little guy wasn't even 6 pounds, but everything about him is perfection.

Tuesday- worst day of the week. Doctor appointment, bleeding and pain.

Wednesday- some friends asked if the girls and I wanted to go to the zoo. We went even because I knew I needed to get out of the house. I think I overdid it a little considering what my body was going through but the kids had a great time. I held it together fairly well. All I really wanted to do was curl in a ball and cry. Have you ever noticed how many pregnant women and new babies there are at the zoo?

Rhayn and a few of her classmates walked around singing:

"Kookabura sits in the old gum tree,
Merry merry king of the bush is he,

laugh kookabura, laugh kookaburra
Gay your life must be!"

It was really cute, they stopped in front of the new Komodo Dragon exhibit and sang loudly while doing a rockette-style dance.

Thursday- Rhayn had stayed the night at a friend's house. Gwennie and I went over to hang out with them. After that we came home and finished the laundry. I was wallowing in self pity and emotions when my mom called and asked if I wanted to do some late night geo-caching. I gladly took the diversion and we drove around Tempe reading historical markers.

Week in Review

Gwennie became "Charlotte" when we visited this play structure.

This week started off normally. Monday and Tuesday were typical days. But on Wednesday I decided that it would be fun for Gwennie and I to go to the zoo. We hadn't been in a while. After dropping Rhayn off at school, Gwennie and I headed to the zoo. It was a chilly day, only reaching about 61 for a high. It was cloudy and rained a little. It was a nice trip and we both enjoyed ourselves.

Gwennie loves horses. This guy's name is Smokey and he lives at Harmony Farms at the zoo.

On Thursday I usually watch a little girl, but her mom had called and told me that she had a fever and would be staying home. This left me free to go on Rhayn's first field trip, ever. The class was heading downtown to see a bit of Sleeping Beauty (the ballet.) I was excited to go, but at the same time, I was in a not very nice mood. I may have neglected to eat breakfast, and my blood sugar lever was low. (It was also mid PMS time.) I got lost and was not nice to a good friend of mine who was helping me find my way. The ballet was lovely, although Gwennie was so thirsty that she complained through much of it.

Friday morning I helped out at the school for Open Enrollment. The school is a charter school and this is how they take applications. Each possible student's application gets a number and then, in a lottery drawing, the new students are picked. I clearly remember the day that we received our call stating that Rhayn got in and asking if we were still interested. It was a very happy day for me.

After helping out at the school Gwennie and I visited a friend of hers who was home with the chicken pox. Gwennie had received the varicella vaccination and so was safe. (I am sure that even if she hadn't been we would have headed over for a chicken pox party.)

On Saturday Rhayn had asked Will if he would take them to play tennis. I chose not to go, instead I went to the grocery store. When I got home, Will showed me that the water heater was leaking. That would have to be replaced. I sat at the computer and researched water heaters. I wanted to get a tankless one, but we don't have a gas line and the electric tankless water heaters are not very reliable. Instead we replaced it with a comparable 50 gallon Whirlpool water heater.

As soon as Will had it disconnected and was draining the tank, he noticed that the pedestal that the water heater sat on was mildewed and wet. It would be at least the next morning before we could put the new one in. (I was mad I hadn't taken a shower that morning, because I knew it would be another day before I was able to get one.) We went inside and left the pedestal with a fan on it all night.

Our vehicles, the girls were pretending that they were driving while Will worked on the water heater.

Sunday morning came. Will told me that he had to put some more spackle on the pedestal and that would have to dry before the water heater could be installed. Rhayn was going to go sit backstage with her friend while he performed in Sleeping Beauty (the ballet). His parents planned to take him to see Percy Jackson and the Olympians- The Lightning Thief and invited us along. I watched the preview and read a little about it to see if it would be too much for Gwennie. We decided that I would take Rhayn to the movie and Gwennie would stay home with Daddy.

After the movie I stopped in at Lowe's and picked up a drain pan to put under the water heater. Then Will and I put the water heater on its pedestal. He hooked it up. And finally we had hot water again.

Its been a long week, and I am exhausted. Luckily we have two more days of weekend. Tomorrow is President's Day, and then Rhayn also has Tuesday off. This whole week is half days due to Parent/Teacher conferences. This week will be much better than last week for sure.

Sleepy Sister and Terrible Tantrums

Sometimes having a three year old is the greatest thing ever. She converses with me for long periods of time. She is a ham, and loves to make people laugh. We enjoy spending time with each other. She can sit on the floor, talking to her toys, and play for hours. But sometimes, this happens:
And how do you deal with this sort of thing in public? Me, I laugh and take pictures of her screaming. I sit down and get comfortable to wait it out. Because I know that this usually happens because she is either tired or hungry. I also know that if I just wait a few minutes, she will come over and climb in my lap because she is just really tired. (Not sure if you can tell, but the lady walking behind her was laughing at her. I totally would have been, too. In these pictures she is screaming "I don't want you a take my picture!") This time it was a little of both. And she was fine once she calmed down and I carried her.

I have always felt that age three is worse than two. The "terrible twos" are such a myth. It should be the terrible threes. For Gwennie this was like a switch flipped on, she turned three and her tantrums became hilarious. I think mentally I have to find them funny or I might lose my mind. It is hard to do this alone, but I have to. I have to find ways to deal with these things. I have to take short cuts. And I always worry that these emotions are exasperbated by our situation.

Rhayn had her first sleep over last night. We went over to her friend's house, and we had dinner followed by roasting marshmallows on an open fire. Rhayn had an awesome time, she was excited about it. She went to bed late at 9:30ish. And was up at the crack of dawn. I even heard that they slept outside.

After her long night, we went to the zoo today. (Where Gwennie threw the tantrum.) We followed the zoo with a few hours of play at McDonald's. (Which stopped giving Military Discounts, even though it was Veteren's Day. Harumpf, grumble, grrrr.)

We came home for a little while and Rhayn fell asleep on the floor, just sort of passed out. If you know her at all, you know this is so unlike her. She doesn't fall sleep easily. At about 3 I took the girls to Petco to buy a dog food container, because Alice is a pain in my butt and tore up the dog food bag. We had a container, but not all of the 40 pound Costco bag fit in it. I had to store the remainder on top of that in the original dog food bag. And Alice? Well she likes Lily's food and decided to help herself to it this weekend while we were gone. (Did I mention that Alice is getting f-a-t?) But also, the container we had for cat food broke this week (it was a cleaned out litter tub), and I was going to buy a container for that. It worked as a trickle down to just buy a bigger one for dog food and use the smaller one for the smaller 25 pound bag of cat food.

When we finally were home, Rhayn fell asleep on the couch (at about 4 pm.) She had been walking in a daze all through Petco, and saying she felt a little sick. She actually didn't wake up, even when I was grating eight pounds of cheddar for the cook-a-thon we are attending this Friday. I think at one point she sort of woke up, and I told her to go to bed. She zombie-walked to her room, put on pajamas and turned on her radio. But when I went to talk to her, she was already asleep again.

I really hope it was just a long day, and that she isn't sick. I know I can deal with it if she is sick I just hope she isn't.

And now I am going to bed, because I have class in the morning. Ah, it was a great four day weekend.

Just a Tuesday.

Tuesday my sister was induced. I am sure she will post pictures of her new lovey when she gets out of the hospital. (I will not post a picture of her sweet face, because I did not get one. But for a picture of her foot check here.)

I asked her if she wanted me to take Madder to the zoo, since I had planned to take my girls after class Tuesday morning (Rhayn had the day off.)

Here are some pictures of the day. Because Rose was the middle name chosen for Madder's sister, we took some pictures in the rose garden at the zoo (another great one here).And finally a picture of a baby. At 8ish Dacheese mentioned to the nurse that she was feeling pain, and also a little pressure. By 8:30 a baby was born. Rhayn and I watched her push that sweet little girl out. It was amazing. And I felt so lucky to get to witness her birth.

Signs of Idiots

Look at that sign on that giant door near Roosevelt Dam. Wait what does that say? Lets zoom in shall we?

Further? Like I should not further my education? I must not advance myself by entering there. If I go further I will be prosecuted. I will be reported to the FBI! and DPS! (in that order, too. Because it only makes sense to report in that order, right?)

Yet another lovely sign. Let us zoom in on this one as well. This apartment complex is located near the Phoenix Zoo.

What exactly is a "Golf Experince"? It must be like golf experience, only less intense.

Fools in April

No, there were no hijynks played at my house. I HATE pranks. Seriously, they are never fun for the person involved and as a young dorky child, I think I must have been the butt of them all too often.

Instead we kept Rhayn home from school and had a "family day" at the zoo. Gwennie took her normal place upon Daddy's shoulders and Rhayn walked. It was a lovely day out. Perfect zoo weather, if you are thinking of heading to the zoo in the valley- it is THE time to do it!

I am off to enjoy my day. Now, get your booty outside! (I know that some of you aren't here and aren't enjoying this perfectly pleasant weather, well... in a few months it will be so darn hot here that I will be moaning about that... so let me brag just a little!)

Update on our weekend.

The sun shines brightly today. I miss the clouds and rain already. It was however a great day for a quick trip to the zoo to attempt to get a few decent pictures for the family photo card.

Yesterday was jam packed until about 1500. We spent the morning making cookies for a holiday party for Will's Army squad (not sure if that is the correct term.) Then at ten we headed to Rhayn's school to check out the wares at the Winter Faire. As we stood in line to look at something it poured on us. It was cold and damp all day. (In this picture of Gwennie Goo she is wearing a super cute sweater knitted for her by a great cousin. It finally fits her, and just in time for cool desert days! And luckily the gnomey hat still fits, too! Thanks! She loves her sweater.)

At noon we needed to be on Base. The party started then. The poor girls were hungry and we had to wait to eat. But the party was fun, the white elephant gift exchange was a riot. They said it was better the year before, with everyone trying to get a Kevin Federline CD, this year there was only one steal. We ended up with some fruity vodka and martini glasses. Not too bad, at least the glasses are nice.

At home we spent the evening relaxing and enjoying each other's company. We do not get to do that very often.

New Year Sickies?

Gwennie started last year with her first cold. So why would I think this year would be different? It even seems to be the same cold. She has drippy nose and oozy eyes. She is up coughing and wants to be held constantly. She is still working on her teeth, they haven't popped out yet. So she also wants to chew on a Binky (I think she is sucking it as well.)

We went to the zoo today, I warned Meh Meh that Gwennie was sick (for Madder's sake.) It was a lovely day out, the weather was perfect. Too bad our kids were all, well in need of a nap!

I have a few great pics but Blogger is sucking and I need to tend to my little sickie...

Christmas Eve Day

Will's friend and daughter made it here safely. We all woke up this morning, and after a breakfast of pancakes, headed out to the zoo.

It was an ideal day for the zoo. The crisp morning temperature and fact that its a holiday, sort of, made it practically empty. There is a new exhibit, Sting Ray Bay, you get to touch the sting rays. Rhayn managed to soak her shirt.

Then we went to see the otters, and they were snuggled so sweetly on the ground. A zoo keeper came by and said that it was actually a mama nursing her 4 1/2 month old baby boy. He is on the right, mama on the left.
I took the girls into the monkey village, where Gwennie squealed with delight at the fuzzy "tee tees!"
We also saw a beautiful cardinal, apparently he and his mate have a nest near the otters. He was having a snack while we watched the otters.