Santa Fe

After Phoenix we headed towards Colorado and en route stopped in Santa Fe, New Mexico for an afternoon of swimming and sightseeing. Such a neat city. We spent the afternoon swimming, so by the time we went sightseeing, the churches were closed, but we still had a nice time.
Here are Ross and Zoey at dinner:



And Ross and Max. Ross smiling for the camera while looking at the suspicious person coming through the door... (not really, I am just making fun here. When choosing seats, Ross always sits facing the door, so that in case something were to happen in a restaurant he would be ready...)


Here are the kids in front of the oldest church structure in the US... San Miguel I think:


In front of another church was this labyrinth on the ground. The kids spent a ton of time going around following the path. It was representative of many labyrinth designs actually inside of churches.



We also saw the Loretto Chapel with the mysterious spiral staircase, but we couldn't go into any of the churches, we just looked from the outside!! Santa Fe is a very cool town and we had an enjoyable afternoon... Next stop-Colorado!

A Big Boy

I had to blog this one before I forgot... Max was pretty sick over the weekend, but as sick as he gets, he doesn't lose his sense of humor. (I remember oh so clearly when they had to stick an IV in his hand, and then covered it all up with a diaper so he couldn't pull it out... he was so upset that his hand was missing, he forgot temporarily of his uncomfortable illness) Anyway, I was hugging him and comforting him and said something like, "oh my baby, I am sorry you feel so bad!" And in his sweet, sick voice he whispered, "I'm not a baby, I'm a big boy." Yes, yes, you are:)

Lactic Acid

Zoey learns a lot of interesting things from the show and books The Magic School Bus. One thing she learned was about lactic acid making muscles tired. She was riding bikes with a neighbor boy, and I was pathetically trying to keep up with them while running (it is hard to race two kids who are racing each other on bikes, let me tell you... I admit defeat!) Anyway, the boy, Jaden, slowed down and said, "Let's take a break, my legs are tired." Zoey replies, "Oh, you got lactic acid in your legs?" I was cracking up!! Jaden just looked at her all confused, and said, "Uh, no?" And she said, "Yes, you do!" and took off... She won that lap!!

First Day of First Grade!!

Here she is... our big FIRST GRADER!






the pose is all her own. She developed that some time over the summer with our picture taking... You'll see more.

The day went well. I hope she likes it and has a good teacher.

Last Night in Phoenix

On our last night in Phoenix, we went to dinner and had a nice time.
Some cute pictures of Max kissing everyone. He is very sweet like that and will give lots of kisses usually. And here's one of Rachel and Zoey. Zoey always had to sit next to Rachel, and has taken a liking to fettucine alfredo because of her as well. How impressionable we are!!

I like the smiles in this one, even though Max is not looking.



And a cute one of Zoey and Max with Auntie Tina.


As for current news. Our sweet Max is sick, so we have been keeping it low key. I hope he gets feeling better soon. And Poor Ross, has been working so hard on watering and taking care of the sod and the grass seed and we are having a crazy storm that is washing all the baby grass away!! He is out in full rain gear now trying to do something!! One of our little trees fell over too.

Phoenix

When you think of vacationing during the summer, Phoenix, Arizona, is probably not on the list. But it was part of our drive out to Ohio and visits with grandparents, so Phoenix in July it was! And actually the weather was pretty ideal. It was very low 100's (it's a dry heat... and it totally makes a difference!) and it even rained a couple of times to cool things off a bit. So weather wise, it was very nice. Everything else was very fun and pleasant as well. We basically just had a nice relaxing visit, with Mom cooking yummy stuff, and swimming in the afternoons, and just hanging out. The kids stayed up late, but it means they slept in, too! And Tina (Happy Birthday, BTW, we love you) and Rachel and her friend Kira came in town for a concert (OMJ!, wink, wink). So we had a double nice visit. Here come the pics...

Here is Zoey loving being with the big girls. She thinks she is totally one of them, which is cool, because she doesn't recognize herself as being different.


So although we were in California for two years, we didn't actually ever swim at a pool. Zoey had lessons, but she was in the class with all boys and that didn't go well, so basically, they loved the beach, but not the pool... So we made some floaties for them, and in they went. Max didn't like it at first, but by the time we left, he just headed right over and jumped right in. It was nice because after a day of driving we would stop at the hotel and swim for a while and it was a great way to get some energy out. Here are the kids and Ross:

A great one of Zoey and her cousin Rachel:


A cute one of Max:


And Max thought it was so fun and hilarious to bonk Papa with the noodle...


Take that, and that Papa...




He was a good sport about it. The only thing that Papa and Ross didn't like so much was when Zoey called them Mermen, while she was the Mermaid. I guess that is understandable!! Anyway, it was fun. Ross and I went to the gym every morning and came back to kids who had eaten and gotten dressed and we all even ventured to a movie one day! So thanks Grandma and Papa for everything!!

With this recap I am sad that summer is coming to an end. Zoey just reminded me that school starts in 4 days!! She is excited though. First Grade, here we come!!

Home Sweet Home

Here we are:



Along with a view of the inside of our jeep of course. We are very slowly getting moved in, but it is feeling like home already. We are excited and like the area as well...

And as you can see from the title picture... we still have great sunsets here. It is a picture I took from our deck. The sandcastles are gone, though :(
I am still working on a new blog title, but for now, some replacements can be
Sunsets and...
... mosquitoes! (holy cow I forgot how much I love those suckers!)
... SLOW DRIVERS (hello, you can't drive BELOW the speed limit in the left lane)
... humidity (I didn't know I could sweat that much, and Ross... Yikes! If we could filter it, we could water the lawn, and its a big lawn!)
... Corn fields (they are everywhere)

So all joking aside, although it is a little bit of culture shock, it is not too bad at all. In fact, we are enjoying the area quite a bit. The weather has actually been pleasant, with pretty low humidity and the people are really nice and friendly, and in many ways we won't even miss the concrete jungle of LA. At least not until winter!

I hope you don't mind that I will be back posting with pictures and stories from our vacation. It is for my sake mostly, but for you to enjoy as well...

here is Zoey with our new address:


For the rest, I'll send you an e-mail!

We are here

Well we made it and our house is done. Our movers come today. We have all been having fun hanging out in an empty house and exploring. I have tons of pictures and posts to put up, but I will have to wait until we have an internet connection!! I'll send you our new address too!