Camping Trip

We decided to go camping during Sareny's spring break. It had been a long time since we'd gone, and Finley had never even been camping before. We picked an area a couple hours north of Phoenix near Montezuma's castle. The weather was just right for camping. Once we got to our spot, everyone set to work getting our camp set up.

The kids love to help! Isaac was sleeping in the van while we were getting set up. He woke up in a really grouchy mood and just crying/screaming. I finally figured out (with no help from a crying, incoherant boy) that he pottied his pants, and once he was changed he was happy.

Sitting around the campfire goofing off. Isaac hasn't really figured out the whole bunny ears thing...

See?

The next morning Keith cooked breakfast while I lounged in bed...between Finley, who slept in our bed, repeatedly startling herself (and us) awake and then crying for a couple of minutes, and being joined in the night in our bed by Sareny, I didn't get much sleep. I did enjoy the nice lulling sounds of the nearby river though, it was very soothing. In exchange for breakfast in bed, I had to clean the dutch oven.

I'm sure you noted from the above picture how close our site was to the bathroom, which was both a good and bad thing. When Isaac has to go, he has to go, and there is no messing around. Or there will be a mess around. haha. So it was handy for that reason. Unfortunately, we occasionally caught a whiff from the bathrooms (which were the non-flush kind), which was not handy.

After breakfast we walked around the camp area a bit.

Isaac was sitting down, and Fin came up from behind and hugged him, and it was just adorable.

Cute friends!

We walked over to the river. This was a little tributary.

These trees were blooming and were so beautiful. Kind of reminds me of "White Way Delight," from Anne of Green Gables.

In front of the large river.

For the drive back to Phoenix, we decided to take the extremely scenic route. We saw some snow on the side of the road, and decided to stop.

We also stopped to see Roosevelt Dam and this cool bridge.

Same bridge, from the other side.

This is right by the dam.

And this one is from the bottom of the dam. The kids were excited to see a rainbow in the spray where the water came out.

We were totally shocked when this happened:

Keith and I enjoyed a nice, peaceful ride and were actually able to converse amoungst ourselves without being interrupted. It was really nice! The whole trip, while short, was really nice, and we are planning to go camping again soon!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

So, here it is Easter Sunday, and I am posting about St. Patrick's Day. Can't be helped. Every year for St. Paddy's, we have a traditional dinner of corned beef and cabbage. This year we also had some tasty green lemonade.

We were introduced to this meal a few years ago by some friends, and we LOVE it! The kids absolutely love the corned beef--not so much the potatoes and cabbage. I love all of it. And, confession, I ate half a head of cabbage all by myself. I kind of think it is the best part of the meal!

We all wore green shirts, although I did get pinched a few times in the morning before I got dressed. When we went to Walmart, people pointed out our green group to their kids. I was a little bit surprised how many people apparently enjoy getting pinched.

Pi Day

We celebrated 3-14, or pi day, by eating pie. Saturday night, Isaac and Sareny made special pies that they know how to make all by themselves. Grandma Nancy taught Sareny how to make one a few years ago, and they love doing it all by themselves!
First you add a thing of cool whip.

Then add three yogurts.

Stir it up.

Then pour it into a graham cracker crust and freeze it overnight.

Yum!

This makes a really refreshing, creamy pie that is not too bad for you, as far as pies go. We had our friends the Drapers over the next day to celebrate pi together.

Fin's Owie

Finley is a temper-tantrum thrower. I'm talking, all out flings-herself-to-the-floor-without-regard-to-surroundings kind of tantrums. Anything can set her off, and does, multiple times a day. One moment everything is fine, then suddenly, whether she's standing on tile, on the stairs, or in front of sharp, painful objects (all of which have happened), she rears back screaming and flinging around on the floor. Sometimes it is so ridiculous it is almost funny. Almost.

I kind of wish I could say that this particular owie was caused by one such tantrum as these, seeing how I must witness them several times a day, it seems fair. Am I a bad person? Possibly. But no, this painful gash was actually just caused by Finley tripping over nothing and hitting her mouth on the quilt stand. It was sad.

Once we got the bleeding under control, we were able to see that she bit clear through her mouth! Ouch.

Fortunately, is has healed up just fine and doesn't look like it will leave too bad of a mark. But really, why does growing up have to be such a scarring experience?

We Went Bowling

Sareny's spring breark started on Friday, March 12th, which was Keith's flex day. We decided to go bowling as a family, and we had a lot of fun.
Finley quickly got the hang of bowling, and wanted to pick up her own ball...

and carry it over to the lane.

I love these ramp things! Even Finely could do it on her own, and she thought that was so cool!

Isaac was ready to go.

Apparently a Southpaw roller -bowler.

So proud!

Sareny remembered dropping the ball on her finger last time we went bowling, but fortunately she got over that quickly and had a lot of fun.

Yay me!

I love spending time together as a family. I remember doing lots of fun things with my own family as a child, and I think these are the memories children will treasure as they get older.

Science Center

About a month ago (I know, I am behind.) I took Finley and Isaac to the Science Center during the day. We went with the Slinkers, who also had Robbie with them. We started the day off in the kids play area. The boys worked on building this fence.

Finley found a dumptruck just her size, and Isaac got serious about that fence.

We went upstairs, and I was so surprised that Isaac agreed to lay on the bed of nails. Here he is anticipating the nails coming up.

Still happy, with thousands of nails poking him in the back.

We had fun building a dam together.

And then we took in the sensory nature show. It's actually pretty cool, and simulates an earthquake, fire, rain, etc. Despite their earplugging--they did enjoy it, although Alayna had to take Addy out of the area entirely because she did not like it at all.

We enjoyed taking our pictures and recording our voices on the computer and then playing around with them.

I knew it was time to go when Finley started doing her tired leg kick. Ever since she was a baby, when she is tired, she gets down on all fours, lifts her right leg up into the air and kicks it around. I'm not sure why she does this. But it is always the right leg, never the left. Anyway, a sure-fire signal that someone was t-i-r-e-d.

We enjoyed a quick picnic lunch in the cafeteria, and then headed home. We had a great time!