Dude Ranch

When you have seen enough of the pools here at the Cibola Vista Resort, you head on over to the corral.

Just a short jaunt across a 2-lane road, and you are at the Cibola Vista Dude Ranch.  Still within view of our hotel room balcony, we felt a world away.  The dust stuck to our flip-flops.  The smell permeated our noses.  The blistering sun beat down on our stetsons (or rather, Brett's baseball cap).  Our crew came in close contact with these beautiful horses...as close as possible without having to pay for our 9 children to go on the horseback-riding tour.

The horses were a huge hit!  No fear.  Even Layne was reaching out to pet the horsies.  R, who grew up with animals...in a place called Rice, Washington, warned the kids that horses may kick and bite.   Still no fear.  But, there was some biting.  Black Beauty took a bite of the drawstring on Landen's board shorts.  We all laughed as Dad wrestled with the horse to save Landen and his shorts from becoming a morning snack!

We brushed off the dirt, and headed back to the pool.  Nothing like a morning at the hot, dusty corral to make you appreciate the pool with waterslide.

Grilling S'mores

We grilled.  Grilled pizzas are the perfect ending to a perfect summer day.  One pepperoni and one classic margarita, made to order.  Homemade pizza crust.  The truth is, I don't know how to prepare store-bought pizza dough (with any success that is!).  So, off to SuperTarget we went for some flour and yeast.  R had his doubts that we could pull off pizzas in our skimpily outfitted condo kitchen.  It was messy, and a little tricky... especially transporting 2 large pizza crusts from our condo kitchen out to the grill!  2 round placemats saved the day...but, I was determined! 

Tasty dinner, games with the Wisharts, and s'mores for dessert.  On the grill.  

  

Cibola Vista Resort

We headed northwest from Scottsdale to the Cibola Vista Resort.  Home of the famous waterslide.  And the beach entry pool.  And the whirling water pool.  And, when it's too hot to even go to the pool (trust me, it happens), it's famous for being a one-bedroom-condo.  With a jacuzzi tub.  And a kitchen.  And barbecue grills outside the door of your one-bedroom-condo.  And SuperTarget one traffic light away to buy all the necessities.  Or so we hear from the Wisharts.  And we are so excited to join them for the weekend here!

We are here!  Dressed to get wet.

The littlest one here loved the beach entry pool.

And swimming with the big kids:  Daddy and Abbey.

Landos, just loves to swim.  With his SpongeBob Squarepants kickboard.  The lack of pictures of this boy attests to how fast he moves in the water with this kickboard!  He also spent a good amount of time keeping up with "the brothers" as he calls Tanner, Brendan, and Conner Wishart.  Real boy stuff.  Water gun fights and cannonball contests.  

And Abs loved the waterslide.  Depending on the lifeguard.  The mean one said she was too short to ride.  The clueless one, didn't even look at her height.  He was instantly the nice one.   

  

We loved catching up with friends.   The Wisharts.  And special guests:  The Banners!

And, we love to resort it.   

Resort.ing It

Arizona Bound

Packing up.  Off to Arizona.  That's right, Barrack, Ms. Boxer, the San Diego Unified School District, and the city of LA.  No boycotting here.  We are off to vacation and enjoy the Grand Canyon State.  Not the Grand Canyon though.  Mostly, pools and malls.

3pm packed and loaded.

4pm Laguna Beach Detour.  R makes an appearance at a work function.  The kids and I find a great park for a cupcake break.

5:30 pm  on the road.

Movie.  Dinner break.  Movie.

Bedtime on the road.  3 kids sleeping in the car.  Layne was the last holdout.  She stayed awake until 10:15!  

Midnight arrival.  Scottsdale, AZ.

Landen

batman shirt.  bubble sword.  airplane in hand.  carpenter jeans.  all boy.

he picks out his own clothes to wear each day.  favorites:  batman shirt, big-wheel shirt, pants that zip off to become shorts, lightening mcqueen shirt, fourth of july shirt, vacation bible school shirt, lightening mcqueen and mater underwear-he has 6 pair, and when he is out, he is not happy.  he has made attempts at putting the old pair back on after the bath.  i like to think i have caught him every time...

he brings a toy everywhere.  you can't get him out the door, no matter what kind of hurry you are in, before he selects a toy or 2 or 3 to bring along. today, it was the airplane and bubble sword.

he is stubborn in the funniest ways.  he holds his ground for a pretty long time.  but, eventually, you can find something that peaks his interest, and drive a hard bargain.  today, there was bribery involved in getting this picture.  chocolate chips.  we are a little low in candy at our house.  chocolate chips work just as well, in a pinch.

we all love this little smiling face at our house.  he is a fun-loving, happy little dude.  who even shares his hard-earned chocolate chips, most of the time.
 

Kill her with Kindness

I made muffins.

Not just any muffins.  From scratch, whole wheat, apple muffins.  I hand delivered these to the self-appointed "handicapped-parking-space-police-woman."

I know, I know.  What happened to the NJ Housewife?

Well, the irony is that my new best friend is from New Jersey.  That really is all I needed to know, and I would have not had to think about the crazy parking lot incident for the majority of my evening.

I guess a good night's sleep is really a dose of perspective.  I had an arsenal of one-liners prepared for my next chat with this lady.  I actually considered borrowing my friend's stolen handicapped sticker and having it gleaming on my car window, parked in the handicapped spot at swim today.  I still laugh at that image!  I woke up today and thought muffins.  Kill her with kindness.  Forget the fight.

I grabbed these two beauties, chopped, mixed, baked.  I have to admit that by the time I packaged these up, I could send a little kindness with them.  A little kindness for this lady who must have had something pretty terrible going on in her life to take it out on the frazzled mom of three just trying to get her kid's swimsuit size right.

I thought it would take a lot more nerve to go talk to her today.  I anticipated my heart pounding so loudly that I would stutter over my words and sound as crazy as she did yesterday.  But, it wasn't that bad at all.  And really, it couldn't get worse than yesterday, so what was I afraid of?  I don't remember how I started the conversation, but I saw a hard line across her face as I started speaking, so I quickly whipped out the muffins, and things softened from there.

Some 45 minutes later, we had hugged, gotten all the family info, discussed school politics, the economy, and her health struggles.  She helped Abbey with a skinned knee, picked up Layne's toy 5 dozen times, and shook hands with Landen.  We ended with her asking me to teach her daughter piano!  I might even consider that.

As we walked out of the pool area, she was having words with another gal who hadn't gotten her email, and I was telling Abbey her knee was fine and she needed to quit whining.
So she's a little short with people?!  So, I'm extremely unsympathetic?!
Hey...we've all got a little Jersey in us.

Icing on the Cake

I watch "Extreme Make-Over Home Edition" and I celebrate the many challenged/handicapped individuals  who have the most amazing outlook on life and the most positive attitudes.  I did not come across such an individual today in the handicapped parking space outside the swim team pool.  Granted, I had no business being in the handicapped parking space, but really.

Abbey was double-booked, so I took her to Girl Scouts, ran to swim team to choose Abbey's swimsuit size, ran back to Girl Scouts to see the "Bridging to Brownies" ceremony, then after thinking about it for a minute, decided to take Abbey back to try on the swimsuit just to be sure we had the right size.  Dizzy, right?  I was too.  Maybe this is how I ended up in the handicapped space.  O.k., not really.  But, technically, I was parked on the stripes, not the handicapped space.  In between two handicapped spaces.  In a parking lot with only like 10 spaces total.  To the right of me was my friend J...not handicapped.  And to the left of me was the empty handicapped space.  That's where she pulled in.

I only pulled in to check out if the swimsuit fitting lady was still there.  I never intended to stay parked there.  But, I was turning my car off and unloading 3 kids, and walking away from my car when I heard the shouting.  With 85 of my close friends and neighbors taking their kids to and from swim team, I hope that I'm the only one that heard the shouting.  At first I wasn't sure what the problem was.  I had closed my door and walked to the other side of my car to unload my kids so that she could pull in.  I yelled at my 4 year old when he opened his door on her side and instructed him to exit on the other side.  I might have given a "are you really handicapped?" look as I moved out of her way, only because just the day before, I witnessed a friend using her mom's sticker to park in that same space.

I could have pretended she wasn't talking to me.  Unfortunately, I went to face the "handicapped-parking-space-police-woman" while holding on to my wiggly, 80 pound toddler (rough estimate, after the last hour of her on my hip) and 2 other kids in tow.  I'll spare you the details of her 5-minute lecture.  I stood and took it like a man and tried to be considerate and kind and reassuring that my car would be gone in 30 seconds.  She wasn't having it.  I kept waiting for that frenzied, mom-to-mom understanding look, sigh, whatever, but it didn't come.  She was nasty, rude, and kept dishing it out.  I can take it, up to a point, then the New Jersey Housewife in me starts bubbling to the surface.

It all lasted just a few minutes and ended with her threatening to call the police and me responding that she could go ahead and do that.  I ran Abbey in, stood her next to my friend E who was already in line, and who graciously offered to watch Landen also while I moved my car.  I moved it, then sat, steaming, trying to decide whether to go and grab Abbey and resign from the swim team so I would never have to encounter this lady again, or stay in my car until swim team was over so I would not have to encounter this lady twice in one day!  Having mercy on the sweet E, I bucked up and walked back to the pool to retrieve my kids.

After checking with Royal about my potential criminal charges, I felt safe from making the San Clemente Police Beat.  Fear pushed aside, I was now just mad.  She had been the icing on my already over-baked cake of a day!  I in no way defend myself, or my friend J, who was actually parked in the handicapped space, or my handicapped sticker-stealing friend either.  We are all deserving of criminal charges.  But we are moms.  We get it.  Our lives are one calamity away from criminal conduct on a daily basis anyhow!  We don't pass quick judgement.  We get it.  To my dear "handicapped-parking-space-police-woman," I'm sorry to be illegally parked.  But most of all, I'm sorry that you don't get it.  I am sure you have neared criminal activity at one point in your life.  I am sure you have lost your motherly marbles on a few occasions.  You may have even payed a fine or two for parking violations.  Four days a week for the next 3 months, I will cross paths with you, and I'll be watching.  I'll be smiling too, just in case you find a friendly ear at the police station.

Becoming a Brownie

She's a brownie!  That in Girl Scout language means that she is no longer a Daisy.  She traded in her blue vest for a brown vest.  Those vests you see outside of the grocery store selling cookies.  Abbey could not be more excited to be a cookie salesman!

 

Abbey's Brownie Troop is a group of 20 adorable girls.  She knows a handful from church, a few from her soccer team, a few from dance, and the others she has gotten to know in her last year of Daisies.  Today, the girls "Bridged to Brownies" and actually walked across a bridge, escorted by a Brownie from another troop.  On the other side, one of the troop leaders placed the new brown vest on each girl.  Abbey has loved going to her Girl Scout activities and has so enjoyed being with her troop of girls.  She is so looking forward to another year of fun and learning...and selling cookies!

chilly beach dinner

 The sun was shining at our house.

We packed up the beach grill, some hot dogs, snacks, and s'more fixings for a little family dinner at the beach.  We arrived at North Beach to overcast skies and a chilly breeze!  I think the temperature dropped 10 degrees on our short drive over...is this really spring?  We braved the cool weather and shivered through dinner!  The kids stayed warm running up and down the beach, collecting rocks and shells, and playing on the swingset and slide.  Royal stayed warm huddled over the grill cooking our hot dogs.  Mom froze!  I couldn't keep Layne on my lap long enough to get warm!  We lasted long enough to get everyone fed and sufficiently worn out...bath time and bed time were a breeze!

  

as luck would have it

      

      

my kids' favorite breakfast is cold cereal.  forget the homemade pancakes, waffles, crepes, scrambled eggs that i love to make.  they pick the most colorful, flavorful, sugary cereals over it all!  the littlest one here has just recently discovered cereals beyond cheerios, and i think she has joined the ranks of the other two.  this is her new favorite...lucky charms.  and yes, like the rest of the true-blue-sugary-cereal-eating-americans, she picks out the marshmallows first!  

cartoon buddies

tuesday mornings are slow for these two. we rush abbey off to school, then that's it...no more rushing...well, at least for a few hours until it's early-out school pick-up. this morning landen wanted to cozy up to mickey-mouse-clubhouse, and his little buddy layne, was right behind him...then right beside him, squishing her way into his chair. and landen, he eats it up! he loves his little shadow. he makes a spot for her, shares the blanket, all to make sure she's comfy and she'll stay a while.

Mother's Day Flowers

preschool mother's day treat

the moms were invited for a little visit.  these are my favorite mother's day presents ever!  a cute line-up of preschoolers, a little song, and some special attention from this little guy who still thinks i am the best mom in the whole world!  i have heard from a few moms (maybe a few hundred) that this will change, so i love how excited he gets when i come into his classroom and have a seat on his extra-small, brightly colored chair.  

they sang.

they presented the moms with a rose.  

and the classic handmade-preschool-mother's-day creation.

thanks landen for making my mother's day so fantastic!  i am one lucky momma!