Long time....

It has been a week since I last posted! I don't think I have ever waited that long to make a post. The kids have probably grown a lot in that time. :-)

We had another good week. It has been unusually windy here. It made me think about all the wind I used to battle on the farm in Iowa trying to plant a garden and put in my flowers as I watched them sometimes ripped to shreds. It wasn't that bad here, but it did blow pretty hard several days.

Yesterday Megan and I did a long hike in the morning. It felt good but I could tell I had skipped last Saturday's hike. Climbing steep inclines requires you to stay in constant shape or you start sucking wind half way up! Megan and I really don't see one another during the week because I usually leave before she gets home so it was fun to have a long visit with her.

At noon we took Kayley for her 9 month picture appointment. It is so easy to make her smile...usually. :-) The unfamiliar surroundings just had her looking around but the photographer tried her best to act like a complete fool to make her smile. I think the shots still turned out great, though. I will scan a couple and post later.

Last night Megan, Andy and the kids took Mark and I out for pizza at our favorite pizza restaurant in honor of another birthday for old Grandma. I guess the years are going by fast to help me get on medicare as quickly as possible. :-( I still have a few to go but it seems to be approaching rapidly.

Today Mark and I are spending the day on a golf course watching an LPGA event here in Phoenix. I had hoped to see Michelle Wie but she has not played very well and is teeing off in the "wee" hours this morning. I don't want to see her THAT badly! I will settle for Lorena O. and Karrie Webb. :-)

Update: Just returned from the golf tournament. Karrie Webb won it. We had a great time and saw some awesome women golfers! We did get there in time to follow Michelle for a few holes. She had a police officer following along with her caddy.

Have a great week, wherever you are!

A video of an always busy Drew and some random snap shots:

Another fun week-end

It is a gorgeous week-end. Not too hot and certainly not too cold! Just perfect.

Mark and I went to our good friend and neighbor's Home and Garden store yesterday and did some window shopping and purchasing. Everything was 40-50% off so that made the prices reasonable. It is a pretty high-end store in Scottsdale so full price would have been out of my IPERS boundaries. :-) We bought a metal frame/mirror to hang above the dining room table. I hope Mark puts it up this morning as I am anxious to see how it looks hanging there!

Megan said Kayley is out of "RSV lockdown" so we took them out to dinner last night to Red Robin. Kayley was so good and loved looking at all the sights there and listening to all the noise. I would have to say she made the most noise, squealing in delight at everything she saw. Stopped at Babies 'R Us and I bought her a new summer capri set and Andy bought Drew a new lawn mower.

Today's agenda includes attending another Spring Training game with the kids. The season is just about over. :-) (Diamondbacks vs. Padres).

A video of our week:

Every woman's dream man

Kayley's first time down a slide

Mark and I took Drew and Kayley to the park this morning. We left around 9:30 a.m. because we wanted to be back before it got too warm. (Yes, it is already that time of year again!) Kayley had her first ride on a swing and her first time down a slide, with a little help from grandma.

Drew took his first dive of the season in his pool last night. It was an unplanned event caused by losing his balance while helping his dad do some pool cleaning. He was just fine as Andy scooped him right out but he was a bit upset with the water temperature! I was hoping Andy would have to jump in after him but he was able to retrieve him with just a helping hand. :-(

Our time at the park:

Kayley's eating saga

Kayley had a good week eating her solids and even tried some new textures when the "feeding lady" came to visit on Friday. She put a slice of apple in a net device and Kayley seemed to like gnawing on that. We also gave her a teething biscuit for the first time and she loved that. This convinced the lady that Kayley does not have an aversion to food or putting things in her mouth. There are some babies that will put absolutely nothing in or near their mouths. I don't have a "feeding" degree (although I am a champion eater), but I could have told her Kayley will put everything into her mouth! We both came to the conclusion that she simply detests the taste of the milk formula and that is why she is such a picky bottle feeder. I have taste tested that formula and it truly does suck, thus preventing Kayley from "sucking"! :-)

Drew also had a great week. He keeps grandpa busy "playing train", having grandma run around the yard with each of us pushing a stroller chasing Sox or going to the park to slide and swing. Drew also loves to color so we sit at the dining room table for several hours a week doing that activity. I have decided that grandpa is going to really miss his little buddy when he returns to Iowa. :-(

I went on another group hike yesterday morning, this time to Cave Creek Recreational Park and a trail called Go-John. The news had warned that the warmer temps were bringing out the snakes so we were on the look-out for rattles, but saw none. Whew! This is a 6 mile trail so we took about 2 hours to complete it. The desert wild flowers were just starting to bloom. I would say next Saturday the hike will be a wonderland of desert colors and breath-taking for sure!

Short video of the kids:


Scenes from our week:

A haircut and an attitude

Andy gave Drew a haircut and he is looking handsome. Kayley just cops an attitude. :-)

Goodbye Grandpa

Butch flew back to Le Mars last night after three days visiting his AZ family. I think he had a great time watching Drew and Kayley. Drew warmed quickly to the concept of having two people called grandpa, which was probably confusing at first! The weather back in Omaha last night did NOT sound promising so we are hoping he didn't have to drive on icy roads to get home from the airport. What a difference a plane ride can make on weather conditions!

Mark and I had a great week-end. I did a 6 mile hike with the gals on Saturday morning in the McDowell-Sonoran Preserves again. What a gorgeous area to hike. We are really excited about this Saturday as the desert should be in full bloom by then with wild flowers and blooming cactus everywhere. It doesn't last long so hopefully this Saturday they will still be beautiful.

Saturday afternoon we went to the driving range and worked on our swing, putting and chipping. It didn't help me much, but it was fun being there! :-) We hope to golf a few more times before Mark heads back to Iowa for spring planting. Unfortunately, that is not very far away.

Sunday we went to the movie Gran Torino. Typical Clint Eastwood fare but we thought it was excellent and enjoyed it. Dinner was at the White Chocolate Grill. Very nice but very expensive for what you get! We had a gift card from Megan and Andy so that helped ease Mark's pain when the bill came. :-)

Well, that is about it for updates in our lives.

Here is a typical day watching Drew and Kayley:

Hey, there's a new Grandpa in town!

Grandpa Butch and Kayley:


Drew and Kayley's other Iowa grandpa landed in the valley Friday night. Andy's father Butch arrived from Le Mars to a warm welcome from his always smiling grandchildren and a bright sunny Phoenix day. He is only staying until Monday night when he has to return to work, but I am thinking he will really enjoy these few days visiting his precious family!

Drew and his best buddy "Frog"

A cloudy day

An unusually cloudy day for Phoenix. It reminded me of all those cloudy days in Iowa that I am missing. You almost like it when it clouds up down here....something "different"going on with the sky!

This week has flown by quickly. Mark went to a Cubs game on Tuesday with Arne and it sounds like he had a good time. I have done nothing special except watch my two grandchildren. Hey, I guess that's pretty special come to think of it! They are growing and learning something new each day. I took them to grandma's house this morning to watch grandpa cut palm fronds. Drew watered all my pots, several times, and Kayley enjoyed being out of her house. Other than doctor visits, the only time she has really been out was Sunday to the ball park and today at grandma's house. Once we get through flu season the doctor says she can start being out in public more often. They both have been very healthy all winter so we don't want to ruin a good thing.

Go White Sox!

Mark and I went with Andy, Megan and the kids to the White Sox/Dodgers spring training game in their brand new facility in Phoenix. It was a lot of fun but we could tell it was opening game for a new facility. The parking was horrendous getting in and even worse getting out. I think we sat there for at least 50 minutes not moving an inch! Also, the concession stands were unorganized but we had a beer stand right behind us so that helped. :-) I think they will work through these problems quite quickly and everyone should enjoy this beautiful park for many years to come.

My Bucket List just got shorter!

I have been wanting to hike to Elephant Mountain near Cave Creek for a long time and we finally accomplished that feat yesterday morning. Over 7+ miles of rugged trail, it was the most beautiful scenery I have seen to date in AZ. But, it had its moments and I will probably never set foot on that particular trail again in this lifetime! My apprehension began with one gal saying to really watch for rattlesnakes as it is "that time of the year". The trail was very narrow in certain sections with brush swiping at your ankles and all I could think about was a big old rattler coiled up in there and me not hearing it! (Too many years spent on the riding lawn mower has significantly cut into any acute hearing I once possessed!) Fortunately we never met up with one but the thought had my heart beating pretty hard as we discussed how we would get out of that terrain should one of us get "struck"!

Soon thoughts of rattlers began to fade and I started to enjoy the scenery once more. Then one lady, obviously a former girl scout prodigy, hollers "uh oh, very fresh mountain lion tracks." I did not believe her but two other gals confirmed that, indeed, they were from a mt. lion. Well, that announcement made me think of rattlers as nothing more than over-sized night crawlers and I started to really scope the landscape for this cat. At one point I asked my sister what that god awful smell was that suddenly surrounded us. I had no sooner said that when the girl scout wonder woman informs us that the mountain lion has just sprayed us and that means it is very close to the trail. I am now edging closer to freaking out and wishing I had my trusty shot gun from my raccoon killing Iowa farm days.

Well, to make a long story a bit shorter, we started out the day with 8 gals and ended with 5 at trail's end....... :-)

Seriously, I NEVER want to be that close to a mountain lion again and I am marking this hike off my 10 point Bucket List!

Some shots from the hike: (One is a fake. See if you can guess which one!) :-)