Fatso's

Our new favorite pizza place. They had a live singing duet who were great, the pizza was loaded and Andy's personal favorite: 19 beers on tap! Drew and Kayley were so good and Drew loved the music. A fun dining experience and we will all definitely return to Fatso's. I fear if we return too many times we will begin living up to the restaurant's name, though!

Drew and Kayley enjoying our visit to Fatso's and a short video of Kayley "talking".

She will be one tough kid

We finally went for a walk today after a several month heat layoff. It felt so good to get the kids and the dog out of the house! Sox and I were sweating and panting when we returned but it was worth it. She hasn't made a peep the rest of this day so we got her good and worn out. We left around 8:45 which was a little late. It is still pretty warm by 9 a.m. here.

Kayley is rapidly aging me. She is such a go getter. I have pulled her out of the fireplace soot three times today before finally getting smart and using a bread tie to keep the gates together. We both were a mess! She leaves no stone unturned...

I brought out the bouncing Zebra that Drew got for his first Christmas from Uncle Mitch. Drew rarely rode it but Kayley loves it. So guess what? Now Drew thinks he loves it, too! Every time she goes near it he is right there to make her fight for every bounce.

Wild week-end

Andy flew to Peoria on Friday morning so Megan was a single parent for three nights. Granny helped out here and there. Saturday evening we decided to take them to Chuck E. Cheese Pizza and fun and games. Not for the faint of heart. It is naturally quite noisy and surprise, lots of kids. Everywhere. I don't think I will be taking Grandpa out to dinner there when he returns to Phoenix. We just may take the kids there for a lunch so he gets to experience it, though. Ha!

Still pretty warm in the valley. We just need to get through part of September and then the really gorgeous weather returns. That means hiking returns. Yay!

Our evening at the pizza parlor....

A bit of a milestone

Grandma, Kayley and Drew had a pretty good week. Only one more day to go until the week-end. Still a bit too warm to go for our daily walk with Sox. I think the kids and I and definitely Sox are waiting for that ritual to return.

Grandpa tells us he is eating lots of his home grown sweet corn but we don't like hearing that! We miss that great taste.

Our little preemie decided to take 5 steps yesterday! I was ecstatic. I had noticed she was standing longer by herself and just held out my arms to her and she came to me. Yes, it was a bit of the Frankenstein shuffle, but she did it! Won't be long before she is racing to tick off Drew and his trains!

Drew has had a couple of mishaps under my watch. Wednesday he slipped on the tile and bit his upper lip, giving him the proverbial fat lip. Today he went down on the sidewalk trying to push a stroller a little too fast. Ouch!

Kayley is doing great. She will eat absolutely anything you throw in front of her. She is catching up on the doctor's chart for normal babies her age. Yay!



Drew has finally started to figure out how to get his tricycle moving forward. Yay!

Sorry for the lag in my posts. Mark and I were on babysitting mode 24/7 with Drew and Kayley while Andy and Megan went to San Diego for a getaway for their 5th anniversary. We had a great time but I will have to admit that I can see why parents are young! We both were pooped after this but we did enjoy it "despite our age"! I think the kids will miss grandpa. Mark flew home to Iowa today. I think I will miss grandpa, too..

Pool time

Mark and I returned from Prescott mid-afternoon on Sunday and then went over to Megan's for a swim with the kids. For some reason it was surprisingly hot in the valley so a swim sounded just grand! Drew is feeling so "at home" in the pool.



Grandpa and Kayley

Greetings from Prescott

Mark and I arrived in Prescott yesterday afternoon around 3:30. It was noticeably COOLER up here. Almost 30 degree difference from Phoenix's temps this past week. We were loving that! We got settled into our hotel and then took off for Whiskey Row, which is the historic part of the old west town. Lots of saloons and even more shops. We dined last night at a place called The Rose Restaurant. It appeared to be a converted large house. We ate at an outside table so we could enjoy that weather. The food was superb but when we got the bill I should have skipped those two glasses of chardonnay that cost $8.50 each and contained about 1.5 inches of wine. Good grief! Our bill was $35 higher than what we spent Wednesday night taking out Megan, Andy and the kids. We at least fed five people off that bill. :-) Oh well, if I had it to do over again, I would because it was THAT good!

Today we spent from 9-2 downtown again. They have a huge flea market and it took a long time to look at all the booths. Lots of gorgeous paintings for sale. I have my eye on one of Havasupai Falls in the Grand Canyon. It is breath taking and reminds me of our hike down to the falls. I may go back and buy that tomorrow. I offered the guy $50 less than what he was asking and he just laughed at me. Laughed. He could have said "I just can't go any lower" but the guy chuckled. Maybe I won't go back...

Tonight we are going to a steakhouse that has good online reviews. Matt's saloon is offering $2 bloody marys until 6 so we better go there before dinner. :-) That beats the pants off an $8.50 glass of freaking wine!

We will probably head back to Phoenix in the early afternoon to beat the huge traffic jam coming out of the mountain on I-17 every Sunday. Hope you all are having a great week-end, too!

Some pics of Mark with his grandchildren and also Mark's new stetson to keep that AZ son off his his head.

It's a heat wave!

Mark arrived in the Valley Friday night to record setting temps in AZ! Hope he doesn't regret leaving that nice Iowa weather for a 114 degree blast furnace! It is manageable, though. We play outside with Drew late in the afternoon with the misters on and we survive! It has been just great having him here. Drew hadn't forgotten him at all and immediately took him in to "play trains". Kayley loves him and would rather be held by him than grandma. Go figure!

Friday night we are driving up north to spend the week-end in Prescott. Temps there are about 30 degrees cooler than here so that will be so nice! We are looking forward to our little getaway.

Some recent silly videos follow.