Good times in Peoria

I spent a week with Megan, Drew and Kayley and had a splendid time.  Matt drove over from Omaha and was there Thursday through Monday morning so everyone was there except Mark and Andy.  They were busy attending Cactus League BB games in AZ with Andy's brother!

It was so good to see the kids.  They had grown a lot since our January visit.  Things change so quickly when they are little!  The weather was very good most days so we could be outside.  Lots of bike rides to the park, fishing for the very first time with Matt, riding the Gator and tractor, etc.  I assumed it wouldn't be all that great in Peoria in March but I guess this year doesn't count as being normal.  Unbelievable warmth in the midwest!

Mark is leaving Sunday morning for Iowa.  He will make it to Matt's home on Monday late afternoon, spend the night with him and head to the farm on Tuesday.  I wouldn't be surprised if he is in the field later in the week! Another unheard of thing this early!

My sisters are flying to Phoenix next week.  We hike the Grand Canyon (Havasupai Falls) on April 6-8th so we are getting pretty excited about that.  Jan will arrive this coming Thursday and Sharon will get here Easter Sunday.  Sharon and Jan haven't seen each other for two years so it is well past time for us to get together!

Unless a spring blizzard hits Iowa I will most likely start back after the sisters leave.  No reason to stay here when it is nice in Iowa!  We hit 90 degrees here this week so I am assuming it is going to start getting pretty hot in the desert and that is my signal to jump in the car.  Neither one of us is looking forward to our drive home but not much to do about that except do it!  The worst part is staying in the motel in a dumpy town (Dalhart, TX) all by yourself.  If you love/know Dalhart please forgive me for slamming it!  Just not fun alone.  :-)

I couldn't leave Drew and Kayley without getting a few pics and video!

Matt teaching Kayley about the patience of fishing.  Ha!

Drew showing his skills at the park

Bicycle safety town in Peoria.  Awesome.

Drew Matt Kayley

Kayley and the Easter Bunny at gymnastics

Mark's cactus in bloom.  He was gone last year when it bloomed but this year was early!

Kayley with her favorite snack

I bought puzzles for Drew and he finished them in record time!

Kayley, Matt and Drew

Dressing up in anything and everything

These two made Grandma a beautiful birthday cake!

Ready to bike to the park

At the park

Drew's first time fishing!

Baseball, Golf, Hiking and Horses

Mark and I have been very busy these past two weeks having fun in the sun!  We enjoyed two spring baseball games,  spent two days at the LPGA tournament, hiking several times (me), and another trip to the horse track on a bright sunny day.  The last two days have been the exact opposite of the last month.  Very cold, much needed rain in the desert and even hail and thunder.  I thought I was back in Iowa except it was nicer in Dayton than it was here Sunday and Monday!  The weather is turning back to warm sunshine today.

This afternoon I hop on a plane to go visit Drew and Kayley.  I am excited.  Mark is staying here.  Andy and his brother Mitch are coming to attend spring baseball games and Mark will be their host while I go see my grandchildren.  It will be great to see them and also Megan and Matt.  Matt is driving over to Peoria on Thursday and staying through Monday morning.  I fly back on the 27th to Phoenix.

Mark will leave for Iowa the first week in April.  I am still contemplating on what day I will leave.  The weather in Iowa will be a huge factor for me.  If it continues on its present pattern I don't think I will be far behind!

Some pics from all our fun:

Up high on a recent hike by our home

White Sox spring training stadium in Glendale

At the horse track

A view from another hike

Putting on the 18th at the LPGA

Padres/Mariners spring training stadium

Hail on our patio!

Iowa neighbors

We have been busy the past few weeks.  Our neighbors from Iowa (Both Petersons, Barb and Craig and Jeff and Patty) came to our home two weeks ago and we had a great time with them.  After giving them a tour of our little home here we drove to Cave Creek to look around.  We all especially liked "The Town Dump", a store with tons of unique and special order items you would never see anywhere else!  I will be going back there before I head back home to Iowa.  After shopping we stopped at Harold's Saloon for a cold beer then back to our home for visiting and dinner.  It was a very nice day!

Last Friday we spent the day back at the horse track helping our friend Alice celebrate her birthday with her cousins, uncle and one other friend.  We had a blast and I even won $112 on a race with a $6 bet so that was extra fun!  Normally I only bet $2 per race but decided to up it this time and a long shot came in to help boost my winnings.  Yay!  That evening we took Alice and her Wisconsin cousin back to Cave Creek for the all you can eat fish at Buffalo Chip Saloon.  What a place!  It was packed to the brim and out back they had an actual rodeo arena where we watched bull riding and toddlers riding sheep.  Good time.

I still fit in my hiking, as I need to get in shape for a trip I am taking with my sisters in April.  We are hiking down the Grand Canyon, or Havasupai to be more precise.  It is a beautiful place and we are looking forward to this adventure!  We hike down, stay two nights and then hike out on the third day.  It is the "hike out" part that requires you to get into some sort of shape!  They do have a helicopter that will haul you out if you cannot make it but it can't be cheap and that is not what we want to do!  :-)

Now we are busy looking at the Cactus League baseball schedule to see what games we want to attend.  The Diamondbacks have a new (last year) stadium that we have not seen so that is on our list.  Spring baseball is a huge thing down here every year and it is fun to go to the games.  Our son-in-law Andy is coming down here to go to some games so Mark will entertain him while I fly to Peoria to see my daughter and grandchildren.  I cannot wait for that!  Well, that is about all I have for now.  Hope everyone's snow is melting!!!!

Pics from the last few weeks:

Mark at Turf Paradise

Barb, Patty, Marla at Cave Creek

The Three Amigos....Mark, Jeff, Craig

My winter geraniums are doing well.

I love this color of geranium!

Happy Valentine's Day

Not a lot to report on from Phoenix.  Just the same old nice weather.  :-)  We were even in the 80's a few days ago.  We have two cool days ahead of us and then back to mid 70's so we really cannot complain about that too much!

We had plans to drive up to Cave Creek tomorrow for a Valentine lunch and just to walk around the shops but the forecast is sounding cool and wet so we may put that off for a few days.  It is nearly impossible to get into restaurants around here on the 14th so that is why we were going for the lunch date.  There are several museums I have been wanting to take Mark to so perhaps a rainy cold day would be good for that... or maybe a movie!

Every Saturday a group of us gals take a long hike somewhere in the Valley.  We have not had a bad one yet!  This past week-end we hiked the McDowell Mountain Park and it was the best hike yet that I have had in AZ.  The views took your breath away and the trail was in great shape and easy to hike...not too many rocks to trip over!  After the hike we always go out for breakfast which rather negates the calories burned on the hike but that is the fun part!  :-)

Some pics from Saturday's hike:

Phoenix Open

Mark and I had a grand time at the golf tournament this past week-end.  We had such fun on Thursday that we decided to head back again yesterday....on Super Bowl Sunday!  We knew we would be home in plenty of time for the game and the commercials so saw no reason not to go one more time.  Kyle Stanley had a tremendous come from behind victory and we were so happy for him.  I felt so awful for him last week-end at Torrey Pines and never dreamed he'd come back this quickly.  He is now a rich young 24 year old!  To make the day even better, as we were waiting in line to buy tickets, a lady came up to Mark and said she had an extra ticket for free if we wanted it.  If we wanted it??!?!?  Yes, we wanted it.  :-)  $25 saved is a good thing!

Other than golf tournaments and hiking, we are just enjoying the weather and missing our kids and grandchildren!  I will see them again on March 20th so I am looking forward to that trip.

We hope to get to Mesa this month and see some friends from Dayton that are wintering there.  Jeff and Patty P. have been here for several weeks and Craig and Barb P. are coming next week.  It would be fun to get together with them at least once!  Maybe they can also find time to come here for dinner for one of Mark's great ribeyes on the grill.  :-)  Anyway, looking forward to seeing them all.

Some pics from our week:

Looking across TPC golf course with stadium hole #16 in the background.

Phi Mickelson, Rickie Fowler and Dustin Johnson on the green

We hiked a new trail at Cave Creek Park and found this unusual saguaro

The new Quartz trail.  It was a pretty hike and am sure we will do it again.

A little bit of everything

It has been a little over a week since we returned from Peoria, but it seems like months!  I guess I will never get over missing our grandchildren until they are too old to care if we see them or not!  I doubt that will even help me!

We were welcomed back to Arizona with picture perfect weather.  It has been non-stop beautiful, making it great for hiking, walks around the neighborhood for Mark, and yard work, etc.  I just wish this weather were everywhere so no one has to suffer bitter cold.

Yesterday Mark and I went to Turf Paradise, a horse track just several streets from our home.  I had purchased a VIP package on Living Social for half price which got us into the Turf Club, bottle of wine, dinner for two and $5 to spend in the gift shop.  (I bought a Turf shot glass).  It would have cost $70 for this total package but I paid only $30.  Well worth it as we had a blast.  We had a gorgeous view from our table and we placed bets on every race without having a clue to what we were doing.  :-)  I won a couple of races but Mark was the big winner!  $51.80 on a $2 Box Quinella bet.  That more than covered our expenses.  We are always happy to leave a gambling establishment with their money in our pockets rather than vice versa.  :-)

This morning I met 7 gals at Cave Creek Park for a hike on a new trail just recently finished.  I have usually hiked the Go John Trail here but this new hike was very beautiful, but shorter.  It is called the Quartz Trail as it went by...quartz rock.  :-)  I enjoyed it!  The hike was followed by brunch at Venues Cafe in Carefree.  Delicious but we decided that the GPS monitors rated us as not hiking far enough for the calories consumed.  :-)  It was a very fun morning.  (Sharon, we missed you and they all asked how you are doing.  The hikers were Betsy L., Marilyn, Edie, Sharon R., Mary Anne, Jane and Carol.)

This week is the Phoenix Open.  I would like to go two days but we are going to go Thursday for sure.  Megan always had some pull to get us free tickets when she worked here so guess we will have to pay this year! 

Well, that catches us up since our return from the birthday bash.  Still had some videos to edit from Peoria so will include those along with some more pictures.

Shawn Johnson, eat your heart out:

Misc. shots:

 

Kayley ready to ride Matt's gift to them, a John Deere Gator

Drew on last year's gift from Uncle Matt!

Drew loves writing numbers...this is getting a little out of his range but he did great.

Proud Grandpa and Kayley

Two buddies

Grandma and her two favorite kids

And they're off!

Mark is going to apply for a job here so he can keep up his tractor skills during the winter...

This track is in a beautiful setting in north central Phoenix

Happy 5th Birthday to Drew!

Drew turned 5 on January 15th, 2012.  Mark and I flew to Peoria on Friday night to help him celebrate and are staying until this Friday, the 20th.  We had a family party for him on Saturday.  Matt and Grandpa Butch also drove over for the week-end celebration.  Drew received lots of toys and Mommy bought a delicious ice cream cake from Dairy Queen all decked out in a Cars theme with Lightning McQueen and Mater.  I think the birthday boy thoroughly enjoyed his day!  That evening we dined at Drew's favorite pizza place in Dunlap.

We are spending our days here playing with Drew and Kayley and getting used to cold temperatures and snow once again.  I miss these grandchildren terribly when we are in Arizona but I don't miss this god awful weather!  :-)  I am spoiled rotten now and can hardly function if I am not in flip flops,sandals or hiking boots.  The kids love it, though, and spent time outside with Andy making a snowman, snow angels and sliding down the hill.  We watched from the warmth of the window!

Some videos and pics of our time here and Drew's birthday:

 

Drew checking out his ice cream cake

Kayley getting ready to dig in!

Drew getting served first.

Daddy set up his construction site

Kayley enjoying Drew's tool kit...real tools.  Yikes!

One more sweet thing.

Kayley and Uncle Matt

Drew with Uncle Matt

Kayley and Grandma