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.

Grandpa's coming!

We are all pretty darned excited about Grandpa's visit! Drew can't wait and neither can I!

A day in the life of....

Anyone need a smile today?

I posted this video on Facebook but it was so "fun" that I wanted to post it here for my friends not on Facebook. It is the absolute greatest processional for a wedding, in my opinion. It has had a couple million hits on youtube so you know it is fun and hilarious! :-)
Click here

Quiet week

Not a lot happening out here lately. We are still in a pretty good heat wave so our activities are limited somewhat. Drew and I did spend some time yesterday outdoors with the misters spraying and the garden hose keeping he and Sox cool soaking wet. Kayley is having a good week eating so that is always a plus. She is such a happy little girl when Drew isn't dragging her frantically away from his toys! Grandma needs to work with him on sharing skills. I am not positive that is possible when it comes to Thomas...

Some recent photos. Kayley LOVES to chew on the banana from the vegetable pack!

Finally!

Megan and I took Kayley for her one year old pictures yesterday. We took her one other time but she was just not "in the mood" for them. Two other appointments had to be cancelled because of sickness and scratches. Yesterday went just about perfect for once!

Talk, talk, talk

The video of Drew is to catch the grandpas up on Drew's gift of gab. Anyone else might find it a bit boring as it, of course, takes place around the Island of Sodor. I feel like I live on that island. :-)

This past week had lots of doctor/dentist appointments for the kids. Doctor was all Kayley and Drew visited the dentist, his new best friend. Ha! Fortunately he had no cavities or he would have really been loving her more than he did! Kayley had a GI doctor visit and Physical Therapy evaluation. I am sure Andy will explain those at his blog. Some changes were made for Kayley so hope that all goes well. I think she is doing fantastic.

Drew's black eye is very black now. Megan heard some guys walk by while in line at Costco remarking about that little kid's black eye and how that was "cute". Only young men would think a shiner on a two year old is cute. :-)

We haven't been doing much outdoors lately. We are in the real heat of the summer here so it just feels a lot better in AC. Drew wants to go outside so badly and we do for a little while but not long. Andy went golfing today but had a very early tee time which isn't so bad. I would think you would want to be off the course by at least 11 a.m. when the high is 113.

Hope everyone is doing well and having a great summer.

First shiner

Drew got his fist black eye last night. Running or jumping a little too fast for his feet!

Going for a stroll

Kayley had her physical therapist appt. this morning just for an assessment. I am not sure how that went but evidently Kayley decided that she would get right to work on motor skills and today started to walk behind her stroller. I had not seen her do this so it was a surprise for grandma. Walking cannot be far behind. Oh no...

Pics are of Drew and his dog (talk about a kid friendly dog!) and Drew making a train out of anything he can string together to form it.

It's only 114 degrees today!

Tomorrow is supposed to only get to 112 so that will be better! :-) Oh well, it is a desert! One tends to forget that during the comfortable months of Oct through May/June.

A quick video of Kayley and a few snapshots.

Godzilla and Thomas the Tank Engine

Kayley has always wanted to get to the table that houses the Island of Sodor and the trains of Drew. Drew has effectively, perhaps harshly, kept her away from his table. Today Drew was napping and Kayley was not. I have never seen her crawl as fast as she did this afternoon to get to that table. I was lucky that Andy came home before Drew woke from his nap because it would not be a pretty site when he looks at his tracks...hey, a girl just wants to have fun!



Drew and a bit of Kayley...

More swimming

The 4th of July

We decided to drive to Cave Creek for the evening of the 4th. It was pretty warm but we had a good time eating outside and then viewing the fireworks display. The kids were great and I think they enjoyed themselves. Megan said last year Drew cried during the fireworks so they didn't stay. He watched the entire time this year. At the beginning he asked a few times "go to Daddy's car" but he was a trooper through the rest. Hope you had a great holiday week-end.