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!) :-)

In like a lion?

I cannot believe the month of February is basically over. It makes me think about spring, farming and Mark going back to Iowa. He still has another month here so that is a good thing.

We had another fun week with the grandchildren. Mark took Drew to the park and the weather was really unbelievable. We hear about the weather in the midwest and I just cringe for our relatives and friends there. You all really need to come to Phoenix for a visit and get a reprieve from those temperatures!

Tomorrow I am off to a ladies' hike in Cave Creek. Mark is going to the Cubs/White Sox BB spring training game in the afternoon with Andy, Lisa and Erik. Tomorrow night we are babysitting so Megan and Andy can see Aaron's band playing at a bar in Scottsdale.

Drew is insisting he put his own shoes on now....."I do it" is the operative command. :-)

A smile for you

A good week!

The week went by quickly thanks to good kids and nice weather. We spent time outdoors going to the park and playing in the back yard. Drew loves climbing on the playground equipment and going down the slide. It is good for him because he gets to mingle with children his own age rather than just being around his grumpy old grandparents! :-) He's still very shy around strangers but he's getting better each week. We are going to take him to the park several times each week until it gets too hot to slide!

Kayley is making great progress. She loves solid foods, especially carrots and sweet potatoes. They have some concerns that she might be allergic to certain foods because she gets very red cheeks after certain items. She had a GI specialist appointment this week and they discussed trying several different options with her bottle feeding and eating in general. We are even practicing with a cut out cup trying to eventually eliminate her hated bottle all together. She has made huge strides since entering this world way too early last June and we all marvel at how fortunate we are that she is doing so well. Oh, and did I mention that she is really, really cute and very sweet? :-)

Mark spends time fixing odd things around the house and going to the driving range. We are golfing with Andy this afternoon so we are looking forward to that. Yesterday morning Sharon and I hiked Pinnacle Peak and it was a perfect day to do that hike. In the afternoon we watched Drew and Kayley while Megan and Andy went to see David Copperfield perform and then go out for dinner.

Hope you all had a good week, too!

Video of Drew in action:



Video of Kayley playing outdoors. Can you guess what happened to grandma in this video? All I can say is that it hurt! (Hint: VERY strong tail)

"Puuhlease"

Drew entertains Kayley....so to speak.

Happy Valentine's Day

Kayley says Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!

Firday the 13th

Kayley is now eating solid foods every feeding. She does extremely well with them but doesn't care much for her bottle following that squash or sweet potatoes or peas. We mix powdered formula with the solids to get more calories so hopefully that makes up for the lack of wanting that bottle. Personality-wise she is such a happy little gal but will definitely let you know if she is a little bored. :-)

Drew is.....just Drew. Never a dull moment. He is putting together sentences at a rapid rate now. Yesterday he told me that a puzzle piece was "upside-down" and today he mentioned that his "full" bucket of rocks was HEAVY! And to think we wondered if he would ever talk. Ha!

Kayley:



Drew:

Baby it's cold outside

We have all been secluded indoors so far this week. The temps yesterday were in the 50's and Monday was rainy so we haven't been on a walk yet this week. Today looks to be nicer so we will try to get outdoors later this afternoon. Sox needs a walk and so do I!

From the pics below, you can see Drew still loves his thumb when he isn't golfing and Kayley just likes to smile!

Grandma's day

Rainy days and Mondays......used to get me down. Retirement and Drew and Kayley changed all that. :-)

A typical day for granny and grandpa at the Thiel household.

Rainy Sunday

We finally have to say goodbye to our 80 degree weather that we have been enjoying for days on end. It rained during the night and is supposed to be rainy most of today. Rain is always a welcome occurrence in AZ so guess that is a good thing. Mark had a good chuckle while watching a local meteorologist last night.....he said we should expect "heavy" rains, anywhere from .25" to .50". That would be considered a drizzle in Iowa! But when you only experience about 8 inches of total rainfall per year, I guess a 1/2 inch in one day IS a downpour. :-)

We had a great hike in the McDowell-Sonoran mountain preserve yesterday. The scenery was beautiful as we made our way to a formation called Balance Rock. It was a guided hike and about 25 people made the walk.

Mark and I went to the PGA Superstore yesterday afternoon in Scottsdale. It is huge and I could have spent all day at that place. I would have been broke, though. Golf equipment and apparel is rather pricey but they did have several racks of 50% off which I enjoyed browsing!

Some pictures from the McDowell Mountains:

Saturday

Time for a hike this morning with the ladies. It is going to cool off rapidly this week-end with a good chance of storms but hopefully we will get the hike in before the rain appears.

Kayley and Drew had a very good week. Twice this week Drew had afternoon "power naps" of over four hours! He plays hard and sleeps hard!

Kayley had an appointment yesterday with her developmental doctor. I will let Andy describe the details in her blog but the short version: we are to work on her gaining core strength for future sitting and crawling and she would like us to start more solid foods since she isn't that great of a bottle feeder. When feeding her we are to let Kayley work the food off the spoon rather than the traditional way of scraping it on the roof of her mouth. Seems she doesn't like to use her upper jaw/lip a lot and this should help stimulate that along with some other tricks she suggested. Over all she thought Kayley was doing great. I agree!

A day at the park

A little bit about nothing

It's already Wednesday. Another week of my life flying by! We have had a good one so far......good weather, walks to the park with the grandkids. The only bummer of the week was the Cardinals loss in the Super Bowl on Sunday. They gave it everything they had though, so we cannot complain too loudly.

Andy took us to a Phoenix Suns game on Monday night. It was the first NBA game that Mark and I have ever attended. We had a great time watching Shaq and company.

TGIF

Happy Friday! It is another gorgeous day in the valley. Andy's patio thermometer is reading near 80 degrees. That was enough to get me out of the house with Sox and Kayley and go for a walk. Grandpa and Drew opted instead for an afternoon nap.

We have had a good week. Wednesday Mark got a ticket from Megan to attend the FBR Open and it also had a Greenskeeper pass which allowed him unlimited food and beverages. Not a bad deal, huh? He had a great time and got some good pics of some PGA players. Tomorrow we are both going to the Open. I am worried my two favorite players (Phil and Freddie)won't make the cut as they played pretty poorly yesterday! Hopefully they will shoot better today and be able to play on Saturday.

Of course Sunday is THE game....Cardinals vs. Steelers in the Super Bowl. Cheer for the Cardinals everyone!!

A video from the week and FBR Open pictures of Phil Mickelson, Fred Couples and J. B. Holmes:


Phil Mickelson getting ready to putt

Super Bowl Week begins

We are all pretty excited about the Arizona Cardinals making it to the Super Bowl. I know they are considered underdogs but I am really thinking they can beat Pittsburgh. Iowa boy Kurt Warner is the Cardinal's QB so all you people back in Iowa "should" be cheering for the Cardinals, too! I guess we will all find out next Sunday! Go Cardinals!

Some pics of my two favorite grandchildren......