Childhood Memories

Last week, my BFFs grandmother passed away. She wrote some thoughtful posts on dying and memories that she and her cousins have of their grandmother. What I found interesting is most of the cousins commented on how they will always remember the pizza bun and the never ending supply of chocolate chip cookies in the freezer.


I am sure that if you asked my cousins what memories they have of our grandma growing up, it would without a doubt be the memories we shared at the cabin. 

The red and yellow cabins.  I have no idea who the 2 people in the picture but I am going to assume it is me and my brother.

 Luckily my Grandma is still alive and well. This year, she has decided to put the cabins up for sale. My grandpa built the cabins when my mom was a little girl. My mom often talks about her memories of growing up at the lake. Mostly about learning to water ski. If you were to go into the boat house, you would still see the small wooden skis that my mom skied on when she was young and the my brother and I skied on years later. Next week, the red cabin will belong to another family ready to create new memories in the cabin that will forever hold a special place in my heart.

So in honor of celebrating the good times my family shared in the cabin, here are a few of my fondest memories in no particular order:

Once a year, my grandma would take me and my brother and our 3 other cousins to the lake for a week, usually without our parents. I remember playing hide and seek and mostly hiding on Diane in the little shed. It was a scary shed that I was sure was infested with mice and spiders.

We played countless games of cards. From Crazy eights, Go Fish, to Darock (which I am convinced my uncle made up because I have never heard of it since). We would play card to decide who had to cook dinner or who had to do dishes.  Luckily as a kid, you weren't held to certain tasks.


The first time James came up to the lake with me we tried to get him up on skis.  He didn't make all the way up, but he did nearly lose his swim suit in the process.  My mom had to hold it up so he didn't moon the entire beach.  

If I didn't have this picture I wouldn't have actually believed that John made it up on skis that weekend.  Really.... John made it up and James didn't?

That is my brother kayaking in the background.  But I posted this picture for the orange boat.  This is the boat that both my mom and I learned to ski on.  Since then, my mom bought the boat from my grandma and it is still very much in use today.  Still ugly, but still being used.  You sure don't miss it on the lake. lol.

Grandma had this wicker swing at the cabin and it was everyone's favorite chair.  It nicely sat on the deck and was the coveted chair of the cabin.  If you left the chair, even to go to the bathroom, you knew you were not getting it back.  My mom bought me one for our wedding gift.  Everyone has to at least try the chair when they come over, but i must admit that people ask before they sit just to be sure!

There was also a paddle boat at the lake.  Besides swimming it was the only way to work off all the food you consumed while at the lake.  It was like there was a never ending supply of chips!  I remember paddling to the sand bar or even by the beach to see how busy it was.

Then there were the ducks... ahhhh the ducks.  When a flock was approaching the cabin, the kids would all run up to the cabin to get bread.  Grandma saved the dry bread for us to feed the ducks.  Here is a picture of my grandma feeding the ducks and Canadian geese.

 

I also remember the pancakes.  Grandma didn't make pancakes like my mom.  Grandma always put lots of oil in the pan and the edges got crispy.  They are still the best kind of pancakes in my books!

Another thing I remember about the lake was white bread.  There was always lots of white bread.  I don't remember it so much as a kid but going back as an adult who only eats very grainy bread and I remember eating white bread at the cabin :)

We had my first co-ed birthday party at the lake. I don’t actually remember this party, but I have seen the pictures so many times that I feel like I should. I was 7 after all and have memories that date back further than that!

Jenny, Michelle, Deena, brother, and I

I also remember multiple walks for ice cream.  It was about a 30 minute walk and there was always a stop at the campground park.  Grandma would always get maple walnut.  As a kid I preferred my cookies and cream and chocolate chip cookie dough. Now I don't think maple walnut is all that bad!

There were also multiple trips to the used bookstore.  One thing we all did lots of at the cabin was read!

For the majority of my childhood, Grandma had 2 boxers, Brutus and Sheeba.  We never had pets growing up as my mom was allergic to both dogs and cats so these pups were my favorite!  Grandma had a big kennel built between the 2 cabins and these 2 big dogs were always for lake fun!

Finally I found one of me up on skis.  The back of this photo said Summer 1991.  So i was 12 years old.  Eventually we got a tube and mostly used it instead of skis.  I am pretty confident I could still get up on skis if I had to.

· We had my stagette at the cabin. We all pulled out foams and 7 of us slept on the floor after going to the local pub.  The girls surprised me with this pontoon boat rental.  It was a memorable day!

Carmen, me, Dee, Alynne, Gina, Sara, Candace

When I started this post, I didn't realize how many memories I had all revolving around the lake.  Now my mom has a trailer at the same lake the we visit when we come in the summer.  At some point we will let the boys go to lake with my Mom so they can build the same memories that I had as a child.... and James can have a week of free time!  My mom would take them this year if I let her.  Not sure I am quit ready :) Maybe next year Mom!

Thanks for memories Grandma!  They will forever hold a special place in my heart.

Soccer!

With me being in my blogging rut, a comment from my friend Stacey in my last post said that my best posts are the one about real life.  Like taking kids to the grocery store.  Today my friends, real life happened.

Today was the first day of soccer.  All I wanted was to sit on the side of the field with my coffee while visiting with the other soccer moms while watching Cooper play with the other little kids.  This did not happen.

We were up at 5am.  Cooper was crying and we turned the monitor off as 5am is not a reasonable time to get up in the morning.  By 545, Cooper was still awake and I accepted my reality that the day was in fact beginning before 6.  Again.

Despite being up at such an ugly hour we were still rushing to get out the door and get to the soccer field by 8:30.  We like to stay in our PJs until the very last second and rush like maniacs to leave.  I'm not sure we like to do this, but time and time again it seems to be what we do.  Today the panic was to find the winter gear.  Although it is may, at am it was only 3 degrees and darn cold. We dug out the jackets, hats, and mittens to stay warm for the time we would be outside.

With a late departure there was no time for a Starbucks run.  This tired mama very much needed her happy drink and she was stuck with no caffeine kick to keep her going.  There I go again talking about my self in the 3rd person.

It started out OK.  James is the assistant coach along with our friend John who is the coach.  They met early to go over the game plan.  The 4 kids ran around the kids keeping warm.  Everything seemed to be going well.  Cooper even kicked around a few soccer balls.

Future soccer player?  Grady is #11 in the back.

Here is our favorite soccer player on the navy and white team.

Winter jacket and all, and don't forget McQueen!

Here is the assistant coach in his matching Jersey!  All the moms were surprised he didn't have his jacket on - must have been adrenalin!

Soccer started and this is where the story changes from a typical Saturday to worst hour imaginable.

Cooper spent most of the morning like this.

My happy go lucky boy cried on and off the entire hour.  I carried him, he cried. I let him walk around, he cried.  I fed him, he cried.    I took him to the park and the crying stopped.

But... since it was a school park it wasn't really designed for a one year old and i had to watch him like a hawk.  Not to mention that it has been raining for 2 days and the slides were so wet he couldn't even slide down.

We stayed at the park for about 15 minutes but I really wanted to see the kids play.  We headed back.  In the moving stroller, Cooper seemed much calmer.  I watched as we approached the field and then were playing Red Light Green Light.  James was calling it out.  In that very moment, I was so proud of him.  Soccer was his thing growing up and i was so happy that he was willing to help out with Grady's team.  Him and John were in charge of twelve 3 and 4 year olds and I thought they did a great job. James even thought to bring Thomas stickers to the field for the kids. Not the coveted McQueen stickers.

By the time we got back to the field and stopped, Cooper was crying again. He would run away screaming and then i would run and get him.  Them we repeated.  In the end, i only saw the 5 minutes as I walked back from the park.

From asking Grady afterward he really liked it.  He told us his favorite parts and said he had lots of fun.  As a parent, that is all you can hope for.

We wanted to go out for coffee afterward with friends, but we made the right decision in heading home.  Cooper cried in the car the whole way home and then wouldn't eat a thing and went to bed.

But not before we made a Starbucks run.

In the drive through James asked me if i had money. I didn't - I left my purse at home. He is patting his pockets for his wallet and comes to the conclusion he left his whole bag, including wallet, and stroller at the soccer field.   He loaded Grady in the van on the opposite side and forgot about the stuff on the side walk.  At a soccer field full of parents I was pretty sure our stuff was safe.  Sure enough, it was exactly where we left it.

All in all, James and Grady had a great time on the field and Cooper and I had a not so good time on the sidelines.  I think my game plan for next time is to bring a bag of outdoor toys or maybe bubbles.  I am not sure I am ready to persevere through another hour of crying child!

I had hoped for a nice peaceful morning of visiting and coffee and got a morning full of child chasing and frustration.   But as I said earlier this week, I will take away the good moments and remember what a good job James did on the field and that Grady had a lot of fun.

End of Week Update

•  The kids eyes are doing really well. I am so pleased we caught them both early as they cleared up really quickly.

• I had a pink eye scare myself and used penicillan drops one morning.  It turned out to be nothing.

• Cooper had his first 'Nana Day' this week. Cooper did great but Grady did not like the idea of Cooper going to Nana's without him.  There were a lot of tears shed on drop off this morning by the big guy.

• I am still really really busy at work, but can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel.

• We are looking forward to starting soccer on Saturday morning.  The forecast is calling for flurries which means we may be pulling out the winter coats again.

• Cooper is getting up in the early 5's these days.  Everyone in the household is tired and grumpy this week.

• I am still in a blogging rut.  Not much going on that is blog worthy these days.  That and I am taking less and less pictures on my camera and more and more pictures on my phone. 

• I hope this post tides you over until I think of something more exciting to share.

Wordless Wednesday - Don't ask....

Guess who else has pink eye...

Saturday

Yesterday started out as a typical Saturday.....

We got up at 5:45, by we I mean  'I' since it was James' sleep in day.  We brought the car in for servicing and headed to the mall to run a few errands.  Bringing the boys to the mall always proves to be a more expensive trip than when I go by myself.  I did manage to get my brows waxed and grab some shampoo... but the boys managed to snag a lego Jeff Gorvette car, a lightning McQueen swimsuit, and these hats.

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It took a lot of work to get them sitting close enough together to take this pictures. Kudos to me!  I didn't even force them to wear the hats.  They want to.  Great purchase for $6 a piece at Walmart (in case you were interested).

Then one of James buddies asked if we wanted to come bowling. Of course we did!  So we had an impromtu trip to the bowling alley which was completely dead.  Grady and Cooper had an entire lane to themselves and the adults 10  pin bowled right next to them.  The kids did surprisingly well, even Cooper!  This bowling alley also had this big metal thing that you can roll the ball down to prevent 'lofting' the ball.  They enjoyed that but mostly just wanted to do it themselves.  After watching us, Grady started to do a run before slowing down to attempt rolling the ball down alley.  It often ended up being more of a throw....

Sadly, I have no pictures from bowling despite how much fun they had. Besides, bowling pictures never turn out great given the poor lighting.

After bowling, his friends came over for pizza and we all started noticing that Cooper's eye was not looking great.  I had noticed some dried puss earlier in the day and blamed on a crying episode. James noticed it was red right after naps and we hoped it was because he was tired.  

We put him to bed like usual fully anticipating taking him to the walk in clinic today.  Well he got up less than an hour later and he was now scratching.  We made an executive decision to take him that night.

After a few phone calls we convinced the clinic right by our house to see him.  I didn't realize that if you tell the nurse the kid is only 1 that they will squeeze you in... lesson learned!

Cooper and I loaded up in the van for the 3 minute drive to the walk in clinic.  He was sleeping in less than 1 minute!  It was after 8:30 at this point and over an hour past his bedtime!  We got our name on the list and sat down and waited.

This is the picture I texted my Mom right when we sat down.

Someone is super excited to be up past his bedtime!

My mom was staying at my brother's house last night and asked who farted on Cooper's pillow when he heard the probably pink eye diagnosis.  He was serious.  Without going in to gross details, they say that is one way you can get pink eye.  By getting brown stuff in your eye. I have no idea if this is true... but you also get it from colds, so we are going with that one!  Beside, Cooper doesn't sleep with a pillow.

Cooper was such a great little date at the walk in clinic. He happily played with his cars and looked at the pictures on my phone. He was ALL smiles. I texted pictures to James and my mom while Cooper played loudly beside me.  He was full of his happy screams as the cars crashed into the floor.  We had many people watching with smiles on their faces at our little boy in his Christmas PJs.

The doctor took one look at him and knew it was pink eye.  We got our prescription and were on our way next door to fill it. It is now about 9:30.  Thankfully you are only contagious up to 24 hours after medication starts so he is good to go to daycare next week. Not sure we can afford another week of staying home with a sick kid :)

The original plan was for me to drop the prescription off and come home but the pharmacist thought he could have it done in 10 minutes.  Cooper was in such good spirits we decided to look around while we waited.

We got home with the drops about 10.  We got the drops in with quite a fight and promptly put our little night owl to bed.  

He was still up at 6am sharp this morning..... but he did sleep right through the shortened night. I would like to think that by going to the doctor last night we saved ourselves a sleepless night.

All in all it was a good day with a little twist right at the end.  I am just happy we caught it early and little Cooper is well on his way to recovery. Now let's just hope the rest of us can avoid getting it....

Motivation

Motivation is low these days.


The to-do list is so long I can't see the end of it. I am busier than I ever expected to be at work.  I feel overwhelmed.  There is never a moment to sit and just enjoy because I am too busy fretting about what I could be doing or what needs to be done.

The sad thing about the to do list is I just can't seem to make a dent in it.  In my pre-kid days, my to do list was always short. Maybe a handful of things at most.  I was always on top of everything. My post kid self is having a hard time cutting herself some slack.  Did I just talk about myself in the third person?


My problem, and every mom's for that matter, is lack of time.  Cooper goes to bed shortly after 7 and Grady shortly after 8.  I follow suit somewhere between 9 and 10 on a good day knowing that my day tends to start in the 5's.   How do I motivate myself to do something productive after the kids are in bed?  Even if I did get motivated, I have an hour or 2 hours max before I fall over from exhaustion myself.  So most days I choose to watch TV and eat snacks. Some days I even have a glass of wine.

So today, instead of coming home to a messy house and having to make 3 different suppers, the boys and I went to McDonalds and enjoyed just about every second.  It was actually the first time I took the boys to a restaurant all by myself.  Patting myself on the back for surviving.

A little McDonalds fact for you.  They shrunk the size of the kids fry.  It used to be a regular small fry in the kids pack.  Just enough so they can have some and I could steal a few with out anyone screaming bloody murder.  Now the kids meal comes with a 'mini' fry and a yogurt.  Surprisingly enough, both kids ate their yogurt.

Ahhh that Cooper, he is definitely my eater!  He loved the play area and the hardest part of the outing (other than waiting in line) was convincing them to leave.  It wasn't too busy and Grady made a little friend.

The little side trip to McDonalds didn't motivate me to do anything tonight, but it did let me forget about how messy my house is, I didn't have to stress about making dinner, and by the time we got home from supper it was time to get ready for bed.

Bed time did not go smoothly by any means.  Tonight was Cooper's first night without a bottle and I ended up going back in to rock him only to figure out his teeth were hurting. This delayed Grady's bed time and led to a grumpy boy who was way harder than usual to put to sleep.

These days I am finding that the days are mixed with good and bad.  We never have a day that is all good or a day that is all bad.  As a goal for myself, I need to focus on the good parts.  Remembering the cuddles before bed or the smile on their faces when I get home from work.  Forget the tantrums, the fighting, and the tears.   It sounds easy written here but I am finding it much harder in practice.

Pictures from our Phoenix Weekend

I got my memory card back after had to lend it out the weekend we were gone. I am sure glad I did as I got some great pictures out of the deal!

First of all... here is a picture of the bride and groom.  The whole reason for the trip was to celebrate the wedding our our friends Serena and Scott.  And celebrate we did...

Scott and Serena took dance lessons before they got married and actually practiced to their wedding song during the lessons.  They chose a relatively fast song that required more skill than the side to side dance that James and I did at our wedding!  They did a great job.

They hosted a rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding.  What nice treat!  The food and company were both great!

Apparently when the lighting gets bad, you switch to black and white.  So these ones were obviously later in the evening.

The pictures really don't do the wedding location justice.  All I can say is that the location was wonderful.  During the ceremony it was HOT.  It was so hot I had sweat dripping between my boobs.  Enough said.

I couldn't not put this one in.  I have no idea what they were doing.

And finally a picture of us at the wedding reception.

I can't say enough how much we enjoyed our weekend away!

Tessa

It is days like today that I feel far away from family and wish I lived closer.

Yesterday shortly after 7pm, my third niece was born. Tessa. A beautiful name for a beautiful baby girl.

I just want to squeeze those chubby  little cheeks!

While everyone is back home enjoying newborn snuggles and rushing over to meet the newest member of the family. I am stuck 6 hours away with no hope of smelling her sweet little head any time soon. Yes, smelling babies is my thing. I still smell Cooper when he gets up because he has a slight baby smell when he first wakes up in the morning. It could just be the combination of sweat, sour milk, and urine….

I am so looking forward to holding her, rocking her, and smelling her.

This is my brother's third daughter.  I was blessed with only boys, while he was blessed with only girls.  I love that despite all the trucks, trains, and cars that we have at our house, I have ample opportunities to buy fun impractical gifts for my nieces.   I love that between the 2 of us we have 5 kids.  I love watching them play and enjoy each other... most of the time.  I love that Grady adores Madison and that Cooper will be so close in age to Taiya and Tessa.

We have a special road trip planned so we can all meet little miss Tessa and have all 5 cousins aged 7 and under together under one roof… it can’t come soon enough.

Congrats James and Chantelle!  Welcome to the family baby Tessa!



A few sentences about yesterday.

Grady is sick. James is sick. Cooper cut 2 molars over the weekend.

It is Easter Monday and James has the day off and I drag myself out of bed to go to work.

Nana joins the boys at the science center.  Both boys had a blast.

Nana takes Grady home with her so James can get some rest while Cooper naps.

Grady enjoys a good lunch at Nana's and falls asleep.

Grady wakes up screaming that his ears hurt.

Nana can't get a hold of James because he is sleeping at home with no phones on.

Grady continues crying that his ears hurt.

Nana calls me at work and we decide he should go to see a doctor and hopefully get some medication.

Some walk in clinics are closed for  Easter Monday and others have very long line ups.

Our family doctor agrees to see us if we come immediately.

Nana and Grady meet me at the doctor which is far far away.

Grady does better than usual at the doctor's office. Doctor remembers him as the 'feisty' one.

He has 2 'super red' ears and medication is given.

Grady and I arrive at home to find James and Cooper up from their naps.

James has no idea what has transpired during the afternoon.  He did not read his emails when he got up.

Grady perked up and is loving his medication.

Night was horrible but at least we are on the mend.

Never a dull moment....

Happy Easter!

Friday afternoon while Cooper slept (and James) Grady and I painted eggs.

We even wore our bunny ears.  It started off well and then I brought out the glitter. Oh... the glitter.  I don't think we are quite ready for glitter.  Or glue for that matter. 

But we were all smiles for the most part.  Grady was less happy about the bunny ears than I was, but he got used to it.

Happy Easter!

Coloring

Grady is very into coloring these days. Coloring, painting, crafting, anything that makes a mess at my kitchen table! Especially if it is Cars related of course!

Grady's work of art!

Last night after I put Cooper to bed and James was out at the hockey game, Grady and I sat at the kitchen table to do a craft.  I suggested coloring and he quickly agreed.  As I colored I was about to tell him that I won a coloring contest when I was a little girl.  Then I remembered it was actually an Easter coloring contest.  

I was about 7.  I think the picture was of a bunny that my Mom cut out of the local newspaper.  I bet my Mom still has it floating around at home somewhere....  If I was good back then you should see my art work now....

My masterpiece!

I remember that the prize was $35.  My mom took me to Zeller's and I got to pick any toy I wanted.  A dream come through for a kid. I picked out a doll.  I don't remember which one as I had so many.  Come to think of it, my Mom still has all my dolls in their original clothing in a big chest.  I am sure she was hoping to pass them along to my own daughters. Alas, I have boys.  Eventually I am pretty sure she will make decide if I want them or whether we should donate them.  It may sound funny, but I will have a hard time parting with them.  I love those dolls like real children at the time.  I named every second one 'Lori-Anne'.  Not sure why.

The point of this post?  I won an Easter coloring contest years ago.....

Routines

6 days.

That is all it took to make new routines which did not involve going to work. For me the hardest part of going on vacation is re-adjusting to the old routines that were the norm only 6 days ago. I went to bed Tuesday night dreading returning to the office the next day. After 6 days off I just wanted to stay home with the kids in my PJs and go to the park and play. I didn’t want to sit at my desk remembering that a few short days I was in the sunshine enjoying my book.

Despite the dread, I pulled myself out of bed yesterday morning, put on my outfit including a new scarf and earrings and made it in to the office on time for a change. But not after fighting with Grady about why he had to go to daycare today and why he needed to wear his pants. Kids develop routines to. After 6 days at being home with Grandma and Grandpa and then 2 days at home with me and the kids were dreading their return to normal as well.

As much as I love vacation, there are some things I love about getting back into old routines. I was craving vegetables. Four days of eating out really takes a toll on the ‘ol body when you aren’t used to it. On our last day I actually ordered a stir-fry dish as I needed vegetables in my system. I was just feeling yucky and missing eating healthier foods. I am also looking forward to working out today. There is something to be said about eating healty and working out, it really does make you feel better. When I feel good I am generally happier. So today when I hop on the elliptical and treadmill I will be a happy woman!

Despite what a vacation does to your routine, it is so worth it! I am already thinking about booking another…..

Wordless Wednesday

Car Wash

Just the other day, the boys and I decided to go for a car van wash.

It had been a long afternoon. On my day off we met some friends at the zoo. The boys had a great time seeing the penguins, the hippos, and playing at the wet, snowy park that we left the zoo very late. Cooper of course fell asleep in the car....



My baby is not so little anymore....



... and I had no luck getting him back to sleep in the crib. So it was a long afternoon of 2 awake and rowdy boys. The night before I had canceled a pedicure so I decided to treat myself with some new nail polish. There was this color I got at my last pedicure so we headed out to the salon to buy it. In order to convince Grady it was a good idea to go for a car ride I told him we would get a car wash on the way. He was very excited about it... that and he got to wear his new McQueen hat! We loaded into the van and off we went. Cooper fell asleep about 10 minutes into our drive given the lack of his usual 3 hour nap. Without thinking anything of it, we drove up to the touchless car wash, the door opened and we drove in. Keep in mind it has been years since I have done one of these. Keeping my van clean is not a high priority so I usually use the wand and just go to the cheap do it yourself one. Hard to do with 2 kids in tow. Keep in mind that Cooper is snoozing away in his carseat when the water blasts against the car.



What the heck is that?



He wakes up. He is not happy.

Grady on the other hand is lovin' the car wash and asking Cooper what his problem is?



It's the car wash Cooper, enjoy!



Next thing I know Cooper is crying, like really crying.



Make it stop Mom!



Yes... I stopped to take a picture of my crying baby. How could I not? As sad as he looked, it was really quite funny to see Grady all happy and excited while Cooper sat beside him terrified. I rubbed his leg and talked him through it but really he just wanted the eff out of the car wash.

Lesson learned.

After the car wash I bought 3 nail colors which I am very happily wearing on my toes right now. Through this whole experience I also learned that James strongly dislikes the smell of nail polish. That is a whole other story....

Weekend getaway!

This weekend we were in Phoenix celebrating the marriage of our good friends Scott and Serena!  Kidless might I add.  I sadly have no pictures to show for it except the few crappy ones I took on my phone to send home to show my mom and the kids.  Like this one:

Talk about wild hair.  There quite a strong wind sitting by the pool. 

My friend's now fiance was in charge of taking the pictures for the rehearsal dinner.  As we sat there with our first drink in hand and 2 pictures taken his memory card was showing as full.  Since I only brought my small purse camera, I gave him my memory card so that he didn't have to go to the store and buy a new one.  So.... I had no camera.  But on the bright side, his camera took awesome pictures and when I do get the memory card back there should be some pretty sweet pictures on it!

Back to the first picture, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, was the second book I started reading on this trip.  I read The Hunger Games first.  In about a day.  I have not read a full book in probably a year and it was a great one to start with.  After I read it, James even started it.  I have ever only seen James read Harry Potter and he is already a 1/3 through so it most certainly is a good one!  A must read if you haven't already.

This next picture I took of the pool to show Grady.

No, I don't know that person.  She just happened to be in front of us when I pulled the camera out.

We spent a lot of time talking about how much the kids would have liked it there. Great weather, lazy river, a mini water slide, grass to run on, and the list could go on.  I never thought of Phoenix as a place to take kids but I am definitely reconsidering....

This is me before we headed out into the 34 degree weather for the outdoor ceremony.  Why I didn't wait to take a picture outside and show off the great view is beyond me.  I apparently thought you would like to see the back of our hotel door.

Notice my new Teal purse that I bought and LOVE.  

I took this next picture for my oldest son who wanted to see the water slide.  When Grandma showed it to him he asked if that was him on the slide.  First, he has never gone on a waterslide in his life despite obsessing over them.  Second, I am pretty sure this is a girl.

Apparently we should not wear sun glasses in picture we send to the kids.  Grady asked who it was when my mom showed him the picture.

I need this vacation.  Between going back to work, dealing with childcare options, and starting my job during the busiest season, I was feeling burnt out.  It was so nice to get away with my friends, have a few drinks, sleep in as best we could, and just try to be carefree.

As much as we were excited to get away, I couldn't help watching the other families and wishing we were sharing this fantastic resort and pool area with our kids.  It just seems you can't win.  You bring them with you and wish you had some time to yourself, and you leave them at home and wish they were there.

I think an extended weekend was the perfect amount of time to recharge and start thinking about our next family vacation.  As cooper gets older i look forward to vacations much more.  I find traveling with a young child challenging as you are tied to nap schedules and tired kids.  At the same time, I need those vacations as something to look forward to and to break up the routine.  We are trying out Kelowna this summer and I think the kids are going to love it.  Maybe not the drive so much but the lake and the pools.  I am going to enjoy wine on the patio while watching the sun set with my hubby. Funny how I have been back from Phoenix less than 24 hours and am already dreaming about my next vacation.....

The biggest beef I have with this trip was the timing of flights on the way home.  We chose to take the later flight to enjoy the day in the sun.    We touched down at home just after midnight.  Home and in bed by about 1:30 and I couldn't sleep.  It was 2:30 the last time I looked at the time then Cooper got up at 5am.  To say the least, I am exhausted today.  Any R&R we got on the trip has been erased by a very sleepless night...  I am very glad that I took the day off today to recover from vacation :)