snow and hail and cold - oh my!

We almost turned this bus around today!! When we left Page this morning it was 18, and we were wearing sandals and capris, and 2 hours later it was -6 and there was snow everywhere! It was a grumpy carload to say the least!! Even Miss 3 year old was saying "Oh no! Snow!" We also encountered rain and hail today. We had a moment of excitement at a regular scheduled gas/pee stop as Scott realized the tires on his trailer were almost worn through. Twenty minutes later and a little poorer we emerged with 2 new tires and a spare one to boot. Moment 2 of excitement was even less popular as I had accidently programmed a specific address into the GPS for Salt Lake City and we had a bit of a scenic 'loop'...before Scott finally noticed, adding who knows how much time, but probably about 30 minutes, to our already (long),9 hour day of driving. We covered the whole of Utah today. I have never before seen a billboard which read, "Help for Poligamists. Crisis counciling" The girls were amazingly high spirited all day long. They have counted over 500 flags during this journey, and tasted 2 new kinds of gum today. They spent a long time blowing bubbles and popping them all over their faces. Anika entertained us with songs - from a rousing chorus of"halleludiah" to a self composed song which included - "Did you know your foot was a part of your leg? Did you know that? Did you know that? No, I didn't know that. Well, that's okay because I'm telling you now that your foot is a part of your leg...." and more. The older girls are very into 'mad libs', and they find them endlessly funny. They get funnier as the day goes on, for sure! Scott also sings hilarious songs, but I won't attempt to recreate his lyrics here. We are spending the night in Pocatello Idaho, at a nice hotel where we had the lovely pool and hot tub to ourselves. We should be re entering Canadian airspace tomorrow as we are aiming for Lethbridge!

Grand Canyon!!

In my fatigue I posted 3 posts in my other blog spot, Roesler homeschool....I think you can find that through this one...if you really want to read about it that is! haha!

Cactus Encounter of the worst kind!

During or first hike this morning we had a little accident! We had hiked to the end of the trail, which was a fantastic, high rock formation, with beautiful views and lovely scenery. There were a bunch of prickly pear cacti, which has been interesting us for the whole trip, especially since we sampled the candy made from the fruit of it. One of the cacti had a bloom, or fruit on it, and I wanted to take a picture of it, but instead of walking around on the trail to get to it, I stepped over and between a couple of cacti. Tia followed me, and I guess Anika followed her, because just as I heard Tia say "be careful Anika, those are pokey', I turned around to see Anika trying to walk between them, and she was teetering, and I gasped but couldn't do anything, and She fell right into the cacti!! Poor, poor little girl! Scott was right there and he scooped her up and I dashed back over the way I had just come, and we spent the next 15 minutes picking cactus pokes out of the sobbing girl! Scott had her arm and hand and I was trying to do her leg and her clothes - they were everywhere! She even had them in her stomach! Some of them left blood spots where we picked them out, but most were pretty shallow, but it really hurt, and her legs were just shaking! Lucky for us Scott is very calm in a crisis, and he kept her pretty calm! We got everything out, then stripped her right down to make sure we had everything out of her clothes and skin. She had lots of little bumps everywhere we picked pokies out, which a nurse who came by said was a mild allergic reaction. Her hand bugged her the most,and she favoured it for the rest of the day.

Sedona

Sedona is a totally cool place. The landscape is awesome and you will have to see the pictures. We woke up this morning in a lovely motel complex with little bridges over a little running stream. The room included breakfast of eggs, sausage, waffles, yogurt, cereal, oatmeal, muffins, etc. We headed out for a hike, we chose the .5 mile as we have short legs among us. The girls were cute with their water bottles and backpacks! It was totally hot out today, we were glad we wore shorts and hats and had water along! The earth and rocks here are completely red, and everything is called 'red rock...'. The mountain formations are very beautiful, and now that we're out of the desert there are more pines and green trees. There are lots of prickly pear cacti, but haven't seen any of the big Saguaro since we left Phoenix. After our hike we had snacks in the car and headed for 'Rock Slide State Park'. This park is a beautiful place unlike anything I have seen before. It is a river cut into the sides of the beautiful mountain, and you can walk along it - there are little bridges at some spots, but it is mostly natural. Some spots are very shallow, and some very deep. There was one spot where people were jumping off a cliff into the water, but most spots were shallower. At one spot there is a waterslide that has worn smooth by the rushing water, so lots of people were doing that. The water was numbingly cold, but that didn't stop the adventur-ers in my family!! Scott and all 3 older girls did the water slide, and Scott, Tia and Madie cliff jumped a few times!! It was really fun to watch them, and we have lots of great pictures and a video. Anika and I waded into one of the shallower pool areas, but she almost cried - it was SO COLD! I hope I captured her horrified face - this princess is used to heated pools now! haha! We have driven to Flagstaff, and are spending the night here, tomorrow the Grand Canyon won't know what hit it!!!

Fast Exit - Thursday

Apparently when you are on holidays for 30 some odd days you lose such track of time that you think it's okay to leave the condo that has become home on the first of the month instead of the 31st, just because you want to. Apparently the realtor that rents the condo which is now your home has the ability to rent said condo to SOMEONE else. If that person happens to want to get into it at 9:00 a.m on the morning of the first, and the cleaning lady still has to clean, you have to leave on the 31st!!! Go figure. So after an organizational magic trick of packing up 6 people and 30 days of living/shopping, as well as a quick swim to cool off in the THIRTY TWO degree sun, we pulled out of Phoenix around 7:00 p.m. We had a quick bite en route to Sedona, pulling in to a hotel where we were told they were full and many of the others in town were as well. We found a hotel, stumbled in around 9:30, waking Anika up as we walked the entire perimeter of the complex, having mistaken our room number of 611 for 119....Amazingly, although she woke up enough to chat continously through us squeezing 6 people into a 2 bed room, making beds on the floor and fighting about who would sleep where, she went straight back to sleep as soon as we covered her up!!!

something interesting

Our condo is located in a really nice part of Phoenix, and we have been enjoying walking in the neighborhood. Today we went a different way, toward 'old litchfield', which is a stunning neighborhood with well kept yards. We kept seeing what looked like 'lids' in the ground near peoples driveways, and finally Scott stopped at one near the sidewalk and opened it. It was a garbage can! There was a handle attached to the can, and then the lid hinged over it all. We stopped to ask some people how the empty it, and they said the garbage men do it by hand! Scott figures they must be the strongest garbage men in history!!

Anika's turn

Today was Anika's turn for 'date with Daddy'! After Scott and I did an hour walk this morning to a new section of town, we came home to have breakfast and get Anika ready for her date. Then Daddy headed off with a very excited little girl! They went bowling, and the lanes were 10 pin!!! It sounds like they had a terrific time - the bumpers for the gutters came down for Anika's turn, then up for Scott's, so she ended up beating him! How exciting for her!! Then they used a coupon to go to Baskin and Robbins for ice cream treats, but they could only get through 1, so they brought the other home for the rest of us! According to Anika they shared an 'ice cream flit' - she came home extremely happy! The rest of us had a nice swim while they were gone! When they came home we did some running around, then home again to swim 'in the dark', as the kids have been wanting to, and we ordered pizza to be delivered POOLSIDE - are we living the life or what??? Sitting in the hot tub in the dark, looking up at the stars framed by palm trees and our kiddos splashing and laughing and playing in the pool, we are feeling VERY blessed today!

kick back

Today we just had a total kick back day. We swam lots and had tons of fun playing games and fooling around in the pool. We ate lunch poolside. Scott barbequed for supper, and then him and Tia headed off for one last hockey game. They can't resist these cheap seats!! They were cute heading off in their matching coyote hats! We're planning our escape on Friday, when we will head for new territory! We are planning to hit Sedona on our way to the Grand Canyon, after Scott found a book about Sedona at the bookstore the other night!

Going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!

Today we went to the Zoo!! It was completely awesome! Here were some of our favourite things! -Petting sting rays!! -Feeding giraffes - their tongues are totally long and they are blue! -Feeding baby lamas in the petting zoo. -Feeding baby deer in the petting zoo. -Trying to avoid being butted/bitten/eaten by the goats in the petting zoo! (Also watching Scott attempt to reprimand the butting goat by grabbing its horns!) -Watching the tiny baby goats playing with each other in the petting zoo. -Petting (and being chased by!) giant tortoises. -Seeing an 8 month old Joey, 2 baby cougars, baby warthogs in a playpen, and baby tortoises in the baby animal nursery. -Feeding a lemur! All around the zoo were little 'candy machines' of food to feed various fish, turtles, ducks, etc. At one of the duck ponds there were lemurs in the same containment, who were scared of the ducks, yet interested in the pellets. When we threw the pellets close to where he was sitting, he would scoop his little hand in the water and fish out the pellet and pop it in is mouth - SO CUTE!! -Walking on the 'Kangaroo Walk', which was an enclosure with a path fenced off with only a rope, on the other side of which hopped various kangaroos! One of them had a little joey in her pouch, his head and feet were sticking out!

Cactus Man

Okay, so this is a confession. When my brother and sister in law were here they wanted to buy a 'cactus man' for a friend of theirs, who used to have one. In the first days of being in Arizona, it seemed 'cactus man' was everywhere, but we couldn't find one. So I promised to buy one for them. I bought one, but then I sort of got attached to him...and now he is attached to my antena...and he's so cute with his little cowboy hat, and he waves his little cactus arms when we drive. Also Shaina is horrified, which makes him even cuter. So hopefully we come across another cactus man before we leave. Sorry Gerry!

Walked to church!

This morning started just like every other morning here has, with a little 3 year old whispering, "Mommy! Mommy! Can I go to the bathroom in your room? Mommy! When it's morning, can you get me something to eat and drink? Mommy! Are you getting up now??" After some totally delicious toast, made with the Farmer's market bread from yesterday - my favourite was the dark chocolate cherry - can't wait to try baking THAT! Scott and I jumped (yes, we jumped), on his motorbike to head just up the street to check out the Litchfield Farmer's market! It was just a little tiny one, but sooo cute, on the front lawn of resorty country club or golf course or something. There weren't a lot of booths, but we had coffee and wandered around on the lovely lush green grass. Then we walked into the hotel to buy a Sunday paper, and peeked at the beautiful pool/waterslide area, marvelled at the beautifully decorated building with dark wood floors, tile, rough wooden furniture and unusual light fixtures! We went home to grab the girls, and headed off to walk to the same church we attended last week. Anika and Madie rode their bikes, it was lovely to wear shorts/capris/sundresses and walk to church in March! It was a beautiful day with not a cloud in the sky! Madie went to her own class this week, about 20 grade two's! Tia went with Anika, and the rest of us listened to a sermon on Revelations! After church we walked back home for (turkey)bacon and tomatoe sandwiches, and then Scott gleefully headed off on his planned afternoon motorbike trip! The girlies spent the afternoon as women of leisure. We swam for a long time - it was HOT this afternoon! This weekend was really busy at the pool - way busier than we've seen it! Our noise/toys are much less noticeable than they were a couple of weeks ago! haha! After that we walked to the park, (the 2 little bike riders rode), and I learned how to fix a bike chain...twice. Yes, it's true - after 14 years of parenting, this was the first opportunity I have had to fix a bike chain. How we grow, hey? On the way back stopped at the amphitheater which is in our back yard. There's a concrete stage, in front of cool 'bleachers' made of concrete with grass tops, so I saw a bike show, then a tap dance, then a trike show - awesome!! Scott joined us as we were performing! Chili's for supper, then we walked over to "Barnes and Noble" - as I wanted to buy the girls a book about the grand canyon before we see the real thing!

Farmers Market

This morning we headed for the farmers market in Scottsdale. It was fun to see the beautiful breads and other offerings! We bought some cranberry orange bread, some chocolate cherry bread, and some neat little buns that were baked into a big stick sort of like a baguette. We also bought apples, tomatoes and we shared a couple of homemade donuts that were amazing!! We had researched a dance store down in Scottsdale, so we stopped in there to get Tia some tap shoes, then stopped at a big antique mall. It was really fun to poke around - they had a huge array of things, it was like a crowded museum!! After lunch at the ever popular and totally packed out In and Out burger, we headed back to the condo for swimming and relaxing! As I write this Anika is in bed, and the rest of us are watching "Megamind".

OUTLETS!!!!

Yesterday while Shaina and Scott were on their date they found an awesome outlet mall! We went back there today! It is truly amazing what you can pay for clothes here! I bought some shorts and shirts, and we got some clothes for the kiddos. Lots of the stores had stuff on sale, and then were another 40 - 75% off those prices! Crazy!
We came home for supper and to swim, but the hot tub heater was down - and us new phoenix people found the evening temperatures of 16 too cold for the (heated) pool - haha!

Burlington Coat Factory needs a new name!

What is with the Burlington Coat Factory? We had never been in one - doesn't it sound SO boring?? Well, it's just like Winners, and it is totally awesome! I bought great pj's for the kids for 5.99, and nikes and sandles for the little squirt, and I got a great pillow for my little entrance bench...

Thursday - a wild dinner

After Shaina and Scott wandered in from their date at 3:00 (!!), we headed out to the mall where RAINFOREST CAFE is!!! Anika had never been, and was highly excited! The girls loved watching all the animals, and Tia discovered a love for popcorn shrimp! After supper we did some shopping - it was a great mall - and didn't get poor Anika home to bed until almost 10:00!!

feeling better

Madie seems to be feeling better today, after an afternoon and evening of puking. It is a sad realization that I finished her milkshake yesterday at lunch...
I'm hoping it's not the flu but just that her lunch didn't agree with her yesterday?!!
4 of us are laying low today as Scott and Shaina are on a date - you'll have to check in on her blog to hear about what they did!!

Strawberry, Cream, and Chocolate

No, that's not dessert, those are the stuffed animals that Anika has aquired since leaving home!! This morning the girls and I let Scott sleep in. We 'snuck' out of the house, GPS in hand, the 3 youngest jumped on their bikes and scooters, and we headed on the quest for coffee. Turns out there's a Starbucks .7 of a mile from the condo!
We had a great walk, it was already hot enough to just head out in our shorts and t-shirts! Anika has a funny new habit of everytime someone says "school bus!" she says "ha - SUCKERS!"....ahem.
After our walk we headed out to Toys R Us, as some of the girls had money burning holes in their pockets. Next to toys R us was "Party City" --- now that is a store to end all stores - haha. I would SO love to live near one when the kids birthdays are around the corner!! Rows and rows of great party stuff! We picked up a bit of easter stuff, the girls were almost lost in the array of candies (15 for 1.00), and the little toys for cents! Of course we are all bunny crazy, so easter bunny stuff always calls our names! (well, not Scott's obviously... this store was among thrift stores, kids museums and libraries for him...) We also picked up mini cookie cutters for .50 and sprinkles for our new cake pop obsession are totally cheap here.
We ate at Carls Jr. for lunch, but no one was impressed. Scott and I tried their new healthy(er) turkey burgers - they were just okay. We came home for swimming, Madie got sick - the pool was cloudy, there was a wasp in the air - so we ended up back at the Condo until supper time when Scott BBQed supper. I opened a can of beans, tossed a salad, boiled some cute baby potatoes for him to throw on the grill with the meat... and started praying that no one else will get sick!!!!

well that was long

That post was really long and wordy. If you are reading this, you have my permission to skip anything you want - I am going to print this as a memory for us, so I reserve the right to go on and on and on and on about whatever I found interesting...which according to shaina's pictures thus far is mostly the food....
Anyway, after being at that museum I have a list mentally forming for our play room. (don't tell Scott).

Kid's Day!!

This morning the gym was packed out again, so Scott and I were forced to take it to the streets. We had a great 1 hour walk, we skipped through the golf course, getting to look into everyone's backyards and huge houses! The backyard pools with their rockwork was amazing - it was fun to see!
When we got home we fed the kiddos from the yummy 2.00 watermelon and fresh California strawberries! Then we headed off to Mesa, part of Phoenix about 30 minutes away, to go to the "Phoenix Youth museum". This museum was an art museum that was soooo cool. Right now there is a fairytale exhibit on at the museum. The kids could: make hats with big white paper bags, stickers and stamps,
put on huge hats and go into a room where there was a blacklight and Alice in wonderland things painted on the walls, with a tea party set up on the table. (play dishes, play bread with various bugs glued to them, a teapot with a duck head on it...)
dress up as various characters in little centres, each complete with hooks of costumes and different versions of each fairy tale. Little Red Riding Hood had red capes and little baskets, as well as rubber wolf masks and black capes. The 3 pigs had piggie hats and 3 little wooden houses on hinges, cinderella had dresses, shoes, stick horses, and brooms. There was a section with tutus, flower head bands, wings and a whole bunch of frog puppets on lilly pads.
There was also a really cool tablefull of wooden blocks to build a castle, along with little wooden dolls, horses, dragons, etc. Also lots of art around - photos of different fairy tales, art pieces of different fairy tales, etc.
There was also a baseball display set up that I didn't really get around too as Anika was stuck in fairy tale land most of the time, but the girls did come out dressed as baseball players and concession workers at one point, and I know there was a couple of wii baseball games set up.
There was other stuff too, like wooden easles with seats attached and lots of paper, astronaut clothes to wear beside a big floormat of the planets and a screen that showed you as an astronaut playing on it! Lots of those Ikea chairs that you can spin around in, a room to make origami cranes, a place to make crayon rubbings, a place to make critters with fingerprints, etc.
Almost 1/2 the museum was set up for kids under 5 and their siblings. It was set up in little rooms, around a main area that had a little section of toys for under 2 year olds to crawl around on. Also a huge amount of really big soft blocks for the older kids. Around this were little rooms, 1 had soft chairs, books, and a wooden doll house full of dolls and furniture. 1 was shaped like a house and had kitchen furniture, lots of counters, tons of food. Through the back door there was an 'outside' area - a big layered cloth tree on the wall with tons of stuffed birds and butterflies that could velcro on, as well as plastic fruit that could velcro on. There were cornstalks sewn onto cloth on 1 wall so the kids could pick ears out, and rolls of brown cloth along 1 wall where you could plant and pick plastic veggies. 1 room was an art room, they had paints and cupcake liners and pipe cleaners to make flowers. 1 room had a huge velcro wall where the kids could stick tubes and things to make a track for a ball to run down. There was also a light table and see through colored lego blocks as well as magnetic toys that were see through, wooden blocks with colored plastic in the middles, and color paddles, all to play with on the light table! Another room had big curtains painted on the walls and a stage of soft blocks as well as puppets, musical instruments and costumes.
Anika would have stayed here all day for sure, as it was, we stayed as long as Scott could possibly - he left a couple of times, once for a walk and once for a drive - haha. Anika was really sad to leave, but they all loved it.
We stopped (quickly), at a thrift store to get Shaina and (as it turned out) everyone else some new reading material, then headed for supper.
I had a coupon for 'sweet tomatoes', which turned out to be a real winner all around!! It was a buffet place of healthy food!!! It was all salads, soups and breads and pasta, all homemade and was really good! They had really good mixed salads, but most of it was just rows of little dishes of stuff you could mix into your lettuces. A seperate section had 8 kinds of soups/chilis, and you could have a baked potatoe or sweet potatoe, and there was focaccia (3 kinds), and then mac and cheese and a tomato pasta. The kids loved the mac and cheese - it was really nice and cheesy and yummy. They had a 'grilled cheese focaccia dipper' which was great dipped in the soup, and hot sourdough bread. Anika was in love with the mini blueberry muffins, Tia loved the little corn breads, Madie discovered tapiocca pudding, and Shaina loved the sourdough!! Everyone was actually happy - haha. For dessert you could have peanutbutter chocolate chip bars or frozen yogurt, the kids also had choclate muffins.
We rushed to get home during rush hour, so Scott and Madie could leave for their date - they are at a hockey game tonight!! I took the other girls for a 1/2 hour swim in the pool - we're back to 18 here today, then home to bed for Anika while the other girls watched 'cupcake wars'...I know, I know....but since I homeschool I can influence their little brains anyway I want...hahahahaha.

full day!

This morning we checked out "Sam's club", which is like Costco. Then we headed over to Chuck E Cheese, and the girls had a blast. Shaina had found a coupon online, so they each got tons of tokens, and they had a great time playing all the different games. Anika loved having her own little cup of tokens to go on as many 'mall rides' as she wanted!! After that we headed over to the movie theatre, and Anika went to her first movie in over a year. She had been scared by a movie a while back, but she must be over it, she sat through the whole thing and liked it! We were interested to note, on our way out of the theatre, that they had a really nice 'child care play area' in the theatre. There were 2 staff members making crafts, and there were books and toys - you could leave your 3 - 8 year old there for 6.00 while you watched a movie!!
On our way home from the movie, we read that the library down the street has a pajama story time Monday nights, so we rushed home, had a quick bite and I took the girls down to the library while Scott did his second run of the day! Sadly the librarian had changed the time of story time, so we got there only for the end of it, but the older girls looked at books while I read to the little ones...it was nice to have some new reading material - we are getting a little sick of the selection we brought...we may be hitting a thrift store tomorrow for a fresh selection!!!
It was a rainy day and by the time we got home it was only 11 degrees! Tomorrow is supposed to be yucky weather again, but by next Friday it is supposed to be 36!!!!

what we hear at the pool

This is our youngest's dialogue while standing on the steps in the pool.
"Are you ready to see me jump in? Mom? Dad? Are you ready? Are you watching? Say 1,2,3 - Say 1, 2, 3... Say 'ready, set, go' ----- Mom! Say ready! Dad, say set --- I'll say GO! Mom, say it!! Dad....okay - GO! Mom, count to 18!"
Me:"I am NOT counting to 18"
Anika: "Okay! Count to FOUR!"
Me:"1, 2, 3, 4..."
Anika:" ONE! TWO!!!! THREE!!!! FOUR!!! Are you ready?? Are you ready Mom?? Are you ready Dad??"
Us: "YES! WE are ready! YES! We are watching!! JUMP"
Anika: "Okay! Say ready! Say set! Say Go!!"
stepping off the step...."Oh! That wasn't it - I bumped my toe! I'll do it again! Are you ready????"

Desert Springs Church!

This morning Scott and I snuck out to buy a paper and grab a coffee before church, and found the nicest bakery EVER!!! If I were to work somewhere, I would love to work there -haha! You should have seen the breads - sooo beautiful! I may have to grab a gorgeous Challah to make french toast one morning!
We went to church right in the neighborhood, it was a good sized church with 4 services!! They let Madie go to sunday school with Anika, which was awesome. There was a class just for 3 year olds. They had a really great park fenced into the side of the church building right near the Sunday School rooms, so they even got to go play outside during Sunday School! They were pretty thrilled!
It was a communion sunday, and we totally enjoyed the message - it was fun to be in Church this morning!!
On the way home, well actually on the way to Costco to buy a hooded towel for Anika who can't keep a towel wrapped around her from the pool to the condo, "Sonic" called our names with .69 cheeseburgers (all day Sunday! hamburgers for .49).
Actually, Scott and I had the 2.00 hotdogs - mine had a poppyseed bun with a weiner, hot peppers (whole ones! whew!), tomatoes, pickle spears, mustard and onions. But we made the kids eat the .69 hamburgers...
We hit the Costco, and a 'Borders' that was closing, (book store), where the kids bought some activity books and I bought some of those 'thinking games'...
We barbequed at the pool again, but since the weather was a brist SIXTEEN, we came inside to eat so the kids wouldn't be shivering through their chicken.

Saturday

This morning, the gym was packed right out - we couldn't even get a treadmill, so we went for a walk instead. Scott made me run...it wasn't pretty...
After a quick lunch we headed for the airshow at the Airforce Base about 5 minutes from our condo. We were not allowed to drive onto the base, so we had to park in a big field and walk over onto the base. It was almost a mile to walk, and there was a huge stream of people. There was an amazing amount of people there! We saw some amazing stunts by the fighter jets, the kids sat in a couple of airplanes, and we saw the 'thunder birds', the American version of the 'snow birds', which was awesome! There were 6 jets flying in formation - it was pretty cool!
When we got home Scott barbequed chicken kabobs, the girls swam, I whipped up a salad and we all ate right beside the pool.
Today was our first overcast, windy day.

Cutie pie!

When we were at the end of our day at Knotts, Anika was having an awesome time. Her sisters were doing their own thing and her mother was letting her pick the rides she wanted to go on (and on, and on, and on). She wanted to go on the big skateboard one more time - "PLEASE, Mommy?" and just then Shaina showed up, and I said that Shaina would take her and they went with Madie and did the ride, and then they came back to me, and Anika was skipping along, and she said, "I'm SO happy!!!!" - so cute!!

Getting lost and finding a treasure!

Today, for the first time, our GPS failed us!! It led us to 2 non existent Costco's, where we were trying to buy fresh veggies and fruit! We ended up touring some....interesting...neighborhoods, but also saw some PINE trees!! (we were excited!)
The 3rd address we tried led us to a Costco, but when we pulled up it was a "Costco buisness centre", which turned out to be weird but cool. There was tons of stuff for resteraunts and stores, but no clothes or books. Some of the items were packaged in larger quantities, and there were things we hadn't seen before in Costco, so it was sort of cool. We ended up buying a box of little bags of gummy bears for our resident gummy bear fan, Tia - for 3.00! We also found some little packaged salads that we haven't eaten yet, but look awesome!
Anyway, the treasure was across the parking lot, because we couldn't buy most of the things we had wanted to buy at Costco, we went into a spanish looking grocery store. The minute we walked in it looked like we had walked into Mexico! It was sooo cool! Mexican music, tons of mexican products, really colorful mexican decorations and a whole huge kitchen where they were making tortillas and taco chips, we watched them making them... then there was an entire salsa bar with about 8 different kinds, as well as a resteraunt with all kinds of mexican food! There were big colorful wooden picnic tables to eat at --- how could we not?? We shared quesadillas, and soft homemade tacos with chicken and rice and refried beans and veggies. I was most intrigued by the salsa bar with the fresh salsa I love so much as well as little lime wedges and tons of other sauces and a giant bowl of hot from the pot corn chips - it turned out the salsa bar was free - they just gave us a couple of plates and said go to it. Well, we think that's what they said - some of them didn't seem to speak much english! The girls were drawn to the colorful ices at the front of the store for 1.25 a cone, but they weren't serving them today - too hard to scoop!! Totally cool, we saved it to our GPS!!! I might have to go back for a terra cotta bean pot...

home sweet home

Pictures of our condo! Scott's motorbike looking at home on the driveway, Anika biking right in front of the front door - see our desert? The front of the Condo!

Thursday - dipping our toes in the OCEAN!

We drove to the ocean today - it was so beautiful! The girls had tons of fun chasing the waves and finding shells in the sand. As a repeat performance of when Madie was 3, Anika and I ran toward the ocean until the waves started toward us, when we ran back toward the shore, still getting our pants wet in the process, she cried and hated it! She liked it back a bit where the 'treasures' were!
We went to Newport Beach and saw dolphins and seals playing in the waves! There were about 4 dolphins jumping and playing - it was awesome!! There were lots and lots of people surfing, and people were fishing off the big pier.
we also took the little ferry over to Balboa Island, where the houses are unbelievably close together, but also cute and well maintained! The little ferry only holds 3 cars, we just walked on for the ride across.
We decided not to brave another hotel, so we headed for home, stopping to get the kids Mcdonalds on the way home in Palm Springs. The kids crashed in the car, we got home around 10:30 and shovelled them all into their beds!

Wednesday - KNOTTS BERRY FARM

We all popped up and out of bed around 7:30, had our complimentary breakfast of toast, cereal, eggos (gross - when they said waffles....), and fruit, and then bustled out the door. It seemed overcast, but the locals said it was the 'marine layer', which would 'burn off in a couple of hours'. The park opens at 10:00, and we were there a full hour early!! Nothing was really open, but we found a bakery where there was coffee. As it was only about 16 or 17 degrees, we were freezing...as we are now full Phoenix blood!
When we first got in the gate, we decided to split up so that Tia and Scott could do the scary roller coasters first thing, and the rest of us headed to 'Camp Snoopy', for the tamer rides. We spent the first 2 hours walking right onto all the rides in Camp Snoopy. Scott and Tia didn't fare so well! Some of the big rides didn't open until 11:00, and 1 was closed for filming a commercial in the morning, so they lined up for the 'Ghost rider', a wooden roller coaster, and ended up being in line for over an hour - poor them!! We all met for lunch and shared a big plate of chinese food and some snacks I had packed, then Scott and Tia lined up for some of the big rides. Shaina and Madie both discovered they love some of the faster rides they hadn't tried before, so they also had a great time! Anika loved every ride she was big enough for!
My "I can't believe I did that" moment was when I realized I was bending over, (at Anika's request), to check if Anika's camel on the merry go round was male or female...
Near the end of the day we had all split up to do everyones favourite things, and the girls had a great time! They rode rides until the very end of the 6:00 day! We were an exhausted group walking back for the truck to drive just up the street for round 2 at Fudruckers! They had a great deal for 20.00 - 4 hamburgers, 4 drinks (pop or BEER), 4 fries, and 2 cookies.
What a fun day!!

Tuesday - California or Bust!

We left for California right after breakfast. Everyone was in high spirits and excited for a new adventure! We packed sandwiches to eat in the car, and got to our motel around 3:00, even after a quick stop at some outlets in Palm Springs. You would think we would have learned about the false advertising of hotels online, but we still booked a motel online... well, it was better than the Flamingo....It was called an 'executive suite', but let's just say we wouldn't have wanted to see the 'normal one'! Anyway, we only slept there, so it didn't really matter, and it was about 3 long blocks to Knotts, so we were able to walk. After we checked in we walked to Knotts to see how far it was, to buy tickets for tomorrow, and to eat at Mrs. Knotts Chicken Diner. We ate there 2 years ago, and wanted to do it again!! All the waitressess wear old fashioned dresses, and the kids meals contain - a block of jello, 2 fried chicken legs, mashed potatoes, corn, and ice cream, also a snoopy cup of pink lemonade or boysenberry punch. Scott and I shared the adult meal, which is chicken noodle soup, salad, FOUR pieces of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn or cabbage, and pie. We were stuffed, good thing we walked!! We were able to buy Knotts tickets for tomorrow, We had coupons to get in, so we paid 19.00 for the kids, and 31 for the adults.

road trip!!!

We are California bound! We're getting all packed up, and tomorrow morning we'll be heading to sunny California for a couple of days. We're hitting Knotts Berry Farm on Wednesday! We can't wait!!
It's spring break here, and therefore the pool area and parks are busier than they have been until now - hopefully California won't be too crazy!!
We had a lazy day around here today - all except Scott who ran off 600 calories....he's putting me to shame for sure! (I do have the excuse that I've been SICK! - And luckily I was off my food for a couple of days...) But seriously, he's doing awesome!
We probably won't have computer access for the next few days, but we'll catch you up when we can. If there's any emergencies, Scott has his phone!!

family time!

Friday night Scott and Shaina picked up my brother Gerry and his wife Debbie from the airport. We have had the best weekend with them! We went antiquing and shopping yesterday, then out for dinner at the delicious Cheesecake Factory. All the girls got to pick their own cheesecake, and you should have seen Anika's face when a huge piece of cheesecake was presented to her - her eyes were huge! The meal was delicious and we had a fantastic day with the relatives!!
This morning we all swam and laid around in the sun, it was relaxing and fun! For lunch we had ice cream... this is true, and it has indeared 4 nieces forever to their Uncle for thinking of it!! Gerry and Debbie took us all to Cold Stone Creamery where we had ice cream for lunch! It sure feels like we're on holidays!!
My brother and Scott together are more than hilarious, and it's been a long time since we've laughed so much or hard as we have this weekend!
I am happy and relieved to report that I'm finally feeling better, and all the kiddos are healthy now as well!

Sick day....again!

Just as I was patting myself on my back for overcoming the cold I had on 'the road', I have relapsed into cold oblivian! Sleeping this morning until 11:00, (thank you, my wonderful family!), and pretty much laying around on the couch in front of the T.V. ALL DAY, I think I might be starting to feel better... Oh yes, and my totally awesome neighbor giving me some (contraband) Advil cold is also helping!! The reason it is contraband is that to buy said drug in Arizona, you must have an american zip code along with an american drivers licence!
Madie earned herself a one way trip to the couch this morning by feeling sick by the pool, and so here we lay. We are watching kiddie game shows, animal cops, and 'honey I shrunk the kids' is about to come on. Also 'How it's made', so I can call it school....
The biggest news of the day is that Scott and Tia are going to the HOCKEY GAME tonight!! They are watching Phoenix VS CALGARY!! I wish I had red face paint or something to do them up!! They are sitting very close, 6 seats up or something crazy!!

Great book!

Quite a few years ago I read a great book to the eldest 2, called "The Mysterious Benedict Society". About 2 years ago I read them the 2nd in the series, and this holiday we are reading "The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilema". These books are really well written and totally interesting mysteries! It's a tad beyond Madie, but we are really enjoying it! I love to have a great read aloud to link to a special memory - when Shaina was 6, I was weeks from delivering Madie, and we were vacationing in Kelowna, I read her 'Cricket in Times Square', and neither of us will ever forget it!
It's so much fun to speculate together on what we think will happen, what certain things could mean, etc...

deserts and ghost towns and hiking - oh my!

We had a very fun day together today! In the morning we drove out to Goldtown, which is a little ghost town about an hour from where we are. It was a gold camp in the late 1800's that never really amounted to anything, but someone has bought the land and recreated an old west town. It was really cool, the kids loved the buildings and the cacti, and the horse themed items! We tasted some Cactus candy - made from the flower of the Prickly Pear cactus - it was good! We had hamburgers for lunch at picnic tables outside. There was a gunfight in the street, which poor Anika REALLY didn't like!! The gun shots were really loud!
When we left Goldtown we drove through some desert landscape, at the base of the beautiful 'superstition mountains'. The landscape is so different from what we are used to - it is a total desert, with tons of giant cacti and sagebrush...it's very cool to see and we are taking lots of pictures, maybe we'll get some downloaded tomorrow as we are planning a quiet day at 'home'. We took a little walk into the desert landscape, but as Miss 3 year old has decided she doesn't want her feet to touch the ground we didn't get far! It was just as well, because it was HOT in that desert!!!!
On our way home we drove back through Scottsdale again, and took time to ride the Trolley, which in "winter", they don't air condition!! The trolley was totally cool, but it was so hot in there I was a bit afraid someone would throw up - but we made it fine! We poked around the old Scottsdale section of cool shops and I bought a cactus ornament for my Christmas tree - to add to our growing collection of vacation memory ornaments!
Once again we got home just in time to toss poor Anika into bed!

Real Estate

Yesterday morning Scott went out with a Realtor and looked at some properties. You can buy a 1500 square foot house with a pool,( complete with a rock waterfall), in a nice neighborhood with a park right there, for under 80,000!! He also looked at a home that was bank owned, where the owners, upon leaving plugged all drains and left all water running - so the house was cleaned up but not fixed up, for under 40,000. Again, it's a nice, 1500 square foot home with an attached garage...the prices are just crazy!

vehicle trouble

Saturday while Scott had 2 of the girls out shopping, the vehicle started making horrible noises, so we didn't drive it for the rest of the weekend. Today he was up by 7:00 to take the truck to the garage, then went for an hour and a half run, then spent the rest of the morning running back and forth to the garage - good thing he has his motorbkike here!!
Turns out it was the alternator, which we had just had fixed in Lacombe about a month ago! It sounds like the Lacombe Shop will compensate for our costs here.
Shaina and Tia were able to have a swim in the afternoon, I kept Anika out as she was still super grumpy and off her food - although she doesn't seem feverish today she must be brewing something. Madie practiced her music, Anika rode her trike - the girls are loving all the cement and the quiet streets here to ride their bikes/scooters!!
The car was all fixed by mid afternoon, and everyone is half healthy, so we were able to get out for a bit! We headed to Scottsdale, which is a trendy area of the City, poked around a mall, ate dinner at 'In and Out Burger', where you can get a burger for 2.00 and fries for 1.65!! Made it home to throw Anika into bed - She has been sooo tired with all our adventures! Last night she was sitting on the couch at 6:40 falling asleep, her head was bobbing around, and she slept until almost 8 this morning.

Holidays!!

Finally all the kiddos were well enough to swim today!! We spent all morning at the pool, and took (turkey) hot dogs and nachos down to the pool to BBQ for lunch! It was totally fun, and really felt relaxing and holidayish! The weather is absolutely perfect, we just love it here!

Deals of the Day

4 Litre milk - 1.69
Blockbuster Movies - sign up for a new membership and rent 1 movie, then receive free movies for a whole month!!

'good job!'

The best part of the Baseball game was Anika in the stands, after she saw the baseball players wacking each others butts. She would stick out her own butt and slap it, saying "GOOD JOB!".

'Take me out to the ballgame...'

The Roesler girls have survived their first professional sports game! The Cleveland Indians against the Colorado Rockies, that's baseball for all you people like me who are sports clueless. I guess it's Spring training time here, and I guess that's a big deal. It was fun to sit only a few rows up, right behind first base, but I was afraid of brain damage from one of the many balls that flew erratically into the stadium. I don't think any of our girls are going to be sports fanatics, but they did enjoy the staple of all good sporting events ----- (overpriced) snacks!!
It was 25 degrees here today! The kids actually complained about the heat! Imagine! Madie kept saying, "WHY is it so hot?"
Speaking of Madie, she has obtained permission to practice her piano on beautiful grand piano in the condo clubhouse!
When we came home from the game, Scott barbequed the best steaks ever, which we ate with a big salad and roasted veggies!
In the realm of illness, Anika has joined the feverish ones! Hopefully everyone will fell better tomorrow - we are planning a laid back, stick around day at home!

Thursday

Scott's parents met us here in Phoenix, they were flying in from Mexico, and they arrived on Tuesday, about an hour after we got here. Yesterday morning (Thursday), we all went to a big mall with a Spanish flair and crazy cheap prices. Fred bought us lunch and they headed off toward home in the afternoon. We swam and Scott Barbequed chicken poolside! I moved kids around as Anika had been sleeping in our walk in closet! Now Shaina and Tia are sharing a room with twin beds, and Madie is in the biggest/highest Queen size bed EVER, and Anika is on a matress on the floor in Madie's room.
It is amazing how warm it is here, we're running the air conditioning!! The complex is beautiful, and most of the people are very friendly. Even the poor older man resting on his air matress in the pool...4 girls in new snorkeling equipment make quite a ... er...splash! Actually, my family can totally clear the pool AND the pool area pretty fast!

dropping like flies

So maybe going from -20 to +20 isn't as good for the body as it is for the mind! Shaina and I were both brewing a (post drama) cold as we left, I'm feeling better and I think Shaina's on the mend, but poor Tia is going down! She has a fever and cough - I'm drugging her up and hoping we can use the major league BASEBALL tickets that Scott gleefully brought home yesterday. Scott is up early today and off for a run in his brand new (45.00) New Balance runners. There was a small mishap with nachos and haagen daz last night...

We are never getting in the car again.

When we left this morning at 8:00, it was +10!!! We cheered every single didgit the weather improved, to a whopping +22!!
Today we saw the Hoover Dam, got to walk on the new Hoover Dam bridge, (too cool!), watched Scott jump between 2 time zones, - '10:00 -(jump) 9:00'!! Watched Anika jump between 2 time zones (?) - '9 o'clock, (jump), 30!!'.
We saw cacti bigger than us, pulled Scott's motorbike out of the trailer, stopped for burgers and frosty's, saw lots of bathrooms, saw a resteraunt menu that included 'rattlesnake snack - when available, please allow 30 minutes', went 'hmmmm' about that, completed our 100 count American Flags, watched several movies in the car, and ARRIVED in PHOENIX, barely worse for wear!

Vegas BABY!

Everytime we travel through Las Vegas I feel like everyone is saying, "who brings their kids to Vegas?", but that didn't stop us from teaching Anika, when she was 1 and we were travelling through, to say "Vegas Baby!". Now she thinks that's the name of the city, and everytime she talks about it she says "when we were in Vegasbaby..".
Taking an anotomically obsessed 3 year old to Ceasers Palace with all the greek myth statues and art is a treat, because then when you sit down with her to wait for the rest of the family who have gone into the bathrooms, she might point to a painting directly above the man who is sitting on a bench across from you and say "Mommy, look at that boy! ..... He has a penis!!". And then all you can say is, "yes, yes he does."
And while the mature (er) children of the family may comment that the scantily clad billboard picture is 'disturbing', the same 3 year old might laugh hysterically and say "hahahahahaha butt!!!".
HOWEVER! The dancing water fountain, timed to music, was awesome, as were the live flamingos, the ducks the girls chased across the park, and,oh yes, the PLUS 10 weather!!

HOWEVER!! The buffet, oh the buffet!!

What the room may have lacked in lustre was more than made up by the buffet at the Flamingo!!!
If you are counting calories or not interested, please skip this post, however my own Mother requested a play by play of my vegas meal, so here it is...dedicated to the woman who raised me!
The buffet at the Flamingo is divided into 3 sections, 2 food sections border the desssssssseeeeerrrttttt section, which was difficult to drag Anika past without stopping!! (okay, we stopped, but we didn't pick anything up until after)
There are stations for different types of food, seafood, asian, mexican, etc, etc, etc!! You could make your own noodle soup, putting all kinds of noodles, veg, meats, wontons, cilantro, mint, etc into a bowl, which you took to the counter to be boiled and topped with broth. mmmmmm! The mexican food included tiny tortillas which you could warm on a frying pan before adding all the different mexican toppings you would expect, also a nacho bar, (lost a couple of kids there, and Scott whispered to me - 'they're eating nachos!!??' there was prime rib and all the veg fixing you would expect, there were big crab legs and huge shrimp, some delicious salads, there was sushi for Tia, who peels off the gross seaweed and yucky rice just to get to the fish (and yes, she's grossed out by....a sandwich??!!). The buffet stretches on and on, and it is difficult to know where to start....or finish.
BUT the heart of it for the kids, of course, was the desserts!!!! There is a serve yourself soft ice cream bar with sundae toppings such as gummy bears, cookie crumbles, sauces, m&m's, and lots more, lots of really good cookies, we had a delicious chocolate raspberry mousse cake, Scott had a made to order crepe with cherries and whipped cream and chocolate sauce, there was a yummy green tea pudding thingy in a tiny cup, we shared a bunch of different things. The piece de resistence for Anika was the fresh cotton candy on a stick - oh, and the chocolate fountain - she left covered in chocolate from cheek to cheek and up to her elbows on each arm, clutching her bag of cotton candy - much to the amusement of the waiters and customers alike.

if it sounds too good...

Murphy's law states (I think), that if you see rooms in Vegas (on the strip) for 35.00, you should book them right away, because if you show up at said hotel and request said rooms, they will charge you 80.00. Also, as this room was REALLY a 35.00 room, which was probably perfectly lovely in the early 70's. Murphy would probably also tell you that if there are beer caps under the bed and dirty carpets where things stick to your feet when you walk across it, that it is perhaps not the cleanest room we have seen thus far. Murphy would KNOW that no matter how many times the slightly frantic Mother tells the 4 'happy to be out of the car' children NOT to LAY DOWN on the carpet, they gleefully forget every 4 minutes and do just that. SO. Instead of the 2 35.00 ajoining rooms we had anticipated we had 2 queens in a room with no underlay, and 4 children who ademently refuse to share a bed with anyone....

American prices

The milk at Walmart is 1.99 a gallon.
Gas is right around 3.00 a gallon, give or take a few cents.
Sweetened Condensed milk is 1.17 (!!!!)
Oh yes, and you can eat Chicken Fajitas, 1/2 rack of ribs, and endless chips and Salsa at Chili's for 20 bucks!!!!

Part 2

Games we are playing so far:
- Count (100) American flags - we are in the 60's somewhere - you have to be under 15 to remember these things. Anika is getting great at spotting (existing and nonexisting) flags.

- Gum tasting - we are taking turns choosing gum at gas stations, trying to find the weirdest flavors we can. Today we tasted Extra Key Lime Pie...

-Rate that Restroom - 4 girls have to go to the bathroom...a lot...and we have been giving our stops a rating of 1 to 5 stars. We deduct points for cold seats, not enough stalls, dirt...and Shaina deducts points for ugly paint or bad flooring choice. Somehow a bad star rating reflects badly on the driver, for (his) choice of stops, so today Scott even drove right on through a station where he thought he (I mean the bathroom), would get a bad rating!!

Also, did I mention that we are pulling Scott's work trailer? It is full of toys - the girls bikes, scooters, rollerblades, a couple of suitcases, and - oh yes, Scott's motorbike! Anyway, I drove for about an hour and a half today - the first time I have EVER pulled a trailer!

"2 1/2 states down!"

Feb. 27
Well, we have 2 full day of driving under our belts, the kids are all still alive, Scott and I are still speaking to each other...
Actually we had a great 2 days!! Yesterday we got as far as Great Falls, Montana, and had supper at Fudruckers - my favourite!! We had time to swim in the pool twice!
Today we pulled in to Salt Lake City, and the kids are ready to swimmmmm - gotta go!!