Our Day at the Ballpark

Today we went to a spring training baseball game at Hi Corbett Field between the Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies. The weather was perfect (upper 70's), which made for an awesome spring afternoon in Tucson. We had hamburgers, hotdogs, chips, nachos, brownies, cookies, slushies and churros ... all the junk you normally eat at the ball park out of tradition. The twins were great and lasted alot longer than we expected (8 out of the 9 innings). That was fine since the Rockies scored the runs that won the game in the bottom of the 8th innning. It is so much more fun taking the entire family out to events now that the twins are getting older and can hang with the rest of us.

Elyssa's Stitches

Thursday night little Lyssie was cruising around the house and ran into the kids bathroom ... unfortunately there was some water on the floor by the bathtub and she had a serious "wipe out." She slipped and hit her chin on the side of the bathtub. Amy ended up taking Lyssie into the Emergency Room at University Medical Center around 10:00 that night. She finally got home around 2:00 a.m. and little Lyssie had 2 stitches in her chin and a pretty red crayon bandaid. Amy said that everyone kept coming into the room where they were at to see the "cutest little girl in the ER that night." The staff there was super friendly and Lyssie talked to everyone. They gave her a stuffed duck and a popsicle for being such a little hero when she got her stitches.

A Big Surprise: Joshie's Haircut

Joshie really surprised us this evening. David and I were planning on getting our haircut after dinner and we were talking about it at the dinner table. Joshie chimed in "haircut" and touched his own hair. We asked him if he wanted to get his haircut and he said "yes ... haircut." So we took him with us to Great Clips where he patiently waited his turn to get his haircut. As soon as the chair was empty and the stylist invited him over, he ran up to the chair and climbed right up. He let her put the cape over him, touch the clippers and then cut his hair. Thank goodness I had my cell phone with me and could take this action picture of a happy boy getting his haircut. Amazing!!! Our little guy is growing up.

Our Little Monkey

Elyssa and Joshua's cousins, Zoey and Noah, came over to play on Friday. They had fun playing together and managed to all get in the wagon together. It is so fun to live close to family and have our kids play together. Elyssa and Joshua get so excited to see and play with Zoey and Noah.

Joshua decided he wanted to be a monkey. He pushed the table himself up to the rings and kept pulling himself up on them. He had a lot of fun and kept doing it over and over. I can't believe how strong his little arms are. He is definitely our little monkey.

Elyssa and Machella swinging together.

Elyssa is Finally Wearing Barrettes

Elyssa has never wanted to wear barrettes and would always take them out so I just gave up trying to get her to wear them. Her bangs are getting long, though, and we are trying to grow them out so they would always be in her face. I finally tried again two days ago to get her to wear them and lo and behold she liked it and kept it in her hair all day. Today she even wore one to Church and it was still in her hair after Nursery.

I love the look Joshua is giving Elyssa.

Happy Birthday to my Honey!

Sunday was my wonderful husband's birthday. We had family over and Donnie grilled hot dogs. He requested a pineapple upside-down cake. He got some camping equipment (camping stove, ax, camping pans) and other things. It was fun. He is really enjoying camping and going to scout activities with David. He is such a great Dad and loves spending time with his family. I am excited to see what this next year brings for him and also for our family. Happy Birthday, Honey!

EYO Scout Outing - Pima Air & Space Museum

Today the Eleven-Year-Old Scouts went on a trip to the Pima Air & Space Museum. I was fortunate enough to get the afternoon off so that I could go with them. David really enjoyed seeing all the planes and I enjoyed telling him about them.

There were a few planes the scouts could actually climb into and explore. A retired Air Force One from the JFK era was on display. After seeing how tight the accomodations were in that plane, I don't feel so bad about flying commercial.

I could see David as the next Top Gun ... "I feel the need ... the need for speed ... "

We see A-10's flying around all the time. It was cool for David to see one up close. He was impressed about how much I knew about all the different planes (I might as well enjoy impressing him while I can ... in a few more years when he's a teen he will barely recognize my existence).

Another fun outing with David and the EYO Scouts.

Arizona Desert Museum

We've had a lot of fun exploring Tucson and the surrounding area since we've moved here. Today we spent the better part of the day at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. The weather was just right and it was slightly overcast with a nice breeze. It made it very pleasant as we hiked around the trails and looked at all the exhibits. It was interesting to see that there were signs in the parking lot to not feed the coyotes (we only saw wolves in one of the exhibits ... nothing roaming out in the open).

Along with plenty of cacti (saguaro, prickly pear, barrel, etc.) ... there was also a good amount of wild flowers in the desert ... a nice and interesting contrast.

One of the activities the kids did was to go around the trails in the park and stamp their books with the tracks of animals that are native to the area. We hit all the trails except one 1/2-mile section, which we'll get the next time we go.

The kids posed well for most of the pictures. They are always good sports every time we go somewhere and either mom or dad have the camera with them. As you can see below ... their personalities sure shine through.

The twins love to run and explore and climb on anything they can. They stayed away from all the cacti (owies) and were extremely interested in all the different wildlife exhibits. They never walked anywhere ... they ran!!! We're getting to the point with them where we don't really need to take their stroller (which is nice).

The next pictures are of some of the wildlife we saw in the desert exhibits (hummingbirds, mule deer, mexican wolves, bighorn sheep and a mountain lion).

Another fun day exploring our new home. Next week it may be Old Tucson or Tombstone.

David's First Boy Scout Campout

David had his first Eleven-Year-Old Scout campout at the beginning of the month. As you can see, he was a natural at camping his first night out.

One of the requirements for advancement is to prepare, cook and clean up a meal on a campout. We had foil dinners (sausage, potatoes, peppers, onions and cheese). David did a great job cutting all the peppers up for dinner.

It was fun setting up the tent and sleeping in it all night (another requirement). We didn't get to bed until after midnight and then we were up at about 6:30 in the morning. Although we were in the desert, the temperature dropped down to about 38 degrees (a little nippy). David ended up wrapping up in my fleece inside of his sleeping bag just to stay warm.

David couldn't wait to get in front of the fire quick enough the next morning (along with the other scouts).

After breakfast ... David spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon working on advancement requirements. He filled a portable stove with gas, primed and started it, learned and passed off a variety of knots, learned how to sharpen an axe and use a saw, and finally use a compass on an orienteering course the older scouts had set up.




David had a great first campout with the Scouts and is looking forward to the next one at Mt. Lemmon in April. The cool thing about these Eleven-Year-Old campouts is that fathers get to attend. We have a handful more throughout the year before David turns 12 and goes out with just the Deacon Scouts. As you can see in the picture below, he survived the campout (and so did I ... I'm not used to sleeping on the ground ... maybe the couch, but not the ground).
He passed off the remaining requirements for Tenderfoot and he has his Board of Review Sunday after church. He is excited to be a Boy Scout and is working really hard to get his First Class Scout rank before he turns 12. We are so proud of David and all the effort he puts into being a top notch Scout.