Way to end a vacation

So all went well during our first long distance family vacation. Sure the kids had their moments, but for the most part they were really well behaved and had a blast.

We got back home early Wednesday morning and everyone crashed once we unloaded the car and confirmed that the cat was still alive. As predicted we all slept in late the next morning and then got ready to head off to Bend to pickup Sadie dog and visit with the grandparents.

Our visit was going to be short, however I didn't realize just how little visiting I would be doing. During the night on Wednesday I developed a flu bug that kept me up all night racing to and from the bathroom. I was useless on Thursday and spent the entire day sleeping or groggy and in a daze when I was somewhat awake. Thankfully I awoke this morning feeling much better and ready for the trip home.

I wish I could report that no one else got sick. This evening while putting Hannah to bed she complained that her tummy hurt so we gave her some pepto in hopes of beating any type of sickness. Little did we know that Johnathan should have gotten some also. Just shortly after putting him to bed he got up sick! Now he is upset about possible not going to see the movie Monsters v.s. Aliens tomorrow.

Here is knocking on wood that he is feeling better in the morning and that no one else get sick.

Having a great time!

As most everyone knows who reads this blog, we went on our first long distance family vacation. On Wednesday March 18th we boarded a plane in Portland and flew for two hours to Phoenix Arizona.

I will be honest I was worried about putting the kids on a plane. Rather I was worried how Hannah would act on the plane. She surprised me and manage to sit for almost the entire flight. Not till we were about 30 minutes from arriving did she start to wiggle around and want to get up. That was manageable and I was really happy that they both did so well. Johnathan loved the flight and had a blast looking out the window. They both enjoyed flying over the Grand Canyon.

Since we have been here we have been on the go almost non-stop. The first night it was just checking into the hotel and checking out the pool. Then going to visit the cousins for the first time. Hannah just wanted to stay here at the hotel and swim, so we made it an early night. But it was nice to see family and visit face to face for a while. It has been 3 1/2 years since I was here!

Thursday we spent most of the day playing with the cousins and just hanging out. We got to go play at the park and as always I took a ton of photos. I will have plenty of photos to scrapbook our trip! We called it an early day since Friday we had a long trip ahead of us to go see some wild animals and enjoy the Arizona sun.

After a two hour drive we arrived at a neat place called Out of Africa. As the name suggests there are a lot of animals from the African landscape. We got to see zebras, giraffes, lions and tigers just to name a few. Again I took a lot of photos and Jim got stuff on video. At first the kids were not impressed because we had to wait in a long line. But once things got moving they had fun and enjoyed seeing all the animals.

Saturday brought another busy day, we got up early and headed to the local renaissance festival. We crossed under the gate and into a different moment in time. We saw knights, kings, queens, noble men and women and fairies! We watched a really cool show where the guy used bull whips and the finale was a whip on fire. Johnathan really enjoyed that show. The big event of the day was to watch the joust. There was a lot to see and do at the festival and we enjoyed as much of it as we could in one day. Both of the kids have decided we should come back again next year. Our day ended with a wonderful visit with Aunt Mary, Uncle Mike and the cousins. Uncle Mike did a wonderful job on the BBQ! It was nice to just sit around and visit, but we were all happy to head back to the hotel and fall into bed after such a busy day. Oh and Jim and I got sun burned....see what happens when we Oregonians get out into the sun!

We spent all this morning visiting with family. We enjoyed an awesome brunch prepared by Aunt Mary....Thanks Aunt Mary! Once again it was nice to relax and visit. The kids had fun playing in the back yard with each other. Logan was very interested in the video camera that Uncle Jim was using and had a great time watching himself being filmed. We all enjoyed a dip in the hotel pool, even the warm blooded Powell's from Arizona! It was a nice relaxing day spent with family.

Our trip isn't over yet, we still have two days left here in the sun state. Not sure what adventures we will be involved in, but I am sure we will all have a good time. Oh and I will post photos of our different outings once we are home and I have a chance to upload everything and sort through them!

Famous Explorer

This evening we had a visit from the famous explorer Francisco Pizzaro!




Johnathan has been working on his explorer speech for over a week now and he knows almost all of it by heart. Yesterday I found a local costume shop that happened to have a Spanish conquistador helmet so I bought it. This saved me from having to make one, which is what we originally thought about doing. And we made the fluffy collar out of coffee filters. Having a costume was part of his requirements for the speech. I think we did a pretty good job of coming up with a costume. I will admit that I helped him with some of the wording, but he did all the research and wrote 90% of it himself.

Forgetful

I swear there are times that my son would forget his own head if it wasn't attached.

Tonight was his first official boy scout meeting. I took him and was prepared to stay when one of the other parents offered to take him home since I had Hannah with me. I took them up on that offer and told Johnathan to remember his book and jacket and that I would see him later. Well he just got home and was frantic wanting to know if I had his jacket. I told him no that was one of the things he was supposed to bring home. He is now really upset because it is his favorite jacket. I hope tomorrow I can either go see if it is at the meeting place or maybe by chance one of the other parents picked it up after the meeting. I guess he isn't old enough to be responsible and I will have still go to the meetings with him.

All Done

Our painting is finally done! After working like a mad women for the past week trying to get all those stupid walle's off the kids bedroom walls and cleaning all their junk out, I can now sit back and admire the pretty white walls just waiting for smudges and finger prints.

Johnathan's room looks different with all of his street signs and cars off the wall. Sadly he has outgrown the little boy stuff. Currently he is driving me crazy to help him build his model mustang he got for Christmas. I will have to give in this week and let him do little bits here and there once he works on his upcoming speech. He has also informed me that he will let me put up only two of his street signs...how generous of him.

Hannah wants her room to be very girly and have lots of flowers and pretty colors in it. She was very putout that we would not paint her walls pink. But she compromised with having her shelf painted purple and a few other things painted in colors of her choice. This week I am planning to go to Target and see about getting the vinyl stickers to put on her wall in the flower shapes. Hopefully I can find them and get them done while she is at school.

The rest of the house is painted also with the exception of our bedroom, but that is another entire weeks project! I would love to say I managed to complete all this work myself...and have everyone think wow what a super woman...however I had some expert help and advice. Without the help from my Dad none of this would have gotten done. So THANKS PAPA!