Meteors, Disneyland, Christmas Parties, Birthdays (Whew, Part 3!)

My goodness- the craziness continues around here- but it's all good!

We had kind of a cool, "space" event here two weeks ago.  We were minding our own business, eating our dinner, nice and family like when we hear an enormous BOOM that shook the house, rattled the windows and scared the dog.  It felt like something huge hit our house and scared us just a teensy bit.  Dad spent the next 20 minutes scouting around the house, the roof etc. to make sure our house wasn't going to fall down.  He found not a thing.  We found out the next morning that a meteor entered the atmosphere over northwest Tucson, about 30 miles from here, broke into pieces and crashed to earth.  Kind of cool, huh?

We recovered from that in time to make a quick, blitz weekend to Disneyland!  Oh my gosh!  We always have such a great time when we go and this was no exception.  This was the first time we have ever stayed at a Disney hotel in the park so that was kind of fun.

We stayed at Paradise Pier and they had this cool, beautiful Christmas tree in the lobby.  Disney is so awesome for Christmas.

We got quick checked into our hotel on Friday night and headed straight over to California Adventure for dinner and a quick ride on Soarin' Over California before heading back for bed.  We had a big day planned as the park opened at 7AM for us.  Dad set the alarm for 6 but he really didn't need to as I had everyone up at 5:30.  It was the start of a 14 hour day at Disney.  (We wanted to make sure we got our money's worth.)

 Here we are at sunrise in front of the castle.

As usual, we tore it up.  We started in Carsland because that is always crazy busy so you need to get there early.  After a relatively short 40 minute wait, we hopped into our waiting car.  Half way through the ride, it broke down so we sat for about 20 minutes, taking in everything and bonding as a family.

We finally got going again and because we got stuck, we got to ride again!  Without even getting out of our car!  You NEVER could ride Cars twice without a two hour wait so when they told us just to stay seated if we wanted to go again, you better believe our butts were firmly planted with seat belts fastened.  We watched a family in front of us actually get out and couldn't imagine what they were thinking.  Maybe someone had to pee- that would be the only explanation.

We took a short break for some Mickey ice cream and then managed to get in the Haunted Mansion, Indiana Jones and Splash Mountain (x2!) in addition to some smaller rides.

We were up at the crack of dawn on Sunday to get to the airport and we all slept on the plane and everyone was in bed by 7:30 Sunday night.  An exhausting but super fun weekend- we rode Cars twice!!
This past week was pretty quiet.  It was my last week of school, dad's last week of work so it really starting to feel like Christmas now.

We had a nice little storm move through on Friday.  These winter storm always make mom's morning runs really, really pretty.

Saturday night, we had our friends over for a Christmas party.  The adults all sounded like they were 80 talking about their heartburn and comparing remedies, talking about Neti pots, back and neck pain, plantar fascitis.  God lord. BORING. I don't want to grow up!  Us kids kept it lively by running non-stop for the entire evening.
We finally collapsed into bed and slept hard.  We woke up on Sunday to celebrate Richmas!  I was a little crabby in the morning due to overwhelming fatigue but after a forced nap, I rallied and I think dad ended up having a pretty good birthday.  It involved a huge chocolate cake at 2 in the afternoon so how bad could it be??  Either way, we wish dad a fabulous day!

 Hope everyone has a merry Christmas and we'll see you in a week!

Whew! Part Deux

We have barreled head long into the holiday season- it has been another crazy busy weekend but tons o' fun.

We forgot to include some pictures of us decorating for Christmas in our shorts last weekend.  It was awesome considering that Denver is experiencing record cold.  Have we mentioned that we are glad to be back??

It did get a tad bit chilly over the week here- we dropped all the way down to 50 degrees for a high on Thursday.  It was chilly enough that mom broke out the hot cocoa and even had a cup herself.  That doesn't happen often here so we took our time and really enjoyed it.

On Friday, the lower grades at my school put on a show for Christmas.  Mom and dad both played hooky from work and headed over to watch me sing.

I am the one in the second row with green head band.  My music teacher made them and glued spicy gum drops to the paper.  When we got home, I ate the top half of the gum drop.  I've never let a little glue stop my consumption of candy......

After a fun afternoon at school, we met our friends up at the fancy mall for dinner and the snow fall.  It actually felt cold enough for snow- we bundled up good and had a great time jumping around in the "snow".

All was fun and good until I got some "snow" in my eye.  Turns out it was soap and it doesn't feel to good in the ol' eyeball.  So much for a winter wonderland.  Once I recovered from that trauma we all got back to having a fun time.

Saturday was another full, fun day.  Our cousin Becky from Phoenix was in town to run in the Tucson Marathon so we met her for lunch.  She brought her dog, Dre, who is almost as spoiled as I am.  The past year or so, I have reverted to toddler hood and will only things if they are in the shape of a nugget or noodle and the menu at the restaurant had no noodles or nuggets (it was a "healthy" restaurant and it was delicious- for the adults).  After some tense negotiations, I agreed to the grilled chicken breast but only because Dre got one too.  He finished his a lot faster than I did but I did eventually finish it- which earned me a scoop of snicker doodle ice cream that was enormously tasty.  It made the chicken totally worth it.

After lunch, we headed home for a quick pit stop before heading out to one of my classmate's birthday party.  It was at awesome indoor kid gym with obstacle courses, games, swinging ropes.  And the best part, at least according to mom and dad was that Borderlands Brewery was right next door.  Mom and dad checked me in and then headed next door to hang out with all the other parents and sample some local brew.  Mom thought it was the best birthday party ever!
We had to leave the party a little early because mom and dad had a show to go to.  They managed to get my old preschool teacher to babysit again.  Yeah!  She wanted to take me to see the Zoo Lights at the zoo so I got dropped off at her house.  She and I had a fabulous time, drank to much cocoa and stayed up too late.
While Ms. Barb and I were running around the zoo, mom and dad headed out to catch "American Idiot".  It is a Broadway show written by the band Green Day.  They both loved it so it was a successful night all around.
On Sunday, Grandpa Vern and Grandma Sue came over to take us out for Dad's upcoming birthday, AKA Richmas.  We headed over to the Good Egg which rivals Snooze in Denver for yumminess.  Everyone left fat and happy which was good because we all had to do some power shopping for Christmas.  Mom headed off in her direction, dad and I headed out in another and everyone came home tired but with goals met.
We are wrapping up the evening with a little chicken tortilla soup and Finding Nemo.  A nice relaxing end to a crazy weekend.
Have a great week!

Whew! ( In a Good Way!)

Happy Thanksgiving to all 3 of my faithful blog readers!  What a weekend it has been for us!  For starters, I only had two days of school.  But since we spent Tuesday afternoon prepping and eating a Thanksgiving feast at school, I'd say we only had 1.5 days of learnin'.  And then I only had swim practice once this week and religion class was cancelled so it was pretty stellar for me all around.

Dad had the whole week off and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Mom was the only one to put in any kind of effort this weekend but even she only worked 2 1/2 days.

Wednesday afternoon, we headed out for a few nights of camping with some good friends.  We could not have planned a better few days weather wise.  70's during the day, 30's at night.  We got to our campsite around 3, pulled out our camp chairs, opened a beer and enjoyed this view.....

While mom and dad sat around, I got out my bike and tore up the place.  Our friends finally arrived around 4 with my favorite camping friend, Madeline and the fun really began.  Once the adults got all caught up on the visiting stuff and Madeline and I were worn out from riding our bikes, we hit the sack for a good night's sleep.
We were all up early and since it was a tad bit chilly, Madeline and I ate our cold breakfast in the comfort of the RV.  It was tough.

It warmed up quite nicely and the dads headed out for a Thanksgiving mountain bike ride while the ladies stayed back and lounged.  Madeline and I got in some bubble action for awhile and when we got bored of that, we got back on our bikes.

We finally managed to talk the moms out of their chairs and onto their bikes and headed up the road to a hiking/biking trail.  We were lucky enough to run into the dads coming back from their ride so we went on a nice family ride- even though the boys were bonking kind of big time.

We had one kind of big stream crossing that was a little nerve wracking.  I made it across the first time but on the way back, I fell into the water half way through, landed on my knees and came up crying.  Mom and Ms. Audrey waded in, got me upright and out of the water.  Once I stopped crying, I decided it was time to try it again.  I wasn't going to let some silly little creek stop me.  So back to the other side I went, got a nice, fast start and I made it!  Mom was super impressed by my determination.

We made it back to our cozy little camp site and got a rousing game of Corn Hole going.  It ended up being more of  a "pelt the dads with bean bags" kind of game but it was fun either way.

We finally started getting hungry close to sunset so Mom sent Madeline and I to set the table.  She bought all kinds of fancy stuff from the Dollar Store.  It looked just like Martha Stewart had visited our place.  Really.  We had ordered dinner from the grocery store and picked it up Wednesday,  so all we had to do was plop the food into pans and reheat it.  Easy-peasy and pretty tasty too.

Dad and Mr. Mike had the fun job of carving the pre-cooked turkey with a pairing knife on our wobbly dining table.  They did a commendable job and it all tasted just like turkey.

Here was our Thanksgiving sunset- a perfect ending to a perfect day.

We finally sat down to dinner by flashlight.  It was pretty chilly by that time so we bundled up but I think it made the dinner taste that much better.

After a fun dinner and more hanging out, we finally hit the hay expecting another good night's sleep.  We were doing great until about 2 AM when our low battery indicator started beeping and wouldn't stop.  Soooo- we ended up shutting everything down which included our heat!  Holy crap!  How do we live without heat??  It was 35 degrees outside! Stupid RV.  So we get out of bed all bleary eyed in the morning only to see our friends getting out of their trailer all bleary eyed too.  Turns out their battery went out too so they didn't have heat either.  Then we look across the way at the tent campers who seemed perfectly warm and content- and probably laughing at us if they knew the trauma we went through.  Anyway, we survived and we didn't have to resort to cannibalism or anything gross like that.

We got home about noon on Friday and spent the day recovering.
We got up nice and early on Saturday, got our exercise in, cleaned the house and then got going on Christmas!  We picked out our tree and got it up and decorated.  Dad worked hard and got the outside lights all up- one of his favorite things to do.  We are feeling very festive around here now

Sunday was another busy, busy day.  We had Grandpa Vern, Grandma Sue and our neighbors over for Thanksgiving Dinner, round two.  Mom made a big ol' turkey, mashed taters, gravy, corn pudding and a pie.  She put grandma in charge of the sweet potatoes.  Everything turned out really tasty and mom is thinking she may have this turkey/gravy thing figured out.  We'll see next year.
So, now that we are all rolling around the house, unable to button our pants, we declare this Thanksgiving officially over.  It was a great one and now we are off to Christmas!
Have a wonderful week!

A Good Week

We've just had a good, happy week all around and a nice relaxing weekend to wrap it all up.  

We had an awesome storm come through this weekend- it started raining Friday morning at 8 AM and didn't stop until Saturday afternoon.  It was glorious!

It doesn't rain a whole lot here and it certainly doesn't get very cold and this weekend, we had some of both.  It definitely made home bodies out of us.  We didn't even go out for our usual Friday night out dinner because it was just to cozy at home.  We went to bed Friday night listening to the pitter of rain and woke up to it Saturday morning.  Mom couldn't run and dad couldn't ride so we made the most of that and got stuff done around the house.  Mom finally got the rest (well, most of the rest) of her pictures hung up and then organized her spice drawer.  Exciting stuff, I know, but wait until you hear what dad did.  He shredded boxes of paper that have been sitting in our dining room since we moved in.  It took all morning and was super fun!

We finally got motivated to get out of the house in the afternoon because I had a play date with some friends from school.  Mom actually got out of her jammies, showered and got dressed before she drove me over.  My friend's are twins that are in my class.  Max and Claire and I had a fabulous time and I hid under the couch because I didn't want to go home.  Then as usual, I was a complete grump for hours after.  I have this nasty habit of being a complete sourpuss after playdates.  It got so bad in Denver, we had to put the kabash on anything after school.  We'll see how it goes here.....

We did our dinner out on Saturday instead and I fell asleep at the table- that may explain some of my grumpiness.  We did manage to get to bed early and slept in on Sunday.  Mom was able to get out for a run because it finally stopped raining and it was a beautiful morning.

The leaves are finally starting to change here so it looks likes Fall has made its appearance!

We had a pretty low keyed Sunday because it was down right "cold" here!  We had a high of about 53 degrees and really didn't want to leave the house.  And people wonder why we were miserable in Denver!  Mom made a huge pot of beef stew (Mr. Walker style) and we hunkered down to wait out this miserable weather.

Meanwhile, over in Albuquerque, cousin Sophia was not to impressed with the cold either.  We all knew she was smart!

We have the makings of another great week- dad is off all week, I only have school Monday and Tuesday and then it's Thanksgiving!  The best of all holidays!  Have a great one and we will see you on Sunday!

Another week down and another week closer to the holidays.  It seems like just yesterday that Thanksgiving was weeks and weeks away.  Now, it is next week- dad and I are saying woo-hoo! because we have the week off and mom is saying *&^%( because Thanksgiving is next week.

Dad was out of town for the first part of the week- back in Washington D.C. ( a little deja vu) so mom and I were solo.  We went to Eegee's for dinner on Monday, ate cereal on Tuesday and let things go a little but it was all good.  Dad came home for a couple of nights and then left for an overnight boys camping trip so mom and I had a Girl's Night Out on Friday at Cheesecake Factory.  We did a little shopping after that and bought me a super cute new dress for Christmas.  Mom is really jealous because if it came in her size, she would have totally bought it.

Dad got home on Saturday afternoon and we headed out to the patio to enjoy the awesome November weather.  

 About an hour after this tranquil picture was taken, mom started feeling not so good and ended up with some stomach flu/food poisoning thing that kept her up all stinkin' night.  You'll remember that when I had the same thing a week ago, dad was so awesome and slept in my room all night with me.  No such luck for mom.  He slept in my room again- which was probably for the best.  It wasn't pretty....

On Sunday, I had a swim-a-thon to raise money for my swim team.  It was supposed to be a family fun day but since mom still couldn't stand up, dad and I went by ourselves.

I did awesome and swam 50 laps.  I got to swim my last few laps with a former Olympian and UofA grad (of course neither dad or I could remember her name:( ) and I beat her!  I think she let me win but I will take it.  She and I spent a lot of time talking about Minecraft- my new obsession.

It was a great day and by the time we got home, mom was back among the living so all was right with the world.  Wishing everyone a safe and relaxing Thanksgiving!

Welcome Baby Brendan!

 I did not have a very exciting week but we will get to that in a minute.  The big news on the Walker side of things is the addition of a new cousin!  After kind of a scary delivery, Brendan Walker joined us on Saturday.

After an extra day in the hospital, Auntie Erin and Baby Brendan finally made it home on Monday.  Look how happy Sophia is to have a new play thing!  She is apparently already treating him how every little brother should be treated- poking him in the belly and pulling his hat off.  Off to a good start and it should be years of fun to come!

My week was not nearly so exciting.  School, swim lessons and first communion classes.  My teacher came down with viral meningitis and was admitted to the hospital for a few days.  Fortunately, the viral kind of meningitis is not the scary kind so she is doing much better and will be back on Tuesday.  I really, really missed her though and will be happy when she's back!
I did not get meningitis but I did get some kind of stomach thing and was throwing up every hour on the hour from 6:00 PM Thursday night until 4:00 AM on Friday.  Because dad is a much better parent than mom will ever be, he slept on the trundle bed in my room with me for the whole night and so was up every hour on the hour as well.  He also got to stay home with me on Friday but I did feel better by then and by Saturday, I was bouncing off the walls and ready to go.
We had a very quiet weekend and spent most of Saturday just enjoying the fact that we had nothing to do and didn't feel like doing anything.
Dad is going to be riding in a 24 hour mountain bike race in February (with none other than Mr. Walker!) so we got up early Sunday and headed out to my friend Madeline's house so her dad and my dad could get in a training ride.  The ladies stayed back home and mom needled Ms. Audrey's plantar fascia while Madeline and I played Wii.  It was another nice relaxing day.
Monday morning, dad had to fly out to Washington D.C. for work.  Here's the twist- it's for his old job.  So the first time he has to travel in months and months isn't for his new job but his old one.  It seems they just love him and can't let him go!  He comes home on Wednesday and I already can't wait.
Have a great rest of the week!

Oooooo- A Fun Week!

Well- this has been a fun week for me with all kinds of adventures!  I go to an Episcopal school, or Catholic lite as mom likes to say.  The lower school (grades K-3) go to chapel every Tuesday.  This Tuesday, my class got to be "worker bees" at the mass.  Some of us got to read from the bible, some of us passed the collection basket and I got to carry the candle in the opening and closing processionals.  I think it was kind the most fun and important job because I got to wear a special robe.  I had to leave class early to go get fitted so that made it extra fun.  Anything that gets you out of class early is fun- right?

As if that wasn't enough fun for the week, Thursday was Halloween!  I decided to be Princess Leia from Return of the Jedi when she landed on planet Endor.  Mom made my costume and was kind of proud of it.  People actually knew who I was!  It's a good thing too because my costume involved a trip to an army surplus store which is a whole different world that mom doesn't really want to go back to anytime soon.

We headed out for trick or treating around 6:30 and it was a very different scene from our last two years up in Denver.  Up north, it's a big party- there are mobs and mobs of kids, parents are drinking adult beverages and we  always ran out of candy to hand out.  This year, a lot of porch lights were unlit, the people who did answer the door tended to be north of 70 years old and the only candy we gave out was directly into our mouths.  Never the less, I scored a substantial amount of goodies and there were a few really fun houses so I was a happy camper.

Dad even got in on the magic.  He borrowed a "real" light saber from someone at work (only at Raytheon!) and went as Lord Palpatine- the bad guy.  We totally rocked it!

The weekend brought even more good times.  Mom had a girl's night out planned for Saturday so dad and Uncle Brian planned a campout with the kids for that night too.  Which means mom got yet another free weekend.  She had a great time catching up with all her mom friends and commiserating.  It was good, cheap therapy!
Meanwhile, I was having even more fun.  We "camped out" in the RV at Catalina State Park again.   We brought a lot of energy and volume to the retirement village.  I think we were the youngest by about 70 years but they all needed a little waking up!

After a  not so restful night of sleep (dad kept stealing my covers and Evan fell out of bed) we had a hardy breakfast and then headed down to the horse stables.

There was a really nice man there saddling up his horse and he let me ride it around for a little while.  The horse's name is Delta Dawn and I think I want one for Christmas now.....

I look pretty comfortable, huh?

We got home around 11 on Sunday to find mom working away in the kitchen.  You'd think she was getting us ready for an episode of "Doomsday Preppers" the way she was going.  She got dinner prepped and ready for Monday night, made some healthy banana zucchini muffins for snacks and then finally made some Pan de Muerto in celebration of Dia de los Muertos.  It was little nerve wracking as mom doesn't do yeast bread very often but it was sure tasty.  We've made it through almost a whole loaf already.  The other loaf goes into work tomorrow- bummer!

It's looking like a quiet week ahead.  Hope everyone enjoys theirs!