The Holiday Recap

Well, my goodness.  This has been a whirlwind of a few weeks.  Two weeks off of school and work went by in a flash and we were pretty busy.  When last we left you dear readers, mom and dad were in the middle of an exhaustion coma from all the socializing they had to do.  Well, the trend continued as they decided to see Star Wars again on Tuesday (just as good the second time around!) and then Foo Foo's birthday was Wednesday and we left bright and early Thursday to get to Albuquerque for Christmas.  The weather driving out was good- a little windy but nothing much else.  For the ride back, we left extra bright and early and managed to stay ahead of the nasty storm that shut all the highways down.  Good planning for us.  The time in between was filled mostly with food.  And a little bit of family.  Nana D made Foo Foo his requested chicken and waffles for his birthday dinner with cheesecake for desert.  Everyone left the table fat and happy.  Foo Foo played around with his newly learned camera skills and took some nice shots.

This one is probably mom's favorite of the whole season!

On Christmas Eve, mom and dad both got in nice workouts- mom got a great run in the snow and dad got in a nice mountain bike ride.  I got some quality time on the iPad. Oh. And with Nana and Mr. too.  After all that exercising, dad and I headed down to Dave and Busters for awhile and mom and Nana stayed home and baked some more cookies and ate said cookies.  After a quick mass (the priests at this church really know how to hustle us in and out and we weren't complaining about it!) we headed to Uncle Adam and Aunt Erin's house for Christmas Eve posole and tamales.  I was adventurous and stuck with a tasty quesadilla.  I eventually convinced everyone it was time to go home, because you know, Santa!  Mr. Walker and I made sure to get the cookies out AND reindeer food.  I'm thinking not many kids remember the reindeer so I was hoping for extra brownie points.

We don't really have any pictures from Christmas morning as it was barely controlled chaos but it does seem that the reindeer food worked.  I walked away with much more than necessary but you won't see me complaining.  It was a very great Christmas and it went way too fast.  For me and mom anyway.......

We got back into town on Sunday and mom went back to work on Monday while dad and I stayed home and "relaxed".  Between me having to finish up both a science fair project (mom's new least favorite thing) and an Arizona State project and all of dad's errands, we didn't have a lot of down time.  Whew.

On New Year's Eve, mom and dad continued the socialization torture and hosted a New Year's Eve party at our house.  They seriously thought they could convince everyone to leave by 9 so they could get a good night's sleep but no one took the hint and everyone hung in there until midnight.  The good news is that the house was empty by 12:22 and we were all in bed by 1.

The other good news is that we went camping on New Year's Day for the weekend.  Mom's New Year's Day tradition is to be well rested (didn't happen this year) and to be outside (did happen this year).  We took our RV to Parker Canyon Lake with our framily, the Goods.  They just bought a new towable trailer and were anxious to try it out.  It was spectacular.  A little on the chilly side all weekend but clear blue skies, beautiful scenery and quiet.   We had wonderful time and came back rested and ready to start the new year!

 Dad and I took our inflatable canoe out for a spin even though it was only 55 degrees and found some really cool coves in the lake.  We would totally come back to this spot.

 A full week of back to school and work for everyone this past week but we managed OK.  I had a friend sleep over on Saturday and guess how late we were up?  Go on!  Guess!  3:45 AM!  Good.  Ness.  Surpizingly, I'm still standing and too cranky.  Mom took me to see Riverdance this afternoon too and I managed to stay awake through the whole thing.  It will be an early bed time for all of us though!  Have a great week and we'll catch you on the flip side!

The Party Animals

So I'm not sure where my homebody, couch loving parents went because we have been out and about a whole bunch this week.  And by george, we're a little tired because of it!

First stop, the weather.  It has been C.O.L.D. cold here.  This was the low on one of the warmer mornings this week.  Mom broke out her Denver Puffy Coat and was mighty glad to have it too.  Most of our plants survived and our oranges didn't freeze so we weathered it pretty well.

Now. Onto our social life.  It all started Tuesday with dad going to a happy hour after work so mom and I hung out at home and ate some soup.
On Wednesday, our old neighbor Nicole, graduated from the University of Arizona with her Masters in Nursing so they had a little party at a pizza/beer garden place downtown.  She and her husband live in Dallas now so it was good to see them again.  That was a semi late night.
Thursday was the BIG BIG NIGHT.  Dad's birthday is December 22 and he is a long time Star Wars fan so many weeks ago, mom and I bought reserved seat tickets to opening night of the new Star Wars movie as a present for him.  We were all so very excited!  I had mom do my hair up in a Princess Leia style, hauled out my light saber and off we went.

We went to the very first showing at this theater and it happened to be in 3D so we got limited edition 3D Star Wars glasses.  Dad got Kylo Ren, I got a Storm Trooper and mom got BB8

It was an awesome movie and we have full plans to see it again.  I have already started the count down to the next movie coming out in May of 2017.

After two late nights, we were all toast on Friday.  Thankfully, dad and I only had 1/2 days at work/school so  I came home and took a nap.  The afternoon ended up being warm enough that we were able to get out back and sweep up more damn acorns.  Happy, happy, joy, joy.

I spent the weekend at the Mike Candrea, Arizona Wildcat softball camp.  I had a good time and learned some things to work on.

And if that wasn't enough, on Saturday evening, our neighborhood had a Lights and Luminarias Walk through night.  A lot of people in neighborhood decorate their houses for the holidays and as one of the new families in the neighborhood, we got to judge the decorations over the week and then prizes were awarded that night.  We also had a hot cocoa and s'mores stand at our house and we won for best hot cocoa stand!  We had invited our friends Mike, Audrey and Madeline over and it's a good thing because our stand was super busy and Mr. Mike and Dad were slinging hot cocoa like nobody's business and Madeline and I were whipping out s'mores like crazy.  (The mom's conveniently decided to go for a walk about that time.....)  We had a little something extra for the adults (think cinnamon whiskey and Bailey's) so that probably had something to do with our win.

And then last but definitely not least, we celebrated Richmas with dad, grandpa Vern and Grandma Sue with dinner out at Takamatsu.  Mmmmmm- I love the miso soup and pork mandoo AND the teriyaki chicken.  Richmas is coming on Tuesday so there is more celebrating to do.
Hope everyone has a wonderful week- we are going to bed!

A Mixed Bag

Here we are- so close to Richmas we can almost taste it!  We can hardly wait but until then, I'll update you on the last two weeks.  We've had some very fun holiday stuff and some not feeling so well stuff.

We left off last blog, the week after our great Thanksgiving weekend.  I was actually sick on that Saturday and Sunday and still didn't feel well on Monday morning.  So after driving to school, I decided I needed to go home.  Mom got all of her patients cancelled, picked up some chicken noodle soup and got us home by 9.  And then by 10, I miraculously felt better.  This is mom deep sighing.  The day wasn't a complete waste because I got two big school projects done.  On the down side, I had to stay in at recess on Tuesday to complete Monday's work AND had homework when no one else did.  Mom suggested that next time, I should kind of decide how sick I really am......

Anyhoo- onto the fun stuff.  The next Friday, dad's work had a President's  Award dinner for work.  His team was nominated and won an award (his second such award by the way) and because they won the award, all the team members got to bring a guest.  Dad wisely chose mom as his guest.  Mom was so excited to have a fancy night out that she got a whole new outfit AND new make up.  The dinner was at the Ritz Carlton Resort and since it was so far away from our house, they pawned me off on Claire for the night and they got a room up there.  

Mom really enjoyed the night- the guest speaker for the night was a retired Navy Seal who came back and started a foundation to help injured veterans return to life out of the military.  It was a nice combination of dad's work and mom's work.  The food was delicious and the company wasn't bad- even if they were a bunch of engineers. 

After a late night (after midnight) and a crappy night sleep, both mom and dad woke up feeling not great.  Mom took a bigger hit and was nauseated to the point of not being able to sit upright for most of the morning.  We had big plans to get stuff done on Saturday but since everyone was exhausted, we ended up taking a long nap at home.  

We roused ourselves for our next holiday paartay.  This one was with all our camping friends and we went to the Tanque Verde Ranch.  We had a great time, as usual.  Beautiful weather, fun people, good food- what else could you ask for?

Mom spent the rest of the week recovering from the weekend and was a little bit crabby so dad was thankful he had to go to Dallas for work.  He got to stay with Uncle Tim and it just happened that Grandpa Vern and Grandma Sue arrived for a week as well.  It was a good Goedel reunion except mom and I weren't there.

We were very thankful dad came home on Thursday because mom's precious Subi had to be towed in because something was going on with the brakes.  Mom and I hung with the homeless people in the parking lot of the shopping center we ended up in, waiting for the tow truck and dad.  Luckily, mom still has one month and 3000 miles left on her warranty so it was all taken care of.
Things were all good on the home front until mom bent over to pick up a watering can and pulled a muscle in her back Thursday night.  Sigh.  So Friday was spent in a semi upright position.

Friday night, we were supposed to go to a Christmas party but because mom wasn't 100% functional, we decided to stay home and drink beer instead.  That was probably more fun anyway.

Saturday was a cold and rainy day so we took advantage and started our Christmas cookie baking.  We made my favorite lemon short bread cookies and it was all mom could do to keep me from eating all of them as we went.

Sunday was spent Christmas shopping and getting ready for the upcoming week.  It's my last week before Christmas vaca!!  Woot woot!  See you in a week!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Greetings All!  Hope everyone had a spectacular Thanksgiving- we did.  But more on that later.  Let's catch up on the last two weeks.  Now that softball is officially over, we are a little lost as to what to do with ourselves.  I started back up with intramural basketball and still really like it.  There are two other girls this year, so that makes it a little easier.  I'm really liking it and since dad found our basketball and pumped it up, I have been dribbling pretty much non-stop all through the house.  Everyone loves it!  Ginger gets a big kick out of it as well but she can be kind of a ball hog.

Last Friday, we had our first class field trip and mom was one of the chaperone parents.  We went to the Pima Air and Space Museum and it was super interesting.  We had the best tour guide.  He was really funny and kept all of us entertained the entire time.  He also mentioned several times how well behaved we were.  He thinks we were the best behaved group of kids he's ever had.  That was good news and made my teacher and the parents happy.

This past week,  I only had 2 days of school.  Really, just a day and half because we had an afternoon of pie on Thursday.  The parents brought in pies, ice cream and whip cream for the fourth graders and let us go crazy.  I won't say how much pie I ate but it was a lot.  And then, right after that, dad and I headed up to start our Thanksgiving camping weekend.  Woo Hoo!  We met my friend Madeline and her dad up there and got the party started.  Both of the moms had to work Wednesday so they didn't come up until Wednesday afternoon.  We made the most of the time before they arrived- Madeline and I were crazy women and Dad and Mr. Mike made all kinds of friends with the other RV folks.  By the time the moms arrived, Madeline and I were covered in cheetos cheese powder and chocolate and the dads were a beer or two into their day.  Good fun for everyone!

The weekend was gorgeous again for us.  It was a little bit cool and breezy but perfect for hiking, mountain bike riding and playing in streams.   Catalina State Park is just beautiful this time of year.  The trees are changing colors, the water is flowing and the sky is blue.

This stick bug came to visit, a long with a lone javelina.

We got back home on Friday late morning and got ourselves unpacked and ready for our next event.  My friend Simon's family has a party every year to kick off the holiday season.  We almost didn't go because we were kind of tired and Simon lives about as far away from us as you can get but in the end, it was a fun time.  A few St. Michael's families were there so mom and dad had people to talk to and I had a bunch of kids to play with.  At one point, mom walked into the kitchen where another group was talking.  She heard the words "industrial war machine", "political socioeconomic base" and she turned right around and joined the conversation outside about camping spots and crazy things people did to get traffic citations.  Much more fun!

Saturday, I woke up sick and was not happy about it.  I rallied enough to go get our Christmas tree.  Dad spent the day putting up our outside Christmas decorations and I was able to help with that some before I crashed on the couch.  Mom headed out that night for a girl's night and dad and I ordered pizza, watched a show on pumpkin chucking and then headed to bed early.

On Sunday, I still didn't feel good but was again able to rally and help mom with the inside Christmas decorations.
We had Grandpa Vern and Grandma Sue over for Thanksgiving Part Dos and boy was it tasty!  Dad made his famous Turkey Roulade and mom made a corn and wild rice custard and Grandma whipped up the best mashed taters.  (She used a whole stick of butter!!).  It was our first "fancy dinner" in our new house and it sure was nice.  We love our house!  Although, grandma and grandpa aren't really smiling, I can assure you, they had a great time and enjoyed the feast too.

 This is just a random picture of me dad took while practicing his photography skills- pretty good shot, no?

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Feels Like Fall

We have recovered from our Disney weekend and have settled back into life as usual.  As you may remember, we have a little bit of an acorn problem.  Mom is still sleeping in the guest room and the acorns are making an unholy mess in the yard.  Mom and dad spent an entire morning just cleaning up the back yard and roof and ended up with an entire garbage can full of the darn things.  The yard looked fabulous and clean.  And then they went inside for 5 minutes and came out to the yard covered in acorns again.  Fortunately, the front yard is taken care of by our neighborhood javelina.  They make Ginger crazy but they are efficient cleaners.  Grandpa Vern gave us a leaf blower for the backyard and although mom really doesn't like leaf blowers, she is making an exception as they make quick work of things out back.  Since it probably isn't practical to herd the javelinas to the back, we'll go with the leaf blower.

I had my friend Claire spend the night last Saturday and Madeline came over in the morning so her dad could bike ride with my dad.  We entertained ourselves by making mustaches.  All kinds of fun!

Every year, Tucson has this amazing event called the All Souls Procession on the first Sunday in Novemeber.  It is a huge "parade" through downtown that celebrates the lives of loved ones who have died.  It starts with a huge urn that you can put names and memories of those people in and then the urn is burned at the end.  There are big floats and as the parade goes along, you can just join in and walk.  People play music, have signs and all kinds of cool things and about 150,000 people go every year.  Mom has been wanting to take me for a few years now and it turns out that one of my friends has a get together every year for it.  Everyone paints their faces and then we drive downtown and watch the parade go by.  I thought the whole thing was pretty cool and maybe next year, we'll actually walk a little way in it with some memories of friends and family.

This past Friday was mom and dad's 11th anniversary.  Can you believe 11 years??  They both had the day off and went out to breakfast and then spent the whole day running errands together.  It doesn't sound like much but apparently, before I came along, they used to love just running around town together.  They haven't done it much lately so it was really nice to do that again.  Here's to many more errand running days!
Saturday was my last 2 softball games of the season.  It was a little bittersweet.  Dad helped out coaching this year and actually kind of liked it and is going to miss it.  I pitched and wasn't awful- even had a few strikeouts.  Our team was actually in it and we only lost by one run each game.  That is a win in our book.  Mom ended up having to keep score and about had a nervous breakdown in the process.  I guess it isn't easy to keep track of everything going on the field, yelling at us to get ready to bat, answering our questions about how many outs, what the score was, can we go to the bathroom.  To her credit, she only made two mistakes and one, no one except dad knew about.....

 I have started up with intramurals again.  I really liked basketball from last year and even though it was all boys, I decided I liked it enough I wanted to do it again.  Yeah me!  I also tried out for a solo part in our upcoming Christmas show.  I'm just getting all kinds of brave in my old age and it makes mom and dad really proud.  I've always kind of gone along to my own drum and now it's fun to see it in other ways.
Hope everyone has a great week!