Grand Canyon? Check!

Grand Canyon

Yup! I can officially check that off of my list of things that I want to see before I die.  The Grand Canyon is only about 4.5 hours away from our home and the drive up to over 5,000 feet elevation is absolutely beautiful.  Here are a couple of pictures of the trip itself:

My babies all buckled up and ready to go!           

We drove up there on the Saturday before Mother's Day and stayed the night at a hotel that is on the actual rim (meaning the Grand Canyon was literally outside our window).  I cannot express it enough that words/pictures CANNOT and DO NOT do the majesty and beauty of this place ANY justice.  With that being said, here are some pictures from Saturday...

Our first look.

 A few yards away from our hotel.

My babies enjoying the view from our hotel room.

Making momma's dream's come true.

Even though we got to see the Grand Canyon, there is still so much to see of the Grand Canyon. It's not exactly a place where you can comfortably take children who don't understand the consequences of running off the canyon ledge, so needless to say we were tense and on edge a lot of the time.  I NEED to watch the sunrise/sunset over the canyon someday and experience the stillness and peace that must come with it.  I also NEED to take a helicopter ride over the canyon to see all of areas that cannot be seen from just standing on the rim.  I NEED to see the spot where Thelma and Louise ran their car off the edge. 

On Saturday night, we went outside to see what the canyon after dark beholds. Now, I am total night time person and a total geek about stars and moons.  It is my dream to own a telescope to see what cannot be seen with the naked eye and to be able to photograph nighttime skies.  There is nothing more magical to me than a clear night with sparkling stars and a beautiful moon.  So you can imagine my total awe and amazement when we got outside and found a nice little dark area to view the unpolluted and unobstructed night sky.  I have never seen so many stars in my life. It was indescribable and breathtaking. It was such a fulfilling moment in my life and I would have stayed around to enjoy it longer if it hadn't been 34 degrees outside or if I had been more appropriately dressed.  Also, the fact that we had walk by about 8 very large elk and deer to get to where we were made me a bit cautious.  With all the tourism that goes on in the area we were, we tend to forget that we are in the wild and that the canyon belongs to those animals and to nature and we are truly visitors on their land. Next time I go, I NEED to be better prepared so that I can spend hours out in a dark area and let my eyes adjust to allow even more of the splendid night sky in. 

Since it was Mother's Day and all, here are some pictures of my babies and my momma...

Boys... What can ya do?

And here are some pictures from Sunday (Mother's Day)...

That's right.  A whole lotta nada.  Here's why...

On Saturday night, after Alfred and I went to look at the stars, I took my mom for a quick glance (quick because all the wild elk and deer really freaked her out).  We were gone a whole 10 minutes and we came back to Alec throwing up.  My poooooor baby.  So that night, none of us slept well since we were all on edge with Alec being sick and Jolie coughing and not sleeping soundly either.  Alec slept through the night but woke up the next morning and the sickness continued.  We agreed that it wouldn't be right for him to feel awful and have to be moving around, walking and stuff out on the canyon.  So we decided to pack up and leave early without getting the most out of day 2.   This was an easy decision to make since we live relatively close.  While we all got ready to go, my mom got her fill by spending some peace and quite by herself with the canyon.  It truly was "mother's" day for me when I had to sit in the back seat and be on sickness patrol with a trashcan.  If you know anything about me, you know that I am DEATHLY afraid of vomit.  But when it's your kiddos and you have no choice, you seem to muster up the "cojones" to just deal with it.  Needless to say, it was the longest 4.5 hours of my life.  We almost made it all the way home without an incident.  Almost.  But I guess once is better than what I expected.  So that's why there aren't any day 2 pictures to show.  Next time...

Well that's it.  The whole Grand Canyon experience.  I have a list of things that I still NEED to do at the canyon so I NEED to go back someday.  And if visiting the Grand Canyon isn't on your list of things to do, then your list NEEDS to be updated.   You won't regret it.  I Promise...

It's not Texas, but it'll have to do...

A little bit of each of our lives in Arizona:

Alfred

Alfred absolutely loves Arizona.  He is doing an amazing job at balancing life and work out here which is usually difficult for others in his position.  He travels often but comes home soon after he leaves. I have had the pleasure of traveling with him a couple of times to his locations in Tucson and Nogales and watched him in action.  He really is good at what he does (which I knew he would be) and his employees love him (which I knew they would).  I am so proud of him and what he is accomplishing out here. For the very first time in the almost 10 years that Alfred and I have been together, he ran a fever recently and actually had to spend the day in bed. We have all had our fair share of being sick around here but usually Alfred avoids all the hoopla  but not this time.  He milked it for all that it was worth by getting served soup and crackers in bed and watching Netflix all day.  I say he milked it but it was more like I forced him to not come out of the room.  Fevers = infection/contagious and I don't need my babies getting sick again.  Thanks for complying with doctor's (my) orders, babe.  Nothing personal.  Just business.

Even as an important DM, daddy still has time to be silly.

  Momma

My momma has been a champion since we moved to Arizona, especially these past couple of weeks.  Since the weather has started to change, her allergies have really started acting up plus she has had a relentless cold for a couple of weeks now.  So needless to say, she hasn't been feeling the best (or looking it either... love you, mom).  But she has hung in there and helped out with the kids, even staying with them overnight when Alfred and I had to leave town for work.  She has made friends with a couple of Puerto Rican ladies who live in the neighborhood.  They usually go out to the Casinos together or she goes to their house for dinner.  She seems to be settling in okay but I know she would like to get out more often (as we all want to).  I think we all are having a case of cabin fever (with the exception of the traveling salesman, Alfred).  It's hard to believe it's only been 3 months.  It feels like so much longer.  One of these days we will take my mom to see the Grand Canyon.  Even though we live in the same state as it, it is still a 10+ hour drive to get there (bummer).  So for the time being, on Easter Sunday we took a family drive up to some mountains near us.  It was no Grand Canyon, but it was a nice view. 

Aleczander

My baby boy My big boy Aleczander has really bloomed since we moved to Arizona.  His speech and sentences are so much clearer and more elaborate lately.  He cracks us up with his new ways of expressing himself and his new sentences.  His imagination is going crazy and his attitude and opinion are something to be reckoned with.  He is acting as a peer model at a near by elementary school 4 days a week for 2.5 hours a day which we are really excited about.  It's his first exposure to a school/structured environment and it's serving as an easy transition for when he will go to kindergarten.  He really likes going and behaves well (most days).  There is this really cute "name song" that they sing each day to learn each other's names that he sings all the time that makes us smile.  The issue is that it feels like he has been at home sick more often than actually at the school. Since he hasn't been exposed to all these germs before, they are really attacking him now.  But I guess it was inevitable.  It was going to have to happen sooner or later. 

In Ms. Vanessa's Classroom

Alec's First Day at School

We had a small get together with some of Alfred's co-workers (and my best friend, Shika) at the house for Alec's 4th birthday.  I CANNOT believe my baby is already 4 years old.  I look at baby pictures of him and it truly feels like it was just the other day that he was crawling around the house.  I guess technically he isn't my baby anymore, but instead a child.  Nah... he will ALWAYS be my baby.  Even when is old and married with kids of his own!  Right now he LOVES anything Angry Birds or Chuggington.  He especially loves watching YouTube videos about playing Angry Birds or Angry Bird animations.  It really still amazes me how tech savvy the kid is.  

On his actual 4th birthday.

During his 4th birthday party.

My baby boy.

For the most part, he is a typical big brother with Jolie; fighting, not sharing (unless it's the sicknesses he brings home from school), pushing her around, etc.  But Jolie is no punk.  She definitely fights back; hitting, smacking, taunting him while he is in time out.  But there are times when they play together peacefully or when they share.  It doesn't happen often, but when it does, I take a picture of it for proof...

Playing with Jolie's tea set that her Titi Christine sent her.

Top 10 things about Alec that I don't want to forget at this age:

1. He is finally okay with getting haircuts.
2. The face he makes when he jumps up and down out of excitement.
3. How he loves to face time his grandpa Fred and grandma Dolores all by himself.
4. How he STILL loves his blue and brown polka dot blanky (pictured above).
5. His sweet and innocent high pitched voice.
6. The Chuggington theme song is the very first song that he has memorized, beginning to end.
7. How he refers to morning time as "when the sun wakes up". 
8. He says "Jolie" as "Jowee".
9. He still doesn't know how to blow his nose.
10. How private he is about going potty because "it's stinky". 

Jolie

My precious baby girl is growing up waaaaaay tooooooo fast and is one hell of a diva.  She has a fierce little personality that is sure to only get better with age.  At only 16 months old, she is already very opinionated, picky, spoiled, sassy and demanding. But she is also hilarious, incredibly intelligent, beautiful and generous and her smile can light up a room.  She absolutely loves to dance. She dances to anything!  Even theme songs for TV shows like Blues Clues (which is her favorite) and Jeopardy (which she watches with grandma). 

She has so many words in her vocabulary already such as dog, bird, cow, bye bye, Diego, clue, baba (which is her cup), shoes, and agua.  She comprehends instructions and requests.  You can seriously just sit and talk to her and she understands every word and will react accordingly.  She is definitely a mama's girl.  She loves to be in my arms all day and do what I am doing.  She especially loves to watch me put on my make up and get ready in the morning.  This is requiring a bit of adjusting for me since Alec was and still is a daddy's boy.  But she is my princess and I will enjoy every moment of it while it lasts.  As mentioned before, she doesn't take things like a girl from Alec.  She is a little brute with him and she makes sure he knows that he can't just push her around.  But she does love being around him and she wants to do everything like him.

  

Watching Go, Diego, Go. 

Since Alec brings home germs from school now (and especially since she is a thumb sucker), Jolie has had a couple of rounds of being sick lately which are the first times for her.  She was extra clingy and sensitive during this time so it called for extra mommy loving.  We had a tiny break from the sickness but now she is getting 4 molars in so she has been a little under the weather again.  Luckily for us, she actually takes medicine without a problem, unlike Alec who still gags it all up and refuses.  I have a feeling that Jolie is going to be the child who tests us the most, but, dear God, that little face and beautiful smile sure does make every minute worth it.   

10 Things I don't want to forget about Jolie at this age:

1. How her hair looks in little pig tails or pony tails.
2. How she wants a high five after you tell her "good job". 
3. How she says "thank you" or "bless you". 
4. How she points at exactly what she wants and shakes her head "no" when you get it wrong.
5. The way she sings.
6. The way she dances with one arm straight up or to the side and the other one wiggling.
7. How she likes to brush her teeth.
8. She already knows how to let you know if she's gone poo-poo.
9. How she will "share" her thumb when you ask her to give you some.
10. The way she puts her tiny little hands over her face when she plays peek-a-boo.  

Me

Life in Arizona has been an adjustment for me but I am coming around.  Since the time change (and the fact that Arizona doesn't participate in it), we are now 2 hours behind Texas.  Since most of the people I communicate with on a daily basis are in Texas, I now run on a schedule that is 2 hours earlier than it was before.  So when things are "happening" in Texas at 9 a.m., it is 7 a.m. here for me. Because of that, I now work from home a lot.  I usually wake up around 7 a.m., roll out of bed and get straight to work.  This has it's advantages (saving gas and money, starting work earlier/getting off earlier, not having to get dressed up, being able to see my babies whenever I want), but it also has it's disadvantages (not getting out often enough,  not learning Arizona, not getting dressed up, seeing my babies whenever I want).  I have been making an effort to go to the office more often but every time I try, something seems to come up like my kids being sick, my momma being sick, me being sick, Alec starting school... something. But now that things are slowing down, I hope that will change.  None the less, I still love my job.  Even after 9 years with the company, I am still learning and doing so many new things.  My bosses are incredibly awesome and make what we do so much fun.  

I miss my family and friends dearly but have been doing a pretty good job at keeping in touch with most of them.  Thank God for my best friend, Shika, who can fly to see me anytime she can.  Since we have been out here, she has already been out here 2 times with my Godson to visit.  It sure has made it a little easier when they come by.  

Thanks to another one of my best friends, Jennifer, something else that has made time go by is mine and Alfred's newest late night addiction, Grey's Anatomy.  It all started when she sent me the quote "You are my person" on my Facebook page.  I had no idea what she was talking about.  She told me it was from Grey's and that I needed to watch it.  So since all of the past seasons are available on Netflix I started to watch it by myself.  After a couple of episodes of Alfred just being in the room and hearing it while I watch it, he became interested and then demanded that I would not watch a single episode without him.  Almost every night after the kids go to sleep, we watch at least 2 episodes. We are now are in Season 5.  Next on our list after we catch up with Grey's will be Breaking Bad (I promise, Karla).  For Jennifer's birthday, I sent her the gift pictured below. I thought it was only fitting since she introduced me to Grey's and also since she is my person (and also my Freckle Buddy).  It made her cry... 

If you ever want to know who your true friends are, move to a different state.  People will really show you how much you mean to them when you're no longer around. You never know what you have until it's gone or until you're no longer within driving distance from it.  But the good news is that we will be home (or back in Texas) June 1st through June 9th.  I CANNOT wait to hug my family, friends and my in-laws.  I am not looking forward to the humidity and heat, but I'll take it if it gets me back home for a couple of days. 

10 things I miss about Texas besides my family and friends:

1. Buc-eees.
2. Papasito's (or any good Tex Mex food). 
3. Grass.
4. Texas drivers (people out here drive too slow).
5. Houston skyline.
6. Clouds/rain.
7. "Common courtesy" (ma'am, sir, ya'll).
8. KPRC Local 2 News.
9. Humble City Cafe.
10. Chelsea's Deli in Kingwood.

Till next time... bye bye from the desert.