Busy Day, Tired Mom

We did all kinds of stuff today! I didn't have the two kids I normally watch, so we left the house this morning & stayed out all day.

First stop - the library to get the kids' prizes for the summer reading program. I like that they each get a Diamondbacks ticket!

Next, we went to Glendale to tour Cerreta's Candy Company. I've always heard about it & never went. I'm glad it was too hot for candy to survive in the car, or I'd be sitting on the couch eating mounds of it right now! It was a little hard for the kids to see what was going on, but we liked getting a couple of free samples.


Then we went about a block down the street to Pratt's Pet Shop to check out the animals. The kids loved it! They had the usual pet shop stuff, plus farm-type animals and exotic birds. Here come a lot of pictures...

After that, it was up to Peoria where the kids redeemed their birthday gift cards at Toys R Us and Erin got a free book from Barnes & Noble from their summer reading program.

Then across the street to the mall where I brought our wedding rings to the jeweler for a long-overdue cleaning & warranty check-up. I meant to look around the mall for a while, but we were HOT, tired, hungry, and thirsty! So we went to Red Robin to use Erin's free kids meal from her birthday. And I found yet another reason to like Red Robin! Not only is it yummy and the kids' drinks are free, but I learned that the macaroni & cheese on the kids' meals is refillable! A server (not even ours) saw that Erin was wolfing hers down and the Robbie was interested in it, so out she came with another bowl! Our server said not too many people know about it; I guess they've been doing it for a while. So we ate like pigs, drank way too many sodas, and enjoyed cooling down.

On the way home, we stopped at the splash park on 83rd Ave & Bethany Home. We got the kids into their swimsuits in the car, and they had a blast splashing around in the water. I was really wishing I had brought something I could get wet in, because it was really hot and that water looked pretty good! Anyway, they had fun. Hopefully nobody will get crypto like we did from swim lessons. (I opted not to blog about that... for obvious reasons) The whole parked reeked of chlorine, so that was a good sign.

All in all, it was a good day! I think we'll all sleep well tonight.

Happy Birthday Erin!

Erin turned 6 today! She had a small "friend" cosmic bowling party and got to see my parents yesterday, and she got to see Rob's parents and some of her cousins today.

^With some friends on Saturday

^Ice cream cake on Sunday

Erin was born at 3:46 am on a Saturday morning. She was 7 lbs, 7 oz and 20" long. I didn't date this picture, but here she is a couple of months old:


Almost two years old:

3- 1/2 years old:

Erin is a very smart kid, and she has a great sense of humor! She has an awesome memory - she can remember stuff from when she was really little, and she can memorize things after only seeing them once or twice. She's really good with her little brother, and she likes to help Mom and Dad. We love you, Erin!

Leapin' Lizards

Today's little piece of nature was a baby lizard we found outside our front door. The kids really liked it, and I was happy he didn't outrun me so I could show them.

Poor little thing was probably having a mild heart attack! After everybody got to hold him, pet him, look at his toes & eyes, and watch his little chest move when he breathed, Erin put him on the tree in our grass.

The more lizards the merrier! It seems like the monsoon rains made it extra cricket-y this year, so we need as many lizards as we can get to eat all the bugs.

A Heart Attack

Well, we don't know who did it, but we found this on our garage:

The kids loved it! So if the culprit is a blog-reader, thanks! It was a nice surprise.

ASU Art Museum

On Saturday, we went to the ASU Art Museum. They were having a family day, so there were a lot of crafts & activities for the kids.


The kids could make puppets, masks, blankets, door hangers, bracelets... I can't remember what else. And they got little bags of stuff - like little rubber duckies, chalk boards, a book, a pencil. They had Sister Bear from the Bearenstain Bears there, and the Phoenix Roadrunner (hockey). Erin is sort of embarrassed by the big costume characters now, and Robbie wasn't thrilled about them, either, so we steered clear of them this time.

The Tempe Fire Department had a fire truck outside, so the kids could climb in and visit with a firefighter. Robbie really liked his helmet, especially the flashlight on it. Here are the kids on the fire truck:

It was fun, but it was also HOT and humid outside, so we were glad to go over to my parents' house afterward to swim & hang out. Robbie did well wearing the little arm floaties, although he absolutely hated them at first!

It was kind of fun to be on campus again, and most of my classes were in the KAET building right next door to the museum, so I got to see my old stomping grounds.

A couple of people have said I should tell everyone when something free is coming up! The only thing I know of right now is free chili dogs or kids' cones at Weinerschnitzel tomorrow night. (If you click on the link, it will pop up on their web page if you watch it for a little while) But I'm adding a list to the right-hand side of my blog where I'll tell about free or cheap stuff when I hear about it, and I'll try to include links for you guys!

Erin's Bugs

Erin likes finding the empty exoskeletons from cicadas on our tree in the front yard. She wanted nothing to do with them at first, but when she realized there were no bugs inside them anymore, she thought they were cool. Now most mornings, she'll ask me if she can go outside to look for them. They're creepy looking.

We found 12 this morning. Robbie will hold one if you put it on his hand, but that's about as far as his interest goes. Yes, that's them on my kitchen table. Yes, I cleaned it after they were banished outside! If I catch a cicada, she'll check it out, but it freaks her out if it starts buzzing at us. Me too, a little.

Ah, nature!

The Cat

I thought I'd put up some pictures of our cat, since it seems like nobody has ever seen her. She hides out when people come over, and the only people she'll visit with besides us are my parents.

We got her in 2000, so she's been around a while. Rob claims to hate her, but you be the judge:

Rob named her Cow. I thought it was dumb, so I decided we'd at least spell it differently on her tag. Her tag says "Cao". But the name never stuck, and we've always just called her Kitty.

When she comes out of hiding, she's a sweetie. She's patient with the kids, and she can be pretty playful. She loves spaghetti... go figure. So that's our cat.

More Camping!

We went camping at Knoll Lake again last week. The nights weren't cold like they were last time, but the days got pretty warm. The afternoon rainstorms cooled everything off, though, and everything dried out really fast, so we didn't have to deal with mud or wet equipment!

The lake was a little more fun this time, because there were more fish and crawdads to play with. Robbie thinks the crawdads are "bleh", but he really likes all the baby fish. He loves throwing rocks in the water, so it's a little dangerous if he's sitting behind you! It wasn't windy, so Rob got to use his radio control boat more than he did last time. Here he is letting Erin drive it.

We took our shoes off and stuck our feet in the water. I was catching crawdads with beef jerky (hillbilly) and the little fish really liked the jerky. I lured them closer so they'd nibble our toes, which Erin really loved! Those little guys tickle! Erin thought they were attracted to our toenail polish. Mine was neon orange with black & white polka-dots, so she may be on to something... I've seen lures that look like that.

Poor Robbie was pretty sick most of the time. He threw up a few times, and he didn't have much of an appetite. Erin felt a little off, too. But little kids recover so quickly... they still had a good time. Luckily for us, nobody threw up inside a tent or on anything except dirt. Whew! We were pretty happy when Robbie's appetite came back on the last day.

We were going to drive to the edge of the rim to watch the fireworks in Payson on the 4th of July, but it had been raining off & on, and the kids were pretty tired by the time it got dark, so that didn't happen. We had lightning, campfire, and glow sticks to fill in for the fireworks.

We had a fun trip, and it's good to be back home and all clean!