The Great Escape!

"Isn't he cute?" you ask.

Not for long...

Back in September, Richard calls out to me...

"Hey, hon! Guess who can climb out of the crib?"

My response... "No way!"

But... guess what?

Aidan can climb out of his crib. We had just gotten ourselves a new crib too. The old crib was voluntarily recalled. Darn it!

He was not even two years old yet. Twenty months to be exact.

Yikes!

He hasn't slept in a crib or a pack 'n play since.

I Know, I Know, I Know...

I know that it's been a very long time since I've posted a new blog.

I'm sorry!

I've finally found some time to create a couple new posts.

I hope that you enjoy!

Deer?

We were vacationing in Rehobeth Beach (Delaware) a couple of weeks ago. We decided to go swimming at the community pool near the beach house we were staying at, and this is what we saw...

What's a deer doing near a beach house?

Happy 11th Birthday, Alex!

I can't believe that Alex is now 11 years old! Wow! How time flies!

I can't believe how much he has grown over this past year!

In this last year, he has accomplished so much...

1. He played flag football this last winter season. (And... he loved it!)
2. He is a three time published poet. (Thanks to his ALP teacher!)
3. He is the new student body secretary at school. (He ran unopposed!)
4. He discovered that he experiences motion sickness. (Oceanography Trip!)
5. He went on his first weekend trip without the family. (Thanks, Kirsten and Greg!)
6. He went into Mexican waters on his Oceanography trip. (Choppy waters and vomit. Ewww!)
7. He went to Victoria, BC. (Canada!)
8. He has polished his video game playing. (Nintendo DS, Wii, and computer games)
9. He is going into the sixth grade. (He graduated fifth grade!)
10. He learned to play the violin. (Thanks to Orchestra!)
11. He recently graduated from cub scouts and is now in 11 year old scouts. (Arrow of Light!)

(11 1/2... He's made Mom and Dad proud of the young man he's becoming!)

Wow! Look at all he's done this last year.

I'm sure he'll accomplish even more in this next year!

School's Out For Summer!

Need I say more?

Don't You Just Hate When...

A couple of weeks ago I celebrated a birthday. Because of this special occasion, I was able to choose where we, as a family, would dine to celebrate. (Oh, the joys of being princess for the day!)

I chose a nice restaurant where we've dined before.

All day... I was craving a particular sandwich they have on the menu. I was so looking forward to it! What a great way to top off one's birthday, right?

Well! Guess what?

It is no longer on their menu. Bummer, huh? I had to search for another meal. So I decided to choose an item on the menu that Richard loves.

Well... I didn't care for it too much.

Don't you just hate when that happens?

Seattle and Victoria, BC

Our little family left for Seattle, Washington on St. Patrick's Day! We were going to be away until Saturday. We were all looking forward to spending some time with each other in a new and exotic location.

On Tuesday, we arrived at the airport, got into our rental minivan (Despite the cushy ride, Richard and I are still not minivan people. Sorry!).

We finally took off and went to the Pacific Science Center. It was so much fun to experiment with all of the neat trinkets, gadgets, and projects! What's even more exciting was that it was all free! AWESOME! The advantages to having a membership here at the Arizona Science Center.







After the science center, we went up to the top of the Space Needle. It was not Richard's favorite moment of our trip. He is a bit vertically challenged. :) It was cool to have a 360 degree view of the city of Seattle!


We then went and checked into our hotel. It was called the Edgewater Hotel. It was a very nice hotel right on the waterfront. Wow!

On Wednesday, we went to the world famous Pike Place Market where fish fly in the air freely. :) We looked at the various shops and purchased some very nice homemade cheese. Yum!

We were able to drive up to Bellevue, Washington and see the LDS Temple there. It was beautiful as all temples are.

We also had some very yummy seafood at the Crab Pot, which was walking distance from our hotel.

On Thursday, this was probably my most favorite part of our trip. We took the ferry to Victoria, BC. Alex was a bit nervous as we first got on the ferry. It was pretty sloshy! A little bit of Dramamine in Alex, Addison, and myself, and we were knocked out for a bit.

Once we docked in Victoria, we decided to get a rental car to allow us to have a bit more freedom during our few short hours there. Unfortunately, we had to wait for an hour for our car. Ugh! It made us all a little sad since now we had one less hour to sightsee.

We drove up to the Butchart Gardens. It was beautiful! It was a little drizzly but very green. It would probably be even more beautiful with the many flowers and plants in bloom in the spring and summer. It was amazing!

On Friday, we hung out in Seattle and went on an underground tour of Seattle. It was so much fun to see that the town of Seattle all began many, many feet below where it is now located. After our underground tour, we made our way halfway between Spokane and Seattle to a little town called Moses Lake to meet up with Richard's older sister Melanie and her family. Despite the short time we had to spend with her and her family, it was nice to see family again.

Saturday was a day of lounging and preparing for our trip back to sunny and warm Arizona. We spent almost all day traveling and spending time in airports.

We had a blast during our time in Canada and Washington. It was great to relax and spend time with family, but.... it is sooooo nice to be back at home!

Was it all worth it? Just look at these faces...