Beth and Aidan's visit

My very good friend Beth and her son Aidan came down from San Luis Obispo for a visit this last week. It had been a year since I had seen them when they came to see us in North Carolina but as with some lucky friendships, it seemed like no time at all had passed. Aidan is a year older and getting tall. He and Brenden had a lot of fun together doing all the water activities that we could get our hands on. Being 112 degrees made it mandatory pool/sprinkler weather.
There were two places that I wanted to take them to that were new to me as well. One was the Carver Water Feature Park and the other was the Valley Aquatic Center. Both offered welcome relief to the oppressive heat! Of course our swimming pool was well used at the end of the day as well with plenty of bloody beers to go around. Brenden had a big moment when he discovered he could kick on his own around the pool (with help from the awesome 'Puddle Jumper'). He is definately a water boy!

Queen Califia's Magic Circle in Kit Carson Park

Just a few miles from Dave's parent's home in Escondido, CA is a nice park tucked away from the freeway called Kit Carson Park. Within the park is a sculpture garden inspired by the story of California's namesake, Queen Califia of the Amazon. French sculptor Nikki de Saint Phalle created the garden as a tribute to her majesty. Featured in the huge walk-in Queen Califia's Magic Circle are nine large-scale sculptures, mirrors and colored tiles galore.

 The sculpture garden, which opened in 2003, is located in the Iris Sankey Arboretum area of the park. The garden consists of nine large-scale sculptures, a circular "snake" wall and maze entryway, sculpturally integrated bench seating, and native shrubs and trees planted within the interior plaza and around the perimeter.

The centerpiece is the 22-foot Queen Califia and Eagle Throne, where you'll often find people sitting within the bird's legs, just enjoying the whimsical setting. The circular snake wall welcomes you into the garden, and as you navigate the mosaic maze, you deposit into a plaza of an array of totems, all bearing the unmistakable stamp of the artist."Queen Califia's Magical Circle Garden" is a wonderful spot to disappear into and escape into a magical and fanciful world, even if only for a few short minutes as I did with Brenden, my niece Jordan and Shirley.

Legoland = great Memorial Day!

We decided to do a 'staycation' on Memorial Day and drive to San Diego for the extended weekend. I had been eying the military discount on Legoland annual tickets and thought that with it being relatively close to us, it would be worth the splurge so we loaded up both cars and the dogs and went due west.
We braved the crowds for three days and took Brenden on his first amusement park experience. Granted we could only stay at the park from 10-12 each visit because of his nap schedule but we were able to do a lot in the two hours we were there each day. Since Brenden is just at 36" in height, he was able to ride some of the rides that kids his age probably couldn't. Not that we took him on anything extreme or anything - unless you consider the kiddie planes and helicopters extreme. The one ride he sort of got overwhelmed on was the Pirate boat ride where everyone has water guns and you aim them at other riders. Not a bad thing but then the general public has access to some on the outside of the ride - bad thing. We got absolutely drenched and he freaked out about that until after the ride when my friend Jen and I were laughing so loud at being completely wet and then he got the idea it was funny. He also loved riding the little train and the little toddler splash park. The kid loves water!!  Looking very much forward to taking him many times in the next year.

Beauty in the desert

 went on a picture session in our yard to see if I could capture some of the beauty of the landscaping we have here. It may be a desert but the xerascape is very beautiful...

From crib to toddler bed....the baby to toddler transition milestone.

We can no longer call Brenden a baby I suppose. Babies sleep in cribs after all. Once the crib is gone then it's time to hang up the term baby. I seriously never thought this day would come. It seems the first year, you think that your life will always be about bottles and diapers. The second year you realize they can feed themselves and they switch to sippy cups that you can gratefully refill all day long and throw into the dishwasher at the end of the day (my hands thank the wonderful sippy cup as they were turning to mush having to hand wash 6-8 bottles a day). Now into the third year, we have already begun potty training and now converting the bed to a toddler bed. We weren't ready to go all the way and do the conversion to a full sized bed, although I am sure that will come all too soon as well. I am not sure why I am so hung up on this milestone. I guess it just signals to me that The Cute is now a walking talking little man who know gets up in the morning and runs and jumps into our bed to play (at the nice hour of 5:30 a.m. sometimes). He is really great about staying in bed throughout the night, in fact he hasn't 'escaped' once. Let's keep our fingers crossed that continues as the house is hot enough to need to have his door open. Stay tuned for more stories on the toddler transition that is happening at lightning speed!

The Cute turns 2... (how is that even possible)?

....I mean really it has been TWO years? I know parents always say "where did the time go?" when it comes to their children but I always thought they were exaggerating quite a bit. Turns out they aren't. It really does seem like two days ago he was born and yesterday was his first birthday. I am in awe that in two years time, someone who was a helpless baby has now developed into a little kid complete with his own wild personality! Now that is off of my chest, I can report we had a small party which consisted of myself, Dave, my Mom and Dad. It had been a year since Brenden had tried birthday cake and I am here to report that he had the same reaction to it that he had last year which was that it was messy (he hates messiness) and it was cold because I tried and ice cream cake. I think he had two bites of it and was through with it. So I will still be the Mom that everyone looks at funny because my kid doesn't eat cake and ice cream.
After the presents and cake, we all got into our swimming pool for the first time and it was great. I think it will get much use now that we are headed into 100 degree temps.

All moved in and getting the backyard landscaped

We have been here now a month and still have many many boxes stuffed into the garage to unpack. The house is mostly together though and we just finished getting the backyard landscaped to the tune of $9,600. Mind you our backyard is not big - in fact half of it is taken up with the swimming pool. Note to self - I should have gone into the landscaping business because they make some cash. It is grueling manual labor and in this Arizona heat, I suppose they earn it. The guys did a great job and we are very happy with it. Dave and I agreed on a design and it was satisfying to see it come to fruition. After renting for the last three years, it feels good to have our own home again.

Virginia Beach and Colonial Williamsburg, VA

I have been really wanting to take a trip up to Virginia to see historic Williamsburg this past year that we have been back East but couldn't quite manage it until Dave finished up training (can I get an Amen)! He had - gasp- a week off before he headed off to SERE school which is a whole other story. What to do? What to do? Let's head north! Dave graciously agreed although I am not sure he was all that excited to go walk around a restored town with people dressed in colonial garb.

On our way up we stopped at the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach, VA. Much larger than I expected. We got there after a day of driving with an hour and a half left until they closed for the day. That was after I got a sweet speeding ticket with just one exit to go until the destination. 74 in a 55 zone. Really? They still have freeways that are 55 mph limit? I should have know that, we have been in the South for over a year. The weather was COLD with the temps in the 30's. Not the greatest time to go but we made the most of it. Brenden seemed to enjoy it although Williamsburg was of course way over his head. Dave and I had to take turns entertaining him while the other went inside the houses. Mostly Dave did the entertaining and I did the exploring. He is nice that way.