Another summer escape

'Not news' news flash- summers in Arizona are brutal! :)
I don't usually complain about them because it's not a surprise that the hot summer temps are coming and we know they are part of the package when we live in Arizona. BUT, it is difficult when you have kids and are trying to keep them busy without parking them in front of the tv.

Lucky for us, my parents live in Prescott Valley and in less than 2 hrs we are in cooler temps. This weekend was a HOT 118 in Phoenix (and Prescott was cooler but still hot 100)! We still managed to pack in the fun though.

Instead of the local 4th of July parade, the girls wanted to tour the Sharlot Hall house- a historic house and museum in Prescott. For some reason, they LOVE touring old homes. The museum director was shocked that girls chose the tour over the parade.

Bella playing teacher in the schoolhouse.

Bella doesn't leave Ronnie's (their nickname for him) side!
Luckily, my mom has toured this museum and kept Camille entertained!
Camille's new pose for pictures.

Picking gooseberries.

Enjoying her ice cream!
We also went hiking. We saw crawdads, lots of beautiful dragonflies and even a snake (live one)!

Julia and Bella stayed in Prescott for a few extra days for more fun with the grandparents. (Camille is still a little young to be left there without mommy.)
Bobo and Ronnie- thanks for a fun weekend!!

Father's Day

*This blog post is a little late (since Father's Day was last month)- I guess I am still trying to erase the memory of part of the weekend (see below). :)

For Father's Day, we escaped to Pine, AZ for a weekend with the entire Lamis crew.

First stop, Wagonwheel Falls. What a beautiful spot! Of course, the kids loved anything with exploring and water. It's amazing that you can find a spot like this less than 2 hrs from our desert valley.
The rest of the weekend was spent at the cabin. The cabin was big enough for the entire crew (16 people) and had so much for the kids to do.

The original 'Wonder Twins'- Brennan and Bella- on the tree swing.

Squeals of joy (and a little fear)!Even Chet had to try it out!
Watch out- the new 'Wonder Twins'- Camille and Isaac.

They climbed really high- I'm glad I wasn't around to freak out!

Bella always seem to have fun with sticks!

Madison and PapaCamille on the piano- before she got sick! This is where our trip took a yucky turn.
5 minutes after I arrived, she threw up all over herself and me and proceeded to do so for the rest of the night. Poor Camille! This is what we both looked like for the rest of the trip- including many outfit changes! No one else got sick and we managed to enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Celebrating Julia's birthday!
The queens of the foosball table- Julia and Madison.
Julia and Keeley. Julia has such a special relationship with little Keeley- the 'baby' of the cousins.Happy Father's Day Chet!
A big thanks to Chet's parents for hosting this fun weekend!

Chet and his candy store

Taking Chet to a pet store is like taking a kid to a candy store. I hear myself saying "No" a lot, and there are no kids with us. :-)

I am not kidding....

He has wanted a chameleon (among other critters) for a while now and as soon as Bella jumped on his bandwagon, off he went researching and dreaming of bringing this little guy to our family.

Meet Higgins, our newest pet. AKA the love of Chet's life.
Still wish I was kidding....

All kidding aside, he is a neat pet and the kids all love him. I don't mind feeding him his breakfast (live crickets) but I have yet to hold him for more than a few seconds. (I have a fear of skittish crawly things).

Hours of fun

Homemade playdough is one of our favorite activities- I don't know why I don't make it more often. It took less than 10 minutes to make and the girls played with it for hours. I had to pry it out of Bella's hands so we could eat dinner.

All of Julia's "sugar cookies".

Camille enjoying the play dough- despite looking like she wants to maul it. :)
In case you need a good recipe, this is what I used:

2 cups flour
2 cups water
1 cup salt
2 Tbs. oil
4 tsp. cream of tartar
*Cook on stove, stirring constantly, until it adheres together like dough. Dump onto a cutting board and knead. Cover and cool in refrigerator for a few minutes before playing with it. Stores well in the fridge if covered.

The good old days...

Since it's way too hot to do anything outside and we live kind of far from the fun summer places. I have tried to be creative in filling our long summer days. Somehow, I think I resorted to reliving my own carefree days as a kid!

We have been reading the 'Mrs. Piggle Wiggle' book together- one of my all-time favorite books as a kid! I bought the collection was Julia was a baby (yes, I was an excited new mom!) and am happy that the girls are finally old enough to understand and enjoy it!
Julia recveived 'fashion plates' as a birthday gift from a friend. I had forgotten about this neat toy I had as a kid until I saw the box. I googled it so I could show Julia what mine looked like. Our house is now full of sketches made by all of us. Julia loves fashion and coloring so this gift was a hit!

After party

After the birthday party, we stayed to enjoy the resort until the next morning. My parents offered to watch Camille for us so that we could swim (and sleep in) to our heart's content. (thanks!!)

I LOVE the resort boat ride- it takes you 2 miles (round trip) down the "Gila River". We were the only ones on that night- such a peaceful and fun ride!

What better way to finish our fun day? Look at this gorgeous view from our private boat ride.
After sleeping in until 8am (have to love hotel room black-out curtains!), we had our breakfast with a view and hit the water slides about 20 more times. At 9am it was pretty quiet so we had full access to the water slides.
And came home to lunch and more birthday cake with my Mom and Dad.
Bella, who never misses a chance to dive into her dress up trunk, was already in full costume! ;-)

Happy birthday sweet Julia!! We love you!

Julia's 9th birthday weekend!

9!

I cannot believe Julia is already 9! When I think that she only has another 9 years until she is 18 (!), it makes me appreciate these years even more. She is such a special girl- so caring, sweet, and responsible. An example of her caring side will come in another post but I had to laugh about a perfect example of how responsible she is.

Her 3rd grade teacher was absent one day and needed to discuss something with the sub. When the sub wasn't catching on quick enough, her teacher told the sub to "put Julia on the phone" who proceeded to understand the instructions and relay them back to the sub. What's funnier is that Julia never told me that story- her teacher did on the last day of school. We were both amazed that Julia hadn't shared that with us- Julia's seemed to think it was just another day at school! :-)

To celebrate the feat of turning 9, Julia decided to have another pool party birthday at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass resort. Which was a great choice for me too- I love the resort stay and I didn't need to clean or cook! We can see this resort from the road near our house so for the last year Julia has been counting down the days until her birthday. This year we decided to invite just her best friend Ashlynn (and Bella) which allowed us to do more with the girls.

We started the day by getting hair tinsels- they will stay in for a few weeks. Perfect summer accessory- I wanted one too!

Bella, Julia and Ashylnn
Showing off their freshly painted blue nails- I painted them (in a rush).
At the hotel and ready to swim.
I thought it was a cute idea to decorate flips flops- they did too but were much more interested in leaving to go swimming!
Yummy pool side lunch with the biggest Shirley Temples I have ever seen!
Present time
I love this picture of Bella. She had picked out a ballerina necklace for Julia with her own money (her own idea) and was so excited for Julia to open it.
(They got under the covers since they were still cold from the swim)
I don't know who enjoyed the party more- the girls or mommy!