happy birthday dadi

We spent a special day celebrating a very special Dadi at the Safari Park. The day was quite the adventure. It rained off and on and the park had a power outage. Due to the lack of power, many of the restaurants and larger animal exhibits - tigers, lions and gorillas were closed. Oh, and the bathrooms were as dark as dungeons. 

While in bathroom, an older lady was sharing with her friend how when she was a little girl they didn't have electricity in their home. Every night, she and her sisters would light kerosene lamps and or use candles. It's hard to imagine life without electricity. Not sure if I would want to.

With the cooler weather, the animals were active. We enjoyed watching the elephants splash around in the water, rhinos taking mud baths and giraffes galloping across the savanna. 

Even without the power, it was great day. Happy Birthday Dadi. We love you. 

real rather than perfect

"What would happen if we shared our real rather than our perfect?" - Nichole Nordeman 

Today, I had a moment of real rather than perfect. 

I'm not a fan of sharing the real. I like the perfect. 

This morning, I bravely got out the craft supplies for the kiddos. The plan was to make fall sun catchers. Prior to starting this project I checked pinterest for ideas, supply lists and samples. Pinterest had many exemplary examples with adorable children dressed in their finest sitting around gorgeous craft tables. I'm not sure who dresses small children in their finest for crafting, but apparently some people do. At our house, we craft in our pj's - that is if those under five are wearing anything besides their underwear at all.  

Lucas was excited to start. However his excitement was short lasting. And Alara just wanted to see how many pieces of tissue paper she could shove into her mouth before I'd notice. We were able to make at least two sun catchers before the kiddos decided that enough was enough and it was time for something else. 

I'm embarrassed to admit, but I got frustrated that my children weren't crafting like they were suppose to. As if there is a right or wrong way to craft! Our sun catchers didn't look like the examples provided by the perfect mama's with their perfect kids sitting around their gorgeous craft tables. Ours were real. But instead of embracing the real, I threw an internal tantrum striving for that unrealistic perfect. And sadly, by striving for that unrealistic perfect I ended up stressing myself out. What was suppose to be something fun and simple ended up being something more. 

So here I am sharing my real.

So what if our sun catchers didn't turn out as expected. I think they are better. They have personality. I am going to enjoy those flawed but beautiful sun catchers created by a two beautiful children.

receiving blanket quilt

This receiving blanket quilt took about two months to finish. Being the sentimental person that I am, I couldn't bring myself to give away and or toss out Alara's receiving blankets. I do not have an infinite amount of storage space, so I knew that I needed to do something special with the blankets. And after many hours of cutting, sewing, and more sewing (and many episodes of Gilmore Girls) I finally finished. 

It's really soft, cuddly and I'm in love.   

Arizona Road Trip Day #3

It's our final day in Arizona. We spent the morning at Oak Creek Canyon at Slide Rock Park. We hiked around the park, swam in the creek and made mud pies. After lunch under a lovely apple tree, we drove to Sedona. While in Sedona we went to the Red River Crossing Park and enjoyed more swimming, walking and beautiful views. We left earlier than planed due to an incoming thunderstorm, and made the long drive home to California. 

Thanks for the memories Arizona, till next time.    

Arizona Road Trip Day #2

I had a hard time narrowing down which pictures to post. The Grand Canyon National Park was gorgeous! The weather was perfect - partially cloudy with a high of 80something and a cool breeze gently moving about. The views were stunning. The air was clean. And the wildlife was abundant.  

We started at the visitors center and hiked the Rim Trail from Mather's Point to the Village. Then after lunch we picked up the trail again and hiked up to Maricopa Point where we boarded a shuttle bus to Hermit's Rest. As much as I wanted to hike the whole trail, the kiddos were getting tired and it was getting harder and harder to push the stroller on the uneven trails. However, even from the shuttle bus we were able to enjoy the stunning views of the Grand Canyon. 

To get back to the Village from the Hermit's Rest we took the shuttle. Alara was not a happy camper. It was seven miles of pure cranky, angry, hangry, fussy baby time. She was not happy. I avoided eye contact with everyone on that bus..including the driver...and I'm certain that several of the young childless couples sitting nearby suddenly decided that maybe kids weren't such a good idea. 

Ahem. 

Once we got back to the car, both kiddos fell asleep and we were able to enjoy a quiet drive around the park. Our journey ended at the Watch Tower where we all got out and watched the start of the sunset (kids didn't want to sit still) before heading back to Flagstaff. 

Good way to end a long day. 

Arizona Road Trip Day #1

 After spending about four hours confined to the car we all needed to get out and stretch our legs! The Lewis Kingman Park in Kingman Arizona provided the perfect opportunity for rock pile creations, a picnic dinner and for burning off a little energy before continuing to our final destination in Flagstaff. So far the kiddos have done well. Alara slept most of the way through the desert. She did get fussy towards the end of the trip, but that is to be expected. I came prepared with snacks, toys, books and audio CD's - the VBS soundtrack and a kids Star Wars audio-book. Both are favorites of Lucas's. 

I'm making a mental note that for our next road trip I need to have more variety in kid's CD's. I have the Fruit of the Spirit song stuck in my head and The Empire Strikes Back memorized! 

There wasn't much to do or see in Kingman. Lots of train exhibits and trains. But since we live near train tracks that wasn't too interesting for the kiddos. Kingman does have one nice Starbucks, the world's smallest JCPenny, and the world's largest K-Mart. (These amazing facts presented to you may or may not be true...I've yet to confirm). 

Tomorrow we head to the Grand Canyon. 

PSR Alumni Sabbath

On Sabbath we took the kiddos to see where it all started. Although the weather was horrible, we had a fun day walking around camp, visiting with old friends and making new ones. The evening ended at the Campfire Bowl where Richard once again picked up his infamous guitar and played silly songs. Hearing him play brought back so many memories. I'm thankful for those memories. Those memories made me the person I am today. Today I got to share new memories with my family - and for that I am thankful.

...till next year...