Our last hours together

Here are some pictures one of my childhood bff's took so Boe wouldn't forget how darn cute his family is. Check out her talent at shutterblissphotography.blogspot.com.

We are moving

This will be our new home for five years. I guess it's okay.

So adios to my beautiful cacti:

And Aloha to Honolulu.

The reason for this unexpected but exciting change? Boe is starting a project somewhere in/around Honolulu at the end of August that requires a move on our part. Unfortunately, I attend a silly graduate school that requires me to stay in Arizona. Thus Kenzie and I invite you to a pity party we will be hosting for the next four months until December when our family reunites in Honolulu. We are actually excited to spend some time with Kenz's aunt, uncle and cousins while Boe is away...Kenz will have a dog to bother/torture and all the cheetohs, chocolate milk and princess movies her little heart desires.

Did you know they have castles in Coronado? We were lucky enough to spend some at this one. Some of the festivities included long-boarding (I showed up Boe in this sport), kayaking, speed-boating on the Casino Royale boat, dolphin-watching, inflatable ball olympics, and enjoying some local Mexican shrimp burritos. A funny story: One of the boats docked next to the castle had a nest of some endangered bird on the top of its mast. The government won't allow the owner to move the boat until the bird leaves. Two years and many bird droppings later, the bird has decided the life of luxury on Coronado Island is quite appealing and is subsequently taking advantage of the no-eviction perk of being endangered.
Can you see the seals that were striking a pose for the camera?
In one twist of fate during our Casino Royale boat ride, a life-jacket (unattached to anyone in the boat) flew overboard. We quickly turned to retrieve the jacket when no more than five feet from the vest was a pod of dolphins. Boe's brother wanted to create a magical moment and swim with the dolphins, so he quickly jumped in, nearly missed landing on one! In my heart I like to think that the dolphins were coming to save the person (if there had been one) in the life-jacket...why else would they have surfaced at this exact moment around this exact object?

Two powerhouses four-wheeled it up Powerhouse Mountain.

Picking wildflowers in the Idaho mountains.

Something more spectacular than sparklers was happening in the sky.

Kenz getting friendly with a dog at the fair.

Buried treasure at AZ beach

This past weekend weekend we spent some time at the beautiful beaches in AZ. Yes, that is water. I think I even saw a couple of dolphins. Maybe not. At one point during our trip to the AZ oasis, Boe disappeared underwater. On the shoreline at the time, I yelled out to a friend who was in deeper waters with Boe to inquire if he had gone looking for "buried treasure". She replied a very honest, "yes". Little did I know how honest this was. A couple of minutes later Boe appeared out of the water, borrowed some children's goggles from a family camped next to us, and disappeared back into the water. Did he really expect to find a pirate ship with undiscovered booty, or even better, an old football? Apparently, luck was on his side...he struck gold. His own gold, that is. You see, smarter beachgoers would be sure to remove their wedding rings before treading unknown and dark waters, but not Boe. Donning pint-sized goggles he swam back to the x-marked spot where the ring was lost and proceeded to make a number of nose-to-lake-bottom dives. I'm still not sure how he managed to locate the ring. Perhaps the spirit of Jack Sparrow guided his hand to that oh-so-valuable treasure, and perhaps Jack also lent him the courage to share his discovery with me.

Wicked...hairbows...

In preparation for our attendance at Wicked the musical, we have been listening with wreckless faith to the Wicked soundtrack since Kenzie was born. Yesterday she surprised us with some sing-along during "Popular", prefacing her solo with "he coms, he coms, he coms" (trans. "here it comes!!!!!!!!") She's no Mariah Carey, but we were proud.


Aunt Sara made some hairbows the other day, Kenz was kind enough not to rip this one out.





My attempt at a hairbow.


Not the best hiding spot.

Cousin Dixon

Kenz's cousin Dixon was in town from Houston, so we decided to show him a good time here in AZ. First stop in the tour of AZ was Mccormik-Stillman Park in Scottsdale. Here we rode horses (in a circle and attached to poles), burnt our skin on playground equipment, and took a train ride.

Some random hats we forced on the children.

On the flesh-burning playground equipment.

Newton's 3rd law (For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction) in action.

Kenzie is a cautious child especially when it comes to carousel rides. She holds tight lest the horse becomes detached and rides away... I don't think I'll be showing her Mary Poppins any time soon.

Yet another swimsuit.

The splash pad

Playing the piano. Note the gash on her upper, outer left eyebrow...Nursery got a little physical on Sunday.

Petal pouncing.

The San Tan splash pad. This is about as daring as she got with the fountains. I think she was caught offguard with all of the children screaming spastically.

Every couple of minutes she'd take a breather on the sidelines until some little girls would grab her hands to do "ring around the fountain". Kenz soon discovered that a wet diaper is not the best thing to "all fall down" on.

The Easter dress was a huge hit at church.

I went a little crazy and bought three swimsuits for Kenz, not intending to keep all, of course. Though my sisters insist little girls need approximately three swimsuits per season, this is the one that came in first place. Kenz was a good sport as I tried, retried, and then re-retried the suits on again.

A runner up in the swimsuit purchase.

Kenz now thinks she knows how to feed herself. The food ends up in a combination of the following: her lap, her hair, the cracks of her thighs, her elbows, her highchair, the floor and other surrounding areas around but not in the target.

The newest Disney princess

Never though I'd say it, but I have a princess for a daughter. Kenz will line up all of the "prinches" to face her, and then smile at them adoringly. As usual, Ariel is her favorite.

What the Disneyland?!?

I think I am in the Twilight Zone. I'm not quite sure what day it is. Last I remember, I left on Friday afternoon with group of high school ASL students to Disneyland. Every road trip has some great stories and this one was no exception. We left on Friday with bus driver Bobby Hitt--an old tyme country singer(check your local casino listings for playing times)--who referred to himself as the 'hitman'. Not exactly the name of a person you want behind the wheel of your transportation. Throughout the trip up, Bobby self-dosed himself some Robitussin for a persistant cough. I think a bus counts as operating heavy machinery (see Robitussin side effect cautions). Bobby is a free soul, which can be mistaken as lazy. He denied us the opportunity to use the commode on the way up...not sure why but probably had something to do with the fact that he is the bus's janitor. Despite Ricky Bobby (our new nickname for the hitman), we made it to Dland safely and proceded for two and a half days on a very faithful 6am-1200am schedule. The kids were great except for a couple trixsy ones, who were, well, trixsy.

The Aladdin show. This was one of our favorite attractions. Rachel and I were confused at the characters in electronic cruisers-like the ones at Walmart-it was a little distracting.


Apparently I am a peasant who is not allowed in the presence of princesses. All I wanted was a couple pictures to show to Kenz with anything Disney princessish. I didn't need to wait an hour with the rest of the four-year-olds and their moms for them to tell me I too can be a princess if I listen to my parents and do my schoolwork. The "gatekeeper" (I got a little annoyed at how in character some of the workers get) absolutely refused to let me take pictures over the Enchanted Forest's hedge, but here is one I snapped as Aurora and Cinderella were leaving for a shift change-only three princesses are out at a time. I think Cinderella thought she was a real princess because she didn't even make eye contact with me, a commoner. I left the Enchanted Forest wanting to have a smackdown with Dland's prettiest.


Rachel and I in line for the new Toy Story ride. Fun, but not worth the wait.

Jedi training. Apparently they only pick little kids for Jedi Training even though I know I was born with the Force. By the end, I had all of the moves down anyways, so I hope they don't miss my skills when the Sith (sp?) attack again.

This pic is for Kenz. She loves "BeeYoons".

The classic Disney pic.

The trip home consisted of Ricky Bobby's songs with the bus travelling at a pace of 25 mph. Something was wrong with the thrust something or other and we had to stop, no go, no stop again, no go again, no stop for maintenance to diagnose and fix the problem. Made for a 10-hour trip home, but a safe return was made.

So now I'm having some sleep deprivation-Disneyland exhaustion backlash and feel as though the Tower of Terror may just have transported me to the Twilight Zone.
Let's hope it's nothing permanent.

And we're back!!!

Kenzie got these much needed sunglasses for Easter. The Easter bunny known as Aunt Sara also found some Disney Princess cookies which added to Kenz's Easter sugar high.

Kenzie is not the easiest to wake in the morning. We especially love her morning-do. It resembles a big ball of fluff in the back and shaggadelic on top and in front. For one who is not skilled in hairstyling, mousse has become my favorite friend. If it ends up like a rat's nest at the end of the day, at least it smells good.


Kenzie is in love with my toothbrush. I wish I could have it back someday.