Mountain Trip (May)

The last couple days of May the kids and I headed to Pima. We spent a few hours there, but then headed on up to the cabin. I wasn't really up to unloading all the "sleeping" stuff and then packing it all up again and trying to get up there at a good time the next morning. Traveling with four is overwhelming to me much of the time, although it gets better and easier as they all get older.

Shawn is not the world's best traveler, and was getting pretty grumpy by the time we got to Shannon, so we stopped for some dinner (which we had grabbed at Wal-mart when we said hi to Ashley) and let him run around for a few minutes. From then on it's a dirt road, and the older kids were super excited that I let them ride in the back for the next several miles to the cabin. The road was pretty washed out in spots, so we were going pretty slowly.

Once we finally got to the cabin, I don't think I had even finished carrying (lots and lots of) stuff in before Reilly had Risk out and set up. That kid is obsessed with board games. It's too bad that he doesn't find many good players amongst our family. Monopoly is another favorite. All those long, drawn-out, messy games, basically. (Which I used to enjoy too, before I had kids and less time.) Shawn was super excited to get out of the truck, and they were happy to have a little daylight left when we got there before it was time for bed. Thankfully everyone slept fairly well, even Shawn. Of course we're not really mountain camper people, and I learned my lesson quickly and travel with sound machines (with batteries) and glow bracelets to attach to flashlights that double as nightlights...

The next morning we enjoyed the nice weather, and Shawn discovered the dirt down in the flat. (the only place he could really walk up there without tripping or falling over). I seriously had to go sit on a bench and read and just LET him get dirty. I don't know why I have such a hard time with that, especially when I know it's good for him...
The kids were excited when Grammy and Chloe made it up in time for a picnic lunch, and they played and played (and fought) and played. We hiked to Soldier Rock, and Abbie, possibly Chloe, and Shawn had their first trip up. Shawn was on my back. I don't think I'll do that again, but it was exciting. When Shawn napped Reilly and I managed to sneak in a hike to Webb Peak too, which is his favorite thing to do up there. It was a little easier for me than it was last year at Labor Day, so I guess that's progress.

Once we got off the mountain we spend just a few more days at my mom's. The highlight for the kids was when Spencer and some of his friends took them swimming at the Pima pool. Much happiness. :)

The anti-highlight of the trip was getting a call from my husband that went something like this: "I'm okay, but I was in a car accident. Someone t-boned me. Everything is fine, but they're taking me to the hospital in an ambulance to get checked out." He wasn't -quite- as okay as he said he was, but we didn't figure that out until it was nearly bed time, and too late for me to possibly pack up and head back to Mesa. (We were supposed to go back the next morning) They wanted to keep him overnight in the hospital for observation, but he knew he wouldn't sleep. Thankfully his dad was visiting us during that conversation, and offered to drive down there and stay the night with him so he could go home (without his wife worrying like crazy about him being home alone and maybe hurt more than he though). Lots of thanks to family and friends that kept an eye on him until I could get back the next day!

It took a few days, but he finally found a replacement car. Same year as his old one, but a Honda Civic Hybrid this time. So far we've been very happy with it, and he was very happy with the 40 mpg when he drove down to Pima in it recently.

The Rest of May

Within a week of us getting back from San Francisco it was time for school to be out! So crazy. We celebrated the first morning of "school out" (and the beautiful May weather we were having) with an early morning trip to Porter Park. We hit a few parks early in the day before it got super hot in following weeks. The kids loved it, and we often had them to ourselves. The kids had a lot of fun (at least for the first few days) playing, playing, playing with each other, inside and out.

We took advantage of the beautiful weather on the 22nd (a Friday) to go back to Enchanted Island (in Phoenix) with our POGO passes. The kids had a great time again, and even got to enjoy getting a little wet in the bumper-boats-turned-splash-pad and the castle-water-squirter thing. They were overjoyed to find out that the parachute drop ride was fixed and fully functional. (Well, except Katy, who wasn't tall enough, and Jeremy, who doesn't enjoy heights). Shawn didn't enjoy the carousel or the other rides quite as much as the first time, but everyone still had fun.

Shawn is getting so old. He looks morel ike a boy than a baby. His first "big" hair cut was a success. He didn't even cry! He also spent time improving his fine motor skills, which included making big messes by carefully laying things all over the floor when he got the chance, discovering coloring, and using forks and spoons when he ate. He wasn't sure what he thought of the pool, but loves splash pads and getting wet.

On Memorial Day we kept things pretty low key, but the day before Jeremy took the kids over to the cemetary to find some of our ancestors from both sides. Hard to tell if they were impressed or not. :)