family vaca highlights and lil update

OK, so it has been a while but for good reason. ten days ago the laptop hard drive died so i have been without a computer. i still am, but i do h.ave a droid so i can do limited stuff on my phone. we took a mini vaca last weekend and went to Arizona for a few days. we left Thurs afternoon and drove to flagstaff which is about four hrs from Vegas. Friday morning we made the very scenic half hour drive south to sedona for the day. frank and i went there in 2006 for a trip we took before we moved west but not since. Sedona is one of the most beautiful places in my opinion. I love how it is so colorful and it truly is so unique since it hosts ponderosa pines and agave on the same mountain side. We did a small hike to a creek which took about an hour and half round trip and of course the kids gave up half way through. I will upload pics when i get a computer ;). Sat we woke up and drive 90 miles north-ish to the east end of the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Absolutely beautiful and the sheer size of it was amazing. It really is something everyone should see in person and just stand there and take it in. I remember when a college friend of mine had never seen the ocean before and she just stood there and looked at it with amazement. I take for granted the magnificence of the ocean since i grew up sitting in front of it all summer long.

After spending the afternoon driving the rim we drove south 50 miles to a lil town called Williams, AZ. Williams is on historic 66 and is where the Polar Express departs from to drive to the North Pole to see Santa. Devin was so amped up for this portion of our trip and rightfully so. What kid wouldn't die to ride on a century old locomotive to the North Pole at night? The Polar Express book was read, cookies and hot cocoa were given out and Santa gave Dev and Riley a bell just like the book.

The next morning we drove down the road a few miles and drove through a new drive through animal thing called Bearizona. They had bison, white bison, wolves, long horned sheep and bears in different 'natural' habitats with a dirt road to drive through and check them out. Kids loved that!

Now onto updates for the kids. Devin is doing well in school and wants to go more often than two days a week. If we are still in Las Vegas next year, hopefully we can send him M, W, F instead of Tues/Thurs. He is getting better at writing and more interested in taking initiative to do it himself. He really does love playing with older kids and thankfully we have great kids in our neighborhood who are nice and let him join in with them when they play in the street out front.

Riley is a pistol! She is one hard  nosed kid who knows what she wants. I cant imagine where she got that strong personality trait from. Haha, but in all honesty she is so sweet. She does not put up with any bs from Devin either. She is starting to talk more and more each week and has such a sweet little voice. We are starting to work on potty training slowly and she does pretty well. She will tinkle if I sit her there before the shower/bath and she claps for herself but she is nowhere near telling me she has to go.

Janie and Jack is having another Friends and Family weekend!

So ya'll know how much I LOVE Janie and Jack! They must not be doing so well because they are hosting another Friends and Family weekend this coming weekend. It is only 25% off total purchase instead of 30% like last time...but that is ok. 25% is better than nothing. There is only 4 things I really really want to have. Now, I already have the brown tights to match this stuff. They are actually from three different lines. The first two are from Autumn Classics, bows are from the Halloween line and the dress is from Le Leopard. I am not sure if they have Riley's size but I will call today and find out. Janie and Jack in the winter is a little on the queer side for boys so there is not much cool/preppy for Devin. All 4 pieces will only cost about $58 after the discount when they retailed for $132...so that is a big savings. There are a few pieces that I would buy if they did not have this available that I would save for Riley for winter to spring transition. There are two other dresses that I LOVE but Riley does not fit well in them. . I mean how pretty are they? And can I tell you how awesome the colors are on her! Ugh it's time like this I wish she was more averaged size and not so petite. I do love the dress in the Le Leopard line though because it looks like a baby Chanel to me. These two are on my backup list because I think that they would go great with a dark pair

of jeans she already has from Old Navy that I got for $7 during their deal days sale.

I have some extra money from selling Riley's winter wardrobe from last winter on EBay so this is stuff will be bought with that extra money. Gymboree is also hosting a Friends and Family this weekend and theirs is 30% off and their prices are lower to start....but their stuff is not half as cute and there is really only one line for Riley I would buy a few items from. They are giving gymbucks away right now when you spend $50 but I do not think I have $50 worth of stuff to buy from there. Gymboree does have a fire engine line and football line for Devin that I know he would like,  and he could use play clothes. We shall see if anything jumps out at me Thursday when I go while Devin is at school.

Weather has been HOT here again and I hate it. I do not want 85 I want 65....time for fall to stay. Most people would die for this weather....but man alive lets cool down and have real fall weather. Other than that, not much else to report. Oh Riley peed in the potty last night before her bath and she clapped for herself so she knows what she is doing. Not bad for 19.5 mo. Now if I could just get her to do that more often we would be in business.

Halloween has come and gone....Success or failure? What do you do when your kids had to pee and you are in gridlock?

Ok, so now here in Las Vegas they have trick or treating in outdoor shopping areas. I never heard of this back east. There hours of trick or treating are 4-8 at the shopping areas which works out well because our neighborhood does not start until 6pm so that allows a lil time at the shops before dinner and back home.

Our first Halloween here we took Devin all dressed up as a monkey to The District over by a casino in Henderson. This is where Devin was photographed by the local newspaper and was the only kid from that event featured. We were proud first time parents to have their 4 month old in the paper already :). The major negative about this place was there were seriously long lines to wait to trick or treat at the stores. So, we decided to skip The District this year and try out Town Square which is another outdoor shopping area since Devin definitely was going to want to trick or treat.

being a kitty cat meowing while she crawled

We arrived at Town Square around 4:15 and it was packed already. The lines were 20-30 kids deep and parents where shoving their kids forward to try and cut my 1.5 year old kitty off. F off lady! You are messing with the wrong mom if you think your 8+ year old child can butt in front of my 1.5 and 3 year old children. I mean, I expected there to be a lot of children/parents from less fortunate areas since this is a safe place to trick or treat and maybe their neighborhoods are not....but that in no way means you can be rude and pushy when you are waiting for a frickin thing of sweet tarts. Ok, now that I am past that rant....Devin and Riley were photographed all over the place. Random moms and grandmoms asked for my or Frank's permission to take their picture. I do not know these people from Adam, but hell at least they asked. Frank was asking me if this is the type of attention we always get and I smiled and said yes. I tell him all the time that random people tell me how cute the kids are, but at least now he sees what I am talking about. He probably thought I was just making it up.  A guy with a media necklace also took Devin's picture but he never asked our info so I have no idea what paper he is from.

Devin was also entered into a costume contest for the center by suggestion of UNLV cheerleaders that were there. In entering the contest, he got to take a picture with two cheerleaders and it was made into a trading card. The guy running the contest told us to come back at 6 and I told him we most likely would not be in the square at 6 and he said it is highly suggested that we be there for the winners announcement (as he smiled and said he has good pull.) Devin then gave him pounds and blew it up and I think that sealed his fate because at 6 pm Devin was announced as winning funniest costume out of all the kids that entered. There were two other winners, scariest and cutest. Devin won 4 tickets to UNLV's season opener basketball game, but unfortunately we will be out of town that weekend so our across the street neighbor and his friends are going to go.

Now Town Square was a total bust as well besides the fact my kid got recognized for being awesome. Stores were out of candy by 4:45 and the lines were amazingly long for the stores that did have candy left. We walked to the car just after 6 when the contest ended. It took us 57 minutes to get out of the parking lot. Frank ended up having to go to one of the bars and get take out kids meals for our two. I wish they gave beer in take out cups because I definitely could have used one of those last night. Devin had to go potty after Frank went to get dinner and we were in gridlock traffic....I searched my car for a water bottle since I am NOTORIOUS for having a bazillion in there but none. Shit! I couldn't let him pee in the parking lot with 100s of people around. Then wait, I had a nalgene in the back seat...emptied it out and he peed into that. Thank God for my nalgene container. He told me he felt "much better" after he went and that for sure bought us a lot more time to sit and wait to get out. I just kept thinking of that scene in Dumb and Dumber when Harry and Lloyd were on their way to Apsen and peed in the beer bottle and the cop drank it. I made sure to tell Frank not to drink the nalgene when he did get back in the car. My friend Mandy also went to Town Square and it took her over an hour and half to get out of the parking lot while my other friend Tina went to The District and said it was a total success! Not sure how the trick or treating was for her there....but she said it was a breeze to get in and out. BOO!

Once we got home around 7:15, Riley went straight to bed and Devin and I walked around our immediate neighborhood for an hour. He was exhausted by then and since there were hardly any trick or treaters out, each house was giving him 2-3 pieces of whatever they gave out. He filled up his little PBK spider within 15 or so houses and we came home. He laid out all his candy and we put it in piles of like things. He went to sleep soon after that as well. They were wiped out!

I am SO glad I bought pretzel bags now. I did not want to buy candy because too many kids are fat and I do not want to contribute to keeping them fat and because I do not give our kids candy so any leftovers had to be something they are allowed to have.....we had two, yes two trick or treaters. Last year we blew through our treats we gave out and this year....two kids came! I am going to have to do a mock trick or treating with the two kids tonight so I can get some pics for Riley's photo book.