A Black & White Kinda Feelin'

I just found these on my computer and fell in love.  I hope you enjoy!  Oh--and I've done nothing to them--no photo shop, no Picasa, nada!

This is S's normal face when I ask him to smile for the camera (which explains why his pic isn't often featured on my blog):

"I'm having fun, Mama, I am...the sun is just so bright!"

A sweeping view from Catalina.  Why didn't I appreciate this when I lived there?

"I think I found another cactus sticker..."

My camera kept going back to this dead saguaro, refusing to leave its post until it completely withers and rots away...

This is just typical Snugglebug.  PERFECTLY captured, attitude and all.

Again, caught red-handed, all Snugglebug:

Who doesn't enjoy watching someone else eat sticky marshmallows?

And who doesn't chuckle when a bit of marshmallow lingers at the corners of such a cute mouth?

Sierra Vista

Finally, some pics from our trip to Arizona:

We drove into the desert and had a bonfire with some hamburgers...pretty yummy.  Freezing at night, though!  And when I suggested to S that we go hiking, he decided we had to climb a mountain.  My ankles were not exactly used to climbing side-ways, but we made it fairly high.

Lovely loved leading the horse.  She rode it one way, but didn't want to ride it back--she just wanted to lead it.  Go figure.

Snugglebug is still slightly scared of dogs (despite our newest family member), yet she couldn't stop smiling while riding the horse. 

Yes, there is water to be found in the desert.

One last sigh of happiness.  Ahhhhhh...

Vacation 2, Pt. 3

While on the Heritage Trail, we stayed at Das Essenhaus, a name that I pronounced differently an infinite number of times.  It was a very nice hotel/conference center, but large, so if you are looking for the little quaint getaway, this won't exactly meet your expectations.  However, the staff was extremely friendly, we were given a room on the first floor directly down the hall from the pool & exercise rooms, it was very clean, and there was a nice breakfast included the next morning.  There were quilts everywhere {including a quilt show}, a classic car show every Thursday in the summer, and several shops. 

This was in our room {I tried to take a pic of each quilt I saw}:

View from our room:

Snugglebug snugglin' with her new sock monkey...that I already had to sew once we got home.

Lovely being lovely {and showing off her new froggy watch}.

And last but not least, the travesty that occurred in my arteries from the abundance of home-cooked, family-style dining: 

Vacation 2, Pt. 2

Elkhart Visitor's Center

The pic below was taken in the...

Women's restroom, of course--where else?

There were quilts hung everywhere at the center.  This one showed how even scrap thread can be used in a quilt:

I thought of S & me when I saw this quilt, but I'll have to do some more research on the name.

Lovely volunteered for her part in the pic below:

I loved the colors found in the quilts, but I especially liked the one above.  I would have loved to have purchased one on our trip, but hundreds of dollars for a quilt I have not.  This visitor's center is supposedly the beginning of the Heritage Trail, a 90-mile loop of towns and farms through Amish country.  During the trip, I surmised most people living there must be very content--"for sale" house signs were extremely rare. 

Vacation 2, Pt. 1

So I just got finished blogging about vacation in June, and now I double-whammy you with a blog about our vacation in August.  It might appear we are always taking trips--oh, how I wish that were true!

My mom and aunt wanted to take a trip because they were feeling free and restless and, knowing school would soon be tying the girls and me down, I kindly offered to drive tehm to their destination.  We chose to go on the Heritage Trail in northern Indiana, starting in Nappanee and making a loop.  Here is our first stop after leaving Elkhart {I'll post pics from the Elkhart Visitor's Center next--I have to keep you on your toes--chronological order is overrated}. 

Linton's Enchanted Gardens

{well worth the stop}

They had these crazy houses all over teh place, and the girls adored them.  The one below reminded me of Alice in Wonderland. 

This was the one the girls could play in.  The trunk opened up, and I only hoped it didn't lead to the "pit of despair" {Ok, maybe a small part of me hoped it would so I could climb down, too}.

This sign was attached to the playhouse.  My children are official wildlife.

"Hey, Mommy, take a pit-chur of me in my Chinese house!"

"Take a pit-chur of the one with the funky head," directs Snugglebug.

"Who you callin' "funky head," Messy Hair?" asks teh Funky Head.

"Has anyone seen my brush?  Awww, brushes are overrated."

The gardens even included an alien with green goop udnerneath the body.  The girls really enjoyed this one--I guess they take after their mother more than I thought--not that I'm partial to green goop, or anything :)

Well, until the next landing...or abduction...

Ever Have One of THOSE Vacations? Pt. 1

See the bag?  Pay attention; it plays an integral role in this story.

So we took Sunday and Monday for a "let's celebrate being finished with school (Mama included) vacation day.  We got up early, ate breakfast, made great time, and arrived on-time at our destination.  Our room wasn't ready yet, so S decided to find the nearby Bass Pro Shop, which I was fine with, because it's within a big mall.  Well, it used to be.

We arrived to find Bass Pro, with no doors leading to the mall, and once I found my way into the mall, there were only 4 stores left, one of which was closing.  Yay.  At least we found 10 for $10 at Claire's and the girls (Ok, it was really me) went crazy. 

As we were finishing up, Snugglebug started complaining of a headache.  I gave her Children's Tylenol and prayed for her, but she still was acting funny.  As we were walking to the next store, she began crying...like major crying, crying she hasn't done in years.  However, S was in another store and wasn't answering his phone, so I had to bide my time. Finally, we were able to leave, but we stopped at a Perkins to eat something fast (and cheap) before going back to our room (they called about 30 mins after we drove away to say the room was ready).  We shouldn't have stopped.

Right as the food was delivered to our table....bluck.  You guessed it:  Snugglebug got sick.  Ick.  We left and headed back to our room, already deciding we would take turns taking Lovely out to play in the water while the other watched Snugglebug.

We got to our room and I began to get unpacked.  I grabbed our swimming suits and--no wait.  I didn't grab our swimming suits.  Hmm.  Where did that black bag go?

Honey, did you bring in everything from the car?  You did?  EVERYTHING?  Did you forget to pack the black bag?  You know, the one with the swimming suits?  No, I didn't pack it.  Ummm... 

Over two hours.  That's how long it took me to drive back from our room all the way home again, by myself while S stayed with a grumpy Lovely and a sick Snugglebug.  Where was the bag?  Remember that picture above?  It was right there, in front of my closet.  My bad.  Two hours:  that's what it took to get back to the hotel.  The water park closed at 10 p.m., I got there at 9:54.  Lovely only cried for...a while. 

Now, you ask, why did I have to drive ALL the way home again?  Well, I'm not the kinda gal who can just go to the nearest store and get a swim suit (as I'm sure many of you aren't, for various reasons).  I'm extremely modest, so I have the swim suit, a swim dress cover-up, and a swim skirt that I sewed from a pair of men's swim trunks.  Yes, I wear all that and I'm quite pleased with the results.  Then, I would still have to find swimming suits for the girls and S.  Not an easy task on a Sunday night at 5:30 p.m. (with stores closing at 6 p.m.).  Sigh.  Oh well, at least I got a good dosing of lotion while rifling through my purse for the car keys--my lotion's lid came off somewhere on the trip and doused the contents of my purse. 

First lesson learned on vacation:  I would make a pretty good truck driver, if only I had a sense of direction.   Thankfully, my GPS got me home again, even though it freaked me out when it told me to cross a river on "ferry street."  (Previously, it directed us to non-existent ferries, which developed into a fear of ferry directions.)  At least I was able to laugh!

Sunshine through the Clouds: Tohono Chul Park

When we visited Tucson this past winter, we walked through Tohono Chul Park, located diagonally from my old elementary school.  They had extended the park since I had been there last, and although I wasn't crazy about the sounds of traffic zooming down the road, I couldn't resist taking pictures of these gorgeous "life reminders" as I call them. 

 



"How many humans have had the patience to know even one saguaro well?"



These pictures give me a touch of sunshine on cloudy days.



"The desert is my lady.  She screams at the spring sky, dances with her skirts high, kicks sand, flings tubmleweeds, digs her nails into all flesh.  Hair unveield, lust fascinates the sun."

Where do you find your touch of sunshine?