Back from the Desert

Last week after a 14 1/2 hour drive, we rolled  into a hotel in Mesa, AZ at 4:30 in the morning and crawled in to bed around 5:00. Of course, the girls had slept all night in the car and were ready to be up by 7:30. We surprised Tim's parents when we showed up on their doorstep Saturday. Well,  little miss Allie showed up on their doorstep, pulled up a chair, and rang the doorbell. The rest of us were hiding behind some trees in the front yard. Grandma couldn't believe who the little girl on her front porch was.

They got to meet Syd for the first time, but she wasn't quite herself. She seemed not to be feeling well. By the time we went to bed at 10:00 on Saturday, we were working on only 3 1/2 hours of sleep over the past 40 hours and I was exhausted. But, Sydney decided that was a good night to scream for 3 or 4 hours. The next 2 days she was the crankiest I'd ever seen her and she had no appetite. Not normal for my chunky monkey. By Tuesday, she'd broken out in a rash, so we called my niece's pediatrician and took her in. Turns out she has an ear infection in both ears. The rash seemed to be eczema that was exaggerated by the heat. The rest of the trip she was a happy perfect little angel. I was so glad Grandma and Grandpa got to see the real Syd. The one that is happy to play for hours, the one that is constantly on the go, the little independent baby we love.

So, this is about how our week went.....

my sister-in-law has asked that we not post pictures of her kids

so we've blurred out their adorable little faces in the pictures below.

Sunday we went to church....

Then to Peter Piper Pizza and the

kids got to play games.

Then off to JP's house to swim.

Our girl LOVES to swim!

Monday we went to a big Memorial Day

buffet and then back to the house to hang out.

Tuesday we went out to the lake. The kids all

had a great time and so did the adults.

(funny Allie story about this at the end)

Sydney was the exception. She did not like

 the life jacket and was still not feeling very well.

The lake is beautiful! I love the view we got of

Four Peaks. My favorite mountains in the valley.

Allie and Grandpa had a good swim together.

While Sydney hung out with her big cousin.

Allie loves her uncle!

Wednesday the girls and Tim went shopping and to Jeepers

while Dad went to chemo (doesn't really seem fair, does it?)

Allie and A. rode the rides....ok, I must confess, I rode the rides

too. For those with keen eyes, yes that's me in the white shirt..

riding alone. Oh how embarrassing. You caught me!

Sydney really seemed to like the carousel too.

Where does she get these goofy faces from?

She's easily entertained.

Come to think of it, so is she!

Our two adrenaline-junkies-in-training

This didn't quite do it for this adrenaline-junkie.

Wednesday night was church.

Thursday we went to the mall in the morning. 

In the afternoon, Dad went back for the second

day of chemo and we went to our good friend's house

to hang out with them for the evening.

Later that night, Grandma was the first to

Sydney crawl. She's now getting around like crazy!

After a little shyness, K and Allie got along

really well. They had a lot in common. They

both love to play dress up, among other things.

But when it came to swimming...well, you can see how

different they were when it came to that.

Both babies loved the pool but there seemed to be some similarity

between the sisters. K and L were content to splash a little

and just kick back and enjoy the warm water. For some reason,

my girls were all over that water. Even Sydney was slapping

and kicking the water. If only she could swim! Funny thing is,

K and L's parents have a lot in common with us. They love

to do wild and crazy things too. I'm sure K and L will be

little adrenaline lovers too one day. Oh and MAN are they

SUPER cute little girls! You can take my word for it!