Wednesday, May 27, 2009

A Memorable Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great long weekend! It really started on Thursday night, as Adam had Friday off too. Just a fun family night, it was hard to think that Russell actually had school on Friday!!

Nevertheless, Friday was Field Day at school and they had been practicing for weeks. Since Adam was home, I could go and stay at FD, help, watch, whatever. I was so impressed with the whole set up. Any FD I have been a part of is the traditional relay, tug o war, jumps, etc. This FD was mostly water play events – tossing water with cups at your opponent, this inflatable rocket that launches up 100 ft in the air, slip n slides, those giant inflatable waterslides you can purchase, some team building games, and even included a break stop to rotate thru which had popsicles for all the kids. What was impressive is that the whole school participated at the same time, which is no easy feat as the school has 1150 students. They rotated thru stations, 4 classes per station, each had their own numbered line to stand on, every station we went to our line was #4 so the kids were told what station to go to and they immediately ran to it and got on line #4, great music was being played on the loudspeakers and everyone was just having some 'good clean fun'. I was really impressed. I was the towel mom, I pushed around the cart of class towels, which sounds lame, but is helpful. I got a chance to catch up with Mrs. Cayer and chat with some other moms too. Mrs. Cayer did tell me who Russell will have next year for 3rd grade, how pleased she was with that choice and has even pointed Russell out to Mrs. Justice. After chatting with some parents, they all pretty much said how they wished their sons/daughters could have Mrs. Justice too. So, I am hopeful for 3rd grade!

After FD, it was off to the commissary with Rachel while Adam cleaned and waited for his mom & stepdad to come for the weekend. Rachel is always fun in the commissary. This time she kept asking Do we need this? How about this? Are we done yet? I think we should get _______ and then the reason why. The reasons varied from b/c dad's knee hurts (it didn't), or 'Rachel is soooo hungwee', or b/c Rowan pooped and we need more diapers. It sounds a little annoying, but she just gets so animated and is really into it, so it makes it fun/entertaining for me. We won't mention that it is a little distracting b/c I forget things on the list – doh!

Returning from the commissary, Jamie and Les had arrived and were staying until Monday. They went to Egypt last month, brought their pictures and Egyptian goodies, Jamie baked some awesome desserts for our bbq on Saturday and they babysat on Sunday so Adam and I could go out!!!

Saturday Jamie and took a long walk thru the 4 sections of neighborhood, it was great. Even better, Jamie made lemon meringue pie for dessert!! It really is one of my all time favorites, I haven't had it in years and homemade is the best! I am the only one here that likes it, so I never make it and I don't usually care for the store bought. A super treat! We bbqed that night, Adam's friend from work, Rachel, and her 4 yr old son came over. Rachel's husband is deployed and so I think she appreciated the invite to get out of the house on the long weekend. It was a nice evening. Our Rachel changed her clothes 4 times while they were here and one point she was running around naked, which kind of threw our guests for a loop, but 'big' Rachel told me she was relieved to see that another 4 yr old did the same goofy things with no rhyme or reason her 4 yr old does! Later that night we enjoyed the photos of Egypt while we all wore our Egyptian goodies. Russ got a bookmark with a hieroglyphic alphabet, so he was translating for us during the pictures. Pretty cute. Russ now wants to go to Cairo, look at all the cool stuff and find the bad guys from Indiana Jones.

Rowan impressed Grandpa Les. Row had some crackers in a little bowl and he ate them all. He took the bowl to Adam in the living room, then went to the pantry, opened the door, found his cracker box and took them back to Adam. Also, Rowan really has improved his receptive language. He knows what you are asking him. You can ask him to go outside, upstairs, downstairs, look for someone, the whole kit and caboodle; he gets it. He knows where we keep the bubble stuff outside, he goes straight for it and finds a wand and tries to blow thru it after you ask him if he wants to play bubbles. Grandpa got a real kick out of all of that.

Sunday we took Jamie out for a hike at Red Rock before the heat set in. We took a nice hike for about an hour. Rowan was pretty adorable – he knows his backpack that he rides in and is so excited to get in it. While riding along he just really takes it all in and not a peep out of him. No complaints, fussing, etc. Jamie enjoyed Red Rock. We took an easy trail that loops around to these shaded rocks the kids can climb. While we were walking back, Rachel said "I want to go to the shops. I don't like hiking!" And there you have it, my little shopping buddy proclaiming her allegiance to shopping!!! Ha! She does love to play outside and she would sit right there at Red Rock and play all day, but apparently the walking for an hour is not her cup of tea.

Sunday night Adam and I went to dinner and ended up catching a movie!! We went to dinner at a place called Marche Baccus, a French Bistro with a great patio on a manmade lake in a community called Desert Shores. The food was good, the wine was excellent, the setting was really nice too. The service was slow – we were there for over 2 hours. Someone had brought their children that were running all over the patio, thankfully not our section of the patio, but if they had we would have had a good talkin' with the manager. We felt bad for the other patrons, they all look irritated, we think some complained, anyway, not our problem! After dinner we made our way to Aliante station, the casino right near our house that also has the movie theater. We decided to watch Star Trek. We enjoyed it. And, unlike like our other date night, we were out past midnight, thank you very much!!

Monday we just were lazy. I have hurt back, another story, and it was really bothering me, so we just laid low. Jamie & Les headed home. We had a great visit with them. Not sure why, but whenever the Pricers come all together (both boys) or, I hate to say this, with Morgan, there always seems to be some kind of drama. If Blake comes there usually isn't too much drama,(Blake, I won't mention the past drama..), just Blake being a teenager who knows the world and the rest of us are clueless (were we ever like that? I am sure we were!! He'll learn), but Blake is really great with the kids, Rachel bosses him around like a pro and he just does what she tells him. It is so stinkin cute and funny. Anyway, my real point is when Jamie and Les can come without the boys, we really get a chance to visit with them and enjoy them. It doesn't happen very often, so we enjoy it. Sorry, Blake & Morgan!

Monday night…. We were watching Star Wars and when it was over, Rowan turned to look at me, held up his forefinger and thumb like a gun and made a shooting sound. I couldn't believe it. He did it again. I am frantically calling to Adam to come downstairs to witness this. As he does, Rowan turns to him with his fingers and makes the sound. Adam pretends to fall down and Rowan doesn't get it! He looks at him, like what's the deal?? Adam gets up and Rowan is pretending to shoot all over the place. Of course this seems like a great thing to capture on video, however the batteries were dead. He kept on for another minute or so and then it was over. He was done and hasn't done it since. It was so funny and amazing at the same time. How did he figure that out? The other 2 weren't doing it. Amazing what goes on their minds. He wasn't really watching the movie, just playing in the living room. And let me add that we aren't all for the pretend violence and all that. It was just so crazy to see him figure that out. It made us think about Russ and his 'pow powing' days. He did similar stuff like Rowan just did, not getting the whole concept of shooting, just pointing and making sounds. Russ was 4 when he really started getting the whole concept of shooting. He called it pow pow. He would ask my dad "Grandpa, I pow pow this?" asking about a rock or person or whatever. Dad would give the go ahead on the inanimate objects. This topic could make for another entry, so many things to think about and compare. But, I'll just leave it at that, as it is time to get Russ to school , Rach to gymnastics and get myself ready too!!!

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