Family Vacation Days #5-6

On Wednesday, we were of to Kartchner Caves. It was a painfully long drive due to some sort of freeway accident, but once we got there, we enjoyed a nice tour. (And no - we didn't see any bats to remind me of my college bat trauma!) Unfortunately, they do not allow cameras, so it makes for a pretty boring blog post.

Thursday, we divided up. Here is Starshine out to breakfast with Grandma and Jr. Princess. I hear there were the world's biggest pancakes...

Grandpa, Auntie and Uncle headed up to Phoenix to catch a Brewers spring training game, and M&M Dad and I went for a nice long hike together.

Oh, and the last activity of the week was completing a puzzle. We spent HOURS on this, and while our family had to leave for the airport Friday morning with it 80% complete, Uncle was able to text us a picture of it all done before he and Auntie left Saturday morning. VICTORY!

We had a great family vacation!

Family Vacation Day #4

Tuesday was horseback riding day. I have fond memories of going horseback riding on vacations when I was a kid. Though, in retrospect, how come we only went horseback riding on vacations??? Anyway.... here's the group... M&M Dad wasn't super excited about the idea, but he has never been, so he figured he had to say he has ridden a horse at least once. After a serious infatuation with The Saddle Club TV show, Starshine was excited. Of course, a slow walk in straight line wasn't what she was expecting after seeing the show, but she still loved it. Jr. Princess couldn't believe she got to ride by herself... Here we are on the way back. It's a good thing our horses nicely followed in a straight line - this area is FULL of cacti. If any of the horses got adventurous, there would be a lot of tears!

Family Vacation Day #3

Monday was for family hiking at Catalina State Park...


I got an Arizona geocache using my cool new GPS Christmas present, though, it was a little nerve wracking looking amongst the cactus is snake country. I think we'll keep to less "spikey" terrain for future caches! Starshine is my little billy goat climber...

After a few hours we enjoyed our first "In and Out Experience." The burgers were yummy, but after hiking in the sun for a few hours, we would have eaten anything!

After cooling off, we had an all family birthday fiesta. We had drawn names to give gifts homemade or less than $5. Jr. Princess ended up with the most flamboyant gift - an Easter bunny headband and slippers from Uncle. She was ecstatic...

Family Vacation Day #2

On Sunday, the group (minus Grandma and the princesses) were off to the University of Arizona baseball game. At the last minute, Starshine decided to join us...


The crowd was small, but that just means we got to sit right in front, which was very cool.

Starshine entered her name in the "name that tune drawing", and won a UofA cheering set. The rally towel came in super handy as we were flaming hot and kept soaking it in the drinking fountain to put on our necks. We cheered super loud when her name was announced on the PA...

Combine that with the fact that M&M Dad got her a ball from the warm up catcher, and she was SUPER glad she decided to come...

The report from Jr. Princess and Grandma included swimming and golf cart rides - so we all had a lot of fun.

Family Vacation Day#1

For Spring Break this year, we all went down to Arizona to visit Grandma and Grandpa L. And this year, Auntie had the same spring break, so it was a whole family affair. We almost missed the plane due to unexpected snow slowing our trip to the airport (stupid Minnesota spring), and millions of other families at the airport trying to get someplace warm. At least the plane ride was smooth and we didn't have to repeat last years unpleasant arrival into Orlando.

Grandpa L picked us up at the airport...

And Grandma L was waiting patiently for the princesses to arrive before heading to the other airport to pick up Auntie and Uncle...

Jr. Princess spent all of her free time climbing the water feature in the backyard...

The warm weather was fantastic!

Need the Grandmas' expert opinion

Hi Grandmas,

Starshine is doing her biography project on Ruby Bridges, who helped integrate Louisiana public schools in 1960. She needs to present her project in costume. I have been trying to convince her that 1960's 1st grade fashion is not all that different from 2010 (minus the sparkle). A quick raid of her closet yielded a knee length dress with collar, matching cardigan sweater, folded over bobby socks, and black mary-jane shoes. If I work on my braiding styles over the next week, and throw in a bow, I say she is a spitting image of the cover of the book she read from the library.

Starshine is not convinced. She thinks she looks like a regular kid going to school.

OK - Grandmas - does she look like a 1960 1st grader??

Oh the injustice...

During Black History Month, Jr. Princess learned about the story of Rosa Parks. She then had to fill out a worksheet describing "a time when you were treated in a way that you didn't like."

Well, we laughed out loud when we read her grave injustice...

"My sister cheated on Sorry. I got mad."

In Starshine's defense, I don't think she cheated on Sorry!

Starshin'e Own Blog

Today, Starshine decided she wanted to create her own blog. [Insert mom sniffle here as I am hit by how she is becoming so grown up and independent].

So click on the link http://starshinessuperstarthoughts.blogspot.com/ to check out her own personal musings...

Candy making fun

Jr. Princess went to a birthday party yesterday, where the theme was candy making. I thought it sounded like a super fun idea, and still was blown away with the cute little candies she came home with...

What a fun idea!

It gave Starshine and me the opportunity to go by fabric for her International Festival dance costumes. Yep - I got roped into making 11 "China-inspired" costumes for her Girl Scout troop. Wish me luck (and sanity!)

Eulogy for Pinchers

After a few months together, we discovered this weekend that poor Pinchers had passed on. Being that crayfish are nocturnal, he may have been dead for a couple of days before we noticed.

This was our first pet experience, and a good opportunity to see if the girls were ready for a "real" pet. Starshine assures us that many other classmate's crayfish have already passed on, so we are not the world's worst crayfish owners - yeah. Starshine doesn't seem to devastated, and considering for the past 3 months Starshine barely remembered to keep him fed, we are definitely not getting another pet anytime soon. Pinchers - we'll miss you...