Happy Halloween!

I'm exhausted!

My "vacation" day went something like this: work out, run errands, lunch at Joe's (YUM) and go volunteer at the school. I showed up, Grammy in tow, to help the kids get costumed. I might have maybe helped one kid tie something (and I did help Corey get into his costume). So, not much use there. I did get to see the craziness of one entire classroom being sent to the bathroom to get into costume, two kids at a time. Fun times.

Next on the agenda was a parade. The young kids paraded through the playground for the older kids. Lots of Power Rangers, Transformers and Star Wars characters. (It's like we never aged!) Corey, clearly is Raphael, one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. However, for school, he was without mask and without a "webbon" (Corey term for weapons.)






Here is Corey with his classmates on the basketball court. Lots of Disney princesses too!







Meanwhile, this morning Corey and I dropped off Brody at school. For the first time, Goddard School allowed costumes for Halloween. However, it was probably two days ago when we heard that, and we'd already gone high-maintenance on the costume. Brody flat-out refused to wear it to school, and we're not sure they EVER got it on him ... except briefly this morning and only then when Rob was holding him. (But don't worry, he had Woody with him all day.)




Brody was nearly falling asleep when Rob picked him up, but he was excited to watch all the kids in costumes parade by. So much so that Rob had trouble getting him to nap because "I don't want to!!!!"

After the parade, I moved into my booth duty at the First Grade Fall Festival. I was in charge of the ghost target toss. Basically kids got four soft balls to throw at velco ghost targets (that wouldn't stay on the wall and that velcro kept peeling off from). I was definitely suckered though, because I must have done about 1,000 lunges trying to pick up stray balls (even from two to three feet away, these kids were having trouble.) An HOUR later, I was able to take Corey home. Whew!

After another hour to recover (it was not enough), we started carving pumpkins. We made two pumpkins - a happy one and a sad one. Here is Corey with the sad one - hard to see, but there are tears cut in there - which was Brody's choice. Likely because he was in post-nap cranky pants mood.





Brody was briefly happy after his nap when he re-discovered the balloon he'd received at school. He carried it all over the house for a while and let it hit the ceiling more than once. It was far more exciting than carving pumpkins, apparently.









Corey in all-out Ninja mode. We made a trip over to Corey's friend Avery's house too, on the other side of the neighborhood. (Their street was a little more lively!) Corey had fun with her neighbor while playing with a fog machine.








The kids got a LOT of loot tonight trolling the neighborhood for front-porch lights. Brody was extremely polite, from "Trick or Treat!" to "thank you" to "Happy Halloween!" at every house. (Though he never really put the monkey ears back on.) At one house, I asked Brody what he was going to say, and he said "Candy!" But we cleared that up and he was more polite for the rest of the stops.

Though I'm exhausted, I have to say that it's really nice here. It's 9 p.m. now and 77 degrees, nice and cool outside.

Tomorrow morning we're taking Grammy to Corey's hockey practice and tomorrow night we're all going to watch the Wild and Coyotes from the Honeywell suite!

Bobo in Rare Form

Among today's highlights ...

Brody told Woody: "Sit here. Sit here. Don't move. OK? OK?"

When I was singing "Let's build a Daddy" from Word World, Brody corrected me: "Not build a Daddy ... build a word!"

And, of course, an oldie but goodie ... Brody singing "you baby" and dancing to the Jonas Brothers! ;-)

Best. $5. Ever

Brody "sweet talked" me in to getting him Curious George at Kohl's today (what can I say ... I'm a sucker). He hasn't stopped giving George hugs and kisses since he got his hands on him!

Clean MRI!

A quick note to say that Corey's MRI results were great - nothing of concern! He has a follow-up appointment tomorrow, so we'll update more after that.

Brody LOVES Yaya hockey

Brody can't stop talking about watching Corey play hockey ("When we see Yaya play hockey?") and even recognized the rink when we got here ("That where Yaya play hockey").

Corey did pretty well today. He was in heaven when he was the first one on a clean sheet of ice shooting at empty goals. He tagged everyone when he was it for freeze tag. His eyes lit up when the coach came out and dumped a box of pucks on the ice ... but he wasn't half as excited as when Brody saw the "ZAMBOMI!"

Fall Break

What a busy week!

BEST FALL BREAK EVER! :)

I took off Monday since Brody and Corey were both off. Then Wednesday, Corey was a trooper at the dentist. And Thursday, he was even more brave at his MRI. And then the fun started!

On the way home from the MRI, Corey, in "drunk" off anesthesia mode, was insistent upon getting donuts. "Can you get them at any store?" "Are we there yet?" "Is Dunkin' Donuts the farthest store?" He was impatient to say the least, but he wolfed down two or three donuts. (We promised him he could have "whatever" he wanted for dinner after starving all day.)

Friday the fun started.

On Friday morning, Rob had work to finish up, so I herded the boys off to San Tan Village, the local outdoor shopping mall. They have two great kids' areas (in which Corey is technically too tall to participate!) The kids had a great time, and best of all, they each got a pair of Sketchers when the mall opened. Corey really needed new shoes - he'd killed his previous pair - and Brody's Elmo shoes were nearly falling apart. Corey is surprisingly brand-conscious for a 5-year old, and for whatever reason, he loves Sketchers. Brody does too, now, since his shoes light up and he calls them his "fire truck shoe-ies."

We swung home to grab Daddy for some bowling. We had originally planned on visiting the pumpkin patch (our house is seriously devoid of Halloween spirit, at least on the outside, and Phoenix folks are obsessed with Halloween!) but the local "patch" is more of a theme park, and it just seemed like too much. Corey wanted to bowl, so that made things easy. Corey won the first round (fair and square - Rob should be ashamed), and Rob came back to win the second round.

Friday night, Rob went out with his friend Jason, so I covered hockey on Saturday morning while Rob recovered. I'm no Sarah Palin (thank goodness) but I made an okay hockey mom. I managed to get all of his equipment on and it didn't fall off before we took it off after practice! Brody expects food during hockey practice, so he had lots of pretzels.

We got home, finished packing the car, and got on the road. After a quick stop at Culver's (we hardly ever drive that way, so it was a great treat for me), we started the two and a half hour trip north. We arrived in Flagstaff at 2:30, and checked in early. (I used Marriott points for the first time ever!)

After resting in the room for a few minutes (and catching a few minutes of the KU football game), we decided to explore "historic downtown Flagstaff." Corey was upset, because he wanted to stay in the room. (It was a theme, he wanted to have dinner in the room too. It was all about the hotel room for him.)

Flagstaff is pretty small and didn't have much to offer for us non-hiking, non-camping folks. However, we found a pretty cool cooking store (Seasoned Kitchen) and bought a Life is Good shirt for Bobo. (It has a dump truck on it!) We finished with dinner at the Beaver Street Brewery, recommended by Nancy and Jason. We made it there just before it got crowded, and the food was great.

We went back to the hotel to watch more sports (the kids watched a movie). Corey and I moved down to the lobby while Rob put Bobo to bed, so it worked out well, regardless of the small room.

In the morning, the boys and I went down early for breakfast which gave Rob a few extra minutes to sleep (on his birthday) and we brought him breakfast in bed, care of Fairfield Inn. :)

We packed up and headed north again to the Grand Canyon! It took about 90 minutes, and it was just $25 for the carload. We didn't really know what we were doing, but as I later told Rob, I don't think I would have done anything differently.

We started around the Visitor's Center, at Mather Point, and walked about 2.7 miles to the "village." It took us nearly three hours, because we stopped so often to take pictures and check out the view. It was a little hilly, too. Now, I had run 2 miles earlier (part of a recent exercise kick), so I was very tired (and starving) by the time we reached the village around 1 p.m. But I have to say, I was most impressed that Corey held his own on that trail. It was hilly, it was LONG, and it was a little warm at times (when the sun was on us - it was cool in the shade.) What an almost-six-year-old!

Brody called the canyon "canaroon" all day. We're pretty sure he thought it was a kangaroo. First, because he was jumping up and down when he said "canaroon" and second, because at one point, the thought the "canaroon" would eat his towel bunny.

At one point, we saw a buck just about 20 feet from the path!

We had lunch at El Tovar, one of the best hotels at the canyon. It was delicious. Then we hitched a ride back to our car via a free shuttle bus. Before moving on, we visited the bookstore, where Brody became enraptured by a stuffed duck that quacks. Corey had to have the hawk, which makes hawk noises. Brody was so taken by the duck that he made a few friends trying to show EVERYONE how the duck worked. In fact, twice while he had that duck complete strangers took his photo! (One a nice Asian woman in the bookstore, who didn't speak English, but indicated she wanted to do so before actually taking the photo. One a Frenchman who did not ask first.)

We drove about 25 miles east to another lookout point, Desert Vista.

At Desert Vista, you could see the Colorado River (the view was mostly obstructed elsewhere due to rock formations) and the painted desert. Also, you were kind of on the edge of the canyon, so it was a unique perspective. The Grand Canyon is so amazing in person that photos don't really do it justice. Especially because looking at the photos, we really could just be right in front of a backdrop! (But we're not.)

Corey and Rob went up in the tower to see the view even higher. Bobo was not happy with Mommy, who told him that he was not old enough to go up. "Bobo too little to go in tower?" Unfortunately, yes. Also, who else would stay behind with Chicken Carrie, who was going no higher than absolutely necessary? (The path we took to the village earlier had been terrifyingly close to the edge - so much so that Corey complained I squeezed his hand too hard!)

It was after 4:30 p.m. before we headed back to Phoenix - a four-hour drive. We arrived home just before 9, after just one quick gas stop in Flagstaff. We took a different route home. One time we went past Snow Bowl, but the second time we came through Cameron.

We had a great time! Brody is still talking about "canaroon" and Corey was thrilled to share the adventure with his teacher today, who happens to be from Flagstaff!

I doubt our next weekend will live up to the last, but we'll keep you informed! There are far too many photos to share. Click here to view a LOT more on Shutterfly!!! (They include a few from before the trip - hockey, bowling, etc.)

We're home!

And very tired. We had a great time and I had a happy birthday! Thanks to everyone who called and sent something (we're actually having the family part on Monday night)!

There will be TONS more photos soon ... but not tonight. :-)

Corey did GREAT Today

Carrie really should be providing the update, but I've got the photos. First of all, Carrie and Corey dropped Brody at school this morning while I was working. They went on a 1.5 mile "nature walk" and Corey even got to help someone reel in a fish!

At the MRI, he refused to use the sleeping gas and opted for the IV in the hand instead. Carrie said he was a very brave boy all day! He came home with a new football from the hospital and got a new Matchbox car for his baby brother.

Tomorrow we're going to a pumpkin patch (which sounds more like an amusement park than the farms we were used to in Lawrence).

We'll be sure to take lots of pictures!

What a trooper!

Today was Corey's dentist appointment, and Carrie said they took X-rays, cleaned his teeth and even did a flouride treatment ... not exactly counting his teeth, like they did last appointment (the dentist was impressed Corey knew how many teeth he had).

Thursday he has his MRI. No food until afterward, no liquids after 10 and they have to check in at noon. We'll probably watch the Transformers movie we rented again tomorrow night, maybe go to a pumpkin patch Friday and head to Flagstaff this weekend. Hopefully Corey's week off isn't too bad!

Sinclair Saturday morning

Corey had his first Mini Mites practice this morning and had fun. They did the usual stuff (freeze tag, jumping over lines, etc) but also got to play some games with the pucks and goals. Corey particularly enjoyed being goalie. Brody was disappointed he didn't get to see the Zamboni.

Afterward we took a family trip to Costco (Brody says, "I LOVE waffles. I LOVE animal cookies. I LOVE juice.") and then had lunch at In-n-Out ... always a crowd-pleaser.

Tonight we're going over to the Evahneko's for Dillon's birthday. Have a good weekend!

National Walk to School Day

Guess what we did this morning! As you can see from our shadows we were kind of early. (Lately Brody has been saying, "Good morning, Sun." when he sees it. Of course, he doesn't like it in his eyes, and when he moves to the shade he says, "Bye bye, Sun. Leave Bobo alone."

Day 3 Without Mommy

Not that you can tell with the dimples and all, but this is Brody's "sad face." Of course, it's hard to be sad after a two-hour nap while eating animal crackers. Not much to report today. We had chicken marsala for dinner (Corey actually liked it). Tomorrow is "Walk to School Day" at Finley Farms, although I'm not sure about the logistics of dropping off Brody too. We can't wait to see Carrie tomorrow night!

Day 1 (and 2) Without Mommy

(I've been trying to do this for two days ... but it wasn't working!)

Carrie left bright and early Sunday morning, and the boys and I spent the day playing and cleaning around the house. Here is a photo of them sharing goldfishes and crackers during snack time. We went "swimming" but the water was kind of chilly so we mostly splashed around the pool for a little bit. I didn't get a chance to warn Corey before he jumped in, so he was quite surprised. After baths we had grilled cheese sandwiches to "warm up."

Corey and I got out his hockey players to play with during Brody's nap. Brody joined in on the fun after he woke up (Corey was trying to get him to drop the puck in the middle and Brody kept saying, "How about riiiiiiiiight HERE?" and picking different spots.)

Last night we watched Snow Buddies for family movie night (we also watched Bee Movie this weekend after Corey got ALL GREEN LIGHTS last week)!

Today we're all wearing our Vikings jerseys ... hopefully they can muster a better showing than the Cubs' pathetic performance this week! (So far, so good!)