San Diego

David's Birthday was May 2nd and he wanted to go to San Diego for the Red Bull air races. We only live 5 hours from there, so we went out on Friday morning and returned Saturday evening after the races. The qualifying runs were on Saturday, and the actual races were on Sunday, which we didn't stay for. The route we take goes right beside the sand dunes outside of Yuma, AZ. When Zak looked out the window and saw all the sand he exclaimed with great wonder - "Mom, is this Sand-iego".

We also got some time to play at the beach. It was rather chilly, so thankfully mostly empty of sun-bathers. Sidney was at the beach when she was about 9 months old. She of course doesn't remember it, and Zak had never seen the ocean. They both loved it. I like the beauty of the ocean, however I am NOT - may I re emphasize- NOT fond of sand, in the hair, clothes, car, etc. What a mess, it sticks to everything!!! I am so glad we don't live near an ocean, because I would go crazy. When we were leaving the beach, I threw some sandy wet towels up on top of the car while I was helping the kids get in. When we got home to Phoenix, I noticed sand all over the top of the car. However the aero-dynamics work on that car, it never blew off. WERID!!! (yes I did remember to put the towels in the trunk)
Zak loved to chase the water in and out and David took him way out so he could kind of ride the surf on his float ring. Sidney got knocked down and wet right after we got there and she refused to have anything more to do with the water. She spent all of her time digging and filling up the buckets with sand. We made a pretty cool sand castle but in the picture some of it had already washed away.
The air races were held over the San Diego bay. The point of the race is to fly through the obstacle course with out taking out the inflated cones in the shortest time. As a pilot, David was much more intrigued then I. Once I saw one go through, the rest was pretty much redundant. But overall it was a fun day.

Sidney's Birthday

For Sidney's 3rd Birthday, we got her a bike. We had gotten Zak a bike for his 3rd birthday, and got him the smallest one you can buy. He seemed to grow out of it so fast, so David wanted to get Sidney the next size up to start off with.

She was thrilled with her bike and figered it out in minutes. Zak is explaining to her the brake system. The brown thing laying in the grass is our neighbor's dog, not a dead pig.

I made Sidney a "princess cake". You bake the cake mix in bowls. We asked Sidney how old she was and she had to take some time to count it out on her fingers.

This pic has nothing to do with her birthday, but I thought it was cute of the kids chowing down on dill pickles, an addiction they learned from me. David won't get within 3 feet of any open pickle jar.

Old cars

A few weeks ago we went over to Bud and Sherry's house for supper and for a ride in his new wheels. It is a 1930 Chevy. It had "sucide doors". Bud has refurbished the whole car and it looked super!! He took all of us for a ride and we had a great time bumping around at 30 miles/ hour.

Can you imagine going to town for groceries in this. Where would you put everything, there's no trunk.

Zak's 5th birthday

On the morning of Zak's birthday I hid his presents. He had fun looking for them.

If you can see on his feet he also got "roller shoes". He is not so great on them yet and has had several falls, but he keeps trying. After one particully painful "sit down" he said to me through his tears "Mom, I wish I never had to wear these again". He however had them back on the next morning.
His birthday was on a Thursday, so on Friday evening, we had friends over for a birthday party. A big thing out here is these inflatable jumpers. I have always thought they look like loads of fun, so we rented one for his party. The kids jumped till they were exhusted.

The chefs!Grandpa Maddox - the kids adopted AZ grandpa."Uncle Bud"

Spring is here...

We, for the first time, colored Spring eggs this year and had egg hunts all week long . Zak told me it was his favorite game to play. We had a lot of fun and a very busy week. I want my kids to learn traditions but at the same time not confuse the Resurection with trivial commercialism.

This is Sidney's Palm Sunday outfit. It was going to be her Easter dress, but then Grandma and Grandpa Maddox bought an Easter dress for her and gave it to her as an early birthday gift.

Easter outfits. Zak also got his new suit as a Birthday gift from Grandma and Grandpa Maddox. They spoil our kids to death.

All the picture taking got to be just a little much for Sidney. She has a shy streak.

Announcment

Once again the birdflu has hit our household.

(You would think they would have a cure by now)

As Sidney says, we are going to get another Zakary.

There will be on September 16th another rugrat in

our household. Some suggested names by our kids are

Onesimus (At least Sid is paying attention in Sunday School),

Thomas, (Hint - Choo, Choo), and Bob (the builder).

(posted by the expectant father)

The past few weeks we decided to get some last minute sightseeing in before we leave AZ for the East. During both trips, I of course forgot the camera so we have no pictures of the memorable events.
We have always talked - at least David has about going sking in Flagstaff. He hasn't skid in approx 10 years, so it was with great trepidition and much prayer for the safety of the other skiers that I spent the day. He, of course, did fabulous. He was on the black diamond trails by his third run, and said he only "sat down" twice. I took the children and we found a snowy hill to sled on. After dumping Sidney off, she decided Mommy didn't know how to sled and refused to go down again. Zak had a blast sledding on his own, while Sidney and I built snow heaps, and ate snow. After we picked up David we went back to sledding until almost dark. Sidney did take a few trips down the hill with David. I guess he passed the test.

Last Friday we went to Benson, AZ and toured Kartchner Caverns. We had been told it was a great cave and worth the 3 hour drive. It was pretty impressive, and Zakary especially love it.