The "Up-and-Down" House!

This morning my friend Katie and I took the boys (Brian and Mason) to Pump It Up, a bouncy house place, Brian calls the "Up-and-Down House." This was Brian's second visit and while the first visit went great, the 40-minute car ride home did not, there was lots of screaming about going "back, Mommy!" This time was much better because we had a little talk before going in and I may or may not have bribed him to leave with promises of tractor-shaped fruit gummies in the car. Brian and Mason had tons of fun jumping and falling and running and sliding. And they were so good when we left that we even got to extend our playdate with lunch at Corner Bakery, yum!

They couldn't be more excited!!!

The faster we get off this thing, the sooner we can climb back up and do it again!

Brian star-fishing it down the slide (I think this is where he gets the "Up-and-Down House" from)

Go D-Backs!

We had busy weekend that started on friday with a retirement ceremony for one of our old Stinger squadron commanders, Col. "Moose" Reed. Thanks to Jen for the free babysitting so Steve and I could attend this special event together! And then Saturday night, we hit up a AZ Diamondbacks baseball game, which Brian calls "B-Ball." He was surprisingly good, watching alot of the game and telling Steve many times to "catch a ball daddy!" He happily ate traditional ballpark fare and only begged to go to the park once (they have a kiddy play area right off the cheap seats). Our friends Jen and Adam and their kids, Dylan and Addy came with us, as did our friends Katie and Mark and their son Mason. We even got to stay for some of the Montgomery Gentry concert that followed the game, until Brian just seemed too tired and thirsty and was asking to go home. But we had a great time overall and the D-Backs beat the Astros 9 to zero!!!

Katie, Mason and Mark

Jen, Dylan and Addy (Adam is behind them)

Us

The B-Ball lovers

My 10-year High School Reunion

It seems weird that its been 10 years since High School but it has! The reunion was fun and everyone looked the same to me. As you can see, Steve skipped out on this one, claiming he had to get back to work, so he was back home in Phoenix while Brian and I stayed in CA another week so I could go to the reunion and also see some more family that was coming into town. My 8-months-pregnant friend Shaughanie and I went together minus our husbands and we had a great time.

Me and Shaughanie--what a trooper, look at those heals!

Me and the little guy, who got taken to McDonalds for dinner and playtime by Aunt Laura, he probably didn't even notice I was gone!

Shaughanie, Me and Gerri

Melissa and me

Fun at Papa and Grandma's House and the Zoo

Here's some more pictures from our trip to CA

Brian and his Great-Grandma Mires

Picking his nose at the zoo with Aunt Laura, Grandma and Allan

Aunt Laura, Brian and the "Mingos"--his favorite animal

Looking for seals

Lunch at Bob's Big Boy, yum!

They look unhappy but they loved Papa's "bucket rides"

Looking for Uncle Yeager's ball that got lost in the ivy a few times

Grace has it

Concerned about something

Balboa Beach Family Reunion

We drove out to CA a few weeks ago to attend the Harris Family Reunion in Balboa Beach. It's my Grandpa Harris' (Dad's Dad) brothers and sisters and all their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It's something we did almost every year as a kid and was always the favorite day of our summer. We'd hang out and eat my Great-Aunt Sue's beach house on the island and swim at the "beach"--actually a sandy spot along the boardwalk in the harbor. Once it got dark, we'd take the ferry across to the Newport Peninsula to the Fun Zone, where we'd ride the ferris wheel and take a spin in the bumper cars and eat Balboa Bars, the best ice cream ever! This was little Brian's first trip and he had a blast! He loved playing in the sand (hated the shower he got after playing in the sand), he loved going on a boat ride in the harbor and riding on the ferry. He rode the "round and round" (ferris wheel) twice because he loved it so much!

"Papa," "Grandma," Brian, Steve, Me, Julie, Carlos and Grace

Cousin Grace

Happy Half-Birthday Brian!!!

On July 31st, Brian turned 2 and a half and so I used that as an excuse to make a cake, well, half a cake! Yum!

July Fishing Trip

At the end of July, we just couldn't take the 115-degree heat anymore and set off for the weekend to Show Low in eastern AZ, way up in the mountains, where it's nice and cool with highs of 85 degrees. Steve did some fishing and gambling (since we were staying at an Indian Casino). Brian isn't quite at the age yet where he'll sit in a boat to fish for long periods of time so we went out on a rental boat with Steve for about an hour, which was plenty long for me and Brian. Steve spent the rest of the day fishing and Brian and I went back to the hotel to nap.

Dinner!

feeding the ducks later that day at a german restaurant where we ate dinner

Day two--taking the ski lift to the top of the mountain, Brian loved the big "swing"