Monsoony Fun...

So we have decided to go rogue and have cancelled our internet at home.  It is in part because of a sharp increase in cost but mostly because we wanted to see if we could (gasp) survive without it.  I am sad to say the only causality that really matters in this op is the blog.  Lacking internet at home on the weekend severely hinders my ability to keep up with it.  But (fear ye not) I now have a plan.  I will put them together on the home computer and then take them with me to upload when I do my Saturday morning dissertation hour(s), part of my new commitment to finishing this PhD by this time next year....

Trying on some angel wings on Congress Ave.

The Lacroix crowd has had a number of fun little vignettes to our weekends in July.  On the second Saturday (after my first ever "dissercation"  a week of vacation to work on my dissertation...another one of my new efforts to finish my PhD this year) we finally made it down to Second Saturday downtown.  We went out to Ethiopian food with friends, which was great for Patrick and I but I am afraid Izzy and Evie were not fans.  We then wandered about in the humid but coolish post monsoon storm air, it was lovely.  We even ran into the midwife that helped bring Izzy into the world almost exactly 2 years before!

Then the next weekend we trekked out to a birthday party... which doesn't sound like much, except for the fact that there was a massive storm just as we were leaving our house, making what should have been a 1/2 hour drive into an almost 3 hour one because we had to turn around at a wash we couldn't cross, go down dirt roads to avoid downed power lines on a major road and drive through a torrential downpour.  The party was loads of fun though with good Jamacian food and plenty of candy.  Izzy even, coincidentally, met a little boy who will be her classmate when she starts preschool next week!

A little role reversal...Evie on the trike and Izzy on the scooter

Then this past weekend, continuing on the monsoony theme, Izzy, Evie and I took a late afternoon/evening walk down to see the Rillito River flowing (Patrick was out at a happy hour with a friend).  It was wicked humid and hot but really fun nonetheless.  Luckily for me as we were slogging back to the house Patrick came home and gave us a lift the rest of the way because after an hour and half of walking with two kids who were now very, very tired it would have been a tortuous last few blocks!  Someday perhaps I will get better at predicting exactly when the girls are "half" tired and turn around then.

The big home project of the last weekend was fixing the fish pond.  It involved repairing pack-rat damage to eletrical wires, new pumps and much Patrick problem solving. 

 

After the pond was finished on Saturday we decided to turn the rest of the area into a fairy garden and so spent Sunday building the first house for the fairy village.  It was originally a project for the girls but turned into a creative endeavor of much satisfaction for Patrick and I while the girls hung out and played at other things.   Patrick was the principal architect, I designed the stepping stones.

 While not fairy related, the girls did do some crafts though this weekend.... which one did which?

 The weekend ended with a Mother/Daughter dinner and a show date.  I took Evie out for Japanese food (which she much prefers over Ethiopian by the way) and then to Valley of the Moon for their Princess Bride show.  We both really enjoyed the show and also got some great ideas for this next weekend's fairy house building exercise...

At a scene at Valley of the Moon, nothing like theater where you can be up close and personal!

All in all it has been a pretty rockin' July.  It has been really dry and hot the past few days, which makes me afraid that our lovely rain is gone until the fall... but you never know, we might just get another good storm or two... here is to hoping!

Sun setting on the mighty Rillito River

Happy 2nd Birthday Isadora!

Height: approx 37 inches
Weight: ~28 pounds (both will be confirmed next week :)
Naps: Once daily, 2-3 hours
Bedtime: Around 7:30
Best Friend: Wyatt and and her sister Evie
Favorite Phrase (du jour): "I do" instead of just "yes" when you ask her if she wants to do something.  Another common one is "I go with you?" but it comes out sounding like "I go with the?"
Favorite Foods: Blueberries (which she calls uvas most of the time), avocados, chicken, pasta (which she always calls pastas for some reason)
Favorite Drink: Bubbly water (and that is how she asks for it)
Favorite Books: All wild animal baby magazines
Favorite Activities: "Swimming" in the pool, making things work like zippers and buttons, and playing with the chickens
Favorite Shoes: Red squeeky shoes
Favorite Animal(s): octopus (still called appletoot), horses and kitties
Lovies: gato, gato pillow and a soft polka-dotted blanket (which is to date nameless)
Best "baby" trick: She knows what two means (will point to two planes in the sky for example) and can count to at least 12 and sometimes 15 in English and in Spanish

Izzy's 2nd Birthday Party!!

Izzy loves octopi.  So we figured we (or maybe really just me... I am chief party planner) decided we would give her an octopus themed 2nd birthday party up at the cabin this past weekend.  While she napped Genevieve and I made octopus decorations and, what was to be the coup de grace, an octopus cake.  The crowd included my parents and my brother and his girlfriend.  The cake turned out looking OK but I am afraid I have much to learn about high altidute baking because those cupcake arms were nigh inedible.  The decorations were a bit more of a success...

 As for the actual party Izzy seemed to enjoy the limelight and once she got a hang of it even enjoyed opening the presents.  Her favorite part was definitely the cake.  She kept calling it "My (or Izzy) octopus (aka appletoot) cake"  I felt vindicated that at least my 2 year old recognized my confection for the creature it was.

At the end of the presents and cake a small dance party was also held... as you can see it mostly consisted of the under 7 set.... Her honest to goodness birthday is Wednesday.  I'll post her annual "interview" then :)

Lacroix family vacation 2013!

June 21-28 we traveled to Florida for a Lacroix family vacation.  Patrick's sister and mom and their following came down from DC (Nicole actually drove so that her youngest child, labradoodle Chessie, could join us) and Patrick's brother lived just minutes away from our beach house.  All told we were 14 strong (plus one nearly due to be born, Colin and Marty's new daughter) and the aforementioned labradoodle.  Here are some of the highlights:

We went to aquariums and met grouper and octopus, saw manatees and sea turtles.  We had to journey to two seperate aquariums so that Izzy could finally meet a real life octopus.  She was scared at first but by the second octopus sighting she was facisnated and then as we were leaving told the octopus "night-night, sleep tight appletoot (aka octopus)"  But, better than any aquarium was the sea life right at our motel.... one night we saw sea turtles lay their eggs and more than once swam with rays all around us!

Patrick, his brother Colin and I took the kids paddle boarding in the inter-costal area and then thoroughly enjoyed playing with Colin's like-new paddle board in the ocean.  The picture here is Patrick with Dylan and Evie out on the waves.

I spent some quality time channeling my inner-child (and those around me) and made a seashell sand castle (as you can see from the picture I am clearly proud of my creation).

One stormy afternoon Patrick, the girls (including me), his Mom and John took a boat out on the inter-coastal area to see the sights (mostly rich folk's houses).  After the boat trip we ate lunch with a most friendly crane.

Some fabulous sunsets were witnessed... not much more I can say about that.

The twizzles (our new name for all the matching cousins... it started out as twin cousins and somehow became twizzle...) all had fun playing together.  Most especially the oldest of the crew, Evie and Dylan. 

Izzy proved herself time and time again to be the cut-up of the crowd...

On one hot (well they were all hot) day we all trekked out to Myakka State Park to see the live oak trees, ride the world's largest air boat, walk a canopy bridge and see some alligators.  Pictures of all cousins together were attempted but did not succeed.

All in all it was a most fabulous time!  I do believe we may have just started ourselves a tradition.

Much needed update!

There has been a lot going on this past month!  I had a visit from my best friend from high school and spent a great day(ish) catching up with her and getting to know her awesome son. 

Then I spent a week in Denver for a big water conference where I gave my first ever talk up on a little podium with a screen the size of my living room, took a field trip out to see Denver and Colorado Spring's water systems and saw my friend Sofi from college for margaritas.  It was a fantastic conference but I have decided more than 3 days is too long to stay away from my people!

The big happenings though were last week.  A big Lacroix family gathering in Florida... but Izzy has just woke from a nap so that one will have to wait for a later time.

Anniversary and Other Fun

 Yesterday Patrick and I celebrated our 11th anniversary by taking a southeastern Arizona wine tour.  We were picked up at 10:30 at our house by a driver and then proceeded to spend the next 5 hours at three glorious Sonoita Valley wineries each with a distinctly different flavor.  The first (Charrron) had a gorgeous patio where we sipped wine, looked at ripening grapes and watched a hawk soar overhead. 

 

The second (Hops and Vines) was super hip run by two sisters.  There we tasted wines paired with Cheetos, spicy and not so spicy chips and met another couple celebrating their 11th anniversary!  Oh and they also had couches outside to sit on and enjoy the view.  The last winery (Keif-Joshua) was very classy but not pretentious and much to Patrick's delight also sold pickled items.  At each place we drank (mostly) good wine, met neat people and had a blast.  Then we came home, took a little nap, and went out for an amazing dinner!

 

Then today we went to the children's museum and out for yummy brunch at the Arizona Inn.  If only every weekend could be so wonderful!

Up at Blue!

 

We had a fabulous beginning to the summer with 3ish days up at the cabin on the Blue.  We took off Friday afternoon after Evie's prize giving ceremony to mark the end of kindergarten for her.  Her award this year was for enthusiasm... no great surprise there!  On Saturday we headed to Alpine for a car show and craft fair (for the first time in a long time we got the boys to come up the hill with us... I think the draw of the car show was just enough for them to tolerate the craft fair).  After the festivities I took a much needed nap... turns out Izzy is not so good anymore at the whole go to sleep, get woken up at 11 pm, be put to bed for the first time on a mattress not a crib, try to be convinced that really what she just had was not a nap but prep for a night's sleep... this nap would have been even more needed had my Mom not stepped in at around midnight and through an episode or two of HGTV convinced Izzy to settle in and go to sleep.  While I snoozed Patrick and the girls got all muddy at the stream and he shot a few arrows. Evie made us all some fabulous smores for desert... it was a good day!

Feeding the horse from spring mud (the horse was given to me by my grandfather when I was about her age...)

She was really excited to catch crawdads...

Dead ponderosa without its bark near the top of Escudilla

On Sunday Mom and Dad kept the girls so Patrick and I could make the much anticipated trek to Escudilla where we were married almost 11 years ago now, and where we had not gone for 2 years because of the 2011 fires.  I was really nervous to go up there because I was afraid it would be a wasteland, and while it was certainly very changed it was, in many spots, not as bad as I would have feared.  In fact parts of our hike to the top of Escudilla had a strange beauty to them in their desolateness.  After the hike we soaked in the hot tub (really does it get better than that?!) and aside from an evening hike to set a crawdad trap just hung around for the rest of the day.

Baby aspen trees growing amongst the burnt ones

Near the top of Escudilla, through a sea of dead ponderosa pine

Yesterday we headed home one kid down (Evie is going to hang out with my parents until they come back later this week) with a brief stop at the Gila Box and for the past day the house has felt strangely silent....  All in all though it was a great start to our "summer"!

Best Mother's Day Ever

Sycamore tree from our morning/afternoon hike

What a fabulous mother's day I had!!!  I was regaled with a chicken coop (which actually arrived on Monday... and then the girls and I picked up the chickens to match the very same day)...

a fabulous new necklace purchased with Evie's allowance and a hike at Madera canyon with my favorite mother!  The chicken four are a set of mostly 2-month old chickens, the exception being my chicken who is closer to one month.  We each have a chicken named to suit our personalities.... Evie = Matilda (her fav book by Roald Dahl ); Izzy Appletoot (aka the way she says her favorite animal Octopus); Patrick = Milou (Tintin's trusty friend... yes she is a white chicken); and me Gila (after a river I love very much).   What a full and wonderful Mother's Day.

Playing at Bog spring, the end of our hike... Arizona girls have to appreciate water where they find it!

Shea butter

the sheen on her skin is not due to a flash....

Izzy has a bit of an obsession with lotion lately.  (Or as she calls it crema)  We have to hide all of the sunscreen, face lotion, body lotion and chapstick from her or fear for its longevity.  Last weekend she found a container of shea butter that was all but solid so both Patrick and I figured it was ok for her to carry it around putting the cap on and off for awhile.  Having spent a bit in the house with it totally harmlessly we then made the decision that it was OK (read not worth the fight) for her to hang onto it while we drove out to breakfast.  In retrospect we realize that the drive to breakfast was oddly quiet (Evie was at a sleepover and not it the car) and that while we drove she somehow managed to dig into the once solid shea butter and use over 1/2 of a full container of it on herself, her carseat and Patrick's car.  Most of the shea butter seemed to have been deposited in her hair.  It was lovely.  Thankfully we had a towel in the car to wipe her down before breakfast but it took a half dozen baths and 2 days to get her hair to look like something other than a greasy mess....the upshot is that her usually dry skin has been decidedly less dry this week!

Happy Mother's Day Nicole!

Video from Patrick to his mom Nicole on the occasion of Mother's Day: May 12, 2013.

Weekend adventures

 Last weekend I brought the whole crew along for the annual field trip for my PhD program.  We all hopped in the U of A vans and went to Bisbee to tour the Copper Queen mine and hang out in one of my favorite funky little AZ towns.  As part of the tour we were all required to suit up in miner gear, including, not just a little bit ridiculously, Izzy.  The outfits were round about 5 sizes too big for her and the helmet worked mostly as stool for her to sit on.  At first I thought all the gear was a bit silly, but then we were down in the mine where is was very cold (yeah yellow jacket), dark (yeah little light attached to my utility belt) and I hit my head on the ceiling (yeah helmet).  After the tour a bunch of us hung out at a brewery, where the server brilliantly brought out a big basket of activities for the kids.  The day ended with a first for me... China Super Buffet.  I have always been a bit afraid of them to be honest but I am not going to knock a free meal.  Who knew you could get sushi, mussels, kung pao chicken, pizza and flan all in one place.  What a great way to spend a Saturday!