The world is full

... of women blindsided

by the unceasing demands of motherhood,

still flabbergasted by how a job can be

terrific and torturous.

~ Anna Quindlen

A good chuckle

Out of the Mouth of ... Cameron

"Mom ... Do you know why Preston wasn't at skate camp today"

"Preston, one of your instructors?"

"Yeah ... he was at the dentist. He had to get his wizard teeth pulled."

Skate video

Another week of skate camp completed! This was Cam's third week, and by far his best. He really worked his tail off and nailed some great tricks. I went with Bryan to pick him up yesterday, and got there a bit early so I could see what they've been raving about all week. Neither one was exaggerating. He was on fire! I took some videos of the last half hour of his skating and you can see it below!

Absence

... makes the heart grow fonder. Right? Well then I've succeeded. :) I've finally gotten around to posting. Been meaning to all week, but it's just kinda taken a backseat to everything else! We had a fantastic time in California last weekend. La Jolla was absolutely beautiful. Our hotel room had a great ocean view and we were about a block from the beach.

Our hotel was also just down the street from the "Rodeo Drive" of San Diego ... pinkies up, people. The little boutiques and galleries were very cool, but just a tad bit out of our price range. You know it's bad when the "sale price" of the item is equal to your house payment - and that item is a scarf. No thanks. We decided that the area was absolutely gorgeous - we drooled for a while over some of the homes, and played the "If we win the lottery, we'll take THIS one" game for quite some time, but we're a bit more hip on the open air bars/surf-n-turf restaurants that we could just walk into off the beach. Cam, however, was in heaven - the Bentley's, Maserati's, and Ferrari's were in full force. All weekend. We spent Friday evening in Mission Beach and hit one of our favorite little restaurants for dinner. It's right on the ocean and it was fantastic. Saturday was a killer! We were up early and hit the Birch Aquarium. It was a great change from Sea World. :)

They had quite the array of saltwater fish, sharks and our new family favorite ... sea dragons. If we still had our fish tank, we decided we'd get some of these. They were so mythical looking, they almost looked fake.

We walked around the North La Jolla area after that, hit some surf shops, walked to the beach and then headed over to Coronado Island. This was the first time I had been over there and loved it. It was so beautiful and it really made me feel like we were on vacation. We did some shopping, had a great lunch - and some afternoon cocktails - at a Mexican restaurant and headed over to the skate park. One of Cameron's skate instructors told us about the skate park located just underneath the bridge to the island. It was one of the nicest parks we'd been to, and it was such a great environment. We were right next to the beach and were able to watch all the boats on the water while Cam was skating. It was a gorgeous afternoon - a nice break from the triple digits in Arizona - so Bryan and I kicked back with our coffees and just relaxed!

Here are a few pictures of Cam skating. Just so you know - we don't DARE leave home without the skate gear. His list of park conquests is growing rapidly!





We left Coronado and headed back into San Diego for some more shopping ... nothing like having your son walk around with his pants to his knees because he forgot his belt. That was top on our list. Got back to our hotel and decided to walk around for a while, although I'm not sure that was a good idea - our feet were so tired! We had a great Father's Day breakfast at the cafe at the Museum of Contemporary Art - here's a pic of Daddy and son. (Bryan wasn't real fond of this picture, I thought it was great, so I included it. Shhhhh. Not sure how often he checks this, but hopefully you see it before he does and it is "accidentally" deleted from the blog.)

When Cam was in California with Mike and Denise, he did a little shopping in Disneyland. He found what he thought to be the most hilarious (and I agree) "gift" for Bryan for Father's Day. Grandma thought one that said "Dad" would be more appropriate, but Cam was thinking more along the lines of a joke. So ... he purchased the accessory below. For Bryan's truck. Cam snuck this in his backpack, hoping to "surprise" Bryan with it on Father's Day. We took my car last weekend on our trip, and he was extremely disappointed when he realized there is no antenna. So, we had to wait until we got home before he could put it on. Bryan thought it was funny, but decided to take it off before he left for work Monday morning. He didn't think it would be all that funny driving into the Prison complex to deliver while sporting this "bling" ... :)

Kind of a random picture, but I loved it. This church was across the street from our hotel also, and was gorgeous.

That was about it! After fartin' around for a bit in La Jolla, we headed home. It was a short trip, and we added quite a bit to our "to-do-list" for future trips when we have a little bit more time.
But ... It was nice to get away even for the short time!

Happy Father's Day!

To all the Dad's out there ... may you enjoy your day to it's fullest! And just a few messages for some of the "Dad's" in my life ...

To my Dad,
You're the kind of dad who shows his love by endlessly protecting and providing for his family. Your devotion and strength gives us strength and speaks louder than words about the kind of dad you are. This is just one in a million reasons why you deserve to be honored today!

And ...

To my wonderful father-in-law,
Thank you for who you are, for the things you do, and for just being you. We are all incredibly lucky to have you in our lives.

I hope for you both that today is full of wonderful memories and the year ahead is full of many reasons to celebrate. We love you!

And ... last but not least ...

To my husband,
You are at the heart of all the most wonderful things in my life... a happy home, a beautiful son, and a love that never stops. I couldn't ask for more!

Road Trip!

We're off! Have a great weekend!

Thought for the Day

"Adults are always asking little kids what they want to be when they grow up because they're looking for ideas."

~Paula Poundstone

My weekend!

Hi everyone - it's me ... Cam! I told mom that I wanted to "write" this one about my weekend. I went with Grandma 'Nise and Papa Mike to California and had a great time! On Saturday, I went to Knotts Berry Farm. It was my first time and I loved it! My favorite ride was Montezooma's Revenge. Papa went on the ride with me. Believe it or not, we didn't scream at all. It is so fast and scary some people even pass out. But we didn't. I found this video of the ride on You Tube if you want to see what it looks like ... just click here! And my other favorite was Silver Bullet. It wasn't as scary as Montezooma's Revenge but it was still fun. Both Grandma and Papa went on that with me. On Sunday we went to Disneyland and the whole day I was at California Adventure. My two favorite rides there were Tower of Terror ...

and California Screamin'. California Screamin' was fun, but it was kind of annoying because every time I went on it (8 times total) every person on the ride kept screaming because they were so scared. But I don't think it was scary at all. Here's a clip of California Screamin' ...

We drove back today and I had so much fun with my Grandma and Papa! I can't say thank you enough to them for the weekend!

Almost time for the weekend!

And I couldn't be more thrilled. It's been such a hectic week, but it certainly makes the work day go by a bit faster. I'm done with work for the day, and enjoying an extremely quiet household. Both my boys are fast asleep - one on each couch - and except for the occasional snore, the hum of my laptop and the wind chimes out back, there is no sound. It is fantastic. Cam has finished his second week of Skate Camp, and is pooped. P-O-O-P-E-D, POOPED! I drop him off in the morning, Bryan picks him up, and he usually falls asleep in the car on the way home. He'll have a bit of an afternoon snack, and fall asleep again. Nothing like skateboarding for 6 hours a day, right? He's been having a blast skating and has certainly pulled some tricks out of his hat the last couple of weeks, no pun intended. He's doing great. He's "taking the day off" tomorrow and headed out of town with Grandma and Papa Peterson for a long weekend - he couldn't' be more excited. They're headed to Knotts Berry Farm - and in looking at the website with him, it sure brought back some great memories. Who can forget Camp Snoopy? So even though I'll miss my baby terribly, that also means we've got a weekend to ourselves. The only "official" plan we have is to head out to dinner and see George Lopez Saturday night with some friends. And with Cam gone, we think it would be a perfect opportunity to see The Hangover ... which mom and dad said was hilarious. Now fast forward to next Friday ... drum roll please ...


We're ALL going away for the weekend. Yes, I said ALL. As in ALL three of us. Bryan, Cam and myself. The whole family. It's a quick weekend trip, but when it has been about three years since the last weekend we were away together as a family, well for cryin' out loud we'll take it! We made our reservations last night and are headed over to La Jolla for some beach action, some aquarium action, and of course, the shopping and little restaurants in the village go along with it. Our room has an oceanview with a balcony, so I'm envisioning drinking my coffee there in the morning, and ending the day there with a nice glass of wine. 8 more wakeups. I can't wait. Remember my last post? This one? I'm thinking that just might happen after all. :)

Out of the Mouth of ... Cameron

"Hey Pooky-Bear, are you ready for your pizza?"

"Mom, don't call me that. It's really embarassing."

"Okaaaaay ... well what about 'Punkin' Pie'?"

"That's fine."

I want to be ...

here.

I saw these on the Pottery Barn website

and could not help myself.

Forget about the furniture and accessories,

although they are very cool,

I just want the atmosphere.

I want those to be my pictures.

With me, and my family, in them.

How wonderful does this look? Now ...

everybody take a moment to daydream about it.

Quote of the Day

"Think about what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world,

had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon

and then lay down on our blankets for a nap."

~Barbara Jordan

In the Good Ol' Summertime ...

According to the Farmer's Almanac, the first day of summer is approximately 19 days away. If you live in Arizona, however, the first day of summer was approximately 19 days ago. Well it felt like it. We're in the triple digits here, and have been for quite some time. Which is okay. You've heard the jokes "it's a dry heat" ... blah, blah, blah., well it is. Granted, sometimes it feels like you've just opened the oven door on your face when you step outside, but it's a dry heat. There's no humidity, you're not dripping with sweat before you hit the driveway, and we have a pool. BIG BONUS. But even without the temps, it feels like summer. Obviously Cam's out of school, but there's more to it. The temps are perfect in the morning when we wake up about 80 degrees or so, we have our ice-cream for dessert, it doesn't get dark until at least 8:30 or so, and we can swim in the pool after dinner or go for a bike ride. Even though it's still almost 100 degrees or so, the sun isn't shining down on you so it isn't as bad. And you guys wonder why we freeze our you-know-whats off when we head back to the Pacific NW and temps of 60. Geez - that's sweater weather. Anyway, it's pretty laid back. But isn't that what summer is for? Life is pretty good.

Cam started skate camp yesterday and is having a great time. He woke up quite a bit earlier than he needed to yesterday because he was so excited. Of course it's NEVER like that on a school morning. And in fact, he actually has to get up earlier than he would on a school day for camp, but I guess there's just something about "having" to get out of bed when you know you're gonna do something fun. Kind of how I feel every morning when I get up for work. Hmmph. Honestly, there's just a whole lotta nothing going on. For once. We spent the weekend swimming and running a few errands, and swimming some more. The boat took a backseat to the Cleveland-Orlando game on Saturday. Boy was that a mistake. We've got a couple of Cav fans here, and it was tough. Not to mention we were pulling for the Nuggets. Needless to say, we could care less about watching the games. I would prefer not to see Mr. Bryant get another ring, but whatever. And ... that's it. But it's only Tuesday, and things could change. I'm just gonna keep my fingers crossed that the only action the rest of the week produces is more swimming. And maybe more ice-cream. Even if we do have only 57 seconds before it melts and hits the ground.

Out of the Mouth of ... Cameron

Sunday afternoon the phone rings, Bryan answers it downstairs and tells Cam to run it up to me. He hands it to me and waits. The caller was from University Finder or something of the sort and wanted to help me find the perfect school to continue my education. Ha. I politely told her that I recently finished my Masters and was not interested. Hung up the phone, and handed it back to Cameron. He's standing there and asks, "Did they want you to get your Dockers?" I am trying my hardest not to crack a smile, but rather agree. "Yep, I think they were wanting me to go back for my Dockers."

Later the same day, we're watching HGTV (our new family favorite channel) and a commercial for Proactiv comes on. Cameron turns to me and says, "Is that a 'Difficult Pimple' on your chin?"

Why yes it is son. Thank you for pointing it out and reminding me. "You should order some of this stuff. They have a website."