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."

We're back!

Well our vacation is officially over! We're back from mom and dad's and had GREAT time. It was so relaxing, in fact most of the time was spent lounging and playing in the pool. Cam and Papa had a boys day and hit the movies. The girls were NOT invited. They saw Night at the Museum 2 and loved it. The bucket of popcorn and huge soda was a bonus. Mom and I made a few trips to the casino - let's just say I was not able to submit a letter of resignation upon my return. But we had so much fun with our "girl" time. Cam did some skating at one of the best skate parks we've been to and had fun. It was nice to kind of get away and take our mind off the sad days we had last week. Bryan managed while we were gone, imagine that, and got quite a few things done around the house. He said it was kind of weird around here without the dog, which I found to be true once we came home. You expect her to be over here while you're doing this, and over there when you do that. She always had a "spot" in whatever it was we were doing around the house. And coming into the house, she was always right there at the door, sooooo excited to see you. Bryan and Cam were swimming tonight and it was definitely odd not to hear her barking - same with the doorbell. It sort of just echoed throughout the house, without the barking accompanying it. I think Hayden was a bit down also - probably didn't help that Cam and I left him for a week. I'd probably be depressed if I were him too - being left with Bryan. But he also seems to be better, maybe it's because we've "rescued" him. And ... believe it or not, I did not take ONE picture while we were there. I had my camera, with me most of the time, but it just never came out. However, we did get one picture: Air Force One. Obama was flying into Vegas about an hour or so before we were flying out. So ... on our way to the airport, he flew over. It was pretty cool. You can see the plane right above the Mercedes.

Cam and I worked on the project below for his teacher, and he gave it to her on the last day. I had heard about it and we thought we'd try it ... ... it's actually a glass vase with pencils attached to it. So of course, we filled it up for her. Thought it turned out pretty cute and she LOVED it!

Well I didn't get much done last week with all the drama going on, so needless to say I've been absolutely slammed with work. I was in the office yesterday, so Bryan and Cam had fun hanging out together. He was home today and will be tomorrow also, but skate camp starts next week, so that's a good thing - for all of us! Below are some pictures of Shelby, as promised. :) They brought back some good memories, and it felt good to actually talk about it without tears. Something we're working really hard on! Cam has been doing much better, so just giving it some time seems to be the answer!

Looking through our pictures, it was amazing to find how close she is to Cam in most of them. She certainly was never far from him when he was little, that's for sure. (And her ball was never far from her either ... :)

Cam playing with Shelby and her ball

Shelby watching Cam to make sure he didn't try and get through the gate we had in our old house. It kept him out of the kitchen, mostly because of the dog's food and water bowls. It didn't stop her though - she hurdled that gate like it was nothing.

Cam is almost 8 months old here - and fully protected!

This one was taken about a week after Cam was born. You comment on people and how "young" they look in pictures, I suppose you forget animals also looked young. She was just a pup!

"Daddy ... can you see my ball under there?"