Amazing Jakes

Since Scott has been out of town, our neighbors have been so generous to include us in their fun. Last night, we were invited by our neighbors, the Bobergs, to go to Amazing Jake's for dinner and fun. For those of you who are not familiar with Amazing Jake's, it is a huge indoor amusement park/game place for families. They have a huge buffet, games, rides, cars, bumper cars, bowling, miniature golf, rock climbing, laser tag, and even a bar for those who are interested! We spent about three hours there, had a huge dinner and lots of fun. Thank you Lisa, Aubrey, and Dylan for thinking of us and keeping us busy!

Reagan & Aubrey rode this ride three times ... it goes in a circle really fast, that they kept squishing each other ... they had so much fun on it!

This was Reagan's first time riding the Frog Hopper, which goes up high and drops. She had the death grip on the bar, but had a great time.

They rode the Frog Hopper two times. I got a video of it the second time around.

On the teacups ... I was surprised on how fast they could spin it by themselves.

The Merry-Go-Round

Even Dylan got to ride!

Riley got to ride too. She really did like it ... it was just hard for me to get her picture while holding on to her!

Riding on the train.

A future "Dance Dance Revolution" kid?

Thanks again for inviting us! We had an "Amazing" time!

Sleepover Success!

Last weekend, we decided we would help out a fellow neighbor who was under the weather, and have a sleepover with their daughter, Brielle. It all started around 4:00pm. Brielle came over and the girls played outside while I cooked dinner. They all gobbled up their food and were wired after the yummy chocolate chip cookies they ate for dessert. I set up Reagan's room for the sleepover, putting our spare mattress on the floor for Brielle to sleep on. It did not take long for the girls to discover it and start jumping on the bed. They were giggling and acting so silly ...

Afterwards, we took baths and got on their pajamas. They were tired out and ready for a movie. We turned off all the lights and made it like a movie theater (that was per their request) and watch the Labyrinth (again, per their request). Riley's attention was not being held, so she started playing with the flashlight in my room. She came out of the room into the dark living room where the girls were, and scared the girls. They started crying and saying they saw a monster. I could not help but laugh! I know, I know ... such a mean mommy!

We turned the movie off and headed to bed ... first stopping to get a good picture! All three went straight to bed, and all were asleep by 8:30pm ... great for me! Being the smart mommy that I am, I headed to bed a little bit after 9:00, knowing I could be in for a long night. They slept all night, but all three were in my bed before 6:00am ... first Riley at 5:30am, then Reagan about five minutes later, then Brielle a few minutes later ... "Can we watch TV?"!

Even with the early morning, the sleepover was a big success. Reagan & Brielle had such a good time together ... they are such great friends!

Disneyland Weekend

Reagan and Mommy took off Friday morning to head to California to meet Daddy for a weekend at Disneyland. We had everything planned, Riley was staying with Grandma and we were going to have a fabulous time. But unfortunately, karma clicked in, and Reagan woke up Friday morning with a fever. Hoping it was just a cold virus (we know a lot about those thanks to Riley) we decided to still go ahead with our trip. We drove towards Los Angeles, hit the rain and the 6 hour trip took us close to 8 hours.

We got to the hotel about thirty minutes before Daddy got "home" from work. We changed our clothes and headed to a very yummy dinner at "C&O Trattoria". It was a little Italian place right by Venice Beach and the food was wonderful. They had these little garlic bread balls that they brought an endless supply of ... they were so good you could not stop eating them ... therefore we did not eat all of our dinner!

Reagan & Daddy enjoying dinner together.

The famous bread balls!

Then back to the hotel for hopefully a good nights sleep ... but not so much. Reagan coughed every twenty minutes and was absolutely miserable. She finally decided enough was enough at 4:00am and was tired of waiting for Disney, so we all got up, showered and got ready for our Disneyland day. The entire ride to the park, Reagan insisted the first thing we ride was "The Haunted Mansion". She had heard about it from a friend of hers, but had never rode it before. She was nervous, but excited the same. She LOVED the ride and we even did it a second time. The second time around, the ride broke. We were stuck up on one of the floors where there were ghosts and noises surrounding us in the dark ... she was so tickled by this, not scared at all! Then it was off to the rest of the park.

Reagan and Daddy making their "scared" faces at "The Haunted Mansion"


Reagan & Mommy on "Pirates of the Caribbean"

Reagan & Daddy riding the "Matterhorn Bobsleds"

Of course, we had to ride "It's a Small World"

The only character that we saw and talked to was Cinderella's Fairy Godmother.

Reagan was so excited to ride the "Dumbo" ride.

Reagan's second favorite ride (1st being the Haunted Mansion) was "Big Thunder Mountain Railroad". This was her first time ever riding a roller coaster and she like it so much, we rode it 4 times.

By the second time on "Big Thunder Mountain Railroad", Mommy held on to her tummy so she could hold her hands up on the roller coaster. She thought it was so funny that when we went over the hills, her bum would raise up off the seat!

At "Autopia", Reagan got to drive the car mostly by herself. She did a decent job and had fun acting like she could drive.

Our day at Disneyland ended about 6:30pm, as Reagan had enough of Mommy pushing the medicines to keep her content. Considering she had little to no sleep the night before and was feverish most of the day, she had a great time at Disneyland and was so sad to leave.

We got back to the hotel and carried the sleeping five year old to her bed, where she slept fairly decent all night ... waking up again at 5:00am!

So, Sunday morning, we got up and ate breakfast at the hotel. Mommy pushed some more Motrin, but this time it was not helping her fever. We tried to get a few more things in before deciding to leave to drive home. (We were originally going to come home on Monday, but Mommy thought we needed to get to the doctor ... so we left Sunday).

Before we left, we went to the Santa Monica Pier and walked around the beach for a while. Reagan loves the beach and enjoyed finding sea shells.

The Santa Monica Pier ... we were bummed we were there too early for the rides!

My new favorite picture ... Reagan & Daddy admiring the ocean.

Reagan and her sea shells, decorating her name in the sand.

Mommy and Reagan were relaxing on the swings at "Muscle Beach". They were great swings!

Then we headed to the La Brea Tar Pits to show Reagan the museum. It was really interesting to know that due to the land right there, all these animal bones were found and turned into a museum. Reagan was very concerned about the tar being so hard to get out of ... she felt sorry for all the animals that had been stuck there.

This demonstration was to show you how difficult it is to maneuver out of the tar.

Reagan touching the leg bone of a land sloth ... she said it was gross!

So, by lunch time, Reagan was done ... she had a fever and just could not take it anymore. I know, I know ... what a terrible mom I am for dragging her around Los Angeles with a fever! She did have a good time though. So, we packed up and headed back to Phoenix. We got into town at 9:00 and headed straight to the Pediatric Clinic, where we discovered she had TWO EAR INFECTIONS. I knew there was something wrong, but just did not know what it was. I feel really sorry for her, but she never did once complain about her ears hurting. So, after the 6 hour drive home, the visit to the doctor, the trip to the pharmacy to get antibiotics, we got home and in bed by 11:00pm ... boy we were EXHAUSTED.

We both slept great Sunday night and were excited to go and pick up Riley at Grandma's Monday morning. Riley did great with Grandma all weekend ... they said she was a "joy"! Not sure if they were being nice to me or not, but that made me feel good knowing she was good for them.

Reagan has been on antibiotics for a couple days now, and is feeling back to normal. We were sad to have to leave Daddy a day early, but we were glad to get back home and get feeling better!

An Early Valentine's Gift ...

As said before, I had a big surprise planned for Scott for Valentines Day. Since Scott has been traveling so much, it was a lot easier and FUN to plan. Here is how our date went ...

Saturday, February 7, 2009 I flew Scott home from Los Angeles and picked him up at the airport at 3:00pm. Of course, as soon as he got in the car he asked "where are we going?". I told him it was not time to tell ... so we went to an early dinner. Before we got out of the car at the restaurant, I gave Scott his present ...

(tickets to the Carolina vs Phoenix game that night)

We ate at Maria Maria, a restaurant owned my Carlos Santana (the musician) and enjoyed the beautiful weather by sitting on the patio, in the sun, almost entirely by ourselves (that's is what you get when you eat dinner at 3:45pm).

Then off to Glendale we went, to the Carolina Hurricanes vs Phoenix Coyotes NHL Hockey game ... a good 40 minute drive. Now, for those who don't know already, we are huge hockey fans and the Carolina Hurricanes are OUR team. We were engaged at a Carolina Hurricanes game, so this was a night to be almost as special as that ... almost! Needless to say, we were pulling for Carolina to win.

We got there and walked around the arena before the gates opened. We met a lot of fans of Carolina who flew in from Raleigh just for this game ... what great fans the Hurricanes have! Then when the opened the gates, we went in and stood down at the ice to watch the players warm up. We were standing right by the tunnel where the players come out, so we got to see them up close and get a couple good shots of them warming up. It brought back so many good memories of all the old games we used to go to in Raleigh ... for those of you who know this man ... we even saw Tripp Tracy, the broadcaster from Raleigh.

(Eric Staal, coming out to warm up)

(again, Eric Staal)

(Cam Ward, the goalie ... Scott got this picture for me, he knows I have a thing for all the goalies)

Then the game started ... we had seats about 8 rows off the ice, down where Carolina shot twice. By the third, we moved down to the first row and sat directly behind the goalie and got to see Carolina score some goals ... it was awesome.

(face off)

(this is how close we were, once we moved seats to the glass ... it was so cool)

(what is a hockey game without a fight)

(We were so excited to catch this picture ... you can see the puck in the net, right above the goalies skate)

(Final score ... Carolina 7, Phoenix 2 ... GREAT GAME FOR US!)

After the game, we went home and to bed. The girls woke up very early and were SO EXCITED to see that Daddy was home. They did not even say good morning to me, they were all over Dad! Scott said that this was an awesome present, he could not have asked for anything more fun and exciting. We went to lunch with Scott on Sunday and then took him back to the airport ... we were all so sad to see him go again, but we will see him next weekend.

My Valentine's gift to Scott was a big success ... it stayed a surprise and he was beyond excited. I am proud of myself! Thanks for sharing it with us!

Up and coming ...

I know I have not posted in a while, but things have been so busy with Scott being gone. He is officially on his last trip for now, in Los Angeles for 8 weeks. He will be coming home for about 24 hours this coming weekend, to celebrate an early Valentines Day (I have something really cool planned for him ... shhhh, it is a surprise ... I will post more on that after the fact).

Then the following weekend, the weekend of Valentine's Day, Reagan and I will be adventuring out to California to go to Disneyland with Scott. Poor Riley, she will get left at home with Grandma while we are having a blast ... more to come on the whole Disney trip after that happens too!

As for the mean time, we are home trying to nurse Riley back to her normal healthy self. She has had a sinus infection for 33 days now. We went to the pediatrician for a follow-up today and of course, she still has the same old sinus infection. So, another round of antibiotics, plus more decongestants and even an allergy nose spray ... lets hope this does the trick. If after 20 days, she is not "cured", then it is off to get a CT scan and another visit to the ENT. Let's hope and pray that all these medicines will help her so we won't have to do any more surgeries on this

baby!

Sorry, no pictures this post ... like I said, we have been so busy that we just have not taken any pictures worth sharing. I promise we will get some good photos over the next few weeks and have some posts for everyone to see!

Til then ...