The Author

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I am a high school English teacher, and mother of two charming little ones of my own. I teach in a high poverty urban charter school, while I live in a typical American suburb that has frequently been rated one of the safest cities in the country. It is a paradox I struggle with constantly, but it is my life.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Vacation

So, so, so worth the trip!
I am in Phoenix visiting my cousins this week, and it has been so very wonderful. On Sunday, we got to be here for my cousin Mia's first birthday party. It was really fun, I think for Tiana especially. She is only 3 months younger than Mia, and they played very well together. A little bit of power struggles over toys- they are too young to really share well- but overall they did very well. Tiana may be small, but boy she can hold her own. It was also neat that day seeing all the second cousins together (well, minus Isabella). There were 6 of them here together that day, and it was beautiful. I love having the relationship that I do with them. I love that I can play with Noah in the pool, watch Ronny and Tiana share toys, and put flowers in Mia's and Hannah's hair. Although these are really all technically my "first cousins once removed" (are you impressed I know this? The whole cousin thing is rather complicated), in many ways I feel like the relationship that I have with my first cousins really makes them more like extended nieces and nephews. :)
Sunday night we ordered take-n-bake pizza, that really makes me wish we had a Papa Murphy's near us. The DeLite pizzas are super tasty and only like 130 calories a slice. Can't beat that.
Yesterday we took the kids to a huge indoor playground. It was way cool. I wish they had stuff like this when I was a kid. I guess they kind of did- they had Discovery Zone- but this place puts Discovery Zone to shame. It was rain forest themed and had huge trees with tunnels and slides and things to climb up. Honestly, it was actually a little bit much for Hannah and even Vinny. They are pretty outgoing kids, but you could tell that some of it was actually a little scary for them. Perhaps we will return when they are like 7 or 8. Tiana had a blast in the little baby area though.
In the afternoon, we left the kids with sitters and Tracy and I  had some girl time getting lunch and pedicures and walking around the mall. When we got home, they begged us to go in the pool, and they stayed in there pretty much til bedtime. We let them eat dinner outside and then go back in the pool til bed. At that point, it was big people pool time. :)
Here, night time is prime time. The heat goes down from 114 to a mere 95 or so, but that actually makes it perfect for lounging in the pool and sipping tropical drinks. We even ate our dinner poolside.
Joby got tiki torches today, and it is funny how such a simple touch can really have a profound effect. It was really almost resort like. Sort of makes me wish we had a pool that we could sit in at 9:00 at night, except realistically, in California, even if we heated the pool, it'd be too cold when we got out, that we wouldn't really be lounging outside at night. What I really want is a spa... in a gazebo that we can surround with little lantern shaped lights. Some day.
Today, we are off to the childrens museum. :)




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