This Cracks Me Up Everytime!

Daphne so would love to get through the cat's door to steal her dinner...

Brats

Abby is a fussy eater. She used to love brats, but recently has decided that she HATES brats. Sometimes it is difficult to keep up with Abby's dietary likes and dislikes.

But in the last week she has made it EXTREMELY clear that she HATES brats. Given how completely melodramatic she has been behaving, we couldn't resist having a little fun at her expense...

This is Abby giving the evil eye to the brat that Will set before her at lunch today.

And this is Abby's reaction a few seconds later when Will told her that she was actually having a hot dog for lunch instead of the brat.

Chapter Book Number Two

Earlier this month, Daniel and I finished reading The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary. Tonight, Will and Daniel finished reading The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner.

Monopolization -- Abby-Style

 Abby LOVES to play Monopoly and she LOVES to destroy her opponents! She has one strategy and one strategy ONLY. She doesn't buy anything she lands on until landing on the two properties that we think of as Boardwalk and Park Place. (In the Star Wars version we played last weekend, they are known as Jabba's Palace and Ziro's Palace.)

It's seems like a risky strategy, but EVERY.SINGLE.TIME it somehow works and Abby's opponents go bankrupt and she GLOATS!

Mira (and Daniel too)

Our cat Mira is getting old and frail. Sometimes when I see her lying on the couch in an awkward position, I lean in to make certain she is still breathing. Sometimes she opens her eyes and fusses at me.

We still have a few Christmas boxes sitting about and I've been reminded that for whatever reasons, cats (and Daniels) like to sit in boxes!

Our Little Athlete

Last Saturday, Daniel and Will had their first father/son tennis lesson. They had their second lesson this morning. Daniel thinks it is great and told Will that he (Daniel) is a pro because he knows what he is doing. (Daniel is also taking tennis once a week during the school day through his preschool.)

And this morning he also started swimming lessons again. He wasn't very keen on getting into the water at first. But once he was in, he grinned the entire time -- even when going under water. Will grimaced and said he wished Daniel would close his mouth when he goes under! But Daniel came up still grinning and didn't seem to mind at all!

Baking

Grandma and Grandpa Engelhardt gave us their new church cookbook for Christmas. (They both have recipes published in the book.) Recently, Abby has been testing their recipes and has proven to be a pretty good baker!

After putting Grandpa's banana bread in the oven, she called to let him know she had just baked it.

A few days later, Abby made Grandma's peanut butter cookies. She forgot to add the brown sugar, but they turned out rather tasty anyway!!

Reading by the Fire

Yesterday Will finished reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy to Abby. This was the final of three series Will wanted to read to Abby (Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, and the Lord of Rings). Abby wants Will to start another series, but he is unsure what that will be. (Any suggestions would be appreciated.)

Tonight I watched Abby at the bookshelf, curious what she'd choose. She selected The Two Towers (the second book in the Lord of the Rings trilogy). The girl loves to re-read her favorite books -- over and over again.

The dog seems to enjoy it too.

Delicious Apple Pies

I had a great chuckle today as I was checking Abby's homework. She was supposed to fill in the blanks, but also felt compelled to edit one of the sentences...

In case you are wondering, the list word for the blank was "homemade." And yes, Abby's grandma does make delicious homemade apple pies and Abby's mother does not.

Who Knew?

Who knew an hour long BBC Documentary about the renovation of a British Airways 747 could be so darn fascinating?

Daniel and I watched a bit the other night and finished it tonight. It really was quite interesting!

Did you know that on average, every airplane gets struck by lightning once a year?

Snow Day

Abby and Daniel were delighted to wake up this morning to a snow day and closed schools! But snow means work and Abby and Daniel proved to be an excellent snow crew!

"This Was a Terrible Place"

We next decided to drive south to Tombstone, Arizona -- site of the infamous gunfight at the OK Corral.

We road a stagecoach.

Had a drink at the historic Big Nose Kate's Saloon.

And we went to a gunfight at the OK Corral.

As Abby learned more and more about the town's history, she kept saying, "This was a terrible place!!"

As we drove out of town, we stopped at the beautiful Boothill Graveyard where many of those killed in the 1800s are buried.

Abby fusses at me for laughing every time I recite this epitaph, but I can't help it! It is funny! She thinks I'm being disrespectful to the dead.

This one makes me laugh too, but it is pretty sad! George Johnson bought a horse, but did not know it was a stolen horse!

I did find an epitaph in the graveyard that I could live with (or die with is, as it were)...

Pima Air and Space Museum

Our next stop was planned mainly for Daniel, but we all really loved our visit to the Pima Air and Space Museum -- one of the largest air and space museums in the world.

We decided to take the docent led tour and ended up staying with him for two full hours! He was a volunteer at the museum and a former Navy pilot in Vietnam and later a pilot for Delta. We saw some fascinating, historic aircraft and learned a great deal about World War II, in particular.

Will channeled his inner Tom Cruise right into the danger zone.

And I was so excited to see a Super Guppy! How cool is this plane!?!? There are only four others in the world -- NASA still uses one and the other three are mothballed.

Mission San Xavier del Bac

On Sunday, the non-tennis part of our vacation began. We started out south of Tucson on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation at Mission San Xavier del Bac. This mission was so beautiful and so different from the missions we have seen in California.

Abby captured Daniel's first photo bomb!

We watched women making Indian fry bread and bought one to sample. Daniel wasn't interested in it, but Abby LOVED it!

Riding in the Desert

Abby and I went on a BEAUTIFUL two-hour ride in the desert below the Santa Catalina Mountains. We road Rocky Mountain Horses. We saw so many different kinds of cactus and we even spotted a gorgeous red-tailed hawk perched in a tree.

Abby rode Preston and I rode Smoke.

Will's teammate Sarah also joined us for the ride.

Daniel Visits an Athletic Trainer

Daniel took a spill as we were walking to the tennis courts one morning. He scraped his wrist, but bravely visited the athletic trainer who was on hand to tend to the tennis players. 

Daniel was very brave and was rewarded with a special band aid that the trainer had in his wallet for his own children!

Abby's Super Powers

We've long known that Abby is immune to cold weather when water is involved. (We first learned this in Carmel as Abby played in the cold Pacific Ocean.) She proved this super power again in Arizona by refusing to stay out of the pool despite the cool weather.

A super power that we were unaware of, but learned about while at a traditional Tucson Mexican restaurant with Will's teammates, is that Abby seems impervious to the heat of jalepeno peppers. These peppers actually brought two of Will's teammates to tears, but Abby insisted on trying one. We all warned her, but she INSISTED. So, we all watched in awe as she took not one, but TWO bites. She chewed thoughtfully and then said nonchalantly, "I like them. They're not that hot!"

What did Abby and Daniel do at Will's Tennis Tournament?

Abby logged lots of time playing games on my iPhone.

Daniel pretended to be a line judge.

Abby taught Daniel some mean tree climbing skills!

Daniel talked Dangerous Steve (Daniel's name for one of Will's teammates) into drawing Jack and the Beanstalk.

They read.

Daniel ran around pretending to be the Amazing Spider Man.

And, yes, they actually did watch some of the tennis!

Tennis in the Desert

Will's USTA mixed-doubles tennis team made it to Nationals this year. The tournament was held at a beautiful resort in Tucson.