Just doin' our thing...

...and doing it well!

We've been back from Spring Training for about a week plus now, and things are back to normal. Ryan's back from his preschool "Spring Break," Sierra's going to her dance class every week, and Lorey's read like 15 books in the last week (okay, a small exaggeration, but she's close!). I've been working (even worked an extra day this week for some reason...) and played baseball today. We lost although I pitched pretty well, and after 8-plus innings, this could be a long week of recovery. :)

The weather has been really nice here the last week or so, as well. Today it's windy and so-so, but can't complain about 70s and 80s through the past week. Believe me, when we hit 110 or so, then you'll hear my whining.

We went and saw the movie "21" last night and it was pretty good. It's no Rounders, but for a "gambling" movie, it was pretty interesting. It is (loosely, I'd assume) based on the MIT blackjack team and how they took Vegas for a bunch of money by counting cards. There's also a book on the subject, which if I ever decide to read a book, will be my next. We also had dinner and had a nice night out.

Beyond that, just normalcy wreaking havoc, which is never too bad. For good measure, here are a couple pics of the kids with Easter clothes on. Until next time!

Sierra and her matching baby doll "Sweety"

The two munchkins in their cute clothes...

A successful Easter hunt!

Hotel/Pool pics...

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

Zoo pics!

Vacation video...

Here's a little video I taped with our digital camera with Bubba swimming in the pool. I've never really liked the zoom on the camera, but the pictures usually have nice quality, and occasionally the waterproof feature is fun. Let's see if YouTube will work for me... :)



More vacation coverage to come today once I stop watching basketball... okay, then maybe tomorrow. :)

Spring Training!

We're finally back from Spring Training, and it was a blast!

Where to begin...

Well, we left on Saturday and had a fairly uneventful trip. The kids were pretty good (can't complain if we make it in one piece), and the drive really seems easy to me, for some reason. Not sure why, but the time (to and from Phoenix) seems to go by fast.

On the way into town, we stopped in Surprise (about 30-45 min. from downtown) and ate at Chick-Fil-A. This place is officially my favorite. They don't have them in Vegas (tear), and this trip is one of the only times I can get there. Oh, and they're closed on Sundays, which makes trip timing important as well.

Yum. Saturday night we checked into our hotel and got some rest. Sunday, was zoo day. We were fortunate to have cool weather (in fact, we were wearing jackets, etc. which has been a rarity on our trips to AZ), and the Phoenix Zoo didn't disappoint. We saw all kinds of animals (obviously the cold weather animals were pretty limited due to the climate), but the kids were up close and personal, and had a ball.

We were then off to ballgames for the next few days. Monday (St. Patrick's Day) we went to our "usual" stadium for the Oakland A's game. We enjoy the A's stadium because the team is green to begin with, and of course, the green beer! Alright, maybe not. We made it until about the 8th inning of this game (which isn't bad for us), and took off for the night.

The next game was at Surprise Stadium. This stadium was actually really nice. We'd never been there before, and probably would consider it right up at the top of the list. The seats we had were awesome (if you look at the picture on the link for the stadium, we were in the upper box above the 3rd base dugout---nice because it's in the shade and a great view), except it seems these seats are reserved for crusty, old retirees who have never seen a family with kids. Man, these people were grumpy. Fortunately, our kids are angels :), and the old people just had to suffer with our presence.

This stadium was cool because it had a merry-go-round, and a wiffle-ball batting tee for the kids. Shockingly, both were free. Plus, the sno-cones were flowing, and the kids loved those. We made it to the 8th inning again this time, and took off. We had actually decided to switch hotels this night as well, and ended up at a sweet resort which had multiple pools, a water slide, a lazy river, and a much better room than the extended-stay place we originally had.

Our final game day was on Wednesday, and we actually decided to swim in the morning, and then go to the game at 1:00. Oops. Game started at 12:00 on Wednesday. We had actually talked about that earlier in the week, and then both spaced it off until about 12:15 when we left for the stadium. Of course, the time we go late, the first 5 go by in about an hour, and it's the bottom of the 6th inning before we're eating hot dogs and nachos and watching the Cubs. This was actually a pretty good game. I snapped a picture of Derrek Lee hitting a homerun (right after the "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" inspired the Cubs to "get some runs"), and the kids enjoyed it all the way to the end. Yes, we saw the end of a game!

By Thursday, we swam one last time, ate Chick-Fil-A one last time, and headed home. I think the kids really had a good time, and I highly recommend that resort hotel to anyone going out there. There are a TON of kids there, so don't expect a romantic getaway or anything, but lots of stuff for kids to do (Coyote Camp, Kids Concierge - both things we didn't use, but looked fun), and we enjoyed it.

So that's it. I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out, but I have a bunch of pictures and the movie posted above that are more interesting than my ramblings. So, until next time!

Feels like Spring!

It was a beautiful day in Vegas today. Although it got a little windy this afternoon/evening, it bordered on 80 degrees earlier today, and felt like spring.

Speaking of spring, it's coming sooner than ever this year! We change clocks (ahead) on March 9th, and soon enough it'll be 110 here! I told Lorey to remind me not to whine when it gets excessively hot, but I'm sure I'll do my fair share. :)

With March being here, that also means our annual trip to Phoenix for Spring Training is upon us. It's always a blast, and the games are almost secondary. We did end up getting some nice tickets this year, so hopefully I'll have some good looking pictures when we get back.

Beyond that, I'll be working out the stretch until that time comes, and waiting for those calendar pages to turn! :)