Getting There's the Fun Part

Tuesday morning we headed out for our drive up to Las Vegas. We had packed nearly everything in the car the night before and left right at 8:00, just as we had planned. Our last drive to Vegas for Bill's marathon only took 8 hours and 15 minutes, which may have been a record, but it was late when we left that time and traffic was pretty much a non-issue. Leaving at 8, we wouldn't avoid traffic but it would allow for most of the trip to be during the daylight. Or so we thought.

The first two hours of our trip included dark clouds with heavy rain and very gusty winds. We were very glad Bill had decided not to tow his motorcycle in a trailer behind us. By the time we reached Phoenix, however, things seemed to be looking up. Drew enjoyed some Wonder Pets and Elmo on his portable DVD player, cuddled with his monkeys, and we were in and out of Olive Garden for lunch in less than 25 minutes. Drew even settled in for a nap shortly after lunch. All was well.


Then, we got to the Hoover Dam checkpoint, a mere hour from my parents' house. The home stretch. And the guard warned us that there was an accident at mile 3 before the dam. At mile 5 we ran into this:


This did not appear to be a good sign. Even worse was when we saw the MedEvac helicopters fly in. We knew this was not just a minor fender bender. Grateful that all we had to worry about was a later arrival than we had planned on, we tried to make the best of our little delay.

First, we reminded Drew about all the excitement the next few days would bring and Drew treated us to his excited face.


Since so many other folks were getting out of their cars and we didn't appear to be moving anywhere anytime soon, we spent a little time outside too. Shockingly (insert sarcastic tone) and to Bill's delight, I thought it would be a good idea to take a few pictures. The mountain views near the Dam are beautiful.

We were even there long enough to see the sunset.

Drew was surprisingly patient, but it was definitely a good thing we had packed as many snacks as we did. After an hour standstill, we were finally on the move again. The drive over the Dam was still very slow going as traffic had been stopped in both directions for that whole time. Finally, after over 11 hours on the road, we arrived at my parents' house. At least we got in safely and, since it was dark, we were able to see all the Christmas lights in my parents' community. And, we don't have to drive again for a week!

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

This is one of Drew's favorite carols since it's so repetitive, and it obviously fits the day. We wish all our friends and family a Merry Christmas from afar. We are having lots of fun at my parents' house in Vegas and will be sure to post pictures and stories soon.

Hope Santa was good to all of you too!

Early Christmas Gift Exchange

Our friends Mishja and Melia came over for dinner on Saturday night so we could exchange gifts for the kids and just spend a little time together before Christmas arrived. Melia was sleeping in her carseat upon arrival, but Mishja told Drew he didn't have to wait for her to open his present. Drew's been very patient about the presents under the tree, though he can often be found counting and rearranging them, pointing out the various colored bows, and even reading the letters off some of the tags. So when he was given permission to actually open a present, he did not have to be told twice he could start ripping the paper off (though he did kindly wait for me to get the camera).

As you may be able to guess from his grin in this picture, Drew was quite happy about his new remote control truck. Since his trains have remote controls, he knew just what to do with it, and began pressing all of the buttons before we even took the truck out of its box. Miraculously, we were able to convince Drew that we needed to eat dinner prior to opening his new truck.

Just as we were sitting down to dinner, Melia woke up. So when we were done eating, Drew retrieved Melia's presents from under the tree. Here Melia checks out her new peek-a-boo book. Drew was so enamored with the present he helped me pick out for Melia that I wasn't sure he was going to give it up. I reasoned with him that maybe Melia would share her toy with him when we go over to play at her house.

Shortly thereafter we were able to free the new truck from its packaging. Not only did it have the little twisties to untwist (anyone who's ever opened a kid's toy will know what I'm referring to), but the bottom of the truck was actually screwed in to the packaging. Should it really require a screwdriver just to get a toy out of its box? But I digress. Drew spent the rest of the evening driving his new truck all around the house. Here he drives it over the 50 states puzzle he and Daddy completed earlier and crashes it into the entertainment center.

Poor kid isn't even going to know what to do with himself on Christmas Day!

Back in the Pool

After a brief hiatus in November when the pool was closed for resurfacing, Drew is back in swim lessons again. Or, as he describes it: "The pool's not broken anymore!"

Drew seems to be "getting it" a little more this time around (it is his fourth time in the class after all). His teacher recommended that, because he's so comfortable in the water, we move him up to the next class level for the next session. Even though he's still pretty young for it, I guess we're going to give it a try. Hopefully seeing the older kids will help him out.

Here's just a couple pictures and a quick video of Drew crabwalking from yesterday's lesson.

Drew holds onto the noodle while practicing his kicking

Drew and his teacher working on "big arms"

Drew crabwalking his way across the pool

This round of lessons is especially exciting because Drew's friend Ryan is in the same class as he is. Here's the two boys after lessons.

We actually stayed for free swim after lessons yesterday. Drew was distressed that the big tubular slides were not open, but we still managed to have fun jumping in the water (Drew jumped, I caught), going underwater together, and trying to capture the bubbles from the warming pool long enough to make Drew a bubble hat. Drew even swam by himself a little bit holding onto the noodle. We actually started with me holding onto the noodle and leading him through the pool, then Drew thought I should take a turn holding onto the noodle and he would pull me. Surprisingly this actually worked!

Our Brave Little Guy

Drew has had some sporadic and seemingly random incidents of vomiting in the last couple of weeks. The whole thing is very perplexing. He has no other symptoms, acts perfectly fine before and after puking, and there is no obvious rhyme or reason to it in terms of the food he eats beforehand. Anyhow, after 3 such vomiting incidents in the past 3 days, Bill and I decided we probably should get a doctor's opinion on the whole matter.

So this morning I called to make an appointment and miraculously got through to the clinic with minimal waiting. Those with experience trying to make a same-day appointment at an Army clinic when the lines open at 7:30 am will understand my shock. We were able to get in at 10 this morning. After a brief examination, the doctor understood my perplexion (I think I just made up that word). There's no obvious reasons for his vomiting. He's a very healthy little boy. She seemed inclined to think it was either mild lactose intolerance or acid reflux, but wanting to be thorough, she ordered a urine sample, some bloodwork, and a chest x-ray.

I wasn't concerned about the peeing in a cup, but Drew's last blood draw (almost 2 years ago) did not go smoothly and given his aversion to sometimes even having his temperature or blood pressure taken by the nurses I was not optimistic about our visit to the lab. The little man crawled right up into the chair and rolled up his sleeves. Amazed at his cooperation, the lab tech started looking for a vein. I kept waiting for Drew to decide this was not going to happen, but he just sat there calmly, not even needing to squeeze my hand. He barely even flinched when they inserted the needle and then watched with fascination the whole blood draw--4 vials worth! Very impressed with his bravery, the lab tech treated Drew to extra stickers!

Then we headed next door to radiology for the chest x-ray. Drew was VERY interested in the large X-ray machines. After all, X-rays are something he's only heard about in his alphabet flashcards. The X-ray tech took 3 different X-rays and Drew gave him no problems at all, holding on to the large machine when instructed to and laying down on the big X-ray table when asked. I could hardly believe it. This is the same boy that sometimes refuses to stand on the scale by himself when it's time to get weighed at the beginning of a doctor's visit. Having impressed another lab tech with his bravery and cooperation, Drew received even more stickers. He was very proud of himself and told me "I will tell Daddy what a good boy I was at the doctor's."

We'll keep you posted on the tests and how Drew reacts to a significantly decreased dairy intake. Not much milk or ice cream--this could get ugly.

The Adorableness of Drew's First Sleepover

This past weekend our park playdate friends had a Christmas party to go to and weren't sure what they were going to do with their son when they went to the party. I offered to have Ryan come over here and play with Drew and they took us up on the offer. The boys, needless to say, were very excited about this. Drew actually has quite a lot he's excited about right now. Every morning he asks me for the countdown on the following...how many days till Grandma & Grandpa's, till Uncle Johnny, till Aunt Katie, till Santa, till go to the pool (for swimming lessons), till Ryan comes over?

Anyway, the morning of the sleepover Drew & Ryan also had swim lessons, so after the pool they didn't quite understand that it wasn't until later that they were going to play together. Even as we were getting ready for nap that afternoon Drew seemed reluctant to sleep, thinking that perhaps Ryan would come over while he was still napping. Ryan's mommy experienced similar things at their house. Once Drew woke up from his nap, he knew it wasn't long till his friend arrived, so he pulled one of the dining room chairs over to the front door so he could look out the window for Ryan's mommy's van. And there he stood anxiously waiting until finally they pulled in the driveway. It took the boys about 5 minutes to pull out all Drew's GeoTrax trains. Ryan barely even noticed his Mommy & Daddy leaving.

Drew & Ryan played with the trains until it was time for dinner and, although they ate, they clearly had other things on their mind. They could hardly wait to get back to the trains. They also pulled out Drew's little Cars tent and sat inside there giggling at God knows what for a good little while. Drew's garage and all his cars followed the trains and tent play. And because they ate good dinners and were behaving so well (I thought sure we would have sharing issues), both boys got some ice cream shortly before bedtime.

As the hour approached for bed, we got pajamas on and brushed teeth, and then settled on sleeping arrangements. We blew up our twin-sized air mattress and put it in Drew's room for Ryan and intended for Drew to sleep in his bed. Drew didn't really like this arrangement. He thought at first that he should sleep on the air mattress and Ryan could sleep in the big bed (what a nice host!), but then seemed to think they should both sleep in the big bed (aka we're going to get all my cars out of the toy basket and play until midnight). Mommy obviously thought better of this and got Drew to finally agree on separate sleeping for the two of them. So we all temporarily settled into Drew's bed for some stories and songs. They each took turns picking stories and songs and I was able to oblige most of the song requests, although Ryan had to help me out a bit with what exactly the Old Man played knick knack on for a few of the numbers. Drew thought my hesitation and Ryan's help on this song was particularly hilarious. After about a half hour of stories and songs I hugged both boys and said good night.

Feeling sure that this was not going to be as easy as walking out the door seemed, I headed to my bedroom to read a magazine and listen to the boys on the monitor. I didn't even get through the first page of the magazine before their whispering started. It cracked me up a little bit that they even knew to whisper back and forth. Even with the monitor's volume all the way up I couldn't exactly make out what their toddler-speak whispers were, but it sounded like each one of them was trying to get the other to come down or up and play in the other's bed. Sure enough, as I peeked my head in they were passing books back and forth. I gently reminded them it was time to go to sleep when Drew asked me if he could play with his guitar. I told him no because each time the guitar ends up in bed with him the strings get broken and Bill has to fix them. So I gave them both kisses on their heads again and headed out the door again. I lay down on my bed again and I hear Ryan whisper loudly "Drew, no. Your mommy said no guitar." I run back to his room where I find my child in the middle of trying to return the guitar to the toy basket without getting caught. No such luck. Anyhow, the whispers continued back and forth until almost 10:00 when their eyes finally gave in to sleep, but I was amazed that at just 3 years old they had grasped one of the main tenets of sleepovers: whispering and giggling in the dark.

All in all, the night couldn't have gone better. Ryan was a trooper and didn't exhibit any homesickness at all, and Drew wasn't as possessive of his toys and such as he thought he might be. And although their sleep was a bit late coming on, once it came, they both made it through till morning without incident. At breakfast the giggles and mimicking each other continued as Ryan declared blueberries to be his favorite and Drew quickly chimed in that they were his favorite too. I practically had to drag them away from the trains (again) when it was time to go to swim lessons and meet Ryan's mommy. After lessons, both Ryan and Drew were very sad that the fun of the sleepover was over. Something tells me we may have to do this again.

I'm kicking myself now for not getting out the camera, but hopefully you can get a little bit of an idea how adorable the whole situation was. I should have put a hidden video camera in the bedroom to capture their whispers...

Las Vegas Weekend & Marathon

As my cousin Sarah recently pointed out to me, it's taken me quite a while to get this post up, considering we returned from Vegas on Monday night. On Tuesday, when I had a little time to start it, Bill had the camera at work so I couldn't upload the pictures. Then later that day I had the camera with no time to upload them. Wednesday and Thursday were consumed by work and preparations for Bill's company's Holiday Party. Finally today I managed to get both the camera and the time.


Anyhow, last Wednesday Bill came home from work sounding terrible. His voice was nearly gone and what was audible (between his hacking coughs) was very nasal. We had hoped to get on the road around 1 on Thursday afternoon, but Bill determined with how he felt on Wednesday night that he'd have to see a doctor before we could go. Those in the Army will share my displeasure that with it being Thursday, there was sergeant's time in the morning, so the earliest appointment Bill could get was 3:00. Fortunately the doctor told Bill the virus and its associated congestion was limited to his head, and told him just to take it easy for a few days. I don't think running a full marathon a few days later was exactly what the doc had in mind for Bill. When Bill mentioned it the doctor said, "Well, at least it's not in your lungs. I won't tell you not to run, but listen to your body." With Mucinex and some other meds in hand, we finally got on the road around 5:00.

Two of Bill's Episcopal buddies, Peter and Andrew, flew in for the weekend to meet up with Bill, so since Bill had slept in the car from about Phoenix on, he was ready to go meet up with them even though it was after midnight by the time we got in. Bill dropped us off at my parents' house and took the car back down to the Strip to meet Peter and Andrew. On Friday and Saturday, the boys played their way through half the hotels on the Strip, having better luck at some casinos than others, but enjoying themselves nonetheless.

Friday night my parents and I took Drew to the Festival of Lights at the Las Vegas Springs Preserve. The Preserve is a historic site commemorating where the Las Vegas springs originally bubbled up. I'm sure it's an interesting place to go during the day, but we were a bit disappointed with the organization and setup of the whole light display. One of the reasons we were attracted to this display was the advertised kiddie train ride. Drew is a huge fan of trains, particularly since the birthday arrival of the GeoTrax train set. So when we bought our admission tickets we, of course, spent the extra $2 on the train ride. We headed there once we were able to find our way around a little bit (signs and directions were a bit hard to come by). I can honestly say that those two dollars are possibly the worst money I've ever spent. The train ride was about 4 minutes long and did not follow a track through any of the lights, but rather just headed down and back a road decorated by a handful of inflatable snowmen, penguins, and snow globes. The driver actually tried to make the ride more interesting by slowly swerving back and forth. We were not impressed. Anyhow, once we managed to find our way to the gardens, we did find the lights to be pretty, but the train ride had permanently colored our opinions of the place.


Grandma, Grandpa, & Drew in front of the Christmas Saguaro Cactus




Drew leads Grandma & Grandpa through the gardens at the Preserve



Mommy & Drew



As a bonus surprise, on our way out to the car, we ran into a completely unadvertised Elmo!



Saturday night Bill and his friends came up for dinner at my parents' house. We enjoyed the traditional pre-marathon dinner of pasta. This was the second of two pictures I took of Bill and his friends, and you'll notice that Drew snuck into this one at the last minute.


After leaving my parents' house, Bill, his friends, and I went back down to the Mandalay. Bill and I had our own room for Saturday night so I could see him start the race without waking up Drew. We made just a quick stopover at Fremont Street in Old Vegas. We watched the Don McLean's American Pie Light Show at the Fremont Street Experience (I may have embarassed the guys with my singing along) and played in Binion's Casino for a bit. Finally Bill determined it was time to head back to the Mandalay. He went to sleep and Peter, Andrew, and I went downstairs to play. That was a decision I regretted when it came time to wake up at 5:00 the next morning to see Bill start the race. But I did wake up.

Around 5:15 Sunday morning Bill and I (and thousands and thousands of other runners) headed down to the starting line outside the Mandalay Bay.


After the race started the fireworks began. It was really quite a sight to see this massive fireworks display over the lights of the hotels on the Strip.

Somewhere in that sea of runners is Bill, though my camera batteries died before I actually found him. He was able to find me to pass me his jacket though, so that was good.


Despite the road closures due to the marathon and my complete and total lack of a sense of direction, I was able (with some phone assistance from my father) to negotiate my way to a road running parallel to the stretch of the race from about mile 14-21. Going by Bill's intended pace I arrived at the first point about 20 minutes before Bill passed me and then made my way to the next stop about a half hour before Bill arrived (with enough time for a quick breakfast stop).

Bill between miles 15 & 16



Bill between miles 20 & 21.



Bill getting ready to cross the finish line. Peter and Andrew woke up in time to join me in cheering Bill on at the finish line, and my parents and Drew came down too.




Bill crossing the finish line at the clock time of 5 h 20 m 17 sec. His chip time was a few minutes shorter than that due to the mass start of thousands of runners. I still can't believe he wants to continue running these things! Tempe in January...

Drew is thrilled with Daddy's post-marathon cookie treats!

Family shot after the marathon. We actually took two different pictures and my eyes were closed in both of them. I could possibly be the least photogenic person on the planet.

Funny story about my Geneseo sweatshirt. Waiting for Bill between miles 20 & 21 I was standing near some spectators with Florida Gators gear on. After their big win over Alabama the day before that sent them into the national championship game, several runners commented on the spectators' Florida gear, yelling "Go Gators!" Obviously I didn't expect to hear any comments on my college gear...Geneseo not really as nationally recognized as the University of Florida. Strangely enough, after about the third or fourth comment about the Gators, one of the runners pointed to me and said "Geneseo? Livingston County baby." Not long after, another runner said something similar. I was shocked. I didn't think little Division III Geneseo had any name recognition outside of the Northeast. But then again, we were just on the Sportscenter Top 10: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAnZJJDSvTg

Of All the Times to be Without A Camera...

On the way home from picking Drew up at preschool I heard the DJ on the radio station I usually listen to broadcasting from one of the grocery store parking lots with the town's firefighters and their annual Christmas toy drive. I immediately thought that it would be a nice lesson for Drew to learn a little about giving during the Christmas season. So we drove home and I went to the closet where we are hiding most of Drew's Christmas presents and grabbed a Tonka truck. He already has several trucks and it wasn't really clear to me why Bill bought him another one to begin with, but I never got around to returning it to the store.

So with the Tonka truck in hand and a small monetary donation to accompany it, we headed back out. I explained to Drew that we were going to go give the truck to some firefighters who would make sure that a little boy who didn't have any trucks to play with would get this one for Christmas. He, of course, asked why. He has just recently entered the phase of asking "why?" for EVERYTHING. I tried to explain to him that he has lots of Christmas presents to open, but some little boys and girls aren't as fortunate, so we were helping to make sure that they would all have presents to open on Christmas morning too. He seemed to get that, especially when I asked if he thought kids would be sad if they didn't have any Christmas presents. So he very proudly carried the truck over to the firefighters with me and handed it to one of them saying it was for another little boy. They thanked him and gave him a Jr. Fire Fighter sticker, which he thought was very cool.

Having accomplished our basic lesson in giving, we headed over to check out one of the fire trucks parked in the store's lot. And this is where I started kicking myself for not only not bringing my camera, but also for not even having my cell phone to take pictures (it was charging at home). At first we just walked around the truck and Drew pointed out the hoses, the ladders, the big wheel ("The wheel's bigger than me Mama!"). Then, two firefighters came over to give Drew the real tour. They opened the back where they let him climb in and see all the big firefighter jackets and boots. Then they asked if he wanted to drive the truck so we walked up to the front where Drew was able to sit in the driver's seat and pretend to steer and pull the siren. They shared a few high fives and fist bumps with him too. They had to teach Drew the fist bump, as he wasn't familiar. Finally, they showed him the hoses and ladders, even revealing where the hidden ladders in the back are stored. Drew thought that was especially neat.

Drew was just in heaven...smiling from ear to ear and talking about the ladders all the way home. We may have to buy another toy to donate and go back next week with a camera.

Christmas Decorating Edition of Cute Drew stuff

We spent the weekend after Thanksgiving getting some Christmas decorations up. We didn't do too much since we'll be at my parents' house for Christmas and I'm sure my mother will have enough Christmas decor for the whole family, but we, of course, had to at least put up our tree.


Drew was so excited to put up the Christmas tree. I reminded him that we actually had two Christmas trees--the big one for the living room and the little one for his room. We spent several days before Thanksgiving counting down to not only Turkey day but the day we got to put up the Christmas trees. Finally, on Saturday morning when Drew woke up I asked him if he remembered what we were going to do that day. He excitedly said "Zero days left till we put up the big one. AND zero days left till we put up the little one!"


Drew helped me carry boxes of Christmas stuff from the guest room closet into the living room, saying for each one "We're all taking part." When I asked what that's called he said "We're using teamwork...just like the Wonder Pets!" Drew loves the Wonder Pets and insists on using teamwork just like Linny, Tuck and Ming Ming (or Ding Ding as Drew calls him) whenever possible around the house.


Then came the excitement of actually getting the tree up. Daddy smartly remembered that last year it had been easier to string the lights if he put the tree up in its 3 parts, stringing each one as he went. So Drew and I took the little tree and his ornaments to his room and let Dad work on the big tree's lights. Every so often, Drew would peek out of his room to check on Dad in the living room. Each time Drew realized that Bill had added the second and third parts of the tree, Drew came running back into his room telling me "Mommy the tree's getting bigger. Come look."


Drew didn't quite grasp the idea of spreading out the ornaments on either of the trees. Each one Mommy picked up, Drew gave careful directions about where it should be placed, sending each one "way up high". Each one he picked up went on the same branch he had just decorated. He was thrilled, however, to open each new box of ornaments and discover what was inside. "Mommy look, another Santa!" About his Sesame Street ornaments, "Mommy, it's all the monsters!" About my Polish pottery star ornaments, Drew exclaimed "Mommy, two starfish!"


Having finished the trees, I dug the stockings out of one of the boxes and started to hang our three on the entertainment center.

It didn't take long for Drew to get the idea of this. He took all the extra stockings and any other decoration that looked like it could be hung and proceeded to decorate all the doorknobs around the house. He was quite disappointed we didn't have enough to hang one on the doors to Mommy and Daddy's walk-in closet or bathroom. He did hang a stocking on the door to Mommy and Daddy's bedroom and was quite incensed with Daddy upon discovering (after Daddy had gone to work on Monday) that Daddy had removed it in order to fully close the door so as not to wake Mommy up at 5:00 in the morning. Of course, that explanation meant little to Drew and he said "That not was nice of Daddy."


Drew also gets upset with us upon discovering that the big tree's lights have been turned off, but usually can be quickly calmed by us telling him that he can flip the switch to turn them back on.


We weren't able to take any pictures of the decorating in progress as Mommy was a little worried about Drew and the more fragile ornaments (we had one close call with an ornament that had been my Aunt Marie's). But here's a few shots of the finished products. I think the big tree still looks a little sad with only a few wrapped presents underneath, but hey, I'm just proud of ourselves for being almost done with our shopping. The wrapping can wait.



Disappointed there was no star for the top of his little tree like we have for the big tree, Drew determined that his ice cream cone ornament would be a suitable tree topper and we managed to string it around the top so that it sort of fits the bill.


Can't wait to see what he thinks of Grandma and Grandpa's 9 foot Christmas tree!

Belated Thanksgiving Thoughts

I intended to write this on Thanksgiving day but the trytophan got the better of me. Anyway, I thought I'd make mention of just a few of the many blessings we are thankful for.

• Our family: The 3 of us are together for the fourth consecutive year. Yes, miraculously, Bill has been with us for all but a few short weeks of Drew's life. We know many military families are not so fortunate and we count ourselves very, very lucky. We're also very glad to report that Bill's brother Eric is back from Afghanistan. Even though he's not quite all the way home to Liz & Madison yet, at least he's safely on U.S. soil. Finally, we're blessed to have such supportive and generous extended families. Though we're not able to see everyone as often as we'd like, we hold you in our hearts on a daily basis.
• Our friends. While thanks in large part to the Army, most of them are spread all over the U.S. and a few other countries, we are very blessed to have so many good friends that, like our families, we miss greatly.
• Our health. Despite the colds and allergies that never seem to quite leave us (or at least Drew and me), the Cherkauski are a pretty healthy bunch and we are grateful for it. Also amazing, despite Drew's penchant for ladders, climbing, and hanging and Mommy's general clumsiness, we have also managed to be fairly accident and injury free. We're thankful to not have to spend extended time in the doctor's office, ER, etc. (Now excuse me while I run to knock on some wood...)

In closing, in the words of Drew, Happy Thanksforgiving! Yes, the little guy couldn't quite get out Thanksgiving in one mouthful and decided instead to make it "Thanks for giving." The adorableness of it all probably doesn't translate in the written word, but it was very cute.

A Little Business and A Lot of Fun

Last week I had to meet my boss in Phoenix for work for a couple of days. As work trips go though, our schedule was fairly light with only two scheduled meetings. So Robin thought she'd bring her family and I brought Drew while Bill planned to join us on the weekend. As it turned out our work schedule ended up being even less than we thought (just Thursday morning), which paved the way for even more fun than we thought we'd have.

So Thursday morning the kids and John went to the park, while Robin and I went to our meeting. By early afternoon, we were strolling around Old Town Scottsdale looking at shops and having lunch. Drew was happy to report that they had fed his Nilla Wafers to the ducks and pigeons at the park that morning.

Robin's husband was able to get us discounted rates at a very nice resort with beautiful grounds and multiple pools, so Thursday afternoon we lounged by the pool. I'm not sure you can beat swimming in an outdoor pool in November. I love Arizona.

Drew had lots of fun in the water, and was quite content to swim on his own with his life jacket, telling me "I can do it by myself" one more than one occasion. At least that meant I was able to get pictures.

He especially enjoyed following after Robin & John's kids (Sammie & Nick) in jumping off John's shoulders.

Ready...

Set...

Go!

Relaxing in the small hot tub

Friday brought a trip to the Phoenix Zoo, rated one of the top 5 zoos in the country for kids. We started on the endangered species carousel. Though Drew doesn't look too upset in this picture, he screamed for at least half the time the ride was moving that he wanted to get off. He eventually calmed a little bit when we started holding hands and he seemed to get a kick out of Mommy repeatedly saying Up and Down in as silly a voice as I could manage.

The great thing about the zoo is that it is right in the desert, so you get to walk through all kinds of desert life. Here's Mommy & Drew with some cacti.

We saw all kinds of great animals, including baboons, which Drew laughed at because I kept telling him to look at their funny butts.

And squirrel monkeys, which I think were my favorite. If they weren't prone to biting I would have been tempted to put one in my pocket.

Sammie and Nick are quite the animal aficionados so Drew learned a lot from them at each exhibit.

We were a little disappointed that the petting zoo only had goats and no opportunities to feed the animals, but Drew happily pet one of the goats anyway.

Included in the children's area of the zoo was a Fisher Price Little People Discovery Farm that had all the characters, animals, and vehicles included in the Little People Farm set. We had to drag Drew away.

Then we saw the real thing--yes, a real old fashioned tractor. What more could a little boy ask for? He exclaimed "Mommy, the wheels bigger than me!"

We ended our trip to the zoo with a couple of very special experiences: camel rides and petting stingrays. Drew and I went on the camel first but Robin & John have those pictures, so here's Drew with John, Sammie, and Nick. I was shocked that Drew wasn't scared to get on the camel. I mean, this was the same boy who freaked out on the carousel. But he climbed right on with me and laughed the whole time. When we asked if he wanted to go again with John he couldn't have climbed the steps fast enough.

Here's Drew in Sting Ray Bay. Again, no fear from the child. I propped him up on his belly, showed him how to touch the rays and away he went. At first he was content to just pet them, but when Sammie bought little fishies to feed to the rays Drew was not to be left out.

Unfortunately, Drew didn't really grasp the idea of the rays' mouths being on the bottoms of their bodies. I tried to demonstrate how he should hold the fish, but I think he was reluctant to put his hand that deep into the water. Here one sting ray came up to the side of the pool to retrieve the goodies that were in Drew's hand. I don't know how many of you have fed stingrays but the vacuum-like method of eating they have is a very weird feeling in your hand.

On our way out we had to walk right past the carousel again, and in the 5 hours we spent at the zoo Drew must have forgotten that he was scared of it to start with, because he ran right after Sammie and Nick to get on a second time.

Before dinner on Friday night here's a couple pictures of Drew near the fishing lagoon on the resort property.

Again, find the boy some ducks, and he's a happy kid.

Daddy arrived late on Friday night and we spent a few hours on Saturday at one of the other resort pools, this one with a water slide. We were fortunate to be there on the weekend that this pool reopened after some renovation, because the slide couldn't have been a bigger hit. Bill and Drew must have gone down it at least a dozen times.

After a few trips down the slide, the sun and 2 straight days of no afternoon naps caught up to Drew and he snuggled up with Dad for a little pool-side snooze.

After naptime and a outrageously priced pool-side lunch, Drew and Nick headed for the sand box near the pool and proceeded to load up, dump, load up, and dump sand for about 20 happy minutes.

Then Drew decided it was time to get back in the pool. Here is his mid-air jumping in with Daddy at his side.

Drew and Dad enjoying a leisurely piggy back ride with the gorgeous palm trees in the background.

Robin and John really wanted to bring their kids to see an Old West kind of a town, so we drove about 45 minutes south of Scottsdale to Rawhide. One of the first things we went to was a "Tales of the Old West" show that included some pretend gun fights, unfortunately with not pretend loud sound effects. Drew was not a fan. So we left that part early. Fortunately he enjoyed the other exhibits/activities. Here he is in front of the stage coach ride we took. We were even lucky enough to sit up on top.

Here's Drew in front of the train ride. Drew and Nick decided it would be a great idea to sit near the front of the train, which sounded fine until the exhaust fumes came pouring into our faces. It didn't seem to faze his excitement level though. Along the train's tracks were several old wagons, some with all 4 wheels and standing up, and others which were broken. Drew pointed out each of the ones with broken wheels and said about the others "But that one not is broken."

Closing out the night before dinner was a sunset burro ride through one end of town.

It was a really fun few days and we'll likely head back to at least the zoo when Bill runs the Tempe marathon in January.