This past week was Mike and Mariah's Spring Break. We went on a dental-practice-shopping road trip. It was long, fun, relaxing at moments, and overall exhausting. Glad we did it!
Our first stop was Maricopa, Arizona, where Mike's sister, Alli lives. We arrived just before 1 a.m., and the girls were wide awake! They took a while to settle down and fall asleep. But that didn't stop them from getting up bright and early Sunday morning to play.
The girls absolutely adore Alli, Tony, and Dougie. (Well, M and E warmed up pretty well to Dougie; S basically had to be held for 2 days straight. Don't be fooled by the picture of her happily petting Dougie.)
We went to church with them on Sunday, and played on Monday. Monday evening, Mike attended an open house at a dental practice in north Phoenix while the girls and I did some grocery shopping. We drove straight from there to Logandale, Nevada. No stops. Six straight hours. The girls slept most of the way.
We arrived at my friend Karen's house at about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday. Thankfully, the girls transferred to their beds still asleep.
The girls woke up early Tuesday ready to play with their new friends, Bekah, Jeffrey, and Jace. Karen watched all the kids while Mike and I got a couple more hours of sleep. Then we left the kids to play while we went in to Vegas to check out the housing scene. (Vegas is big. There are a couple areas in which I think I could live.)
Karen's husband, Jacob, quickly became a favorite "uncle." He told the girls the pinecones in their yard were magic, and they could take as many as they wanted home with them. He knows how to get things done around there! They took him for his word and quickly collected 2 garbage bags full of pinecones. Hearts were broken when I told them Jacob was teasing, and we could not take the pinecones home with us. (Mariah said she had planned to "make thousands of bird feeders" with them.) But thanks for cleaning up the yard!
Jacob also took us on a ride in his Ranger. Fun times! Their little Jace was in heaven!
The girls tried to be brave, and I think they enjoyed it by the end.
Throwing rocks into the irrigation pond.
The kids got along so well (although, I think poor Jeffrey felt a little left out with all the girliness going on), and our girls are already begging to go back.
Wednesday afternoon, we slowly made our way to Vegas. Our first stop was Valley of Fire. I think we had a good time. Tired girls, a new experience, and heights combined to bring us face to face with our trust issues.
We spent a good 5 minutes trying to coax a screaming Mariah, crying Sally, and whimpering Elaine (Sal and Elaine following Mariah's lead) to sit down for this picture. There was a 2-foot drop-off right behind me, and Mariah was not coming anywhere near it. When situations like this confront us, I'm so glad I know the why's behind the seemingly non-sensical terror. As a 6-year-old, I would have been scrambling all over these rocks, especially if my parents had been there to help and hold me.
These 2 pictures were taken on a ledge about 8-10 feet off the ground. There were 3 pretty good "steps" in the rock, and Mariah and Elaine climbed up with a little help from above. Getting down was another story. Elaine took a bit of coaxing and cried just a little as Mike lifted her down. Sally (our only child who trusts us) jumped to Mike on the count of 3. Mariah absolutely refused to get down, saying she was just going to stay there forever. When we told her we could not leave her there, she said, "Well, Mom can stay with me, and Dad can leave with Elaine and Sally."
The plan we explained was for her to sit on my lap while I sat on the edge. I would lower her to the first step, where she could reach Mike. He would help her to the second step and then down to the ground. No way. Anytime I even reached out for her, she screamed and backed even further away. We patiently talked about trust and how Daddy and Mommy will never do anything that would hurt her. We would never let her fall, and we would never leave her. No way.
After 10 minutes of this, I finally told her she either needed to sit on my lap on her own, or I would have to just pick her up and hand her down to Mike because we could not leave her there. She finally made it to my lap, and with some more screams and crying, finally let Mike lift her down. The second she hit the ground, she was laughing and off playing with the other girls like nothing had happened. Even though I know all the reasons, and she acted exactly as we should have known and even expected, I'm still floored every time. Incredible.
Our next stop was the Las Vegas Temple. The grounds are absolutely gorgeous, and besides some emotional outbursts from an over-stimulated Mariah, a tired Elaine, and our bug-a-phobe Sally, we had a peaceful walk around.
Our final stop before the hotel was Del Taco, where Mariah lost her first tooth! Quite possibly the most exciting event of the day.
We stayed at the JW Marriott resort (paid for with miles). I could have stayed there for a long time. Maybe without children. While Mike shadowed/interviewed at a dental office Thursday morning, the girls and I walked around the beautiful grounds, played in the sand, and swam in the amazing pool.
The girls loved the fact that our room had a (teeny tiny) balcony.
Thursday afternoon, we left Marriott paradise and drove to Albuquerque, where we stayed at another Marriott for 2 nights. (This one was not a resort, and I was not sad to leave it). We swam in the indoor pool while Mike shadowed/interviewed at yet another dental office. We ate leftovers on the floor.
Then we met up with Mike and one of his classmates, Nick, and his family at the dental office. We went with them to walk through a model home village (pretty amazing), and then back to the hotel. We got the kids in bed and then went a few doors down to Jensens' room to visit (with our cell phones on speaker so we could hear if our kids woke up). We returned to our room to find them nice and cozy.
Saturday morning after breakfast, we headed for home. The kids were troopers after so much time in the car. Sally came up with some pretty creative ways of entertaining herself (like pieces of crackers between her toes).
