Albuquerque - Part Three

In this installment, I've posted pictures of the three of us hanging out in Old Town Albuquerque.

This first shot is of an old church in the middle of the square. Two beautiful Queen Empress trees are in the front courtyard (not blooming, unfortunately).

The rest of these are of Brenna patiently waiting for the rest of our party to finish shopping. She's looking over this railing at a flower bed.

Trying on Emily's hat for size.

Peeping at the flowers.

Silly monkey getting thrown up in the trees by Daddy. Daredevil baby.

Albuquerque - Part Two

There's no telling how many parts there will be to this trip blog, twenty maybe, you just don't know, there are enough uploadable pictures.

Here is a shot of Brenna enjoying a lolli break at the hotel, sporting her Silly Monkey shirt from the Phoenix Zoo.

Brenna and Emily are seen here riding the train that runs folks from the Rio Grande Zoo to the Aquarium. Yes, Albuquerque has an Aquarium, I was amazed as you to hear and/or see that.

And here's the proof, Exhibit A, a shark in Albuquerque.

The rest of these are shots of Brenna patiently waiting for the train to take us back to the car.

Oh, the torture of waiting!

Stay tuned, Part Three to follow (really?).

Albuquerque - Part One

For someone who can't spell, this post may be a bear if I have to type Albuquerque too many times. I'll be sure to avoid that at all costs.

Well, we're back, and it's still under 90 degrees here, that was nice to come home to. It rained some more here evidently after we left on Friday afternoon, an inch and a half total, and the yard is growing out of control like it's March. That will soon end, as it's supposed to be 97 tomorrow, and over a 100 again very soon after that.

At any rate, Friday night we drove through some snow over 7000 feet to reach Holbrook. Here are a few shots of the rim, one taken by Emily from the car, and one by me while driving (oops).

One of our first stops once in New Mexico was the Rio Grande Zoo.

Here's a polar bear.

Here are Brenna and Emily in front of the polar bear exhibit, Rachel's off to the left there.

** Insert extremely random music reference here**

This shot reminds me of that Digital Underground song from the late 80's, affectionately known as the Humpty Dance.

Anyway, one of the lines in that song goes something like "I'm dancin' around like my leg was broken". You could also insert "You look like MC Hammer on crack, Humpty".

No slight to our daughter, mind you, that's what this reminded me of.

No one told Rachel about the laws of gravity. Brenna tried very hard to duplicate this feat, but to no avail. I believe this was an attempt at a no-handed cartwheel.

Brenna did very well on this trip, there was some carrying, some strollering, and some walking. Here is a Brenna walking shot, heading to the tiger exhibit. I'm crossing my fingers and toes that this shot will clear the Committee For Tasteful Grandma Pictures.

And here are said tigers.

I alerted zoo officials of the dead kangaroo in their exhibit. No, seriously, this one was sleeping, I made sure by throwing my shoe at it (this made walking back to the parking lot a difficult chore, but it was worth it).

No, I didn't throw my shoe at a kangaroo, that would be just silly, now wouldn't it.

Still Raining

It's been raining now for about eight hours straight, to varying degrees. More to come throughout the night and tomorrow. Here's an update on the valley totals for the past 24 hours. We're around an inch here at the house, I just went to the post office and back in a good downpour.

UPDATE: Rain finally tapered off around 11pm PT, although there is plenty left to come through. We're at 1.10 inches, the totals below in this screen shot are higher now.

BTW - We're heading to Holbrook tomorrow afternoon, passing through Show Low, here's what it looks like there today (from azcentral.com). Don't recall off hand their elevation, but it's high enough that it's snowed there, the caption on the picture indicated that this is the latest snow in May in 35 years.

Hell Freezes Over

Two days ago it was 112 degrees here. Today at 3:20pm, it's 53 and has been raining off and on for the last three hours. Huh? In Phoenix? In May???

There's actually snow on the radar off to our northeast where the Superstitions are located, and they're forecasting 12 to 18 inches over 8000 feet. Go figure and no complaints.



Here's the proof that it does in fact rain here in May, apparently once every six years.

Rainfall totals so far today, the SE valley has been the winners so far.

BTW, I failed to post that Brenna's visit to the allergist went well, she was not reactive to anything new, and it was suggested that we try and get a prescription from her pediatrician for acid reflux. Emily can eat real food again (with the exception of eggs, fish and nuts)!

Mid Week Update

Here are a few middle of the week pictures. Not much to report here, it's been hot, but that's coming to an end tomorrow with a high of 79. Friday they claim it won't get over 70 with a 60% chance of rain. Holding my breath here on that one.

Ran an 8:24 mile today, was only 95 outside today, so the garage was tolerable. The last two days when it was around 110 I about died out there.

In these first two shots Brenna is greeting me first thing in the morning after getting up. We're in mid-yawn on the first picture, and pulling a Sean Penn with the photographer on the second one.

Some more shots of Brenna lounging around the living room.

In this episode of Wow Wow Wubzy, Wubzy and Widget are looking for some drum playing snow creatures, so Brenna joined in banging her drum when she got to this part.

A Very Special Message From Diego

BTW - A more meaningful post follows my lunacy. Thank you.

They'll Never Take Me Alive

Emily has been asking forever for us to get this Dora couch thingy for Brenna, and it's already paid for itself a thousand times over. No more yard ape crawling all over us on OUR sofa, she now has her own and is quite proud of it.

I have the dubious chore of staying up tonight monitoring for ATM/debit card activity for two customers, as they've rerouted where it goes and how it reaches us. One credit union is tiny and I don't expect to see anything from them until the sun comes up, the other has members that work overseas, but nothing from them yet either. While I'm waiting (and downing as much caffeine as I can stand), here are a few more things of note:

- It reached 102 here today, the first 100 degree day of the year (yippee). We're 17 days late based off the yearly average, so that's nice. It's supposed to be 108 Monday and Tuesday, but then a late season front will be pushing through, and according to The Weather Channel (and I'll believe this when I see it), it's going to be 95 on Wednesday, and 79 on Thursday. Yes, 79 for a high in late May. Ha ha, I can't wait to see that happen (he chortles sarcastically at the thought of that).

- We're going to Albuquerque for Memorial Day weekend, and even though it's barely going to be 90 degrees here, which is again unheard of, it will be bordering on chilly over there. The same front that's coming through here mid-week will be hammering them a day later. This Saturday their forecast high is 73 w/ 20+ mph winds and Sunday it will barely make 80 and again, windy.

- Speaking of heat, the last two days I've come in out of the garage from running on the treadmill smelling like week old road kill. On the positive side, there's nothing quite like purging yourself of toxins by running for a mile in a hot, stuffy garage. I've managed to run six miles total over the past seven days, and have whittled my time down about a minute to 8:45. That trend I can guarantee you won't be continuing, breaking nine minutes about broke me down these last two days, and I may have to shift to distance running if I get mired in the eight minute range for a while. This nifty site, http://www.runbayou.com/Wavacalc.htm, has a cool calculator for how well you're doing with your time for your age, based off some data they've accumulated, and at this point I'm in the 45th percentile with my lightning quick 8:45 time. I guess I shouldn't complain for having just started back up running again for the first time in two months.




I like this lounging around in our underwear picture. It was that kind of a day.





Like father, like daughter.

Brenna Sandwich

Evening. It's blog time again.

You ever seen a coin like this before? Neither had Emily or I until it showed up in the collection at church a few weeks ago. An interesting story about this company, if you care to look them up on the internet. Basically they produce(d) alternative currency to what the Federal Reserve prints/issues. Go figure, who knew such a thing even existed, I certainly didn't.

Below is a 2003 issue of a .999 pure silver coin, at the time issued at $10 face value (when silver was worth about that). Because of the underground interest in these coins by people who believe the world is coming to an end, and the fact that the federal government last November raided this company and confiscated all of their belongings (I hear they're back in business now), we sold this coin for $23 on EBAY for the church.

We're taking Brenna to her allergist on Tuesday to figure out what else other than eggs she's allergic to now. She still from time to time wakes up in the middle of the night arching her back and screaming, sometimes uncontrollably. Emily has a friend online who has a child about Brenna's age that has the same problem, and for him/her it turned out to be reflux plus an allergic reaction to something else. Emily has cut out wheat in addition to eggs, fish and nuts, and Brenna still seems to he having issues. Dairy may be the issue as well, but we won't know until a blood draw is done (yippee). Stay tuned for more news there. Funny enough, Brenna sleeps just fine during the day at daycare because she sleeps elevated in an old stroller (which supports the reflux thing).

We just bought Brenna this Dora sleeper sofa for the living room. It seems to be a huge hit and beats her standing right up next to the TV and/or sitting on a basket full of her toys.

Here she is about to pounce on her cousin Rachel. We're still working on training her that it's not polite to beat on people and/or gouge their eyes out, and Emily is constantly trimming her nails so she doesn't draw blood on the other kids at daycare. We enjoy wrestling with her at night to wear her out for bedtime, and are trying to distinguish for her the difference between that and sneak attacking people for no apparent reason. She's a smart cookie, and we're teaching her to say please and thank you (and she's started telling us that she loves us, which you just can't beat).

I barely found the energy to post this blog tonight. We typically both will lay in bed with Brenna while she's going down for the night, and inevitably we both end up falling asleep, which makes it difficult to get back up and do this. With a Starbucks Mocha Cappucino, and some Black Crowes on the iPod, I've managed to get through this. I highly recommend the Amorica album, as well as their new one, Warpaint, glad to see this great band get back together finally.

I also have recently bought a serious pair of running shoes for the treadmill, as my others were wearing blisters in my arches (not good). While a storm was blowing through here yesterday afternoon (see the Hoes blog for more on that, ah, I love seques), I shaved another 30 seconds off my mile (down to 9:05).

And with that, my Brenna sandwich is complete. Fin.

Wrestling Video

For those of you that have not seen the Brenna flip yet, here you go.

Brenna Sings A Song

Here are a few videos of Brenna from last night. Before I could get the camera, she was singing every word to the Taxi song they're playing on Noggin these days.

For those of you that would like to follow along with Brenna's abbreviated rendition recorded here, these are the lyrics

Taxi, taxi, riding in the back seat

Roll the window up, roll the window down

Put the money in the slot, see ya later, thanks a lot

Sure beats walking 'cross town

I think that about covers it. Brenna sings most of this, I'll make another attempt to get the full version at a later time.

I've also updated the Art Gallery and the Hoes blog today, so sit and stay awhile.

Sunday Happenings, Pt. 2

Brenna's mood changed for the better once we got home from church and she was free to roam around. She had hugs to share with everyone.

Soon I'll be posting some new Brenna tub art on her art gallery blog (she's drawing some pretty good circles these days), and a video of her singing a new song they're playing on Noggin about taxis that she has every word down. Stay tuned.

Sunday Happenings, Pt. 1

Here are a few shots of Brenna from Sunday before going to church for the baby dedication, and during, when she got a wee bit crabby.

Saturday Vegging

Here are a few pictures of Brenna watching an episode of Diego that came on Noggin earlier today. Her Diego figure must be clutched in her little hand when the theme music comes on, or there is a mutiny to follow.




Ok, so we do interact with our daughter. Man, from the looks of this picture you'd expect to see a trail of drool running out of her mouth and cobwebs forming around her. I promise she's a very active little girl, really. Typically we limit the Diego to an episode a night before bedtime, but we couldn't pull her away from the TV quick enough when this one came on today.




There are actually two posts today, but only keep scrolling if you're interested in my hair. There is no more Brenna to follow this cute picture, proceed at your own risk.