Checking in...

Hola! So, my family survived a night with me away two weekends ago--woo hoo!

And then they survived a whole weekend without me--extra special woo hoo! I had a blast in Tucson with my sister. It was soooo refreshing just to get away from needy babies who look just like my husband. Though I love all of them, including my husband, of course. But it was nice to be in a room with someone who strongly resembles me for once (talking about my sister here). Sadly, I didn't make it to the bar-slash-batting cage while in Tucson. We were at Rusty's restaurant for two hours before I realized I couldn't hear any batting cage activity, which makes sense because I was confusing the two places. Rusty's is a bit too "classy" to also have batting cages. But truly, a batting cage-slash-bar was going to be the highlight of my trip, because I want to see what kind of people patronize (or own) a place like that. I want to find out what the insurance premiums are for that joint. It will be a priority for next time. One afternoon my sister took me on a tour of all the street corners where Tucson's Finest have arrested hookers and did drug busts. This could literally have included all of Tucson proper, but I think I got the condensed tour. When we realized that this guided tour was cutting into our drinking time, we got back to business in a hurry.

Yesterday, the children and I visited the Cotten farm (not the same thing as a cotton farm, much to Jenna's consternation). If we get avian flu, it will be thanks to the up-close-and-personals all three kids had with chickens. Which reminds me, I'm totally out of eggs and meant to beg the Cotten's for some. If we're going to risk contracting avian flu, at least we could have gotten some free omeletts out of the deal. Instead, they gave me a bushel of green chilis to use. I LOVE green chilis, so this works great for all of us.

Jenna is totally done with her preschool's summer camp program. This is her final week off before she starts kindergarten on Monday. Monday can't come fast enough for me, if you know what I'm saying.

Chris took the kids to Safeway on Saturday while I was in Tucson, a visit coordinated by our local MDA chapter. Safeway is running a huge fundraiser for the MDA this month, and our job as MDA families is to thank each of the store managers for their efforts. Here's the photo they snapped and sent to the MDA. That's my mom there holding Kyle.

And lastly, here's Kyle showing off a) his souveneir from my trip to Tucson and b) his new trick (holding his legs).