I'm Back!

We've been out of town for the last two weeks. I am now recovering. We went to visit JC's family in Phoenix and, for part of the time, El Paso and Mexico. It has been one year since we had seen his mom and one brother and his family, and 2+ years since we had seen his dad and a different brother and his family. I met a new nephew and two new twin nieces, and we saw several other relatives and friends we hadn't seen in several years. It was nice. It was l-o-n-g.

Some memorable moments (in no particular order):

The Border. We sat for 2 hours on the bridge to get back into the U.S. at 11:00 at night. The kids crashed out and when Big J woke up and we were still on the bridge he didn't believe us that he'd fallen asleep. He also had to pee really bad. Good thing I had an empty water bottle.

The Grand Canyon. It is breathtaking. There is no way to describe it. It looks fake even in person. I do not recommend going with a bunch of little boys who have ridden in a car for 4 hours to get there. I was stressed and invisioned bodies slipping under the puny little fences or jumping over the 2-foot-high rock barrier walls. There are signs posted with pictures of someone falling that basically say "People die here." We left and watched the IMAX movie instead.

The Camel. Big J, Little J and I rode a camel at the Phoenix Zoo. We paid 15 freaking dollars for us to go around for like 2 minutes. But, hey, I bet you've never ridden a camel! When I told JC's dad (he didn't go with us) to ask Big J what he had ridden at the zoo, Big J paused a minute and then responded matter-of-factly, "A donkey."

The Food. I'm talking real Mexican food. Good Mexican food. Every day. My favorites are chuleta (really thin, grilled, marinated steak strips you put in tortillas), tortas and tostados. And my mother-in-law's guacamole. I had to use extreme control. And my sister-in-law's huevos rancheros. Yum. Even the drinks are yummy. I love licuado (a banana/milk/vanilla drink) and horchata (a rice water/cantaloupe juice drink) and even the Mexican Coke tastes way better than the Coke here in the U.S.

The Giraffe. We fed a giraffe in a park in the middle of Juarez. There is this park with a big lake and playgrounds. We went there to feed all the ducks. There also happens to be a lone giraffe there that you can walk up to and it will eat out of your hand. We fed it Cheetos. We also saw a crusty old deer sitting in the middle of a pile of geese. Go figure.

Getting Physical. The second day after meeting my new nephew (who is 6 weeks older than Little Man), we made our mark on him. Literally. Little Man and Nephew were laying on blankets on the floor beside each other. Nephew has a rattle that Little Man is eyeing. In one stealth move he swipes it from Nephew. In the next move he whacks him in the eye with it. Wailing. Tears. Parents comfort their baby and things are back to normal. In comes Little J with a new toy nerf football/rocket combo. He launches it. Whack! Poor Nephew got it right in the face. I told Big J to just go on and hit him to get it over with.

The Desert. The desert has it's own beauty, but I wouldn't want to live there. I like green. I like trees. When we came home, the richness of the spring colors were hurting my eyes it was so green - and that's how I like it. That being said, the boys had a great time digging in the dirt, chasing lizards, and making "sand angels" (just like their snow counterparts). I liked seeing the difference in the saguaro cactuses (cacti?) after it rained. They went from skinny to super fat.

We're all still 2 hours behind on Arizona time and I still have 2 suitcases left that I haven't unpacked. I guess that's not too bad considering we had 9 items we checked on the plane - 3 carseats, 1 pack-n-play that served as Little Man's bed, 3 big suitcases, one smaller suitcase full of toys and other entertainment, and a toiletry/carry-on size bag. Plus 4 items we carried with us (not counting children) - a diaper bag, a laptop, a backpack, and a stroller. We were like our own little caravan going through the airport.

Now I'm back to real life... Oh well, it was fun while it lasted!