March Madness (car-eating cows and baking soda baths)

So the house is up for sale and I thought I deserved a vacation. We hadn't been to Arizona to visit my family in over a year, and so we decided to make the trek out there. Our house would be empty and clean for our realtor and I would get a nice break, or so I thought. (More on that later...) I was a little worried about driving with a 6 week old baby, but Maren was an angel. Road tripping is always an adventure with small children. Realizing how sheltered my children are here in Oklahoma when Brandt exclaims, "Mom, look at those mountains!" as we're driving past some rolling hills. And fielding questions like this one from Kaia, my observant little reader, "Mom, what does 'Hooters' mean?"

My family wanted to meet up in Winslow, AZ for the weekend so we got there on Saturday morning. My parents have always liked places off the beaten path and we love it too and met at a place out in the middle of nowhere called Rock Art Ranch close to Winslow. This rancher owns 7000 acres and let us come out and see the place. The kids were more than ready to get out of the car, and rode horses and hiked around a bit. There was a small museum the rancher had set up where he displayed all the Anasazi paraphenelia he had found over the years on his land. It was incredible! Jewelry, spearheads, and lots of amazing pottery in great condition. We saw some buffalo and he led us to a canyon where there were tons of really cool petroglyphs. Oh, and I totally spaced it and forgot my camera, so thanks for the pics everyone :)

The cows really do chew on fenders!
Crossing the canyon...

I know we all look like we've been in the car all day :)

We stayed at a small resort there in Winslow which used to be a famous railroad hotel. It's still a working train station, so Brandt was in heaven with all the trains. He put pennies on the tracks and saved them, and would go out early in the morning and in the evening to train watch.

The rest of the week was the train park, the dinosaur museum, swimming in the cold pool, the grand tour of Tucson (thanks Kell!) and just having fun with the fam. I miss everyone (and the weather) already!

At Uncle Jerry and Aunt Teri's house in Prescott




They have lots of fun "toys"!


The two baby cousins, 11 days apart, Mya and Maren

It ended up being kind of crazy because Kaia got sick on the way out there, and Maren and I were sick during the week. Maren ended up going to the dr. because of a bad rash she developed. When we got home the rash escalated and she ended up being on a high-maintenence regiment of baking soda baths, wet gauze dressings, antibiotics and three ointments. And of course this is when Jared gets sick, Brandt gets sick, Tatum gets a double ear infection and I come down with mastitis. I think I would have had a nervous breakdown if my mom didn't happen to be in town because she drove back to Oklahoma with me. Thank you, thank you, thank you mom!

Well, we have our health again and still trying to keep the house spotless. I don't know why I keep thinking, "next month will be better. not so crazy." Yeah right. Maybe when the kids move out??