An Hour Of Fun & Relaxation

When we came back to the hotel on Saturday afternoon, Chris stayed inside with the twins in the room as it was too hot for them to go to the pool. They needed to run around and get some energy out, but as we had plans for the evening, we didn't want to tire them out completely in the sun and in the pool. It was wonderful just to be able to spend an hour with Cassie and we couldn't miss taking advantage of having the pool in the hotel.

We had so much fun, she was jumping and swimming and enjoying the water. I actually found myself more in the water than in the sun chair myself. It was great to get to play and swim with her without having to keep my eyes and fully concentration on the little ones. Very much needed and the hour went by way too fast!

Downtown Phoenix

On Saturday afternoon, while the kids were taking their nap in the car, we drove around Phoenix to see some of the sights the city has to offer. Some pictures I took of special landmarks and buildings and some pictures I took just for fun of sky scrapers and interesting angels and buildings, without knowing the name of the buildings. Some are just "down town" pictures and will have no further comments.

 Tovrea Castle

Our first stop on this little sight seeing trip was to drive to the Tovrea Castle. It is a historic structure and landmark in Phoenix. Originally intended as a centerpiece for a resort and later a private residence, the castle is now part of the Phoenix parks system and is designated as one of the Phoenix Points of Pride.

Chase Tower

The Chase Tower. It is the tallest building in the state of  Arizona. Built in 1972, it is 483 feet (147 m) tall.

St. Mary's Basilica

Sky scrapers

Down town was very nice. Not just grey buildings and glass all over the place but actually very green with lots of palm trees and plants making small places of shade throughout the city. The building above in the right collage is the Maricopa County Courthouse in Phoenix.

The artful building in the right collage is the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown. A very beautiful architecture with window frames sticking out like in a beehive. Another picture of this can be seen in the collage of random sky scrapers above in the middle picture.

Arizona State Capitol

We also drove by the Arizona State Capitol. This is also one of the places that Cassie went to see inside on her school trip to Phoenix earlier in the spring. She thought it was great to actually be able to tell us about it, that she had been there and we hadn't. It would have been nice to go inside to have a look around, but as the twins were sleeping, we were happy to have a look from the outside.

 Winged Victory

"Winged Victory" is the name of the figure at the top of the dome. It is 17 feet tall, weighs 700 pounds and is made with zinc-plated iron. In her right hand is a liberty torch and her left holds a victory wreath. The statue is actually a weather vane that moves with the wind.

More buildings down town

"Her Secret is Patience"

We also drove by this "modern art". “The Net” as it is referred to by many locals is actually a public art project created in 2009 by artist Janet Echelman. The official name for it is ”Her Secret is Patience.” The kinetic sculpture is made from specially designed flexible netting suspended 38 feet above the ground on a framework of steel rings, cables and poles. The piece rises to an overall height of about 100 feet and spans 100 feet at the top. Specialized lighting gives the work an extraordinary glowing presence at night.

picture and info: http://www.flickr.com

That sums up our sight seeing trip down town. There are ofcourse so much more to see in such a big city, but I was happy that we were able to see some of the sights, even if it was only from the outside. When the kids woke up, we drove back to the hotel so that they could get out of the car seat and run around in the hotel room for awhile.

What A Week..

and it's not even over yet. Benjamin got really sick and wasn't eating or drinking anything. He must have had such stomach cramps that he was only crying and crying and nothing would help him to settle down. Didn't want to be held, was tossing and turning and nothing was right. Not easy to watch for a mom that wants to make it better!

On Wednesday, we went to the doctor with him as his urine also started to smell foul and we were thinking that it might be an UTI. The doctor didn't think so as it's not that common in boys and that it was some kind of virus. If he got worse of course we should come back. He was lethargic and didn't want to do anything, tired all the time and I had to force him to drink and give him Pedialite with a dropper, to make him take some fluid. My poor little boy, he was truly miserable!

 At the doctor's office, waiting for the doctor.

Yesterday, I was able to get him to drink some in the morning, and around lunchtime, he threw up everything and shortly after that had a bad diarrhea. He was so weak, but after sleeping he was doing a little better. At the same time, I started to feel bad. It got worse over the evening and when I finally had him sleeping at night, I fell into bed.

Ben laying around the sofa earlier in the week, all weak and with a bruise on his cheek from tripping over the lego box. Yesterday afternoon, I managed to get him to take a Popsicle, and when I asked him if it's good, he gave me thumbs up! Isabella of course had one as well.

Ben was up several times during the night and I didn't really sleep well, so i was pretty bad this morning. Cramps, weak and all shivering and not good at all. Luckily Cassie helped out and I could just rest on the sofa for awhile.

Later this afternoon, Cassie went to a friend's house and played and enjoyed some time in their pool, and I went down for a nap too when the little ones were taking their nap. After that Ben is doing better, and hopefully he'll eat tonight. I really hope that Isabella or Cassie doesn't get it, it's enough to take care of one sick child when you are sick yourself, and as bad as I've been feeling, I just want to sleep until it goes away. Now it's time for dinner, even if I don't even feel like seeing any food, the kids need something to eat, and hopefully Ben will actually eat something too. He needs to get some more meat on his bones.

Rail Road Park

 

My loved ones!

Saturday morning, after having a big breakfast, we started off going to the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale. It was very hot, but we thought that we can "beat the heat" with this activity where you also could spend some time inside to cool off.

It was nice, large area to cover, we didn't really go around outside to look at all the trains etc, as the kids wouldn't be interested in the big ones anyway and of course because of the heat. We took the little Train, but Benjamin was crying the whole time! Not because he was scared, but because Chris had stayed behind with the stroller and he was not happy about that. He wasn't happy until we were back at the station where he could see his daddy again!

Still happy before the train takes off...

After the train ride, the girls went on the Merry-Go-Round, there was no discussion on what they wanted to ride. Horses, what else!? Isabella held on so tightly not to fall off, and of course I stood by her holding her when the ride started. The pictures I took before the ride started. Ben passed on this one, and walked around with his daddy instead.

My horse loving girls

After the ride, we walked over to the Miniature Train museum, which was a big building (important side note- with AC!!) with lots of little trains and tracks with older men standing in the middle being in charge, working on decorations etc. I guess it was more of a hobby than work to most of them.

The kids liked the trains, and walked around looking in on the ones passing by. We found one with Mickey Mouse and Co and that train we stood watching for passing by over and over and over again..

Say hi to Mickey Mouse!

Before we left, we still had tickets for the kids to go on the Merry-Go-Round, and this time Ben actually wanted to go. He sat with Cassie in the carriage and Isabella was on a horse, of course! Shortly after we left, the kids fell asleep in the car, so stopping walking around in Scottsdale like I mentioned earlier, wasn't on the agenda. BUT, we did drive back into Phoenix and while they were sleeping good in the car, we drove around town for some sightseeing from the car windows! I had wanted to go down town to check out the town, and this way, we saw a few sights while they were sleeping and we all were in the cool car instead of walking around town in the hot weather. Pictures from down town Phoenix will follow in a separate post.

A Little Piece Of Sweden

Somehow the Swedish Flag just didn't want to fly.

Guess where we spent Midsummer evening?? At IKEA!! I was in heaven - for a short while. What a rude awakening looking through the whole store to find out that they hardly had any Swedish food, cookies or CANDY at all. Only a few chocolate bars of IKEA brand..NO LICORICE!! Seriously??? I was so upset!!

Another BIG letdown was that we were there on Midsummer of all days, and they had NOTHING decorated, nothing special at all to recognize this holiday. Surprised is not even half the truth of what I felt. I had expected little Midsummer decorations, strawberry cake - something! but no, nothing at all...

What happened to all the goodies that I wanted to stock up on? No candy or specialties for me, but I did buy a few things of course anyway. Duvet covers, pillow cases and night lights came with us home in the bought legendary blue plastic bag.

Cooling Off In The Hotel Pool

Picture from Hotel Webpage

As you might have guessed already, I took the kids downstairs to the pool when Chris was taking a nap. Before I took them down, I quickly went to have a look if it was even possible to be alone with them or if it was going to be very busy with people. We were lucky, we were the only ones at the time, so the timing was perfect. After a couple of minutes of stressful getting out of clothes, spraying with sunscreen, putting on swim diapers and swim clothes, hats, blowing up floaties and getting Cassie and myself sprayed and ready, down the elevator with kids, floaties, drink bottles and bag, I was more than warm and couldn't wait to cool off in the pool. Luckily, I have such an awesome big helper in Cassie!

The kids did great, it was very hot outside, so an hour was more than enough in the pool. Luckily so late in the afternoon, half of the pool was in the shade, so we only went out in the sun for the pictures.

I was able to take a few pictures of the kids and look what great pics Cassie took of the twins and myself!! Great job! We all had an awesome time, and even if the water wasn't really cool, it was very warm in the pool, it was great to finally get into a pool. Cassie has wanted to go to a pool all summer, but it's pretty pricey for just an hour and with these temperatures it's not possible to stay outside all day or even half a day especially with the twins. I hope that we soon can go back to another pool, but for now it was great to spend time together and enjoying the water. Isabella was so brave that she wanted to swim like a mermaid too, so she was floating/kicking around in just her arm floaties for a while. Of course, I had to have one arm around her and one arm on Ben, but he was happy just sitting floating around splashing a little bit with his arms. This was actually the first time that they had arm floaties on, and I had thought that they would refuse or take them off immediately, but no, they actually let them stay on. Good job for listening to mommy! Good sign as well, for taking the kids to an outdoor pool by myself.

Love these pictures! Great job Cassie for taking them!

One picture at last where you actually can see their faces, 
but with these high temperatures, they need their hats on at all times!

Catching Up

Please don't think that I don't care to answer comments anymore or that I don't check in on my favorite blogs anymore, I'm just a little bit behind with it all. During our weekend, there was no time for me to sit by the computer or spend much time on my phone either for that matter. We just came home and Benjamin had a bad night and developing fever and due to that I was up pretty much all night with him. He's been under the weather since then.

No cold, no runny nose, nothing but fever. Not as high as we have seen earlier, but still enough to make him feel uncomfortable and not sleeping or eating good. He want's to be close to me all the time, and last night I just started to download the picture from our trip and there will be more posts coming when I have a few minutes over. He was up a lot over the night again and I hope that today he'll feel better. I'll catch up with you all soon I hope!

Our Hotel

We were very happy with our choice of hotel. Chris came across this Hotel chain, Drury Inn & Suites, when he was staying in Missouri for training earlier in the spring, and he told me much about it. How nice and new the hotel was, how nicely made, and what extra treats they had up their sleeves for a very good price. Where have you heard of free complimentary drinks (alcoholic or soda) every afternoon, free popcorn from the popcorn machine and soda in the afternoon in the lobby, between 5.30-7pm they had free "dinners". More of a big snack bar, but with warm food. They served chili, chips, hotdogs, buns, beans and salads. The night before they had served chicken strips. Fresh fruits and little snacks. With drinks. All free. Perfect when you have kids!! 

The rooms were also very nice. We had a suite and there were plenty of room for the little ones to run around. We normally bring our pack and play, as we have had problems in the past during our move to find a hotel that actually have cribs and the ones that we have had has been anything from dirty to totally unacceptable.  Here, we had no problems getting two totally new cribs, (the hotel was very new or just renovated, so most anything was new and shiny) and they even brought a little package for each crib with a baby blanket and sheet. We used the blanket in the bottom, as I had brought their own duvets and pillows. I always do that, it makes them more comfortable and I hope that they then will sleep better.

 

I always try to get a few pictures of the hotels that we stay in, but it's hard to get nice pictures when the room looks wracked just 5 minutes after entering the room with all our luggage and bags. The kids liked it very much, and they had to try out the big bed too.

Chris was pretty tired after the drive, especially considering that he had been up working early morning from 4am - 9am to check the shooting range. He didn't have a nap when he came home, so he was happy to chill in the room for an hour before dinner time, while I took the kids to do something else that they and I had looked forward to very much!!