Tuesday, March 27, 2012

The crazies come to town

Weiler here.  The only voice of reason.  But since I don't have many words yet, no one really listens.  But, if you were to be quiet (which never happens around here) and listen, really listen, you would here a 16 month old with a lot of wisdom.  Try this on for size-6 children and 2 Moms in one house is going to be nuts.  I'd cuss there if I was allowed.  Crazy nuts.  Like crazy wicked nuts.  OK, you get the point.

Unfortunately for me, and Helen, and Leo, and Hayes, and Reeder, and Eden, no one listens.

Do Aunt Biz and Mom think these things through?  Nope.  

I asked Lefty and Poncho.  They agreed.

Well, we'll let the adults plan ten days of us all in our huge base housing house.  At least we had the monster truck for Leo.  And the girls spent most of their time playing in Reeder's room.  And Helen sleeps a lot.  But where?  Oh, in my parents bathroom.  Yep, they put her pack n play in there.   Lucky girl, it was dark with white noise.  Jealous.

One good part of the plan, though, In N Out burger.  You can't go wrong if this is going to be how you start the trip.  

Notice Leo and Hayes.  This was probably the last time they were getting along.  I think Leo is flashing the peace symbol.  Not likely.  They fought continuously for the entire ten days.

And we weren't really supposed to see Dad, but, well, he had to come back to the office from the field so the Irvins got one good hug.
As I mentioned, the girls were absolutely perfect.  At times they would come out of their club house long enough to eat or have a very well thought out fashion show.



Then we decided to take this show on the road.  At least the two fams had a bit of space, meaning a door connecting our one bedroom cottages.

The beach was awesome.

Hayes kept complaining that his trunks were bothering him so he got to swim in his regular shorts.

Well, kinda.



And for some crazy reason, Eden's Colorado blood got a bit chilly in the Pacific.  So, she found a nice warm spot to soak in some rays.


These might be my two favorite pics of the entire blog.  I love my matching cousin, Helen.  Isn't she downright adorable?  You see, we also call her HaHa cuz she's always full of smiles.

Wait for it...


Love her!


And here I am, supervising the show.  Someone's got to be the voice of reason.


Thanks, Ms. Kandi, for listening to me, and agreeing with my opinions about the ridiculousness of it all.


The last to go in the first evening...
Everyone else went up for some rest and warm showers.  I'd be in this one but someone's gotta take the pics, you see.


And we went on a bit of an adventure hike.  Ms. Megan's got her hands full...


And then Reeder and Mom went off by themselves on a lil bonding time.  Lucky Reeder.


Matti and a gorgeous sunset.  Not many beach pics comin' from Boulder.


Reeder and Eden are totally bff's.  It's totally amazing.  I hope HaHa and I are like that someday.  They slept together every night and barely left each other's side.  They comforted each other, read to each other, everything.  How amazing.  Lucky cousins :).


Grama Max and Grandpa Don!

Today we're going to have a guest speaker here on ThreeKidPileUp.  You see, sometimes it is easier to plagiarize when someone else says it so, well, right.  So, Hayes here, with my first experience with copy and paste :)  Thanks Grama and Grandpa!


When you think of vacation places to visit, the desert in February sounds not so bad.   The last time we were in Twentynine Palms, CA, it was June and the temperatures were topping 110.  Clint had just returned from Afghanistan and we were helping him and Marianne settle into their new home on the Marine base.  This February trip was scheduled to see Clint again, this time before he begins intensive and constant training for a return to Afghanistan.  We believe he will be leaving sometime in April and are hopeful that his return will be earlier than scheduled given the news that the U.S. is preparing to be out of that country by 2013.  Clint is in line for promotion to Major, something that may happen while he is deployed.  His job will be the Operations Officer for his Battalion meaning that he will be planning the military operations for the 5 Companies of his battalion involving about 600 Marines.


It's always wonderful to see Clint- but I'll be real, real, real glad when the visits aren't planned around his coming and going to Afghanistan!


I'm going to mention right here- if you looking for a quiet, restful, relaxing- spa-like vacation- then going to visit Marianne and our beautiful grandkiddos is not the vacation choice for you.  For us it was perfect!  We were in for some real treats.  I do want to give a special thanks to Marianne for arranging a great suite at the lodge for bachelor officers on base.  SWEEEEEET!  And it even had a couch so Reeder and Hayes could have sleepovers!


We started out with a big SHOW!  We watched Marianne- and her Marine Wife Friends- play Kick Ball against a group of REAL MARINES!  Well those ladies sure showed the Marines how the game is played!




 Above Marianne locking in on a high fly  that she did catch for an out, and below showing the power in that left leg that got her a scholarship for soccer at Arizona State.


During the game I did sneak off just for a bit with Reeder.  Took this picture.  Don't you agree she's beautiful!




Our first full day there we packed the kids up in Marianne's car and drove to Palm Desert to visit the Living Desert Museum.  The temperature was in the mid-80's and not a cloud in the sky, a bit different from our home in Cincinnati where the temperatures had dropped to the teens.


The Living Desert Museum is rather combination zoo, botanical garden and discovery zone.  It is definitely a place you can spend a lot of time especially with kids.  And if the day is absolutely gorgeous- like this one was- you just linger and linger.
Now I probably should warn you in advance- this blog is mostly about the pictures- pictures of our time with Clint, Marianne, Reeder, Hayes and Weiler.  So sit back and enjoy!


































The next day we kept the kids while Marianne attended a "Marine Wives" meeting before going to the parade field and watching an "OFFICIAL MARINE RETIREMENT".  So we were off to a morning at the park while Marianne attended the meeting.




A DRINK FROM AFAR: PART ONE!

A DRINK FROM AFAR: PART TWO!




And then it was off to watch Clint "retire" his Master Sergeant! It was really interesting to watch the ceremony- and an extra treat was to see "up close and personal" the LAV (Light Armored Vehicle) that Clint and his men are responsible for.  They call these "light" with respect to the Heavy Armored Vehicles, otherwise known as Tanks.








And then we took it easy until time to take Reeder to her Basketball Game.  As if we hadn't already done enough for one day!
Watching six year olds play basketball can be a bit frustrating  given that her team never made a basket and the referees were there just to keep the game from becoming a free for all.  I remember watching my own kids play basketball at that age and nothing seems to have changed. Now that of course is a so definitely the opinion of a basketball player.  For me the game was wonderful to watch!  After all- what can be more fun than to watch your grandchildren (even as you had watched your own children) do just about anything at all.  So for me watching basketball is in the same category as watching soccer- or track- or swimming- or baseball- or dancing- or plays- or concerts...  Only in the BIG LEAGUES does it actually matter to me who is actually REALLY playing the game...





On Saturday we decided to go hiking in Joshua Tree National Park.  This is absolutely my favorite thing to do at 20 Palms.  Joshua Tree National Park is beautiful.  Of course when we were there last summer it was much, much, much to hot to spend a day outside in the desert but for this day the weather was perfect for hiking- not too hot- not too cold- just right!
Taking three kids ages 6,4, and 15 months required a fairly short and fairly flat hike, mostly for the adults who would be periodically carrying one of those kids.  It is a good thing Marianne has an all wheel drive high center vehicle because our route took us over some "roads" that I wouldn't attempt with any car.
Now look at this next picture and tell me if you'd call what you're looking at a "road"...  Actually the picture makes it look  pretty good compared to what it really was.




We followed this path for miles- never sure when it would end- never sure if we'd get stuck or not.  Have I mentioned before that with Marianne there is never a dull moment.  Well Marianne was the one at the wheel- so there was no turning back!  And of course true to a Marianne "non plan" we arrived just where we wanted to go!


But we did eventually get there and it was a beautiful warm day.  Along the road we passed this Joshua Tree that was just getting ready to bloom...


And once we got to the trail, the desert was beautiful. Now we've been in different areas of Joshua Tree 3-4 times- but never have we seen such large, gorgeous trees.  This trail was a real treat!  The tree in the picture below is probably close to 35 feet tall.




I don't think the kids ever really got the idea about what a "hike" is supposed to be.






I was the only one of the "adults" not routinely "packing" some extra weight!






This big tree looked like it might have been hit by lightening because it was split into four different pieces, each pointing a different direction.  Great for climbing.




AND WE MADE IT TO THE TOP!





We finished the day at Pappy and Harriet's with of course a steak for Clint and Reeder!


Now if you're feeling just a wee bit tired, then you know just how we were feeling... So Sunday was quieter (well it was quieter for Clint, Reeder and me).  We went for Mani's and Pedi's!



I would be remiss if I didn't mention that while I was soaking my feet, Don was digging holes in solid rock planting a backyard landscaping project with Marianne!

We spent our last morning just "hanging out"...



Don showed Weiler and Reeder some of his best basketball moves...



Then we stopped at the Officer's Club for lunch with Clint before we started our drive back to Vegas and then our flight back to Cincinnati...


Thanks to Marianne and Clint- and our beautiful babes for a wonderful time in the desert!