The planning stage

I still can't believe we even went to Paris - wow....when Alyssa (college roommate) made her relationship facebook official and then announced the engagament......I was so hoping to go whereever it was, Washington  DC, never did I expect to go to London, but I was hoping. :) I suggested it to Jeff and he agreed it would be a trip of a lifetime. really!? A lot of back and forth, work schedule, babysitters needed, Jeff interviewing for a new job, then starting said new job, could we leave, should we leave, why not leave?!

I got my passport, then we finally made the purchase of tickets. We had to go now.

I spent a lot of time researching and researching, reading, looking at maps, etc. I felt I had already been to Paris before we got there. I expected that cheesy accordion music to start playing as we wondered around, romantic moonlight walks by the Eiffel Tower - too many movies for me. Instead we experienced Paris in real life, not movie life. Walking down fast moving streets of mini coops, hybrids, motorcycles, bicycles and the occasional moving truck that would block an entire street - a street mind you that was barely big enough to park on, yet both sides of the streets and the occasional sidewalk was jam packed with cars, motorcycles and bicycles. Crazy busy. Jeff led the way as I was totally turned around the whole time. 

So let's back up a little to before we left. My parents came to watch our kids, I put together a daily schedule, contact information and prayed noone would get injured as we were between insurances.....

we purchased plug adapters for our electronics

gathered warm clothing

bought money belts to keep our extra money and passports safe

 Extra battery for the camera

 learned how to use my iphone on just wi-fi, signed up for instagram (you know, the important things to do) haha! 

Found hotels (so glad we did that before we arrived)

train tickets

Eiffel Tower passes to get to the top!

made our own travel guide books from Rick Steves guide books for Paris and England

Learned how to say hello, thank you in French - that's all I learned, and it was plenty. :)

Borrowed my mom's suitcase when she came

packed an extra bag for souvenirs to bring home

repacked, added, took stuff out, took more out

borrowed boots from Suzette, coats from Jackie
gathered advice on what to see, where to do and what to eat

packed clothing that didn't mind being wrinkled

bought a backpack to carry on

headphones for the plane

blanket, travel pillow

whew, I think we're finally ready to go.

Ride to the airport - check

tickets - check

passports - check

snacks - check

stressed - check and double check

said good-bye to the little ones - check and hurry get in the car

hug my mom

thankfully they were mostly asleep to realize the full situation of us leaving the country

get to the airport, pull out one last item and leave it behind

big hug for my dad

off we go.....

 to Philly

 via US Airways

To Paris!!!

Snowstorms to Sunshine

 The day before was a dark, gloomy, rainy, snowstorm and then it looks like this the next day. A beautiful day for Spring Training - playing hookie from school and work. :)

A trip to In n Out, where our other door on the van wouldn't close, many angry words said that only Steven was privy too, but it turned out alright - we fed the beasts and enjoyed the rest of the day.

 the cheap seats on the berm - free range for the kids to run around and ignore the game.

 Finding any shade they can to play the nexus, kindles and dsi.

 each enjoying the sun in their own little way.

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVEN!! At the last minute (he was flying out to go home and needed to be at the airport in 1 hour.....), Jeff ran to the store - bought cake mix and came home to make this lovely cupcake?. It was still warm, so the chocolate melted and the candles just made it fall apart. But it looks good, maybe.

 a closer look to see all the yummy goodness - those are andes mints, not peanuts.

 seriously, I love these 2 - comedians together and the world's most intense wrestling matches where you're not sure if one of them will be thrown through the wall or end up in the hospital.

headache

Taking the kids to school today and Abbey was very quiet - I thought she was upset with me because she missed breakfast and had to get in the car. The whole time she's leaning towards the window so I can't see her in the rear view mirror.

We drop the kids off, go home for something we forgot, and head back to the church to play volleyball with our friends. I bring out something for her to eat for breakfast and it's the first time I've seen her or heard her since leaving to take the kids to school. She moves up from the back of the van to get her food and looks very tired and on the brink of tears. Having spent 2 of the last 4 nights up with a puking toddler, I was not looking forward to what this little face was trying to tell me.

'Abbey, are you okay?' (tears very close to falling)

head shakes no as she rubs her temple

'What happened? Did you hurt your head?'

head shakes no again. 

'Then what happened? Are you okay?'

'Lucas. Lucas was talking too much and gave me a headache.'

'Ohhhhhh, I'm sorry, why don't you go lay down on the back seat and rest.' (funny and sad all at the same time!!! hahahaha!!)

Jeff survived the GREAT snowstorm of 2013

Okay, go ahead, laugh it up. Get it out of your system...................

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done yet? No?
Well there will be time for more laughing after the pictures. :)

Jeff has lived to tell the tale of the Great Phoenix Snowstorm of 2013.

We knew the weather in Laveen was down-right frigid dark and gloomy. I called Jeff to see if he was coming home from Scottsdale - to which he said, it's snowing and the freeway is SLOW. Phoenicians freak out when it rains (and by rain I mean you can count the rain drops on your windshield and then it's finished), can you imagine what happened when it SNOWED????? It was I'm sure chaos and most were certain Hell was freezing over. Okay I exaggerate (only a little though).

This is outside Jeff's office at the 101 freeway and Indian School.

 Almost doesn't even look like Phoenix except for the large Saguaro cacti off to the left. I'd say that's a pretty impressive snow storm for a place that NEVER sees snow.

 This looks closer to home since there are farm lands and no snow.

Okay you can let out all the sarcasm you've been holding in at our 'snow storm'. :) Jeff was nice enough to bring some of it home for the kids since we all thought he was full of it that it was snowing.

Addiction

When Vacamaca comes to visit, we have a problem. Hi, we're the Risenmays and we're addicted to electronics. We just can't get enough of Temple Run, Temple Run 2, Subway Surf, Plants vs Zombies or whatever else is to be played on the various tablets.

This is what the day looked like outside.......

This is what it looked like inside:

1 and a helper

zoom out and there's another one on the couch

pan to the left and there are 2 more at the table and one 'unused' device

a smidge time later - we are now basking in the glow of a nexus, a kindle, an ipad mini and possible another nexus or nintendo dsi.

pan to the right, Jeff has arrived home and is plugged into his new phone from work. (to be fair, he at least has a paperback book on his chest)

Let's take a look at the whole room here shall we:

I'm happy to report I was actually reading a book and secretly taking pictures. :)

We overcame our battle with electronics and moved onto dinner Garcias - seriously so yummy....

the boys

the after shot when everyone thinks you're done taking pictures - hahaha!!

the girls

To which on the way home - our addiction was quickly fed as each child had a tablet again. The car ride has never been so quiet. What a different world we live in than when I was a kid and the electronics we had were a cassette player in the front of the van. :)

Red rhino

The red rhino I think is what I will call it when I charge.....(see this post on the orange rhino) I did so good and it was awesome to have not blown up for 10 days - I thought one day was impossible and many times I had to hold my mouth closed to not blow up, count to 100 (quickly by 10's) :), regain myself and think 'they don't like being yelled at either', 'they already feel bad', 'work through it together'.

10 whole days without yelling at my kids. I got annoyed yes and a used a forceful tone when necessary, but no smack down crazy yelling until this morning. You know what I didn't miss during those days? That sick feeling in my stomach when I dropped my kids off at school wondering: if this were to be their last day on earth what a horrible 'last' moment we had.

Vacamaca

 While Jeff's at work, we hang out with Vacamaca. We enjoy the beautiful weather, we throw tantrums, we cause tears, giggles, and lots of good times. (I think the good times out way the tantrums because he keeps coming back.....) To the PARK!

 best place to be? down in the dirt.

 at night, we set fires and perfect the art of roasting marshmallows

Let the good times roll.