Hall of Flame

We went to the Hall of Flame Museum of Firefighting in Phoenix. Bill & Julie enjoyed the exhibits while Jamie was on a continual hunt for the gift shop. He had some spending money in his wallet and he could NOT wait to buy a firetruck toy.

The museum has over 90 fully restored pieces of fire apparatus, including engines of all types, shapes and sizes. It was designed with children in mind, thankfully, as interactive displays were stratically placed along the route. We had fun dressing up in firefighter gear and climbing on the 1951 American La France Fire Engine.
Again, stratically placed, the fire safety exhibits were child friendly and allowed Jamie to play in a mock fire station complete with pole and pedal-car fire engine.We did eventually make it to the Museum Gift Shop and Jamie was so excited to buy a firetruck with his very own money.

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One room of the museum was dedicated to fallen firefighters and one wall, in particular, honored the firefighters, police and emergency workers who died as a result of 9/11.

The Memorial Pony was created to honor the heroes of 9/11. It is decorated as a rider-less horse as used in the funeral processions of Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy. The Calvary Saddle and reversed boots symbolize the loss of a great man. Beneath the saddle is a coffin-like base containing an FDNY fire helmet and caps from NYPD, New York Port Authority and New Jersey Port Authority. The Memorial Pony was donated to the Hall of Flame museum after being on display in New York's La Guardia International Airport for 2 years.

This is a piece of a steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center that was donated to the Phoenix Fire Department.

This wall contained photos of the 400 firefighters, police and port authority officers who died in the attack on the The World Trade Center. I stood there and stared at the faces of these heroes for several minutes. What was their last thought or memory? I thought of their families and friends. I was especially intrigued that there were no women firefighters (although there were women police and port authority officers). This memorial is thousands of miles from Ground Zero but, nonetheless, it had the essence of being a holy and sacred place. My thoughts drifted to imaginings of a similar memorial that would contain the photos of those who have sacrificed their lives in the aftermath of 9/11. Violence causes pain...it is not the way to create peace and harmony. Violence is final; the lives that these faces represent are gone. Beside these photos, what do we have to show for their sacrifice? This is not okay; we have to find a better way.

A Tale of Two Parks

Jamie would have been perfectly happy to spend every waking hour of Spring Break playing at the park. Skyline Park is near Grandma's house in East Mesa and became known as the park with the "bumpy" bridge.
Jamie met Costin, Caden & Lily Mae at Skyline Park. Since we were in Mesa for almost three weeks, we actually got to see and play with them a couple of different times.























































We also found ourselves in the north Scottsdale area a couple of times and visited Mountainview Park. This park became known as the park with the "flat" bridge. Jamie made friends with Jayden and they had fun playing ball, chasing each other and racing down the bumpy slide.




















It didn't matter what we had planned, each day Jamie made it known that he wanted to go to the park. Not just any park, it had to be either the park with the "bumpy" bridge or the park with the "flat" bridge.

Fun at The Casa

We always have fun when we stay at "The Casa". Jamie loved being able to play outside most of the time, especially when he discovered the timers were set to water the trees each morning. He, of course, is a mud-magnet and had a great time using his worker trucks in the mud.

Bill came down with a virus (cold, sore throat, etc.) on his second day in Arizona. He didn't feel like doing much but did find a little bit of time to work on the puzzle. Jamie loves puzzles and tried very hard to help with this one.

Grandma's great big driveway/porch was the perfect place to practice riding a bicycle!

Visiting Friends

Each year, we look forward to visiting friends when we go to Arizona for Spring Break. This year was no exception!

Julie stopped by to visit a longtime friend, Ginger, who now lives in Thoreau, NM. Ginger and her family (6 kids) were Julie's neighbors when she was growing up in Ft. Wingate, NM. It had been a few years since Julie had seen Ginger and it was fun to introduce her to Jamie.

We look forward to seeing Bill's friend from Sacramento Church Camp, Debbie, every year. Jamie adores Jacob and had a great time at Chuck E. Cheese with him. (Notice how Jamie is holding Jacob's arm...so cute!)

Since high school in Albuquerque, Darrin & Julie have shared a love of sports. It was great that this year it actually worked out that we could go to a Spring Training baseball game in Peoria together.

We also visited friends Chris and Linda, but failed to capture the moment with a photo. (Next year!) It's interesting how so many of our friends have ended up in the Phoenix area and we enjoy visiting them every March.

Take Us Out To The Ballgame

Bill's flight arrived in Phoenix this morning at 9:40 and we left from there to meet our friends, Chris & Linda, for our first spring training game of the week...Rockies vs. Cubs in Hohokam Park (Mesa). We actually met at a restaurant close to the stadium for lunch and then spent 45 minutes driving 3 blocks to get into the game. *Note to self - park at the stadium first and walk to the restaurant!* It was great to see Chris & Linda again and the weather was great for an afternoon game. Jamie was so excited to go to the baseball game and did extremely well. He got bored and wanted to walk around but, for the most part, stayed in (or near) his seat and didn't complain too much. The Rockies won, which made for an all-around splendid afternoon.

Adobe Western Railroad

The rain/snow broke a record of 143 days without measurable precipitation in the Phoenix Metro area. We can always say that we were here when the record was broken. It stopped raining and we braved our way across Mesa, across Tempe, across Scottsdale and across Phoenix to the Adobe Western Railroad - Home of the Maricopa Live Steamers. It was cold and breezy but Jamie & I rode 3 trains and had a great time. Unfortunately, this event occurs only on Sunday afternoons or we would have chosen a different day to do this. Our experience last year was much more favorable but, nevertheless, this was a great way for a train loving kid (and his mom) to spend an afternoon.

SNOW????

So, we are in Mesa, AZ for Spring Break. It rained all day our first day and we woke up today to snow covered mountains. HUH??? The peaks here have more snow on them than the peaks in Alamosa did before we left. It's pretty sad when I have to come to Arizona to see snow covered peaks!!!

On the mend...

One week later, Jamie & Julie are recovering from their recent bouts with strep and other bacterial infections. Alamosa is having a "strep" epidemic and five more of Jamie's friends have tested positive this week. I heard of one classroom that had 17 of 23 students out with strep one day last week. Next week is Spring Break and it can't come soon enough!!!

So, speaking of Spring Break, we are breaking out of here for a couple of weeks. Jamie & Julie will go to Mesa, AZ this Friday and Bill will fly in to Phoenix on Sunday for a week of fun in the sun! (With our luck, it'll rain all week!) We already have a couple of Spring Training baseball games lined up and will visit Julie's mom and several friends who live in the area. Bill will fly home at the end of the week and Jamie & Julie will stay until her mom gets tired of them and brings them home. Even though we have had a mild winter in Alamosa, we have been cooped up and are all looking forward to spending a lot of time outside. Jamie is looking forward to being spoiled by grandma.

Strep happens

Julie and Jamie just returned from the doctor this afternoon. Julie has a sinus infection and Jamie has either strep and/or an ear infection. The doctor didn't do a strep test on Jamie because he said that he was going to prescribe antibiotics anyway.

Jamie's friends, Justin & Ryan A., tested positive for strep yesterday. Today, as we were leaving the doctor's office, another friend of Jamie’s (Ryan H.) was there with a sore throat and throwing up…another one bites the dust! (All four were at playgroup together last Friday.)

So, Julie & Jamie are armed with antibiotics and will be hanging out at home for a couple of days.

Julie's FIRST Stampin' Up! workshop

Emily and Rhonda co-hosted Julie's first ever Stampin' Up!® workshop in Red River, NM. They rounded up seven of their stamping and scrapbooking friends and we had a great time!

Julie demonstrated the use of lots of different Stampin' Up!® products and everyone had the opportunity to make four different projects. The workshop was a huge success with over $700 in sales. Emily & Rhonda earned five free stamp sets and $95 worth of free merchandise!

Jamie was excited to go to Red River also, as he was able to visit his cousin, Shelby, and his friend, Cade. Jamie and Cade played with their "Thomas The Tank Engine" toys while the grown-ups played with the stamping and scrapbooking toys. A good time was had by all!

Computer kid

Jamie has taken a recent interest in the computer. Our library has a nice section of computers for kids with fun games and we also have a few fun games at home. He especially likes Mr. Potato Head and likes playing the dot-to-dot game. He is learning to maneuver the mouse very well. Sure wish we could find that cool "Thomas The Tank Engine" computer game that Jamie got for Christmas. Oh well...

Moon over Mt. Blanca

This is a beautiful shot of the moon rising over Mt. Blanca. This is our view to the east from our front door. The sad thing about this photo is the LACK of snowpack in the Sangre de Cristo's in mid February.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Julie's cousin, Jan, sent Jamie these adorable stuffed animals for Valentine's Day. Jamie loves them! He calls them his "snuggly bears" and has wanted to sleep with them several times...an honor usually bestowed upon his train collection.
Jamie's preschool/daycare had a Valentine's Day party and although it was on a day that Jamie is not usually at preschool, he and Julie went to spend the afternoon. Shirley & the other kids had baked cookies in the morning so we all got to decorate and then eat yummy sugar cookies. Harvey came in with a bag of Hersey's kisses for everyone, scoring MAJOR points!!

(Katrina & Jamie)

Jamie had fun with the frosting and sprinkles and especially enjoyed eating his cookie.

After the cookies, the kids exchanged their valentine's. The sugar rush kicked in by then and all of the kids were ready to PLAY!!!

(Dante, Roman, Cruz & Jamie)

SLV fly-over

A co-worker of Bill's is a pilot and has an airplane. He invited us to go up and fly over the San Luis Valley. It was a clear and calm morning, a perfect day to catch some air.
We took off from the Alamosa air field and headed south and east, then turned back north and flew next to Mt. Blanca and over the Sand Dunes before flying over Alamosa and back to the air field. It is interesting to fly over the San Luis Valley and see the geography...mountains, rivers, ponds, crop circles, etc. Jamie thought it was really cool and had fun playing with the headset. Next time, we'll take his car seat which will lift him up so that he'll be able to see better out of the window.

Mt. Blanca

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Alamosa from the air and Rio Grande River

SNOW!!!

We finally received enough snow to cover the ground and Jamie could not wait to get outside and play in it. His truck made a great snow plow and we scraped up enough of the white stuff to make this little snowman. Everything was melted by the end of the day but we had lots of fun and the photos to prove that we actually did
have snow.

Rose Bowl

On January 4, we were decked out in our USC gear, cheering enthusiastically for the Trojans to win their third national championship! We had fun and it was a good game, but the victory went to Texas.

Cousins

This is a nice photo of Julie's cousins, Esteban & Chick, taken while Esteban was visiting from Los Angeles over the Christmas holiday.