Happy Birthday Jamie!

Jamie's birthday party was held at Cole Park. The weather was perfect and the kids had fun playing on the slides and swings until it was time for cake and ice cream. Jamie invited his friends from playgroup and church. Special guests were his cousin, Shelby, and Aunt Emily.

The Cake

Julie had been in Denver for a Stampin' Up! seminar until late the night before the party. She had thought ahead enough to bake a cake using the cool train pan that Grandma bought. The plan was to decorate the cake on Sunday morning before the party. Well...you have to know that things never go as planned. The party was set to begin at 12:30 and at 12:10, the cake was only partially decorated and it was determined that it was time for Plan B. Julie raced into town and went to the grocery store bakery for a birthday cake...the only one they had was decorated with flowers. Ugh! Desperate times call for desperate measures...Jamie would just have to have a birthday cake with flowers. So, of course, it didn't matter at all. In fact, all of the kids were fighting over who got a piece of cake with a flower on it.













As the party was winding down, an Infiniti van drove up and parked next to us. Bill noticed immediately that this was a big dude and thought he was Alfred Williams (former defensive end for the Denver Broncos). I just walked up to him and asked if he was Alfred Williams. When he said that he was, I told him that we were having Jamie's birthday party and asked if he would pose for a photo with the birthday boy. He agreed and you'll notice that Bill got in on the photo too! (Bill happened to be appropriately dressed in Broncos gear.) Alfred & his family were passing through Alamosa on their way home to Denver and decided to stop and let the kids play at the park. So, Jamie and the other kids were definitely not as impressed as the adults were, but we can always say that a "celebrity" attended Jamie's 4th birthday party. Jamie does talk about the "big football dude" that was at his birthday, though.


Alfred Williams with Jamie & Bill

The Train Cake
The party wound down and we went home where Jamie & Shelby had a chance to play in the dirt together. After Emily & Shelby left, Julie finished decorating the train cake. It turned out very nice and Jamie was able to take it to his preschool/daycare and share his birthday with his friends there.

Bye-Bye Binky

We have said "good-bye" to binky! For several months, Bill & I have been telling Jamie that it was OK for him to still use his binky until he turned four. It became something of a daily mantra..."three year olds can use their binky and blanky but when you're four, you won't need binky anymore." Jamie would even repeat it to us, "I'm still three, so I need my binky and blanky. When I'm four, I'll still need my blanky but not my binky."

So, a few weeks before his birthday, we started thinking about what to do with binky when Jamie turned four. One day we asked Jamie what we should do with binky. He thought for a few seconds and stated, "throw it away". We discussed it a couple of times and Jamie seemed very comfortable with his decision.

On April 9th, Jamie woke up and snuggled with Bill in front on the television to watch "Thomas and Friends". When it was over, Jamie got up and went into the kitchen. He then called Bill in...he had thrown his binky away all by himself. He was excited to show it to me when I woke up. Jamie is four years old and doesn't need his binky anymore.

It's not often that one would have the need to take a photo of the contents of their garbage can. This photo, however, signifies an important milestone in Jamie's life. The binky has been thrown away!

McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park

We thought we had done the research before going to Arizona but learned from both Deb and Darrin that THE place to go for railroad fun is the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale. We didn't have time to go before Bill had to return to Alamosa but did talk Grandma into going with us later on.

The McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park is home to the Paradise and Pacific Railroad. It is built and operates as an exact 5/12 scale reproduction of a Colorado narrow gauge railroad and winds through the park on a one mile track.


The Park also has an antique carousel with 30 horses and 2 chariots. Jamie was afraid to ride on one of the horses so we sat and enjoyed the chariot ride.


In addition, the Park has railroad exhibits including the Magma #6 Locomotive, The Baggage Car and the Roald Amundsen Pullman Car. The Magma #6 hauled copper ore from Superior to Magma, AZ for 38 years before being retired in January 1960. The Baggage Car houses the Railroad Museum. It was built as a dining car and then converted to carry baggage during World War II.


The Roald Amundsen Pullman Car was built in 1928 for $205,000. It is best known for its presidential travel. The car provided maximum security and was used at various times by every president from Herbert Hoover through Dwight Eisenhower. It was on this car in 1940 that President Franklin Roosevelt and Canadian Prime Minister W.L. McKenzie King signed the Ogdensberg Declaration, an agreement that provided for the joint defense of North America, now known at NATO.



And, what would a Park be without a playground? We rode the train three times and played at both of the playgrounds before hunger and exhaustion got the best of us. The Park is grassy and has picnic tables throughout...next time we will bring picnic items and make a day of it.


The McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park is also home to several model railroad clubs and the Scottsdale Live Steamers Club (similar to Maricopa County Live Steamers). Unfortunately, these exhibits are open only on Sundays and we were not able to enjoy them on this visit. Now that we know about this great Railroad Park, we will definitely return for many years to come.

A Walk To Remember

One day, while in Mesa, Jamie & Julie decided to walk to Skyline Park. This was not just an ordinary walk...it was an ADVENTURE!!!

We read and repeated all of the house numbers along the way. Important work for a preschooler who is learning his numbers.

We stopped and smelled the roses (well, it was actually some sort of cactus...) and we watched a construction site.

After we arrived at the park, it was time to play with friends Costin, Caden & Lily Mae again.

Our walk back to The Casa was also exciting as we watched bees buzzing on a beautiful bush with red feathery flowers, picked up rocks, found a feather,

and found ourselves at the base of a massive saguaro.

CruiserMania

Last year during Spring Break, Julie and Emily attended the CruiserMania event held in Anthem, AZ. Emily was not able to attend this year but that didn't keep Julie from going. This years event was held in Scottsdale and Julie went to see the cool cars and pass out flyers for the Colorado PT Club event to be held in August 2006.



TOTALLY loving the 2006 Route 66 Special Edition!!! This one has been customized to look like a Yellow Cab. How COOL is that?

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.

***************************
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.