Bike Races and Nana D

Greetings from cold, snowy Tucson.  Again.  We woke up to a light dusting of snow on the ground this morning and it was very pretty BUT, we are now officially tired of "winter" and are ready for triple digits.  Really.

Anyhoo.  We had a quiet week and a nice looong weekend.  Dad had a bike race up in Las Vegas this weekend so he headed out on Thursday morning for that and Nana D came into town on Thursday to keep me and mom company for the weekend.  We had a much better time here than dad did in Vegas.  He had his time trial on Friday and although he did better than last year, it was extremely windy and he almost got blown off his bike 3 different times.  Saturday wasn't much better for him because it was windy, rainy, sleeting and 45 degrees and he had a 70 mile race in front of him.  He finished but it wasn't pretty.  At that point, I don't think he really cared- he just wanted to be warm.  We are pretty sure he had help prying his frozen fingers off the handle bars of his bike!

Things were much better for the girls back here in Tucson.  After we picked Nana up at the airport, we went out to lunch and then to the newly remodeled library that just re-opened.  We spent the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying the sun.

On Friday, we headed out to the Desert Museum for another really nice day with lots of sunshine.

(This is me digging for dinosaur fossils and channeling Mr. Walker.  He sticks his tongue out when he is concentrating too- but probably not to this degree).

On Saturday, mom had to go into work for a bit and then did some grocery shopping so Nana and walked down to the French bakery and got yummy pastries for us to enjoy after lunch.  Then we all headed to Costco because it isn't a trip with Nana until some shopping happens.  We all just love Costco.
After hitting the gelato shop for the second time in the weekend, we headed home, watched a movie and went to bed.  It was kind of an amazing sleep weekend because we all got at least 9 1/2 hours of sleep Thursday and Friday night.  We all looked like spring chickens, we were so rested!
Sunday brought our marathon sleeping to an end because we had to get Nana to the airport by 8 but we had the oh-so-enjoyable snow to look at on the drive.
The rest of the day was cloudy, cold, windy and rainy so we stayed inside and made meringues.  I have been bugging mom to make these from my cookbook because I like the colors so much.  Ours weren't quite as pretty as the picture in the book but once we drizzled them with chocolate, they were pretty darn tasty.

After a toasty dinner of grilled cheese and tomato soup, we were off to an early bed- hoping to regain some our rested-ness for the week ahead.  See you next Sunday!

Another Round of Goedels!

Another quiet week in the ol' Goedel house.  That is great for us but doesn't make for very exciting reading for all of my blog fans.  I was home sick again on Tuesday.  Dad was in Dallas for work, so mom and I had a girls night out to celebrate Valentine's Day.  Mom should have known something was up when I only ate one bite of my grilled cheese and didn't really drink any lemonade.  Sure enough, 3:30 in the AM, mom was pulling pukey sheets off my bed and I had a nice little temp of 102.  She was positive I was starting down the flu road, especially when I threw up again at 4:30.  So after making all the necessary phone calls to cancel patients, notify day care etc., we went back to sleep.  I woke up at 7 AM feeling pretty danged good!  Fever- gone, upset tummy-gone!  So, we got a free day!  Woo-hoo!  We spent in wisely, doing homework, laundry, cleaning and watching movies.  It turned out to be a really nice day and mom thinks all work weeks should be 4 days.

It was back to the real world on Wednesday but we survived.

We had a very low keyed Saturday with house cleaning and yard work before the weather turned yucky and windy and cold on us.

Saturday night, we had another fun Goedel family reunion.  Grandpa Vern's cousin Frank was in town from Florida and no one had seen him for years.  All of the Aunts, uncles and a few cousins were there including Maggie and Ashley, so I had someone to cause all kinds of trouble with.  Luckily, the restaurant we were at gave us our own room, so the moms were not on high alert with us.

Sunday ended up being cold and windy and rainy, so it was a good day to hang out at home again.  My big adventure for the day was walking the dogs with mom. (Which with me, it truly is an adventure- I stop everywhere, pick up every single rock, walk on every curb, talk to strangers, talk to the dogs, talk to mom, pick up more rocks etc., etc.) and then dad and I went to the park for a bit.
Mom had to run some errands but came home with a special treat for us for dessert.  She found a cupcake store and brought home 3 of these beauties.

I was a little overwhelmed by the height of the cupcake and just stared at it.  I didn't eat the dang thing.  Not one bite.   Mom and dad offered to "save it for tomorrow" for me which is code for "we will just eat it after you go to bed because you will forget all about it by tomorrow and we can't let a huge chocolate cupcake go unappreciated".  Although, as dad said, "It didn't pass the kid test, how good could it be?".
We have a short work week- Dad is heading up to Las Vegas for a 3 day bike race and Nana D is coming in to visit on Thursday.  Mom thought it would be really nice to have a girls weekend but that is just code for "I get waaaay tired taking care of Jordan all by myself for 4 days, so it would be great if someone else were here so I could go to the bathroom by myself just once."  Either way, it will be fun!
See you next Sunday!

A Gorgeous Girl's Kind of Weekend

We are in a much better mood around here- probably because the thermometer is finally above 65 degrees!  We had a really nice and relaxing week and mom and I had a nice, relaxing girl's weekend.

Dad's racing season officially started this weekend with the Valley of the Sun stage race.  He drove up to  Phoenix on Friday to race in a time trial and then again drove up to Phoenix on Saturday for a 72 mile road race.  He had quite a respectable showing in the time trial, coming in 28th out of 70.  That's actually very good considering time trials are his least favorite activity on the planet, except for maybe yardwork. On Saturday's road race, he came in 14th.  This was his best start to the racing season yet so we are expecting great things from him this year.

While dad was toodling around on his bike, mom and I got some good bonding time in.  On Friday night, we met mom's friend from work, Ms. Sarah, to go to dinner at a nice (kind of grown up) place and then we went to see the Tucson Youth Theater's production of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Both of Ms. Sarah's girls were in it- one was an Oompa Loompa and the other one was a squirrel.  I got to meet them after the show and it was waaaay cool because they were both still in costume.  I had a great time and was singing the Oompa Loompa song the whole way home.  Mom loved it.

Since we were out kind of late Friday, I actually slept in on Saturday.  We saw dad off for his race and then mom and I packed up and headed out for a hike.  It was a gorgeous, gorgeous day with super-duper blue skies, a breeze and 75 degree temps- perfect!

We decided to do the 7 Falls hike and it was perfect because there were two water crossings which I loved!

We hiked in about a mile and stopped to have lunch by the creek and hang out on the rocks for awhile.

On the way out, it was warm enough that we got to play in first stream crossing.  I took off my socks and waded in.  It was cold but so fun!

We stayed for about 2 hours until I tripped and fell in up to my neck and got a little chilly after that.

On Sunday, I slept in again, mom went for a run and dad did a "recovery" ride.  We spent the rest of the day baking up cookies and brownies for Valentine's treats for my teachers.  Grandma Sue came over so mom and dad could go out to dinner that night and that pretty much rounded out our weekend.
Hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!!

All right, we've had a spectacularly cold week here in sunny Tucson.  While we don't think anyone will feel sorry for us considering how much colder everyone else has been, please keep in mind that THIS IS TUCSON!!  NOT DULUTH!! OR CANADA!!  IT IS NEVER, EVER SUPPOSED TO GET THIS COLD IN TUCSON!!  Whew, sorry about that.  It's warmed up but we are still a little cranky.  So, yes, it was cold here last week.  We had  high of 38 degrees and 35 mph winds on Thursday and a low of 20 and then 17 degrees.  We had pipes freezing and bursting all over town and we ran out of natural gas, so some folks were without water or heat- bleck.  Mom's work had at least 5 pipes burst and water shooting 40 feet in the air off the roof of the hospital, and the missile factory at dad's work had to shut down for awhile too. It was crazy and everyone was crabby- except for me.  I wanted to eat dinner outside Thursday night and almost didn't take no for an answer.  Mom was about to let me eat outside by myself but I changed my mind at the last minute.  We finally made it back up to Tucson like temperatures today and it was good.
Our weekend was nice and relaxing and we loved it.  Friday was pizza and family night in front of the boob-tube and in to bed at a decent hour.
I was up at the crack of dawn on Saturday (5:15 AM) which thrilled mom and dad to no end.  We had another quiet, relaxing day.  Dad took me to the park for awhile and mom got a haircut.  Mom and dad were supposed to go out to the theater that night but Ms. Colleen, my babysitter called to say she was sick.  Mom and dad felt bad she was sick but were secretly very glad to be able to stay home in their sweats and park it on the couch.
I slept in until 7:30 on Sunday morning (yeah me!) and then mom and I hit the zoo.  It was still pretty chilly but that was good because all of the animals were out and about.  In the afternoon, my friends Madeline and Remington and their mom and dad came over to watch the Superbowl.  We had a great time although we just found out today that Madeline has strep throat so we are waiting to see who of us comes down with it first...
Mom and I had an exciting day today.  Mom was out to lunch for her boss' birthday when she gets a phone call from school about me.  I thought it would be interesting to stick a bead up my nose and see what would happen.  I'll tell you what happens.  It kind of hurts and it gets worse when you stick your finger up your nose to get it out.  It hurts to lay down and it hurts to try and blow it out.  Mom came to get me and tried to get me to blow it out but it hurt (or maybe I was just scared), so she called my doctor to see if they could get me in but no dice so we make our way to the ER.  We got there and mom made me do one more big blow before we walked in the door and boom, out shoots a big bead.  So much better!  I know everyone is asking why I would stick a bead up my nose.  Because no one ever told me not too, that's why.  Mom and I headed home after that and spent the afternoon practicing writing my letters and doing laundry.  It was so fun!  At least it was nice and warm today.
Enjoy the rest of your week- see you next Sunday!