You know what's fun about camping somewhere cold? The adorable pictures you can get of your cold kiddos trying to stay warm by snuggling with each other!
Toby and Olive have always been close and shown affection for each other but the freezing cold temps here have brought out their love for each other. So cute.
I mean, seriously...
Yes, that is Toby's leg draped over Olive.
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When we aren't busy staying warm and snuggling the nights away we are just your average campers. We spend a lot of time staring out the window watching for squirrels.
Having lived in the desert for about 19.5 years I came into this whole camping thing not too familiar with squirrel behavior. I can tell you a lot about desert-y type things like spiders, lizards, coyotes...but man-o-man. Squirrels are CRAZY!!! They do these like kamikaze type maneuvers off the trees. They stand two feet in front of my dogs and just dare the dogs to chase them up an 300ft tall pine tree. These little jerks have tormented us the entire time we've been here!! Adios you brazen little fuckers!!!
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This is how Olive spends her time most days. Perched in her favorite teal bin staring at the all of the black birds that hang around all day and are the size of small ponies... Probably grateful to have a window between herself and the bitch-ass squirrels. ;)
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So I have this silly (aka thoughtful and kind) friend down in Phoenix,
Sarah. Sarah rides horses daily. Yes, daily (she's really good at it). Anyway, she had a nasty
fall off of one of the her horses around the same time as my car
accident. She went in for Surgery on Veterans day to repair her broken
shoulder and by Wednesday morning was sending me bunches of cupcakes.
(I know cupcakes don't actually come in bunches - but just flow with it
here..) Sara should have been spending her time recuperating instead of sending me goodies!
I did share the cupcakes with some camping friends here in Flagstaff as well as with my family. But I also made quick work of a couple all on my own (because I'm a champion). The one in the pics was a "drumstick" cupcake. Vanilla cake with butter cream icing that had been dipped in fudge and topped with nuts. I mean - get out of here with that stuff!!
I sent Sarah a get well card. Sarah sent me cupcakes. She's clearly a better person than I am.
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The snow arrived this past Thursday. I learned pretty quickly that when you have snow you need to give up your dignity and cool factor and go everywhere with your pants rolled up like a dork. Otherwise your pants will continually wick water in a northerly direction until you have a denim water line up to your knees. At that point you're just cold as it gets. In addition, the weight of your wet pant legs pulls your pants down until you look like Justin Beiber - all saggy butt(ed). That's when you have to give up and change into a fresh pair of jeans.
I made a snow-doggy. :)
Despite the look on Murphy's face here he was really enjoying his day in the snow. At the moment that I snapped this photo he was busy eating snow and I was interrupting him by shoving a camera in his face. Shortly after this pic the poor guy had his fun come to a screeching halt. He had a rather large snowball develop under his paw and it was hooked onto the fur between his toes. He started limping around and holding his paw in the air for help from his mom. Murphy was retired to the warm car where his snowball could melt.
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I'm moving to Phoenix in the morning and starting my new job on December 2nd. I've finally enjoyed my unemployment for the first time thanks to my time in this campground and being close to my family.
I had the pleasure of helping to babysit Finn when he had Croup and couldn't attend his
daycare. I was not his first choice of sitter because I don't have the right
title (Mom) but we made the best of it. This pic is Finn in his
preferred mode of transport these days. He's too cool for a stroller so
he rides around in a push car instead.
I'll miss the pawprints in the snow after my kiddos have run amok around the pup-park.
I'll miss hanging with the boys when I'm back behind a desk for 50 hours a week.
And I'm going to miss watching the utter and complete joy on Toby's face as he rolls around in the snow.
Life is fleeting for these sweet little fur-kids. I'm grateful to have been blessed enough to be able to give them this time with me and these experiences. Going back to the desert will be much less exciting for sure. But we will be together as a family. At the end of the day that's all these guys really want in life. To be with me and with each other. So, I'm sure we will be happy in Phoenix. Just a different type of happy!
