Saguaro National Park

We've been busy with Nana and Paw-Paw since they've been here. We went to Saguaro National Park twice, once to the monument, where we took a short hike with Mason, which he did himself.

A giant saguaro.

Then we did a long hike, Brown Mountain again, Mason had to ride in the pack. The weather has been great! Mason fell in love with a herd of stuffed javalinas, so of course Nana spoiled him by getting him one. He talked about the "jah-va-yeenah" the rest of the day.

Mystery solved

Mason was not in a good mood all yesterday morning, not really fussy, but just not as talkative and cheerful as he usually is. Late afternoon we thought, he hasn't pooped all day. Here he is "hiding" to do his business. After one tennis-ball size load was made, he was a much happier kid. He's getting better about telling us after he's gone, and he wouldn't sit in my arms to go have it changed because he didn't want it getting smashed on his bottom. We may resume potty training in a few weeks.

Busy, exciting, frustrating week

Woody is the cutest pug and easy to take care of. Mason loves him, was upset yesterday when Woody jumped off the bed where we were all playing. He just kept calling "Woowy!"

We celebrated Kevin's 38th birthday on May 18. Mason loved the cupcakes. One of Kevin's bday presents was to go to my parent's house to repair their irrigation line which has cracked and was flooding their yard. One of our tires blew on the way. Two weeks prior a rock cracked our windshield about 16 inches.

Kevin's mom left Dizzy outside after we went to bed, she destroyed a bag of topsoil. His mom finally bought a car and might be moving out soon.

Mason's new favorite movie is Finding Nemo. Here he's watching it while eating breakfast. Erika tries to limit the number of times he watches it to one. Kevin has let him watch it as much as three times one day (it at least let him change a flat tire while Mason was occupied).

Choo Choo Pain

Unable to resist spoiling our only son, we bought him a train set with some leftover birthday money and a lot of our own. Kevin has been wanting one ;) Mason's not obsessed with it, but he likes it. One night he was fighting going to bed, screaming "choo choo pain!" We've given up on potty training for a while, no one is ready. Nana and Pawpaw come this friday and we can't wait!

Mama Sheep

Happy Mother's Day! This is my third, and the best present is my wonderful baby boy. Cute story: a while ago he woke up and was saying "Mama sheep, Dada bear." We didn't know why, but he had named the toys in his crib after us. But we ran with it and now we say "Mama sheep and Dada bear will be protecting you tonight." We also now have Nana giraffe and Pawpaw bear. This photo is him waking from his nap, surrounded by his friends.

Pug Meetup

About every two weeks we go to the dog park to our Pug Meetups, where lots of other pug owners meet. On average there are about 10-15 people and 15-20 pugs. Mason has fun but likes to roam around, so Kevin watches him while Erika socializes with the pug people. They're great people who are forming a pug rescue and adoption group.

Successful Day

Erika and Kevin just wanted to share their successful days, no Mason pictures. Kevin cleaned all of the windows on the downstairs floor. Suddenly the room was brighter and they looked like new windows! This made the kitchen look dingy so Erika spring-cleaned the kitchen. Erika had a big surgery case today, she did an achilles tendon repair with two different lengthening procedures.

Brown Mountain Hike

We think we're getting more into shape! On Sunday we did Brown Mountain Hike. This was supposed to be a moderate hike, with some steep areas of elevation, but it gained only 400 feet, and it was about 3.5-4 miles. It was not too strenuous, with wonderful views of the Tucson Mountains to the east, Avra Valley to the west, and the Saguaro National Park to the north. There were several peaks that the hike climbed. We found our turn-around spot and let Mason out. We headed back and Mason did about a half-mile by himself. Kevin wanted to help him and Mason kept saying "no hand!"