Spring Break 2022 - Arizona

Before the holidays last year, we started to plan our spring break trip for 2022.  Originally, we talked to the Lastivkas and planned to go to some spring training games with them for spring break.  Then the MLB lock out happened and the Lastivkas said they didn't think they could swing the trip with other things they had planned for 2022.  Danny and I contemplated going other places, but we didn't really put serious thought into it.  We then thought, "Why don't we still go to Arizona anyway?"  Specifically the Scottsdale/Phoenix area.  It would be warm, it was someplace we hadn't been to as a family, there's lots to do...  So we booked the trip!  We left early in the morning on Monday, March 28th and came back late on Friday, April 1st.  Check out what we did below!

While in the rental car, I saw this fitting street name and had to snap a pic!

The early flight and time change worked in our favor on the way to Arizona - we were there in time for breakfast!  Danny LOVED Matt's Big Breakfast when he went to Phoenix with his dad and uncle years ago, so we had to go back.

The food was pretty good, but definitely not the best breakfast we had while on our trip.  And yes, practically every breakfast order Colin had while we were out was enough food for a grown man. 

We then went to our hotel - we were too early to check in, so we changed into some hiking clothes and went to the nearest hiking trail we could find.  Little did we know it would be the most difficult hike of our entire trip.  It started out relatively easy.

Check out this elevation change!  It got to the point where you had to grab the railing to help pull yourself up the hill.

Poor Colin got super scared to go any higher.  He didn't think he could do it. Danny gave him a good "coach" pep-talk and he got through it. 

This girl hardly cooperates for pictures anymore😑

He made it!

Like, check out this terrain!

No joke

The kids did great - especially considering we went into the hike totally blind and oblivious to how difficult it would be.

Colin was passed out by the time Cadence and I were ready to go out to dinner - the hiking and time change were rough!

We were infatuated with all of the cacti everywhere

We found a fun Mexican joint for dinner - Colin didn't want to play along

The next morning, while the kids were still waking up, Danny turned on the bedside lamps - he had me cracking up because his shadow looked like Alfred Hitchcock!

I thought this apartment building looked really cool with all of the plants on the balcony.  I couldn't get over how pretty everything was in Scottsdale - especially for not having a lot of grass or trees.  There were beautiful flowers everywhere.  I also felt that everything was so clean.  Even the highway - no litter and the exit ramps were either painted or stamped with cacti or lizards, or something neat like that.

The next morning, we hit up the breakfast place called, Snooze.  It was recommended to us by my co-worker, Michelle.  It was definitely the kids' favorite breakfast restaurant of the trip.  I took a picture to send to Michelle.  My blueberry Danish pancakes were to die for.

Next we went to a less intimidating trail to hike.

We were able to dodge the rain the entire day.  It started to rain right as we got back to the car!

Tom's Thumb

O-H-I-O (with a cactus)

You can see the clouds dropping rain in the distance

We rewarded ourselves with In-N-Out Burger - the kids loved it and wanted to go back

I snapped this photo of the interesting choice of artwork in the hotel bathroom - I knew my co-workers would get a kick out of it.  We have been haunted by the odd bathroom art in a restaurant near our office!

Nice views from our hotel room

The rooftop at the hotel had a pool and boujee areas to sit - we were hanging out before taking the kids to Ocean Prime for dinner

The next day, we made our way to Sedona.  On the drive, we couldn't get over how much the landscape changed - the dessert went from having cacti, to being pretty barren with what looked like dead plants, to having trees!

Cadence used my phone to get some pretty neat pictures during our drive.

The red rocks were gorgeous.  This hike was the easiest of our hikes, but it was pretty long around the butte!

We were told to make sure to stop by Slide Rock - Danny was the only one who braved the water.  It was icy cold and the air temp was only in the low 60s.  We thought that if Danny did it first, the kids would follow.  They both contemplated sliding down the slippery rock slide, especially Cadence, but neither got in.  I only got videos of the occasion, but here are the photos I took.

After breakfast the next day, we did some walking around this neat little area that reminded us a lot of Easton.  Cute shops and restaurants surrounded by a waterway and pretty plants.

Both kids fell asleep on the way to ride UTVs

The area where we rode around was called New River

Danny did most of the driving - good thing, too.  Once we hit the trail, it was a bumpy ride!

Cadence spotted some wild donkeys!

We all took a turn behind the wheel.  The kids did really well (I didn't take any photos - we don't need any evidence floating around out there).

That night we walked around the shops near the hotel in Old Town Scottsdale and made sure to grab some gelato at a place recommended to me by my cousin, Lindsey.  She said she thought it might've even been better than the gelato they got in Italy.  It was definitely worth the stop!

On our last day of the trip, we were able to watch the Diamondbacks play the Cubs.  It was a beautiful day for some baseball.

Danny took Colin down to the field before the game and Colin scored several autographs.

They humored me with a sibling photo

 All-in-all, we had a wonderful time.  The kids have already said they want to go back!

Marchety March

In March, lacrosse picked up where basketball left off.  Cadence continued to have weekly softball practices.  Danny and I attended the Night At the Races lacrosse fundraising event.  We celebrated Mike's birthday at his place with Mom, Dad, & Gina.  Danny worked with the baseball rec league kids at baseball clinics on Sunday mornings.  The kids had a couple of birthday parties to go to for their friends.  We stayed busy, per usual!  All good things, though!

During Colin's basketball games on the weekend, a lot of the time, Cadence would draw.  She found this character from Spider Man online and used it as a guide to draw this.  I had to Google the name - apparently it's Gwen Stacy, aka Ghost-Spider. It is so impressive!  Everyone that was saw it at basketball loved how it turned out!

Colin's school had a little party to celebrate a successful fundraiser.  They posted this cute picture.

We finally got to meet up with the Marinellis to resume our annual hole-in-the-wall pizza shindig.  We skipped last year due to COVID and were happy to get back at it this year.  We met at Cheshire Market Pizza.  The Marinellis squeezed the date in between a Crew game and then we went with them to cheer on Addison at her own soccer game.  We were thankful to be able to meet up with them - it's always a great time to catch up.  We figured out that this was the 6th pizza party!  We've been to Bridge Street Pizza in Dublin, Branch Pizza on the Sunbury Square, Antonio's in Westerville, Fracasso's in Galena, and PJ's in Sunbury.

Cadence put the metal pizza stand around her neck - she's a goober.

One morning while taking Cadence to school, we spotted these contrails that were super pretty due to the sunrise.  We weren't the only ones to take notice - pictures were plastered all over social media that day.

I was trying to take a good picture of Scarlet with my snazzy new iPhone 13pro.  It's a pretty good picture of her, but not my best work. 😅  You know, no post is complete without a picture of Scarlet.

 

Ohio Hoops Basketball Tournament

To wrap up the 9u boys travel basketball season, they played in the Ohio Hoops Basketball Tournament in Coshocton.  The first game wasn't until 3:00 on Saturday afternoon, but we headed down there as a family after school/work on Friday night.  We stayed in a hotel Friday/Saturday nights.  The kids had fun (I think Colin more so than Cadence since he was with his buddies).  We met the Lastivkas for dinner that night.  Wayne and Isaiah stayed in our room until 1:00 in the morning Friday into Saturday - the boys were playing Home Run Derby on the Playstation.  They're crazy!  We slept in as long as we could on Saturday, grabbed breakfast at the hotel, and laid low until game time.  The boys played video games again and Cadence roped Mason into helping her film her project for school. The boys played 2 games that day and won both!  That night, we grabbed dinner with the Lastivkas and Isiah and his dad.  The kids swam in the hotel pool that night and the boys stayed up until 11:00 afterward. Some of the parents were getting rowdy in the banquet room, but I stayed out of there.  I didn't want a hangover the next morning.  We grabbed breakfast at the hotel again and they had their first Sunday game at 10:00.  They ended up having 3 games that day and won all three!  For the championship game, Lucas made a nice pass to Isiah and he made the buzzer beater, game winning shot!  It was so fun to watch.  The boys all got rings and they were so proud of themselves.  Here are some photos from the weekend we won't forget!

Lincoln's mom, Melissa, got this awesome action shot of Colin - look at that air!

Here's the entire team in between games.  They are a good group of boys that get along so well.

A talk with the coaches after the championship game

They were so pumped

Baseball bros

He humored me by letting me take this photo

Way to go Eagles!

We're very proud of Colin and the growth he's experienced over the last season. He's matured a lot and his skills have improved even more!

 

February Fun

 Here's what we were up to in February!

The kids had a snow day on the 18th (back roads were icy).  Mom had the day off from work, so we were lucky enough that the kids got to hang out with her!  They went to Easton and grabbed lunch at Rusty Bucket 😁

Here's the basketball tournament where Colin had to sit out.  After their game, we stuck around to size up the competition (Pickerington).  A few of us moms snapped this cute pic of the boys.

Apparently Colin was the reason for an end-of-the-season pizza party for the team!  Way to go, Colin!

Cadence and I took a walk down the street.  We stopped by the little farm on the corner and the animals came to say hi!

We got rid of Mr. Frog - I'm not sure if he was ever given a proper name.  I think Cadence said it was Vador at some point.  But then she had a theory that the frog was actually a girl.  So who knows.  Anyway, Colin had no interest in the frog and I always had to remind him to feed the frog (Cadence takes care of her fish).  After cleaning the tank one night, I got the idea to post on the Facebook Sunbury Moms group that the frog was free to a good home.  A mom with 2 boys reached out to me and she came and picked him up the next day!  I followed up with her and she said it's a very active frog and the boys like putting their fingers in the tank and the frog nibbles on them.  Hopefully they have fun with it!  We saw that thing grow into a frog from a tadpole almost 5 years ago!

Poor Colin

Back on February 16th (a Wednesday), I was at work and I got a call from Colin's school.  I had just walked into our kitchen after being at our building next door and the call came through on my watch.  I saw the name on my watch and ran down the hallway to my office.  My stomach always sinks when I see the school calling me.  I later found out that they had attempted to call me once already.  They also attempted to call Danny AND my mom.  That meant the call that I answered was their second attempt to talk to me.  When I answered, it was Mrs. Castiglione (the principal) on the other end - she started the call with, "Colin's okay, but he fainted and fell in the classroom."  He was with her in the office.  I told her either Danny or I would be there to pick him up.  Danny was working from home, so he was able to get to the school faster than I could.  I told Danny to call me when he got there.  In the meantime, I called the pediatrician's office to get their advice on what to do.  I didn't know if we should take him there, or to urgent care, or to the ER.  When Danny got to the school, the school nurse advised that we take him to the Children's Close to Home ER in Lewis Center.  I left work and met them there.  

They were in the waiting room when I arrived.  It was around 3:00 in the afternoon.  Poor Colin was in a wheelchair and looked super tired.  His eyes were red.  I guess he had been upset once he came to after fainting.  Danny said he kept asking the same questions, over and over.  And in the same exact way.  "Where are we going?"  "What happened?"  "Did I fall out of my chair?"  The principal also told Danny that he kept asking her the same questions.  He definitely seemed to be concussed.  It made me so nervous to see him like that.  I got tears in my eyes at one point because something was not right.  He also kept telling me that he couldn't wait to go home and sleep.  Danny mentioned that a doctor had come out to the waiting room to see him before I had gotten there.  Around 3:45, Colin was taken to an exam room.  They checked his temp, his weight, his heartbeat.  We spoke to several different nurses and a couple of doctors.  We ended up being there around shift change.  The doctor was not concerned about brain bleed due to the lump on the back of his head.  As time progressed, the frequency of the questions decreased.  They ran an EKG on him and that all looked normal.  They didn't think he had a seizure or anything.  

Colin's teacher called to check up on him while we were there.  Danny was also texting with the principal. We learned that he had been to PE in the morning and had just returned from outdoor recess before he fainted.  The class had just gotten into the classroom.  It was warm out that day, so maybe he had gotten sweaty?  The principal told us he was sweaty when she walked him to the office, but she thought it was due to his fainting.  Colin's teacher mentioned that she hadn't made it into the classroom in time after recess, but was told that he fell to the ground (and did not hit his head on a desk or anything).  We also learned that he had only consumed about half of the water in his water bottle at that point.  

They ran a test on Colin that monitored his heart rate and blood pressure while sitting, and then while standing.  They were concerned with the way his numbers jumped.  They said that this can happen due to dehydration. They had him drink 2 small Gatorade cans and 3 small apple juice boxes.  They ran the test again.  The doctor was still not happy with his numbers.  They mentioned waiting to run the test again.  Once we knew he wasn't in immediate danger, Danny left around 7:30 to be with Cadence (she was with my parents at the time).  When they ran the test again, they mentioned they'd have to run an IV to get him hydrated.  Colin was super nervous and got really worked up.  The poor thing had to get stuck twice because they couldn't get the vein in his arm.  It took two nurses, and they finally got the IV in his hand.  Colin was a trooper.  After an hour or so and 7 mL of fluid later, they ran the test again.  A while later, the doctor came back and told us his numbers looked MUCH better.  She felt assured that dehydration was the culprit that caused him to faint.  A month later, I'm still nervous that there's something else that caused him to faint.  We've been making sure to keep him hydrated.  He's learned the importance of drinking enough water.  

The day after, I stayed home with Colin.  Since we suspected a concussion, we were told to do simple, screen-free activities (one at a time) for the day.  We were supposed to see how he reacted to each activity. He did well sleeping that night and did great during the day.  I was busy with work, and he did a good job playing Solitaire with actual cards, working on a puzzle, playing songs on the piano, and playing LEGOS.  My mom had the day off from work, so that afternoon, she spent a few hours with him to keep him entertained.  I was very thankful for that.  That night, after dinner, we watched some TV together.  He did so well, he was able to go to school on Friday.  He did have to sit out of sports for a week, though, so he missed the basketball tournament games that weekend.  He was bummed, but he understood why.  He did a good job cheering on his teammates from the sideline.  

I'm so thankful he's okay.  Between that and the bus accident late last year, the lil' guy has been through a lot!

Guzzling his Gatorade

Danny had a better picture of the ripe bump; Colin wanted me to take a picture of his head after Danny left the hospital so he could see what it looked like. 

His poor little hand

The nurses used this tool to numb the area before they stuck him for his IV.  I can see why they called it a rocket!  It let out a puff of air and a loud noise when it emitted the medicine.  It seemed to have worked for the first stick; not so much for the second one.

Here's the sweet text I got from Colin's teacher on Thursday evening.  I had texted her to let her know how Colin had been doing.  The fact that his classmates were worried about him melts my heart.