Scorpion Hunters

My husband and our neighbor Shane forged a bond early this summer over their mutual dislike of scorpions. Together they are…. the scorpion hunters. On their nightly hunts they kill and collect scorpions saving the neighbors and their children from a fate undeserved. There are many ways to kill scorpions, but my husband’s favorite is smashing them with the end of the screw driver. His second favorite way is to burn them (apparently favorite way of many fellow scorpion hunters) as is necessary when they retreat into cracks. Fortunately, this year it is forbidden to bring the pregnant females into the house and dissect them – apparently a favorite past time for Shane as well.

Like most scorpion hunters Erkan (my husband) and Shane are equipped with the usual gadgets: black light, flame thrower, and squishing device. The area they cover is vast. Not only do these fearless hunters search and protect their own homes, but they survey the walls of all those living near them in an effort to extinguish the vermin. At the end of each night they tally up their kills and in true engineering/nerd fashion my husband enters the number into an Excel spreadsheet for future reference. I don’t know what Shane does, but as an inventor of unique items I am sure he is engineering a device capable of mass scorpion destruction. May they continue to protect those who are unable to protect themselves.

Black Thumb of Death

Water, water, water and water your yard if you live in the Valley of the Sun. And if you live in Maricopa, fertilize, fertilize and fertilize because they built your house in the desert. I have always considered myself to have a green thumb, but since we have moved to Maricopa (aka armpit of Arizona) it is more like the black thumb of death. Every shrub I planted the first winter here died (about 20). Three orange trees – dead. Now my beloved plum trees planted in the spring of this year – dying. Five previously beautiful red flowering plums. Sadly, even my roses which usually go nuts in the summer are barely productive. The grass was brownish and slow growing as well. What I have learned the hard way is unlike where I grew up (on the west side), plants here in Maricopa need constant fertilization. I suspect the water isn’t as nourishing here as it is on the west side either. The water here is so “hard (super high mineral content)” we have to use CLR to clean our shower everyday. The water sucks, its windy, far away from everything, it stinks…sorry I am getting a little carried away. Since this posting is about the yard I won’t go into how much I don’t like Maricopa….moving on.

Now I have come to the realization plants in Maricopa need more than most and therefore I fertilize every two to three months. I fertilize the grass twice based on the seasons: winter and summer. So far this has worked out well. Our winter grass had died off initially last winter (as it had the winter before)-- unbeknownst to me it needed fertilizer. I had never fertilized a winter lawn prior to living here in lovely (sarcasm) Maricopa. We applied the fertilizer the landscaper recommended and Voila! The yard looked fantastic for the remaining two months of winter. I applied it to the ailing summer grass a few weeks ago and it is a lush thick green carpet now.

As for my ailing plum trees – I am trying everything I know (which is very little) and a product called Super Thrive the Home Depot expert recommended. According to the package each dose “packs a super punch” of vitamins and such that plants need to grow. Supposedly you will see two years growth in one year. It has been one week and two applications with no visible results with the plum trees. However, it maybe my imagination (which my husband says it is), but the other trees look like they have grown. We have six Sisso trees which are extremely water loving and have been doing quite well here. They line the perimeter of the backyard and I hope one day they will provide massive amounts of shade as the sun is even more hostile here in Maricopa (did I mention it is also very windy?).

As for the plum trees, I hope they are lying dormant due to the hostile elements and will be strengthened in the cooler months to come—if only they could last until then. Did I mention summer is longer in Maricopa?

Yes, I Did Graduate From College

Articulate means to speak clearly and distinctly. Since the birth of my second child I have noticed my ability to be articulate is absent. Point in case I have to read and reread my posts for grammatical accuracy and proper spelling. I am certain this is related to child rearing….or is it early memory loss? Could it be the lack of sleep or constant preoccupation? It is very frustrating for me as well as my husband to carry on a conversation due to the lack my ability to finish a sentence. He just said to me yesterday “can you try to finish your sentences?” – and in case you read the quote imagining he said it in a kind and loving way….stop. It was dripping with sarcasm and disdain. I understand it can be annoying to have a conversation with someone who can only speak in one syllable words and short incomplete sentences. I am sure he feels he is speaking with a child. I understand because sometimes his occasional emotional immaturity makes me feel like I am speaking to a child as well. But I digress…

Occasionally I miss the old me who could use multi-syllable words correctly without thinking. Now if I want to use a big word I really have to think about it, what it means and am I using it correctly – by the time I have thought it all out the moment has passed and once again I haven’t completed a sentence. I hope by the time I outgrow this phase I haven’t moved into a new phase known as old-timers-syndrome. However at least I will have a real excuse for not being able to remember anything -- for now people just wonder how I graduated from college.

Another Plant Butchered

My husband has struck again.  It started out as a simple trim around the base of the shrub and ended up looking like a tree branch sticking out of the ground.  He did this to the tree next to our driveway as well.  Basically the shrub was dying due to lack of water.  We fixed the dripper so it would get adequate amounts, but it needed a little trimming to help it look healthier since it was loosing all the leaves.  My husband starts out with good intentions but then something just snaps in his brain --he can't stop himself.  As I was watching him do it I saw his eyes starting to glaze over.  I cautioned him to slow down repeatedly telling him the shrub was starting to look, well, not very pretty.  He looked like he was going to stop so I turned away and busied myself with cleaning up the yard, but when I turned back it was to late.  He had hacked off so much of the top it was not recognizable as a shrub and looked more like a fine from the HOA.  I had to literally take the clippers out of his hands.  It was more like prying really.  I hated to do what I had to do next but there was no choice -- it had to be cut down to only inches so that it could grow back and not look like some homeowner got carried away on pruning.  Words cannot express the shock over this "little trim" gone bad.

If a picture is worth a thousand words then these pictures should say it all.  The picture on the top left is a plant of similar size to the one my husband cut down (2nd picture down on left).  The only difference is the healthy one is greener and a sage.  The third picture on the left is one of the trees in our front yard and the one he has been forbidden to touch.  The fourth picture is the tree he tried to "trim" and left looking somewhat deformed.  In conclusion, my husband is good at so many things, but he is never allowed to trim any plant on our property ever again.

I ♥ Craigslist.com

I just found out today that Flexa, a Denmark company, is no longer selling their bed products in the United States. Their beds are really cool since they start out for a toddler and can be modified well into young adulthood.  It really sucks for us since we only have their basic bed (with cave, pockets and chalkboard), which incidentally we got for free from craigslist.com.  I have been scrambling today to find the accessories we would like to have in order to make our son’s bed a low-loft-with-slide. I called the Las Vegas store and they only have two of the four items we want.

A quick search of Craigslist.com (I always thought it was gregslist) and I found someone selling a low loft bed with two of our wanted items (extension legs and ladder) right here in Phoenix. An even more thorough search and I found all the parts we need on Craigslist.com for much less than in the store. Unfortunately, they are in other states. I have been aggressively making offers to the owner of the bed with the parts we need here in Arizona and have even offered more than half of what they are asking for the bed -- just for the parts.  One would think she couldn’t refuse and as such I am eagerly awaiting her reply to my latest offer. In the meantime the owners of the parts in the other states have agreed to ship me the items if I pay for shipping (we will see how that goes).

There are two things I really like about craigslist.com:  you can pay much less for an item you want than if it were new and you help the environment by recycling items instead of buying more (and more and more...which is something we Americans are really good at next to gun ownership).

Crayons

This is what happens to crayons left in the car in the Arizona summer.  I am so glad they were in a ziplog bag!

Bike Refurbishment a Success…Finally

I had entertained the idea of re-selling the bike when I was done since the iBert did not work out, however don’t think I could resale it now.  It became quite expensive. So far I have invested $86 into the bike ($30 for bike, $5 for gas to get bike, $11 for 3 cans paint, $5 for chain break tool, $20 for tires and $15 for Chain).  If I want to make it look really adorable by adding a tan leather seat (shown) with matching grips and a basket (shown) I would need to add another $52 bringing the grand sum to a whopping $138. Not to mention I have invested maybe ten hours in labor including driving back and forth to stores. Wow. I could have bought a brand new bike.  Of course I would have missed out on the satisfaction of putting this bike into better shape.

And there were the proverbial bumps in the road (and on my head): bike chain -- I needed two (figured this out after three trips to store), head injury, putting it together wrong, not knowing what size tire the bike should have and then I finally found a tire size inscribed on the rim. OMG. There are so many things to take into account when buying a used bike that I did not for example: is the frame bent anywhere most especially where the tires are, are the rims bent, does it need new tires, are the chrome things bent so much that the rub the tire, and is the handle bar stem secure. I figured the frame looked good and that was the main part not taking into account all the moving parts on a bike that could break or not be sound to begin with.

All in all fixing up the bike was a fun and entertaining experience.  I am not sure what I am going to do with it -- keep it or sell it, but I am sure about one thing:  I am leaving bike refurbishing to the professionals and I will to stick to woodwork and painting and such.

White Horse Lake in Northern Arizona

We did a day trip to White Horse Lake on Sunday at the recommendation of my brother and his wife who joined us for the day.  This is a very lovely small lake near Williams (or Parks) with a hiking trail that goes around the lake.  This trail can also be mountain biked.  Be aware if you are trying to escape the heat of Phoenix it was not much cooler up there -- 86 degrees.  The lake roads leading to camping areas are paved and they were not very busy which I imagine is due to the out-of-the-wayness of the lake.  There are many hiking trailheads near the lake campground as well (more on the trails at http://www.hikercentral.com/). 

There are some very positive aspects of this campground which make it more child friendly than Woods Canyon Lake Campground (last Sunday's day trip).  As I already mentioned it is small and out of the way which make it much less occupied than the Rim campgrounds.  The children were able to run and bike around on the paved roads without having to worry about getting run over by cars or ATVs.  Most camps are already setup with fire pits, barbecues and tables as well bathrooms strategically placed within easy walking distance of most camp sites.  Make sure you bring everything you need since there is not lake store and any shopping would be a good thirty to forty five minutes one way (slow driving due to 15 miles of dirt road).  The lake offers fishing, kayaking, canoeing and even "wading" -- I saw more than a few people and dogs wading in at the boat ramps to cool off.  Just  to emphasize how quiet this lake was in our eight hour trip we only saw to two kayaks on the lake.

We would definitely go to this lake campground again -- it was incredibly beautiful and very quiet.  However, we would go early or later in the summer due to the higher temps resembling too much of what we are trying to escape!

How I got my Teenager a job

I tried to think of my teenager like a probationer -- since I used to be a probation officer it wasn’t too hard. I had encouraged my son as young as age fourteen to get a job.  Not in a get-a-job-or-get-out kind of way, but rather in a learn-to-work-for-the-things-you-want-in-life kind of way.  I encouraged him to mow lawns, dog sit, and grocery shop – anything to earn a few dollars.  He was never interested.  When he turned sixteen I told him he had to get a job. He didn’t. I told him the same when-I-was-your-age-story over and over about how I got a job at sixteen as a grocery bagger : My mom and her husband told me I had to get a job at age sixteen and her husband had a plan for how I was going to do it. Basically I went in one to two times a week and spoke to the store manager and after two weeks he told his assistant manager to give me a job because he was tired of me bugging him.  My son was not inspired by my story--  I could have been talking to a rock and it would have had the same effect.

The point of the story isn’t to show how annoying I can be, but that persistence pays off. So in April of this year, one month before age 18, I started treating my son like a probationer. I told him every other day he was going to go to all the businesses in our little town and apply for a job. He just laughed and said “you can’t make me.” Ahhh….but I can. Of course I couldn’t threaten him with probation revocation, going before a judge and going back to jail (what a bummer), but I could do other things. I drove him to McDonald’s and Fry’s twice a week for the first week…. and I made him dress up in a nice shirt each time. After the first week I made him walk to these stores in his nicest pants and shirt. When he got home I would grill him about where he went and who he talked to. I think this could probably be considered nagging as well as irritatingly annoying, but it worked. He eventually charmed a store manager and he got a job at the local grocery store.

Essentially, I got a job for my son, but I couldn’t make him keep the job. He didn’t show up for two days and got suspended for three and until recently he wasn’t even sure if he still had a job. Unfortunately, as the saying goes you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. As much as I want my son to be successful in life I have to come to terms with it is his choice to make... not mine.

The Butt is Moving Up

I am on a mission to get back into pre-baby shape. My goal is to get my butt lifted back up so it all fits inside my underwear and my triceps no longer double as the wings for a small aircraft. It seems lofty at my age, especially without a nanny and a chef, but I think it is doable.  My plan is to do three to five days of one-hour cardio (15 minutes of walking warm up then 45 minutes of running) and two to three days of weights. In the last two weeks I have been successful following my schedule (all of this is in conjunction with eating and drinking fewer calories). Incidentally, I have lost weight but I have no idea how much since I don’t get on a scale. I judge my weight loss and body toning by my clothing and how I look (either butt is starting to move up and in to underwear or it is not).  Fortunately for you I will not be posting a picture of my aforementioned body parts.

Well, I gotta run, literally, I am off to the gym for my one hour and fifteen minute treadmill workout. Soon the falling butt and sagging triceps will be just a bad memory!

Bike Refurbishment Stalled due to Memory Loss

It is nearly complete. The bike is painted and partially put together, but I am stalled due to lack of mechanical skills. I finished painting it yesterday and put it together in the afternoon-- or so I thought. Once done I realized I lost a screw, put the front chrome tire protector (or chrome thing) on backwards, have to take the back tire off to put on rear chrome thing and to top it off the back tire isn’t quite moving…forward or backward. And I forgot the chain. So I have to remove tires, chain protector and chrome thing and then put it all back on the right way. Except I don’t remember the right way. I took pictures, but I can’t tell where the parts go. I really thought I would remember the way the parts went on if I stared at them for a long time before I took them off -- and I did stare, but apparently not enough.

I am waiting for my husband to get home to put things in perspective. He is definitely more mechanical than me and has a much better memory. As it stands this bike is only good for looking at right now – I am not even sure it is safe leaning against the wall.

Cooking is Overrated

I really wish I were a better cook. I am sure my husband does too. Maybe I should rephrase that: I wish I were more interested in cooking. I am just not that into making exciting dishes or baking delicious deserts. First off I don’t really eat very much so what is the point of making a giant meal that I am not going to eat? Moreover, why bake?  I don’t often eat cakes or cookies. I can, however, make a really nice salad. Sandwiches too. I get really fancy with my sandwiches: I toast the bread, add some mayo and mustard, organic turkey, lettuce, tomato, onion, a little salt and pepper with a dash of oil and vinegar. The other issue my husband has with my “cooking” is I make the same things over and over. It's true. I have had a half of cup of oatmeal for breakfast every morning for the last maybe two years. I am just not a food connoisseur. I don’t really crave trying new food things. On our trip to Italy recently I had margarita pizza for lunch/dinner every day (I either had lunch or dinner never both). I rarely ate breakfast in Germany since my oatmeal did not taste the same (I actually packed a giant bag of oatmeal). My idea of a meal is a vegetable and a meat -- and often times that is exactly what I will make. Grilled chicken with steamed broccoli. Baked salmon with steamed broccoli (see the theme here). BBQ chicken with green beans. But my husband doesn’t like my two-food meal and says he has to have a carbohydrate.  I say “who says you have to have a carbohydrate?” Who made that rule? To indulge him I make white rice as the carbohydrate, but he doesn’t like plain rice (easy two step process) so he takes over making the rice by using 10 steps to create some Turkish rice dish. Did I mention my husband is quite the cook himself? My sister, Julie and her husband, Eric, are food connoisseurs as well. They make unbelievably amazing dishes – together the three of them could start their own restaurant. I think my husband should have married my sister and her husband because they LOVE to cook.

Look at the lovely and delectable salad I made. This very delicious salad contains romaine lettuce, spinach, purple cabbage and cucumbers.  It is topped with pico de gallo and chicken (both made by my husband) and Paul Newman Light Lime Dressing. I bet you thought my salad would consist of iceberg lettuce and some tomato? Cooking is so overrated.

New Blogger Euphoria

I find it hard to tear myself away from the computer these days.  Blogging has been cathartic in many ways, but mostly it has allowed me to revisit writing.  I have always loved writing and in college I received praise by more than one professor for my writing skills.  So maybe I love writing all the more because who doesn't love to be praised for something?  Especially these days -- praise is so infrequently heard.  I am a mother, a wife and a professional and really those roles often receive little praise in the home let alone on the bigger scale.  As a mother I believe and hope the praise will come later, you know, after they grow up and appreciate all that was done to present them with opportunities for making the right choices in life.  As a wife?  Unless you are married to a great appreciator and communicator then appreciation or praise may not come until later as well.  As for my career choice -- well it allows for very little appreciation.  Therefore, I beleive it is probably best to appreciate and reward oneself for life is very short.

Blogging is creating.  Creating is rewarding.  Refurbishing a bike is rewarding.   Building a shelf for your child to display his puzzles is rewarding.  Writing something that others find encouraging, funny and/or insightful is rewarding.  Although, at this point, I think I am the only one appreciating my blog -- but that is okay because I am really enjoying it.

Donkey in a well and Divorce

I just read a post by Helene at Adventure in Parenthood regarding the recent demise of her marriage.  She seemed to have and do it all:  Mother, Wife, and Employee with hobbies... and what is wrong with that?  I remember once a long time ago some one told me when you try to do to much or juggle too many things "something will give, something will lose out..."  What does that mean?  If you are to good a mother and employee you won't be a good wife?  Too good a wife and mother but not a productive employee?  Or does it have nothing to do with those things and just to do with the unpredictability of human nature (or is it predictable)?  I always like to think about the way things were done two hundred or three hundred years ago.  I mean, really, were women any less busy then?  Cooking, cleaning, working in the fields, rearing children, mending fences with the husband, educating the children, nursing the children (and the husband) -- this way of life is still a way of life for many on this planet.  Of course, I don't know what happens or happened to the marriages of those women but somehow I think divorce was less on their minds than survival.  So do we do to much or do we have too many choices?

My heart goes out to Helene since it seems she has been given no choice.  Divorce is hard and going through one even harder.  In her post she retells a story her Aunt had related about a donkey a farmer threw down a well.  Apparently the farmer hated the donkey (probably because the donkey worked much harder than he did and received too much praise for all it accomplished in life) so he tried to kill it by throwing it down a well and heaping manure on top of it.  Each time the manure came down the donkey shook it off and stamped on it which of course created higher ground.  Eventually the donkey was able to climb out of the well.  I think I heard this story before and Helene may not have heard this part, but the donkey went on to lead a very productive and happy life.  She, the donkey, found people who appreciated her wonderful qualities.  The farmer, however, well sadly he turned to younger less experienced donkeys in hopes that he would start to receive praise for all they accomplished.  But the younger donkeys had no use for the old farmer and when he went to bed they ran off to play and were much to tired to do any work the next day.  The moral of the story is a mountain can be made out of a mole hill?  Getting poop thrown on you really isn't that bad?  The farmer's life sucks after the donkey leaves?  No, I think what the Aunt was trying to say is even something as bad as divorce can be overcome and life will have joy again.

Bike Refurbishment Saga

Since starting this project last week I have not sustained any more injuries, which I am happy about because my bump is still here and hurting four days later. The bike has been cleaned and washed, cleaned with kerosene and washed and sanded and washed -- so I am pretty sure it was clean when I painted it. However, after priming it and wet sanding it according to the guidelines I found the primer washed off! I let it dry for well over 24 hours and the same thing happened again. Well, I decided I am not going to sand this bike down to the metal since that would just be too much of an investment (afterall I do have a house to clean, a toddler to watch, and meals to cook -- well not really the cooking part but I do I have things I have to do). After the two coats of primer I put the first coat of appliance paint (yes, that is correct appliance paint is what the Home Depot Guy and fellow customer recommended). Sadly, this part hasn't gone well either. The paint left a dimpling effect behind. I am not quite sure what to do at this point, but I feel anything I do or have done will look better than what it did before.

So far the only part of the refurbishment that has gone well is cleaning up the seat. The seat had been oversprayed with paint prior to my purchasing it, however after a thorough cleaning with saddle soap and conditioning with beeswax it looks great!

About Amazon Product Links

Just in case someone actually reads my posts I have included links to the products we have used.  We actually purchased all the products I referenced from Amazon.com, except iBert (which we had intended to purchase from Amazon.com but we were at a store and standing right in front of it so we bought it).  At any rate apparently there is a commission if you, the reader, purchase the product from Amazon, but that is not my intention -- only to make it easier for you to find the product I mentioned in my post.

Our One Day Get-a-Way to Woods Canyon Lake, Arizona

We decided to get out of town for the day since the temperatures have been soaring to over 110 degrees here in lovely Arizona. Woods Canyon lake is about 2.5 hours northeast of us and a nice short jaunt to a cooler greener Arizona. It is a great place to acclimate our toddler to camping since it has a little bit of everything: hiking, biking, and fishing. We aren't big fisher-people, but hiking and biking we enjoy. Another nice feature of Woods Canyon is a very long paved biking trail that is not on or next to the road, but set off the road by fifteen feet or so. We are unsure of its complete distance but it is at least 5 miles. What we like about this paved trail is we can ride the bike with our toddler on board (iBert fits my husband's bike comfortably)without worrying about getting hit by a car. On this particular trip we decided to set up the tent so Ethan could nap at his regular time -- he really liked this! During our hike we got to get a glimpse of two baby eagle chicks who were nesting off of the lake trail (the trail around the lake is about four miles and it takes about 2.5 hours to traverse). The forest service has the the trail re-routed to avoid the nest and have set up scopes so visitors can see the chicks and their parents.

Our son really enjoyed our little camping and hiking trip and says he wants to go again. Fortunately for us summer is upon us and the thing we like to do best is leave the summer heat behind and head for the cooler country. And there are plenty of camping days left since Arizona summers last until November!

The Little Blue Bicycle Refurbishment Project…

The Score: Bike 1, Lucille 1 lump

I have a mountain bike and I really like it but Ibert the child safety seat does not. Ibert is a great idea, but for me and many others if you are small with a small bike Ibert is not going to work for you. So…I did want any obsessed parent would do I bought another bike with more clearance for Ibert and Ethan (Ethan is the son and Ibert is the seat).. and since I am a sensible obsessed parent I decided I was not going to spend more than $50. After a diligent search on Craigslist.com I turned up a so-called-antique bike for $65. It definitely looked old – but it had character. After a few emails to the seller I was told the antique bike was not for me since it appeared I was not looking to appreciate its antiqueness (I am afraid I questioned his knowledge that the bike was an antique afterall he admitted he was not a bike-guy), however he had just the bike for me for the amazing price of $30. So off we went to pretty-far-away-land of east Mesa where I found my future bike. I had Ibert with me of course so I tested it out. It seemed to work and perhaps would work best if the handlebars could be raised – to which I was assured they would. I hate impulse shopping and prefer to think about things first, but I sure didn’t want to drive all the way back here again after having “time to think about it” -- so I bought it. Once home we got “her” all cleaned up and even adjusted the handlebars with the help of a neighbor. Ibert looked really good on this bike and I could squeeze in between him and the bike seat, barely, but it was doable. Maybe I could raise the handlebars just a little bit more? So I loosened the main nut around the stem, then I loosened the bolt holding the stem in the bike, then I pulled. But nothing happened…it wouldn’t budge. So then I pulled really really hard and the handlebar came off, but first it hit me in the forehead with the force that I exerted to get it out. It really hurt and now I have a huge blue lump on my forehead. It was so big my son thought it was a “booby” – this is something he calls all bumps including my boobies which are a little bigger than bumps.

All in all I am not so sure Ibert and this bike are going to be good together because this too is a small bike (see what impulse shopping gets you). So what are my choices? Resale the bike for $30 plus pain and suffering or…refurbish the bike and sell it for more or keep it. So far one hour and one lump invested. I will keep you posted on the refurbishing progress. 

As it turns out ibert the child bicycle seat fits my husband's bike very well.  After some websearching I noticed that many women had the same problem with the seat fitting their bike, however it fits a man's or larger bike very well.

Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre means “five lands” and it is made up of the five cliff side villages of Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso al Mare. They are connected by hiking paths of various difficulties. Unfortunately, there was very little information available on the Internet about the accessibility of the trails between these small towns with regard to children or people with disabilities. For example, we did not know if we could navigate these trails with our toddler. According to what I had read the answer was “not likely.” As such we had decided prior to leaving the US not to bring our toddler back pack along since we would not be doing these trails. Fortunately for us we decided in Florence that we would go to Cinque Terre and at best just hang out in the towns if the trails were not navigable.

The first town you come to if you are traveling south to north is Riomaggiore (via La Spezia by train). The trail from Riomaggiore to Manarola is all paved – it is even wheelchair accessible! Sadly none of the websites or books I read pointed out this great fact. There is an elevator at the bottom of the trail that takes those who need it to the top where they can access the entire cliff side view to the town of Manarola. Also, very toddler friendly – although I did keep a death-grip on my child. This trail is literally on the cliff side – jump over the rail and you will be in the ocean… after a shortfall and bouncing off some rocks perhaps. Once in Manarola we took the upper trail, a very narrow rocky dirt trail through the private vineyards, which was quite manageable for a toddler to walk. I am therefore unaware how accessible the Manarola-Corniglia cliff side trail is for those in wheelchairs. The walk to the second city, Manarola, was roughly 15 minutes for us and the leg to Corniglia maybe 45 minutes. As I mentioned we decided not to bring our toddler backpack so we ended up carrying our son most of the trail including the 360+ stairs to the town of Corniglia. We switched up between carrying him on our shoulders and on my hip with a makeshift sling I made out of my scarf (did I mention he is about 30 lbs?). I don’t think we ever complained about his weight or the inconvenience – it was too beautiful.

I cannot describe even now how glorious our time in the beautiful Cinque Terre was. We could have hiked the entire day just because we were “high” on the view. Alas, it was lunch time and our little angel was promised some beach time. After an amazing lunch of spaghetti and margarita pizza (my favorite) in Corniglia we took the train to Monterossa al Mare. It was more beautiful than the pictures described, and after being in Viareggio, it was like paradise. We spent the next two hours frolicking in the crystal clear blue waters (ice cold waters) of Monterosso before heading back to Riomaggiore.

During our time in Riomaggiore we learned the trail was closed from Vernazza to Monterosso due to landslides. For those who do not know this is considered the most difficult leg of the trail. Unfortunately we did not get to do the Corniglia-Vernazza leg, but had read it was similar to what we had already done. We hope to go to this region again someday and this time we will bring the baby backpack!

I almost forgot to mention are playgrounds in every one of these villages...however, they take somewhat of a backseat to the playground that is the region.

Viareggio

One travel book said Viareggio Italy was “seedy but worth a look.” I can say it is not worth the look. The beach was dirty. Dirty as in trash in the water washing up on the beach and trash lying all over the streets. There was graffiti everywhere, but not just that, it really wasn’t family friendly. The beach was open to public access for walking only – if you wanted to stop and sit you had to rent an umbrella and chair for ten euros for two hours. The travel book talked about walking along the boardwalk, but you really cannot see the ocean except for a few “peeks” here and there between the buildings that rent the umbrellas and/or restaurants.

The only saving grace was The Palace Hotel. The concierge upgraded our room to a very nice suite since the air conditioning was only available in the suites (it was rather warm that day). And what a suite! It had a beautiful veranda that overlooked the beach (you couldn’t tell from where we were how dirty it was) and was connected to the cappuccino bar.

Lucca of Italy

About one and a half hour by train east (I think it is east) of Florence is the most quintessential medieval town of Lucca. Perfect for the noise-averted toddler and husband. Lucca is surrounded by a huge wall (also called rampart) that the locals and tourists walk, bike, run and kiss on. We walked on the wall, biked on the wall, and walked all about the town (we may have kissed once or twice but briefly because our son does not like for his dad to kiss me too long). We loved Lucca mostly because we are a very active family. We love biking, walking, hiking and the like, so anywhere we can do these things without worrying about getting hit by a car makes us happy. There are many factors that make Lucca child friendly besides not getting hit by a car when walking such as the towers. Yes, lots of tall towers that toddlers and their dads love to climb (side note: these towers are open to all ages whereas Pisa is only open to age 8 and older). I wanted to climb to the top of one of the towers and I really tried. I repeated a mantra over and over in my head ‘its only fear holding you back, ignore the fear’, but I got the “tummy funny (my 3 year old’s word for sick stomach)” feeling maybe 15 stairs and a narrow opening away from the top and had to plaster myself to the wall as I inched my way back down. I wasn’t always this terrified of heights. I used to be a avid rider of all those scary high rides at the state fair. I don’t know what happened….even now when I get on a plane I tell myself we are going to die in a crash so I am prepared (maybe it is reverse psychology because if I don’t say that to myself then we will crash…or maybe I am just a control freak and not afraid of heights just afraid of falling..during, which of course, I would have no control). My husband and son made it to the top of the tower with the walnut trees and found the view to be very rewarding. Besides the towers there were at least four playgrounds in Lucca that were easily found if you are walking or biking along the wall as well as a large carousel in one of the Palazzos. I found this town to be very child friendly. Even the husband found it to be to his liking.

Our accommodations in Lucca were impeccable -- A Palazzo Busdraghi, Residenza d'Epoca. It was a former palace and the current owner was incredibly accommodating and kind as well as all of the staff.

Jet Lag Sucks

We arrived to Regensburg, the home of my husband's Aunt, at about 2230 local time. Ethan, our son, fell asleep once we were settled but was wide awake at 0330 (oddly familiar since this is the time he woke up when we were there two years ago both in Europe and back home in Arizona). We played, made breakfast and went for a walk and by 0900 he was asleep. He slept for four hours and then again at 1500 he took a nap for four hours. Prior to leaving I had read to let children follow their own natural sleep rhythm and not attempt to force them into any schedule of sleep. For two to three days Ethan took two naps a day of about four hours each waking up at 0300. On day three, at 0500, we decided to go for a run along the Danube. Oh, but I am getting ahead of myself. Ethan started vomiting on day two, which incidentally lasted until day three. Diarrhea started on day four. So at the beginning of day three, Saturday, the "beginning" being 0330, we played, he vomited and started acting sleepy about 0500 at that time we decided to go running since we had not been able to enjoy the outside since arriving. Little did we know -- it would be our last beautiful sunny day until three weeks later. As a side note, we never get up and go running at 0500 and be happy about it -- but we were in Germany and going to run along the Danube...what was there not to be happy about.? Well.... Ethan decided to throw up instead of go to sleep 15 minutes into our bliss. After our temporary diversion of cleaning up the toddler and getting him comfy in his very thick stroller sleeping bag by JJ Cole (it looks so comfy even I want to curl up in it) we were back to our bliss of running along the Danube...at 0530 in the morning.

In spite of the jet lag we ran about 6.5 miles that morning. Ethan converted to the local time by that night and was back to taking one two hour naps per day. It was raining, cloudy and cold for the next five days which seemed to exacerbate our (the parents) tiredness. I had read somewhere about a theory (or maybe it is a fact not theory) that sunshine helps to shake the jet lag and reset your circadian rhythm (or something like that) so it seems as though the cloudiness may be the culprit for not completely shaking off our lethargy. Unfortunately, the Bavarian region was experiencing very unusually cold weather for May, and we anticipating summer weather, only packed light clothing. Apparently the Germans did not expect cold weather either because we tried to shop for warmer clothing and all we found were swimsuits and shorts (it was 14 c or 50 some degrees Fahrenheit). My very observant husband noted that Germans appeared to be eagerly anticipating the warm summer weather as well.

I believe the sunshine theory may be true for once we were back home in Arizona, land-of-perpetual-sunshine-and-home-of-blistering-hotter-than-hell-eight-month-long-summers, our jet lag time was dramatically shorter. We arrived home at oddly, 2230 local time, and we were in bed by midnight. Surprisingly we were up at..... you guessed it.....0330! This time however there was no running at 0500 since it was already 87 degrees Fahrenheit outside. Ethan had one two hour nap about 1000 and went to bed by 1930 -- he slept all night. As for my husband and I we were slightly tired for a few days but not nearly as run down as we were in Germany (9 days of tiredness). Needless to say, as I said it at the outset, but I'll say it again: the sun was shining from 0500 to 1930. So maybe the sun did have something to do with a shorter jet lag time.

Traveling light with a Toddler

In preparation for our three week vacation abroad I did a google search of “traveling with toddlers” and “air travel and toddlers” to get an idea of how best to choose our flights, tackle the jet lag, as well as keep our nearly three year old entertained. This was very helpful in choosing our flight type such as multiple connections with breaks vs. fewer connections and type of flying accommodations. After much thought we selected a flight with a more expensive airline (currently on strike) based on the shortest flight duration and the least amount of connections. We were well prepared with several small toys that were “surprises” in intervals as well as a coloring book, writing tablet and sticker book. We also purchased an extra battery for the portable DVD player and brought along his favorite movies – which incidentally he had no interest in whatsoever on any of our flights. Our longest flight leg was first: Phoenix to London (delayed) at about nine hours then London to Munich (after two delays – this airline rarely is on time). Our initial flight was an over night flight which worked in our favor. We did as so many websites recommended and prepared our son for “bed” by "bathing" him prior to boarding, putting his pajamas on and having his evening time “movie” on as soon as we got on the plane (for some reason our son had no interest in his usual bed-time-book-read-a-thon like we do at home). Our little guy fell asleep 1 ½ hours into the flight and although he did not sleep his usual ten to eleven hours he did sleep very comfortably in his carseat for five hours.

Speaking of the carseat… the question was to bring it or not? We decided to bring the carseat on the plane for safety reasons as well as comfort. After all, we have a hard time sleeping in airplane seats therefore how much more uncomfortable can it be for a baby who has to be strapped in perhaps due to turbulence-- which happened frequently? Turbulence actually became my friend, for when there was turbulence my son would have me rub his tummy and he would close his eyes…and go to sleep. To make traveling with the carseat, stroller and carry-ons easier we purchased the Traveling Toddler Carseat Travel Accessory. It is a little strap that allowed us to attach the carseat to one of the rolling carry-ons and either pull just the carseat or the carseat with our son in it!

Speaking of carry-ons – how many suitcases does one family really need? For our family of three we were allowed three carry-ons and three checked bags, but did we really need that much. When we traveled in the past we always ended up packing too much and with each consecutive trip we’d say “we will not pack as much”…and we don’t, but still end up with more than we needed. I had read somewhere a wise person said “lay everything out you think you will need on your trip then take half of it away.” I tried that and still took too much. We took two large suitcases (with a hiking backpack inside), two carry-ons, but checked one, and the stroller. Our son never played with any of the toys we brought except the small “surprises” given along the way. As for all of the books we brought? Well, as I mentioned earlier he had no interest in reading so those books just ended up being extra weight. I packed very few clothes for myself – eight shirts (more than I needed) two jeans, one skirt, two dresses, two sweaters, running shoes, one pair of sandals, and my converse. Yet, it was still more than necessary (for the record my husband decided to pack really light and he ran out of clothes ;). As for the baby? Of course I packed to cover two changes of clothing each day – again, more than necessary, since we ended up needing to find a self-service laundry mat due to a major bladder leak incident in the stroller while in Italy. Which only made me realize that doing the laundry on vacation was not really as intrusive as hauling around too much luggage. On our Italy leg of our vacation we traveled very light with the large backpack (husband wore), laptop bag (I wore), baby-bag (in stroller basket), carry-on (husband pulled) and stroller (I pushed), however by the end of our Italy adventure we realized two large backpacks would have worked better than the carry-on (sidewalks in Italy were not made for rolling suitcases just Roman soldiers).

Overall the traveling portion of our vacation was not that bad. Our son survived all flights reasonably well. Sadly our flight back was not as smooth as our flights to Europe. Unfortunately, due to the aforementioned strike we were stuck with no flights back to our city, departure time rescheduled two days later, three connections in one day, one missed flight, three delays, and a total of 21 hours of traveling. As a side note during our ordeal I heard a man on our flight say that back in his day there was a saying “if you have time to spare go by air, if you really have to get there… take a car.” I wish we would have taken the car.

Florence... Not for Toddlers (or husbands who can't stand noise)

During my research on Italy I had read somewhere that "Florence is not for children." This statement was made by a Florentine woman who urged traveler's not to bring their children there. Unfortunately, we ignored that advice. Florence is beautiful, but the sidewalks are not made for strollers (they were made for Roman soldiers), our BumbleRide barely fit, and we often had to get off the sidewalk because the mopeds and cars were partially on the sidewalks (I felt really bad for the guy pusing the double stroller). In addition to small sidewalks it was incredibly noisy. I believe there must be more cars in Florence than there are in all of Italy. Unfortunately, both husband and child are very averse to noise so suffice to say both were miserable in the city. Fortunately on our 2nd day we found a playground across the Arno on Via della Fonderia just west of the Piazza Taddeo Gaddi which was bordered by the river and thus a little quieter.

I can honestly say if you are planning a trip make sure you and your spouse are on the same page when it comes to expectations. I knew it was going to be chaotic in the city, but did not expect anyone in my family to be miserable. And they were. Can you imagine walking on streets hundreds and hundreds of years old, seeing history in buildings and sculptures, not to mention all the shopping...and seeing it with two completely unhappy and unfazed people (well what could I expect from a three year old)? So there it was...we had to leave Florence and fast.

Prior to leaving the hotter-than-hell-state-of-Arizona we discussed how we would get around Europe especially getting to Florence, Italy. We decided train would be the best way to travel since our toddler despised being in his carseat for any length of time and traveling by train would be fun for him as well as interactive. However, after figuring out that Florence was pretty freaking far from Regensburg, Germany, as in 12-hours-on-a-train-far, and the same cost as flying we decided to fly to Florence and take the train thereafter. So, there we were in Florence, toddler unhappy and husband (sometimes like a toddler) unhappy as well needing a fast train out of 'Dodge.' We decided to head for a medieval-like town, Lucca, with preserved ramparts (walls) surrounding it. I had read about it on the Internet while searching for places to visit and it sounded like a lovely place to stay since cars were limited within the walls and walking was the highest rated activity.