I haven't writen on here for several days. I've been busy. Mostly with the kids but we've also been out of town. Last week we went to mysister Beatty's new house to pick up the van that was at my mom's old house. It was so nice seeing my family again.
When we got home we were able to enjoy the house all to ourselves because the in laws are gone. They come back tomorrow, so that means I better get to cleaning so they don't complain to Nick. Not that the house is very dirty. Lord knows I spend all day wiping counters and sweeping floors. It's mostly things that the kids play with that get all over the place. In a regular home those things would not matter but living with older folks who want a retirement house more than a child house I must make sure to keep some sort of order in order to keep the peace. So until we get our own place that is the way it has to be.
Anyways, Rosie has been working on a "series" she's making with MS Paint and Windows Movie Maker. believe she's gifted by God. What she has done being just 9 is so good and as she gets older her talent will get more refined, if that is what she desires to do.
Isabella loves to paint and she was glad when I found the paints that my mom bought us last time she was here. I would love to buy Bella a more serious painting equipment. There is one things that she paints every time. After she paints other things like trees or faces, she mixes all of her paints together and covers an entire page with paint. I wonder what she means by doing that. I asked her why she does that and she said "Because I like it. I think it looks pretty." She's so cute!
Nicky likes to paint too and as always he is very chaotic when he does. That's who he is, a boy, and I love him like that! Eva dances and dances and dances to any tune on the TV. I'e been wanting to hand her paints and a brush to see what she does.

I'm thanking God for his provisions. Nick had a good festival this weekend and I pray this is the start of a great season.
The kids and I stayed at home most of the time this past weekend (with one walk to the park). We kept busy, though Isabella who is more of an outdoor kind of gal would have liked for us to go somewhere. Yesterday since Nick was finally home we had a nice afternoon of shopping and had an all-you-can eat Asian dinner, yummy!
During the day though we spent the hours reading library books, using the computer, Nicky and I fixed our leaky toilet, cleaning, playing a math board game, playing Candy Land, making a planter for planting potatoes out of an empty laundry detergent bucket, putting up our continents of the world posters and figuring out where the family lives all over the world.
We bought Rosie an art kit that included different types of drawing materials and we also got her 2 sketch books, so I assume she will stay busy experimenting with that for a long time.
We still need to get soil for our potatoes and I found a great project to teach the kids about Easter so I need to get the materials for that too.
This morning Nicky and Isabella woke up very energetic (I guess most mornings they do) so they made masks out of copy paper and a pen and are running around the house roaring and chasing each other. I'm surprised Evangeline is still asleep because they are loud!

Things have been so peaceful in my soul and with my babies. Nick and I are growing in Christ through many things that the Lord has taught us lately. But with that come the attacks from Satan. Though my spirit is full of God's light, there is much darkness all around me. Lord, help me not to get oppressed by the ugliness of other people. Let your light drown out that darkness and give me the grace and love I need to give those people. It's so hard, but I know your power is great in my weakness.
In Jesus'name I pray.

Bella and Nicky were just in the front yard playing when suddenly I hear them let out blood curdling screams and they both stampede into the house, sobbing. I just about had a heart attack because I though something really terrible had just happened (of course I'm right by the door watcing them so I don't see anything is wrong which scares me even more). Through their screams I make out that they are saying "Bee!". Ay, ay, ay, it really turned out to be just a flying beattle. After getting over my own adrenaline surge (and after the feeling came back to my limbs) I had to bite my lip to keep myself from laughing at how cute they were fearing a beattle as if it were a man eating beast! LOL

Nick began selling yesterday and the Pinal Co. Fair. We pray for abundant sales for us and all the vendors there!
The kiddos and I have been home staying busy as always. This week it's been warm and the days have been gorgeous so we've spent a lot of time outside. The kids swim, jump on the trampoline, dig in the dirt, play at the park. I found an old science kit that came with a solar cell that powers a small motor so Nicky and Bella put together a solar powered fan. Nicky LOVES it and spends hours outside experimenting with it. He also has a new favorite movie, "That Thing You Do". He watches it and plays and sings along with the band in the movie. We've also done a lot of baking and cooking together.
I love these days spent with my babies! They seem to go by so quickly and the kids grow so fast. I feel tremendously blessed to be able to have the honor and privilege to have my kids these few precious years with me. Oh, nothing is better in life! God is good =).

Eva is moving from babyhood to toddlerhood more each day. She's mastered the stairs for one. She's been able to climb them for many months, well before she could even walk. However, she just learned how to go down the stairs by. That gives me some relief, but I will not remove the baby gate completely since she is still very small and not big enough to be let free to climb up and down the stairs like the other kids. Well, honestly the main reason is because we live with the in laws and they don't keep the upstairs very safe for baby to roam on her own. If we lived on our own I would make the rooms safe for her to play in. So for now the downstairs gate stays on. She also understand a whole lot more. She can follow any command I give her. If I ask her to get a diaper, she does. If I ask her to get off something she does. She can turn lights and TV's on and off and knows what those actions mean. Today for the first time she was able to play in the playground by her self with out my constant presence next to her. Of course I remained close by and kept a very watchful eye on her. She noticed that too. When I took her off the stroller she walked a few feet away from me, paused and turned to look at me and gave me a little mischievous smile as if saying "Do you realise how far I've gone from you?". When I smiled back at her she ran even further toward the playground and again she turned to look at me with that same smile. I smiled again and waved at her saying "Hi Eva!". Suddenly it hit her that I was letting her free and she went on to play with no more doubts that she was now on her own to have fun.
At the park we also had a very delicious picnic lunch that Isabella had prepared for us. The only problem was that she didn't make enough sandwiches so there was a bit of drama because of that. Bella ate too many, Rosie didn't get enough. In the end Rosie decided she didn't like the sandwiches after all and she ate a Go-gurt yogurt and drank some water. We finished eating our apples and played a bit more then we went home. It was a beautiful though very warm day so we were relieved to be back home.
Isabella decided to go for a swim and Rosie played for a while in the computer.

What do we want for our children?

What do we want for our children? A detailed answer to that question is of course extremely complex and there's no way I (nor most good parents) can answer it in one blog entry. Yet we do have a basic ideas that drive every decision we make as parents.
First what we want most of all is that our children have a saving knowledge of and relationship to Jesus Christ. The purpose for all of man kind is to know God thorough Jesus by His word the Bible and to make Him known. That is the core motivation in which we want our children to live their lives, regardless of what path they take. By living for Christ through the Holy Spirit God will continuously reveal His will and their calling for their lives. And by that they will also be sanctified to become more Christ like everyday.
That being said, we also want our children to know that they are indeed free to pursue the dreams God has put in their heart. Not in some distant future after they earned a diploma or when they reach some arbitrary age limit. We want them to know that they can reach for those dreams now! As a family we don't follow daily schedules. We do have routines, since that is part of basic human nature, but each day unfolds on it's own. Of course living in this world there are times when certain things have to be planned, such as play dates, doctor's appointments, business matter like festivals, etc. And we as a family have no problems fulfilling those obligations or making those appointments and then going about our lives. It's never a big deal. No schedule has to be rearranged and appointment books don't have to be reorganised. Those moments come and go and so do our days.
That doesn't mean that we don't have long term goals. We make sure that are children are well aware of the plans we have for our family and we consider their thoughts and opinions in much of the decision making. The final say is Nick's since he is the head of our family, but it always is a decision based on the input of all of us.
By living free from rigid schedules of any sort our children are able to pursue their loves and passions. They might need help from us to find the tools and supplies they require to complete whatever project they are working on. Sometimes we can answer their questions, but many times we can't so we seek the answers together. Often they don't require anything from us at all other than moral support and they can achieve their goals by themselves.
Interestingly enough "lazy" is not a word that has ever come to mind of when thinking of my kidskids. As a matter of fact when they work very hard when pursuing an interest. Rosie spends hours a day perfecting her anime art. Even when she's experienced frustrations, she pushes on and is getting better every day. Isabella pushed through her dance rehearsals, by choice of her own and not by our prompting at all, even though she came back very tired from the demanding routines every week after every practice, because her goal was to preform on stage. And she did! When Nicky is taking something apart or figuring out how something works he sits intently working on figuring things out and he doesn't give up until he's done. Ooh, and our Eva who so far has been our biggest risk taker. At 14 months there is no obstacle she has not mastered that she wanted to master! No chair is too tall, no stair is too high, no play ground too big. We constantly have to have an eye on her, even if she doesn't know it because her motto is "No Fear". Eva is the first and only child that we've ever had to take to the ER for stitches, and that was despite the fact that both Nick and I were in the same room right by her when she had her accident. She also loves to doodle and pretends to "read". Those are just a few recent examples. I can go on for pages and pages if I consider all that my children have achieved with out the need of us forcing them to or telling them what we think they should do at their ages. Lazy, nope, not our kids.
As for responsibility, my kids are amongst the most responsible people I know. Normal life has naturally provided them many opportunities to learn responsibility. First of all they see it modeled those those around them including, but certainly not limited, to us their parents. They've experienced the care of several children from pregnancy to birth and beyond by living with me their mother. They've seen their dad work almost every day of their lives, rain or shine, in sickness and in health. They see citizens of the world driving responsibly on the road, payng for merchandise they desire at the store, workers of all sorts doing theirs jobs dutifully, witnessed many acts of kindness by stranger to strangers, the list goes on indefinitely.
They see us, their parents, committed to each other in marriage through Christ for better or worse and our children have no fear, like sadly many other children do, that our marriage will fall apart because they've witnessed us go through tough times in our marriage, and yet not once did we ever chose to escape but instead we persevered through God's grace and our marriage has become stronger for it.
At home we all work together as a family to maintain a clean and safe place to live. No need for assigned chores or punishments and tears for undone work. The kids have been told by us time and time again that we are a family as as a family we must be united in keeping our home a joyful place to live and part of that includes chores. Sure, sometimes there are objections, but that is OK. I hate chores too! However they push though the unpleasant moment and the work gets done.
So what do we want for our children? We want them to know that when a life is lived for the Lord it can be lived free!

We spent the day yesterday hanging out at home. We read lots of books and made no-sew stuffed animals out of felt and used Isabella's stuffing machine to stuff them. Rosie made the patterns and she did a great job! The kids also spent time on the computer playing "Toon Town" and keeping up their various towns and pets on Facebook.

Today we went to the the park with some friends for a few hours. Then Rosie's BFF came home with us for a sleep over.

The Lord is good!

Lord, give me a tough hide and a soft heart! Let not the arrows of the enemy jab me so deep that I become confused no good to you.
In Jesus' name.

I finally got a copy of John Holt's book "Teach Your Own" from the library. I'm so excited to read it, yay! For the past couple of weeks I've been reading "When Children Fail" also by Holt and it echoes everything I always suspected was wrong with the way children are "educated" in schools. I see myself and my own experiences in many of the children Holt refers to. Anyways, I just wish I could speed read because I would love to devour all that info and insight right now!

As for our happenings today, in the morning the kids (Bella, Nicky, Eva) and I went to the Phoenix library. It was still closed when we got there so we walked across the street to the mall and the kids played at the indoor playground until the library opened. After the library, which the kids love by the way, we went to the dollar store to stock up on art supplies and some small board games. The days have been rainy and our budget is tight so I'm having to get more creative than usual about coming up with activities to offer the kids here at home, that is besides books, science experiments and the computer, though they really don't complain about that. I just like to have those things available if they are interested. On the way home while I was trying to have a conversation with Nicky and Bella, Nicky said "Mom, I'm reading my firetruck book. No more talking please!". I just about busted out laughing, though I didn't because he was so serious and I didn't want to embarrass him. At home Nicky and I played one of the dollar games I had just bought and it was a rhyming words game. Rosie spent the day in bed with the lap top engrossed with a new on-line game she just discovered (thanks to her BFF who plays it too) called "Toon Town". Her grandma Licha payed for her to have a monthly subscription so she spent hours on it. We just let her enjoy it. I know my girl and she will get bored soon enough. The only break she took was when I showed her the art book I got her from the library. It shows various forms of art through out history and it explains to children certain details and facts about each piece. We looked through it together and Rosie liked it very much. Isabella also went for a cold swim before dinner. Oh, my baby the polar bear!
This afternoon we received a wonderful surprise over the mail from our dear friend Angy. She's a nurse and she went to Haiti to help and to share the gospel with earthquake victims with a team from the Nazarene Church. She sent us hand crochet doily and doll dresses, a hand made toy, and a hand made gecko decoration all made my Haitian people. It was such a beautiful collection of artifacts and we all felt so blessed by her to have received those gifts!
Afterward, Isabella and Nicky wanted to bake a cheese cake so I went to cooks.com and got the simplest recipe I could find for me and the kids to make. Well, it turned out to be super delicious! Even daddy Nick said it was the best cheesecake he's ever had, and he is not a sweets type of guy.
Right now the girls are at AWANA and baby is sleeping, and all is good ;-). Thanks be to God for another blessed day!!!

My responce to a comment from a rude and vulgar "evolutionist" on a pro-creation fan page on Facebook.

I won't write his comment on here because of his vulgarity, but basically he insulted those of us who believe in creation instead of evolution. Here is my response:

As far as faith goes people who believe in evolution put many Christians to shame because you believe what you are told by your teachers and your media blindly with out question. Just because you once saw a cute little drawing of a monkey turning into a human on a text book, POOF, you became a believer. Wow! Congratulations.
Wish I had your amazing faith! I had to research both sides of the issue before deciding that evolution is a bunch of crap and creation is the only logical explanation based on real evidence.

Little moment

Today I witnessed a little moment in Eva's life that I believe is one of the amazing gifts that come from being able to stay home with my babies!
While Eva was playing in the living room she caught a glimpse of the reflection on the big screen TV (it was turned off) and abruptly stopped what she was doing. She stared at it intently for several seconds. I thought she was looking at her own reflection or mine so I began to wave thinking she might like that. Suddenly she turns and begins to walk toward the kitchen. Then she just stopped and stared at it. That is when I realised that it was not mine or her reflection she noticed, but it was the kitchen's which faces the TV. What intrigued me was the look on her face. It seemed as if she had just discovered some new world! She went back to the TV and looked at the reflexion again and then turned and looked at the kitchen once more. I wondered what was on her mind at that moment but I can only assume. This was of course not the first time she looked at a reflection. She sees mirrors in the house everyday. I think she just was not expecting to find a duplicate of the kitchen on the TV screen.
That might be a trivial little moment for someone else, but for me it was fascinating and part of the many reasons I feel so blessed to be able to be here at home to witness such moments of wonder and discovery in my children's lives!

Discipline, discipleship and peaceful parenting vs. spanking

Around the beginning of the year Nick and I decided to not spank the kids anymore. After much prayer, discussion and lots of reading we realised that there were better ways of disciplining the kids. I've always felt that spanking was wrong, but conventional wisdom says that spanking is good and I, like many people, grew up being told that "I spank you because I love you". I don't doubt the sincerity behind those words, however it always seemed to me to be contradictory that in order to teach a child to do good that a parent must physically harm his or her child. Then while researching unschooling I found many articles that talked about non-spanking ways of disciplining children. I even found many Christian based articles on non-violent parenting which made me feel relieved that indeed the Bible does support a more gentle and peaceful way to parent instead of the pro-spanking stance that many Christians have and preach. After a few months of not spanking I began to forget what I had learned. About 2 weeks ago I started spanking Nicky again. To my own dismay I had once again given in to my old impatience and impulse instead of following the conviction and wisdom that the Lord had given me. I started to feel guilt and the memory of the joy my kids had when I first announced to them that we would not spank them anymore haunted me because that day I saw how much pain, not only physical but emotional as well, it had caused my children when I or my husband spanked them. So a couple of days ago I went back to reread the articles on peaceful Christian parenting and I even found some new ones and today I recommitted myself to not spank. One of the things I read that helped me was that the Bible tell us to discipline our children with love and grace like God disciplines us. He allows us to live out the consequences of our actions but He never purposely causes pain in our lives just out of frustration or anger (by "us" I mean his children in Christ). Even as we live out the consequences of our bad choices He is always there offering comfort, love and grace not pain and humiliation. Also, I read more about how Jesus himself treated and interacted with children. While his disciples saw kids as burdens and hassles to be done away with Jesus welcomed them openly into his arms and then told the people that in order to enter into His Kingdom that one must become like a child.
Another article mentioned that the same Latin root word as discipline is the root word for diciple or discipleship. Therefore when we discipline our children we shouldn't think that we must try to control their behavior the way one can train an animal to behave in certain ways under the motivation of reward and punishment. No, we should see disciplining in the same way as disciplship.
We first need to "practice what we preach" because as it is commonly known kids learn to do as they see not as we say. Most importantly we parents need to have the mindset that when one is discipling one is teaching the disciple better ways of living and equipping them with the tools to do so. In my opinion spanking doesn't work with discipleship. It simply offers an unnatural and painful consequence that for the moment might deter a certain behavior, but it doesn't offer better solutions to the problem nor does it encourage a child to become more Christ like.
So that is the lesson I'm learning right now. I'm seeking better tools that my hubby and I can use to dicipline (disciple) our children in the ways of the Lord. One thing I know for sure is that we both must start by becoming better deciples of Christ and His word the Bible.

We had a nice weekend. On Saturday it was the AWANA Grand Prix where the girls got to race their small wooden hand carved and hand painted cars. They didn't win, so Isabella was very bummed. Rosie was disappointed but she still had lot's of fun with her BFF who won 2nd place in the T&T category. I was proud of Rosie on how she handled her BFF's winning a trophy when she didn't get one. Sometimes there is an air of competition between the two of them, but in the end they love each other very much and they have fun! As for my Isabella I spent much of the event giving her lot's of hugs and kisses. Nick told her that next year we'll make a better car and he took her to the church's play ground to cheer her up. And it seemed to have worked because by the time we had lunch there Isabella seems happy again. Specially because they had hot dogs, her fave for lunch! And all the goodies they got from the bake sale didn't hurt either, lol.
Later that day we had Rosie's BFF and her little brother over to our house to hang out, then it turned into a last minute sleep over. They spent the day swimming like polar bears in the cool pool, jumping on the trampoline, playing "Toon Town" on the computer, watching "Ponyo", drawing, planning a play they never actually performed and other fun stuff. The little boy slept in Bella's room and the girls stayed in Rosie's. Nicky even became a buddy with the little boy. I heard them have a conversation about tools and other "man" things ha,ha,ha. Needless to say it was a great day for my kiddos.
On Sunday we went to church where they had a dramatic presentation of the Gospel according to Mark. It was actors dressed in plain jeans and black shirts dramatically reciting the entire gospel. I enjoyed it very much. The kids enjoyed it for a while but then it became too long for them so toward the end they were bored. They did think some parts were funny and even exciting, but Rosie wished she could have also had Sunday school which was cancelled that day so that families could see the presentation together.
After church I took the friends home and we came back right away because it was raining very hard. Nick stayed home with Eva and I found them cozy sleeping in bed. The rest of the day we just chilled at home.

Yesterday I finally found info on the internet for Rosie why the moon looks orange and really big in the horizon sometimes. The answer to the latter was awesome! It turns out that the big moon is an optical illusion. Some people call it "the moon illusion" because the moon in the horizon is actually the same size as the moon we see when it's right above us. Scientists still don't know for sure if the illusion is in our brains, but they know for sure it's not something from the environment.
Today the kids kept busy playing with play-doh, making chocolate dipped bananas and strawberries, reading library books, baking cookies, digging in the dirt in the yard, jumping on the trampoline, playing doll house (the girls) and doing target practice with plastic air guns and little rubber bullets (Nicky), caring for their virtual pets on line and our real pets (2 gold fish), shooting hoops on Nicky's mini basket ball hoop, and now Isabella is in the pool "swimming" with a dress on because she felt like it though it's too cold for her to truly swim so she is just getting her legs wet. Rosie has been upstairs watching "Ponyo" for what I'm sure is the 10th time since we got the movie last night. Oh wait, I just saw Bella jump in the pool with her whole body, but she quickly jumped out. And she's going back in and out over and over again. Nutty girl =)!
Eva sat in the potty again all by herself, but nothing else happened. I don't think she connects yet going pee-pee and poo-poo with sitting in the potty though she knows that she must sit on it with a bare bum. She's only 14 months old so it's a good start.
As for me I've been reading and reading and reading. I have a couple of books I need to finish and I just got my free "SALT" magazine issue and I must say so far I've enjoyed it. It encourages Christian families in our walk with the Lord and our convictions including quiver full, homeschooling, courting and such. I would like a subscription but I need to ask Nick if we have the funds for one.
Isabella just changed into her swimsuit and is swimming! That water must be about 60 degrees fahrenheit! But she is having fun and the other kids are trying to join her. Rosie got in, but it took her a long time to dip herself all the way in and Nicky tried to get in but he just could not stand the cold water so he is in the patio standing there naked (after taking off his swimming trunks) watching his sisters in the pool. Poor Eva is looking longingly from behind the screen door in the kitchen and probably wishing she was big enough to join her older sisters.

We're finally home and thanking God for a fun trip and that Nick made many new business contacts. I pray the Lord continues to bless the business and giving Nick wisdom.
On Tuesday the kids and I went on another walk on the strip. W didn't walk as far as we did on Monday, but we did have a good stroll. I took the kids to the Cesar's Palace Hotel where there is a mall and they also have replicas of Roman statues. I had a chance to discuss with them some Roman history and myth behind the statues as well as some of the artist and their techniques. We also admired the beautiful clothes from the ultra famous designers that were in the stores' windows. Many of those pieces are pure art! I've always enjoyed fashion for the sheer beauty of it.
There we also saw a show on a big fountain, with life size animatronic characters and fire and water shooting up and loud music. It was very cool but Nicky got scared and he cried the whole time. We had a front row view so I took Nicky to the back while the girls watched the rest of the show in front. Afterwards we tried to find a place to have lunch but everywhere the food was outrageously expensive. Ice cream was $10 a scoop, a Chinese fast food meal was $17, a hot dog was $8! It was so ridiculous. So we walked back to the hotel and on the way we found an AM/PM gas station and we got hot dogs and goodies from there. Thankfully that satisfied the kids because they were very disappointed when we couldn't find a cheap place to eat on the strip.
I also got several comments on how many kids I have from strangers on the street. A couple of comments were more like "you have your hands full, but one was down right rude. It's so sad how people are so selfish that they don't see the amazing blessings and miracles that children who are made in God's own image are. One lady asked me "How many kids do you have?" and she gave me this look of disgust. I told hr boldly "I have 4 and they're ALL blessing!" She said nothing after that, I doubt that she expected me to let her know so bluntly that my children are blessings to me. We chilled out at the hotel the rest of the day.
Yesterday we took a quick trip to L.A. because Nick needed some merchandise for a customer and then drove home. When we drove through the desert we saw an awesome big red moon and we talked about it and how the moon affects the tide. I promised the kids that today I would look up the reason why the moon looks so red and big sometimes. I was so proud of how well the kids did with all the driving. Rosie had a bit of trouble with her reflux but eventually she flt better. Isabella did so well and so did baby Eva and Nicky!
The Lord is good!

Today is our second day in Vegas. It's Nick's birthday but he has been at the trade show since the morning. Before he went though he had to go buy Rosie a pair of flip flops since hers broke yesterday (I think when I tried them on at the market I must have stretched them out, oops!). After he did that he went off to the trade show and we went off to our excursion.
I looked on the Internet to see how far the strip was from our hotel the Tuscany, which by the way is very nice. I would rate it amongst our top 5 places we've ever stayed. It's a suite with a kitchenette and a king bed plus a sofa bed. The room smells like a new house and the property looks like an Italian villa. So pretty!
Anyways, the yahoo.com map said that the strip was less than a mile walk from here so the kiddos and I dared to walk down E. Flamingo Blvd. toward the strip. The area might seem shady but in reality there were many people walking along with us including several people dressed in business attire. When we were almost at the strip Rosie saw the MGM Hotel at what seemed to be a short distance. We decided to walk to to it since there is a free lion habitat exhibit. Well, I figured the walk would not be that easy but I decided to keep my opinion to myself because I wanted the kids to experience walking down a city street. At first Rosie was nervous, but the rest of the kids were excited at all the things they saw as we walked along. Soon Rosie relaxed and she began to enjoy herself too. We stopped at various places along the way and back including a big fountain at the Bally's, walked across one of the many bridges along the strip, the M&M store, the Coke store where we took a picture with a 7 foot polar bear (a guy in a costume), went up and down various escalators and people movers, saw the monorail and they all wished we could ride it, saw the faux Eiffel Tower and Champs-Elysées and I discussed with them about where the real ones are and many other things. They also loved seeing the 2 story buses and people watching all the people here from all over the world of course.
Finally we saw the lion habitat at the MGM and the kids had fun watching those huge animals doing the "cat" things they do (mostly napping, lol). Unfortunately there were also many ads for filth on truck billboards and along the street and that bothered Rosie and me. It was the first time I noticed so much of that. Perhaps because it's the first time I walk so far in Vegas with children (no lectures please!).
At the end of our hike we ended up, not surprisingly, exhausted and sore! But over all it was a very fun time and I'm glad we did it. When we got home I made sandwiches for the kids and now we are just relaxing and waiting for my love Nick to come home. I assume we will celebrate his birthday somehow when he gets here.