Tucson

Mama and Papa Bejos have been living the life of snowbirds this winter. As you can tell, life is good and they have relaxed into their new lifestyle. The boys and I slipped away for a weekend, leaving mr. bejos home to hit the books. We hit the Desert Museum (sting rays and gem show included!) and then hiked through the desert on a trail I had all but forgotten about from my own Tucson days.

squeezing in a date

Every now and then we find the magical afternoon when both boys have been invited to a common birthday party, or both have playdates at the very same time. They are few and far between but we try to make the most of them, even if it is just a drink out. 

winter cures

The warmth of Sedona calls us this time of year, without fail. Back to those predictable patterns of habits and traditions.

bejos clan

The entire bejos clan in one shot. Check out all those grandsons. 

Gingerbread

 

We were invited to a gingerbread party this year, joining a friend's longstanding family tradition that has been going since 1976. Days before the event, the family bakes and cuts gingerbread to very specific sizes, pre-packaging it all for a design that first appeared in Sunset magazine.

Candy is brought to the party and distributed among the tables, much to the wide-eye delight of my sweet toothed children. Working as a family we attempted to follow the blueprint design but quickly abandoned those plans for a quick-build that would allow for the candy application to come sooner rather than later.

Snowfall

We recently had our first real snow and our first SNOW DAY!
It's always a laugh when the first snow event creeps up on us and we scramble to locate and sort through the snow gear. Inevitably, snow pants and boots are discovered to have grown a size too small. Thus, day one is wardrobe of high waters and pinched toes. Throughout the following days we  shuffle through the collection of pants and boots, fine-tune the fittings, and get everyone properly dressed.
This snow day fell on a Friday - which is the best thing ever - and we dragged out the snowshoes that arrived last year from Santa. However, due to our real lack of snow last year, the boys never even got the chance to try them. I wasn't about to let another season go by while they collected dust. There was a learning curve which included many tumbles and laughs, but both boys got the hang of it eventually.