Our Week in Sedona

So I must say that this year we did not receive any grief from any of the staff members this year (except for my last blog.) I believe there were a couple of reasons for this.

The first being that there were tons of kids here this week and so our boys didn't stand out as much. In fact, I observed a couple of kids breaking the rules that our children have gotten in trouble with in the past. One thing my boys have not done that kids were doing was swimming alone. The pool rule is no one under 14 without an adult. I was watching the boys swim and there were other kids around. There were a couple of adults at the pool so I figured they belonged to them. It wasn't until the parents came to pick up the kids that I realized they were swimming unsupervised. Technically they weren't unsupervised because there were plenty of adults around. The resort has a rule that children under 12 must be accompanied anywhere by an adult. We allow Adam to take Josh to the sport court or golfing. They aren't given a key so they can't go to the pool.

Another reason is that the majority of the staff has been on vacation this week. Being Thanksgiving week the majority of the staff has been off since Wednesday. The minimal staff has been the housekeeping, maintenance, front desk and only one concierge. We left a couple of cookies for the housekeeping staff the other day. Maybe that helped? Probably not.

The final reason our children have not gotten into as much trouble this week is that there are two look-alikes here. There was a neighbor boy who looked almost exactly like Joseph. In fact, he was standing outside our cottage and I almost told him to come inside. I talked to his grandparents about this and they had seen Joseph and agreed. There was another Joshua look-alike, but I didn't see him. Josh told me all about him. My thought is it would be hard to identify the culprit in a line up when they look alike. Funny thing about Zach (Joseph's twin) is that his parent's didn't look like us either.

So this week in Sedona has been uneventful in regards to our boys getting into trouble. We haven't felt as pressured to stay inside or leave all day. The boys have been able to play outside without getting into trouble.

Sedona Pines Resort

I bought into this timeshare in 1999 with my first year starting in 2000. I have been going there every year since. I never trade. I own it free and clear and pay $460 each year (has gone up from 300 something since) as a maintenance fee. We own the week usage not the points. We can "upgrade" to points if we want to pay another $10k+. We own a one-bedroom although our family size is a two-bedroom. We bought because we were told they are very family-friendly.

We bought a one-bedroom for a couple of reasons. One reason is their second bedroom is outside across the patio and is connected by a wall to another unit's second-bedroom and with our boys being little we didn't really want them in a unit outside our own. Another reason is it costs significantly more for a second bedroom than a one-bedroom. The final reason is that the maintenance fee is also more each year. As our boys get older a second-bedroom does sound nicer to us, however we still don't feel comfortable giving the boys that kind of freedom. The one-bedroom does have a sofa bed and for years the boys have been sharing it all facing different directions. This year Adam brought a sleeping bag and slept on the floor next to the couch. We brought a crib mattress for Sam and he slept on that next to our bed. When the boys leave the nest, a one-bedroom will be sufficient for the two of us. The boys could also use it (as a week or bonus time) when they get married (honeymoons, family vacation, etc.)

Every year they offer a variety of events for their guests. They have Buckaroo Bob, a cowboy who plays his guitar and sings entertaining cowboy songs. They have a Native American flute concert. Every day they offer various arts & crafts. They used to have a kid's ice cream and face painting event, but this year it is off the calendar. They have a miniature golf tournament, which one of us wins each year. They have a welcome breakfast. The welcome breakfast is a breakfast where tour guides come and talk about the many tours options available in Sedona. There are the Pink Jeep tours, haunted tours of Jerome, multiple trips to The Grand Canyon, and of course, vortex tours. During the breakfast they have a raffle for prizes. Some of the prizes are buy-one-get-one-free passes to the various tour companies, water bottles, apple cider/champagne, calendar, maps, books and music. We've won some of the prizes over the years. The last couple of years they have not given us raffle tickets for the kids (they used to.) This year when we checked in they did not tell us when the welcome breakfast was. I overheard them tell the previous guest so I had a good idea when it was. I also had Adam call down to the front desk and check and he was given the incorrect time. When we showed up today to go to the breakfast, we arrived early so that the boys could eat and we could leave before the presentation. The presentation is boring for kids and they've seen it multiple times so they don't tend to be very reverent after they eat. The lady at the restaurant (on-site Bistro) was very nice and seated us at a table for 6. When the concierges arrived they seemed annoyed that we were there. They had a brief discussion with each other and came over and asked if we were planning to stay or just there for breakfast. I told them our plans so they had us moved to another table out of the way so the other guests could enjoy the presentation. After the breakfast today, Joe took Sam in the sales office to use the restroom. Afterwards, Sam ran into the sales office to see the big television. Joe grabbed him and tried to get out of there without causing any disturbance (we walk on eggshells here) and the sales guy offered them bagels and fruit and sodas. Different world when they think they are going to sell you something.

I don't mind them being considerate of other guests; however I feel they don't like us and are annoyed that we come every year. My maintenance fee helps pay their salaries, pay for the breakfast and pay for the amenities here. Just because we choose to use our timeshare time at our home resort every year doesn't mean I shouldn't be given the same courtesy as those that trade and visit for the first time. Just because we don't need to spend money on the tours doesn't mean we can't be treated with respect when we make our own trips. I know the boys are difficult at times and probably annoy the people that work here and they probably agonize over our stay, however we shouldn't feel that they hate it when we come. We should feel that even if we drive them crazy, they love to have us visit, that they look forward to our coming. We shouldn't feel like we pay them money every year because it's our obligation. If we didn't pay our maintenance fee they could foreclose and take the unit time back. I am sure there is a special clause somewhere that exists or they'll invent that will allow them to foreclose on us.

Here is my invitation to all. I have free RV use at the park that I never use. As long as you can "obey the rules" and not cause any monetary damage to the property, if you own an RV and would like to stay at the resort in their RV spots, let me know. I will check availability and if available it's yours to use for up to a week (possibly two, but that cannot be requested in advance.) No charge, unless you feel obligated to pay me something.

One day, when I have lots of money and tons of time, I will rejoin RCI and trade and go somewhere else. I just have not found it worthwhile to pay for RCI membership (less than about $100/year) and then pay to trade (about $150 or so) and pay my maintenance fee. That would make a one-week stay price go from $460/year to $700. When I go on vacation outside of Sedona and I stay in a hotel, I spend less than my maintenance fee. So I still don't understand why timeshares are cheaper.

If anyone owns a timeshare and is willing to trade without involving RCI or II, let me know and we can trade with each other. My week is any time during the year. I usually reserve it in advance when I know what time I have off this year. I am planning to book it next year for December or October (when I am off), but if someone wants to trade and can work with my time off schedule (open week like mine is) then I can reserve my resort for any time. I'd prefer a location within driving distance to Phoenix, unless only Joe and I go, then as long as we can get there by airplane than almost anywhere is fine. You'd be able to use all the amenities and I am sure they'll be nice to you when you attend the welcome breakfast, since you are new.

Girls are from China

*warning this entry contains proper words for body parts. If you feel uncomfortable seeing words like that, then please stop reading now.*

I have always been of the mindset to teach my children the proper names for their body parts. I grew up calling girls parts po-po and boy parts peecha. I know people aren't comfortable with hearing the proper names: penis, testicle, scrotum, vagina, vulva, breasts (as Sam lovingly refers to as nurses – items that nursed him,) however the boys are going to learn the proper names at some point so why not be the ones to teach them and that our bodies are beautiful creations from our Heavenly Father.
Since Sam had surgery he was aware of his parts that had problems and were going to be operated on. He also recently was potty-trained and became fascinated with his penis in the process. He thinks it's amazing and everyone should have one.  A major problem is mom doesn't have one. He would often ask me where my peanut (he can't pronounce the 's' sound so what we hear is peanut) was. I would explain that girls do not have penis (even though he can't say it right, he gets mad if I call it a peanut because then I am not saying it right.) His brothers convinced them mine was cut off so he was afraid he'd lose his too. I told him girls do not have one at all. He was very uncertain about this and tried inspecting me every time he took a shower with me.

After months of trying to convince him, I finally broke down and explained that girls are not born with a penis only boys are. I explained that girls are born with a vagina and we have other parts that we use to pee (another concern of his.) He happily explained, "Oh!! Girls are from China!!" He has been content ever since.

I suppose if girls are from China, then boys are from Peanutville, it sure beats the Mars/Venus explanation. Since he really believes girls are from China, he says, "I want to go to China with you." Kids do say the darnedest things.

Pre-Black Friday Survey/Promo

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Homemade Laundry Detergent

I did not invent this recipe. I have found it online in many places. I originally found it connected to the Duggar's family website. I suppose I could just link to the recipe on their site however I want you to read my blog. I've even looked up the ingredients of the ingredients and created an ingredient listing you can add to bottles if you decide to give it away as a gift. We make this as a family, I do most of the work, but everyone has helped. We've made it twice so far and it lasts our family of 6 about 8-9 months. It would probably last a little longer because we gave some bottles away the first time. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 Fels Naptha soap bar, grated
1 cup washing soda
1/2 cup borax

Essential oil for scent if desired



Instructions:

Grate the soap bar (I use a food processor, but it's soft enough to do by hand – here's where the little helpers come in)

Add to a sauce pan filled with about 2 cups of hot water. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring continually, until the soap completely dissolves. The soap will try to blend together during the stirring process, just keep stirring until it's completely dissolved.

Put washing soda and borax in a 5-gallon bucket. Fill to top with hot water. Pour in the hot, melted soap mixture. Stir well, until all the powder is dissolved. Cover and let set overnight. The next morning, stir the mixture. Mix equal amounts of soap concentrate and water in smaller laundry-detergent dispensers or containers. Shake before using. I add a couple of drops of essential oils to individual containers of detergent. Scents to try are lavender, rosemary, anise, or tea tree.



Directions for use: Use ⅝ C for top load and ½C for front load machines. I measure the caps of the detergent bottles I use and then compare to above measurements. Usually a cap full is enough, but some caps are smaller than others.



Picture of mixture once it's done.  These are helpful so you'll know yours is right.  It will get thick as it sits.

Ingredient listing:

Ingredients: Water, Sodium Carbonate, Sodium Borate, Soap (Stoddard solvent, Fatty acids, C8-C18 and C18-unsaturated, sodium salts, Hydrocarbons, terpene processing by-products~Terpene processing by-products)

Legal Disclaimer: Harmful if swallowed. Possible eye and skin irritant. As with all cleaning products, keep crystals and solution out of reach of children and pets. Avoid contact with eyes and mucous membranes or prolonged contact with sun. In case of eye contact, flush with water for 15 minutes and call a physician. Do not ingest. If swallowed, do not induce vomiting. Drink a glassful of water and seek prompt medical attention. 

Twelve Eyes

Joshua has been getting headaches and nausea every now and then so we took him to the doctor. The doctor considered his issue could be due to allergies. Sinus pressure can lead to headache and nasal drainage can lead to nausea. I know headaches/migraines can also cause nausea so I wanted to rule out poor vision before we inundate his body with allergies pills since the diagnosis was probable. I scheduled an eye appointment for Joshua.



A couple of years ago we gave the boys color blindness tests found on the internet. It was discovered that both Adam and Joshua are color blind and Joseph is not. The boys (Adam and Josh) freaked out as they tend to do over trivial things. I then explained that I am not a doctor and the test was not given by an eye doctor and therefore I cannot accurately diagnose it.



My grandfather (mom's dad) was color-blind so it was quite possible that my boys could be color-blind as well. It would appear that my mother passed on her color-blind recessive gene to me and my dad gave me his non-color-blind gene. With that probability it would likely be that half my boys could end up color-blind so I would not be surprised if they were.



And now back to the story about Joshua. We went to Nationwide Vision for an appointment. He took all the vision tests and sat in the big chair and wore the eye doctor examination mask (as I like to call it.) It was determined that he is color blind (4 out of 5,) that he has 20/30 vision and is near-sighted. He was told he needed glasses to wear while in school, reading, or watching television. Really? So he told me to help him pick out the cheapest frames to save me money and we ordered his pair. While there I set appointments for Adam and Joseph too.



The very next day, Joseph had his eye appointment. He enjoyed looking at the frames and really liked the nice designer ones!! He took all the tests and got to wear the fancy eye doctor mask. His vision perfect, well almost. He had 20/30 in the right, 20/20 in the left with overall 20/20. He, on the other hand, was far-sighted with astigmatism. He was advised to pick out a pair of glasses to use for reading. We eventually settled on a nice shiny pair and he was so excited. At this point I've decided that Nationwide just wants to sell glasses and having an eye exam is really not about "eye health."



Adam attended his appointment a week later and the other two get to pick up their glasses. They acted like they are so cool. Josh was excited because he had always wanted to wear glasses. Poor kid, braces and glasses, luckily he's cute and can bypass all that teasing kids get. So Adam found out he is color blind 4 out of 5 like Josh. I don't remember ever hearing Adam's test results but I know he wasn't too bad. I know he is near-sighted in one eye and astigmatism in the other. He, like Josh, just needed them for school. He picked out about 20 pairs and we had to narrow it down. Writing this, I realized he is a lot like his mother.



Sam went for his appointment and picked out a pair of glasses that he would not take off. He was so excited he could be Dr. Daniel Jackson that he was highly disappointed when he didn't need them. I was told he was fine now but would need glasses in first grade. Seriously?

So here's your chance to guess which eyes fit the kid. All you get are the eyes and glasses.

A.

B.

C.

D.

Wow look how blue eyes vary among the boys.

Now you can check your answers by looking at face shots here

Sam’s Surgery

*warning this entry contains proper words for body parts. If you feel uncomfortable seeing words like that, then please stop reading now.*
Earlier this year Sam had surgery. Around July of last year I was changing Sam's diaper and I noticed one of his testicles was larger (a lot) than the other one. I felt them and it felt like he had three total (one on the right and two on the left.) It was strange. I asked my friend who was in his surgical residency if he knew what that could be. He wasn't sure. Later after his urology rotation he came across these a lot (in older men.)
It seemed to go away and come back every so often. One time when it was visible we took him to urgent care. The diagnosis: a varicocele (varicose vein in the scrotum,) but submitted a referral to a pediatric urologist to be sure. They had us take him for an ultrasound first. We took the ultrasound x-rays to our appointment with the urologist. He said it wasn't a varicocele but wasn't sure what it could be and recommended we watch it for 6 months and come back later.
Six months later we arrived at our appointment at the urologist's office. This time an ultrasound technician gave him an ultrasound at the office. The doctor visited with us for a couple of minutes. The diagnosis: a hydrocele (sack of fluid that empties and fills) and hernia. While a hydrocele is not dangerous and could go away on its own, since it hadn't repaired itself in 6 months, surgery was recommended.
We met at St. Joseph's outpatient clinic for Sam's surgery. He was actually put under for the procedure. The doctor made a 1-inch size incision in Sam's abdomen. He found the hydrocele and tied it off. Then he stitched up the opening (above where his scrotal sac is) where the hydrocele was located. The hydrocele was left in his body where the fluid was absorbed into his body. Then his abs were stitched up with absorbable stitches and his skin was stuck together with medical super glue. We could feel his internal stitches and scar for months after his surgery. He has healed fine.
If you asked Sam about the scar or the surgery he would say, "I went to the hospital and had surgery on my testicles but now it's normal." His scar is still very little and isn't really noticeable.
I thought I'd post this for those who didn't know about his surgery, but also because we didn't know what was wrong with Sam and had to wait a while for an answer. I shared this story with a coworker and the first thing she asked, "Did he have a third testicle?" Someone she knew had the same thing and that's how they thought it looked too. It's not a third, but it seems like it.

Joshua's Journal

We came across a journal that we think Josh made in 1st grade. We are guessing first grade only because one entry he referenced the Super Bowl and it listed the Giants and the Patriots. His last article was titled "Dum mom." It went like this:


“I Love you. Sarry for calling you Dum mom.”

Wow!  I wonder what I did to make him mad and call me dumb. I do, however, admire his cute apology.

Here are a few entries, let me know if you can decipher:

"My favorite part of Halloween is chuckrchreting and eting cande.”

“When I line up I poot my bubl in. When I line up I be cwiyit.”

“At breakfast I est pesaoue. At breakfast I est sosise.”

“When Rudolph’s nose turned green he strerts to fly and he is sileye.”

It was very interesting to read the whole journal. So is learning a new language harder than decoding 6-year-old’s free writing? I don’t think so.  May god continue to bless all the teachers out there who have to learn the phonetic spelling of all the words in the English vocabulary.