Freestone Park, Gilbert, Arizona

I promised the kids we could return to Freestone Park so that they could play longer.  The park has a small amusement ride area (rather expensive if you ask me!) and they were super excited to try it out.  I had just enough cash to let them go on the train ride around the park.  They loved it!  I let Jillian take the camera and snap some pictures as they went around.  The weather that day was wonderful!!  I was kicking myself because I didn't bring enough warm weather clothing.  It was so nice to be outside though!

An interesting side note about Freestone Park.  It was named after the Freestone family, who were quite influential in the area and donated money (and maybe land but I'm not sure about that) to the town of Gilbert.  Brad's dad grew up in Mesa (the city just north of Gilbert) and knew the family quite well; he and Eric Freestone had wrestled in high school together and Eric even dated Brad's aunt in high school for a while as well.  When we moved out to Missouri, we found that  Eric Freestone lived in our ward!  Small world!!

 Jorja before the ride, taken by Jillian

 Logan before the ride, taken by Jillian

 Jorja, Logan and Jillian before the ride

 Freestone Park is really nice.  There is a lake in the center that attracts lots of waterfowl, several playgrounds, a skate park, a baseball park, batting cages, and gigantic fields to play field games.

 One of the big soccer fields.  Water retention basins double as soccer fields all over the valley.

 This was taken on the far side of the lake.  I was waiting for them underneath a "shady" palm trees.  We all agreed that the palm trees were much prettier in San Diego than in Phoenix.

Jillian thought this egret was pretty cool and then when it took off, she was excited to catch a picture of it in flight.  I love that my kids think nature is cool...because it is!!!

 Fortunately, I had some crackers in the car so the kids were able to feed the ducks.  It was really fun to watch the ducks fight over the food.  I think some of them were having territorial fights though (the territory being the female ducks).  You could definitely see that some of the ducks were paired off.

 Freestone Park also has some really neat waterfall areas.  Jillian took these pictures of the white duck with only one leg down.  She thought that was pretty funny!  You can see a male and female mallard duck in the shadow on the picture above also.

 

 There were several different kinds of waterfowl there so we made sure we had a picture of all of them.  Above is a male and female American Wigeon

 

 This is a male Northern Shoveler.  The male birds are always more colorful than the females because it is the females that choose the males.

 An American Coot!  We laughed at their honking because it sounds like someone passing gas. Jillian said they should be called the American Toot!! Ha!

 The coots kept coming on shore in flocks so Logan thought it would be fun to run them off.  I tried to get a picture of it all in action but after a few times they were wary of him and kept flying away before I could get him in the picture as well.

Goodbye Dinner at Golden Corral

One more time seeing the extended family, at least those who were able to come.  We sure miss them already.

 Allison Jensen and her dad, Uncle Bill Whetten

 Afton and Paige Jensen and Jillian

 Seth, Scott, and Slade Simmons

Afton and Jillian

Susan with Samantha and Gram with Tristan and Ellee (Candice and Matt's kids)

 Joe Jensen, his son Cole, Grandaddy, and Mimi

 Aunt Carolyn with the elusive Jake Jensen

Candice!!

Jillian and Brad

Jillian, Aunt Rhea, Afton, and Sofya

Paige, Jillian and Seth

Sofya and Afton

Jillian, Jake Jensen and Seth.  Jake kept running away from me because he didn't want his picture taken.  Ha ha!  I got him anyway.

Logan and Slade

 

Sofya, Afton, Paige and Jillian.  We missed the Johnson family that night.  It breaks my heart that we live so far away from these people.  Man, we love them!!!

My Jorja-girl!

Some of our most favorite people in the whole world!  Allison and Joe Jensen (cousins) and their kids Afton, Paige, Jake, Luke, Cole and Tyler.

Dinner at Suzanne's

 Before we left to go back to Missouri, Scott and Suzanne invited the whole family to have a bbq at their house.  Since it was the last time we'd all be together, of course I had to take a bunch of pictures!!

 Suzanne with her boys, Chase (left) and Cody.

  My goodness, these handsome boys have grown up so much!!

 Jillian and her cousin, Sofya.  We were glad to stay the few extra days since otherwise we would have missed seeing Sofya.  She spent her vacation with her grandparents in Washington.

 Clockwise: Jillian, Seth, Sofya, Slade, Samantha, and Jorja.  I don't know where Logan was.  Those kids had soooo much fun together!!!

 Gram (right) and her sister, Rhea

 Scott Murray, Suzanne's husband.  We loved getting to know Scott and are happy to call him brother!!

Scott and Susan.  This is such a cute picture of them!

Roller Skating

 Last Wednesday I took Jorja to a birthday party at the roller skating rink near us.  Her friends, twins Hailey and Kailey, had the rink rented out so it was just a bunch of 6 and 7 year old girls and their parents.  It was a lot of fun!!  This was Jorja's first time skating at a roller rink and it was a lot more slippery than she thought it would be.  She fell quite a bit and was getting frustrated so I ended up renting a cool guide thing to help her stay upright.  They were really neat, made out of pvc pipe and attached at a 90 degree angle (like a triangle without one side).  It made me wish we had something like that when I was little!

Anyway, Jorja had a great time skating with a bunch of her friends.  Below, Jorja and one of her best friends, Lindsey Ellefsen.

Being the awesome mom that I am, I opted to skate with her and it brought back many memories!  Like biking, the thing I love about roller skating is being able to go fast!  I love the feeling of speed and wind through my hair.  Simply divine!!  I remember going to the roller rink as a kid and being so proud of myself when I skated in the middle with all the fast skaters.  I sure wanted to be like them but I'm sure I was a total obstacle to them!

When I was 10 years old, I asked my parents for a pair of my own roller skates, imagining white, high boots with fast, rubber wheels that would take me speedily down the street.  I could take them to my friends' houses (or vice versa) and we'd speed down the street together laughing all the while.  Such fun I would have!  I could even bring my own skates to the roller rink and be so cool with white boots instead of the standard brown ones that one had to rent at the rink.  Oh what fun I would have with my new skates!!

 Alas, my dream was not to come true.  I did indeed get roller skates that year, only they were not exactly what I had envisioned.  Yes, my boots were a beautiful white.  But instead of rubber wheels, mine were made out of metal.  I remember being really disappointed because these skates were not like the others.  They did not make me feel cool and worst of all, they did not, and I mean NOT in a very big way, go fast.  In fact, it would have been easier to just run.  If I ran over a rock, my metal wheels not only did not absorb the shock but they would actually get all dented.

But, being the optimist that I am, I decided that skates with metal wheels were better than no skates at all.  And even though I was disappointed in my skates' limitations, I was still determined to make the best of the situation.  I practiced and practiced controlling the skates down the driveway and along the sidewalk.  I am sure I got way more physical exercise because of my metal wheels.  These skates didn't really coast.  No, if there was any forward movement it was directly related to me moving my legs.

I actually got pretty good on my skates and was able to then do pretty well with the rubber skates at the rink.  Fast forward thirty years and I still had my groove goin'.  I admit I am not the best skater, but I can certainly hold my own.  Most important, I can go fast and still maneuver the turns, wind whipping through my hair.  However, this does not work so well holding on to an inexperienced 6 year old girl.  Before I rented the pvc pipe helper thing I was holding Jorja myself.  At one point I had both my hands under her armpits and she threw me off balance.  Not being able to break my fall, I fell back landing on my tail bone.  Ouch!!  The fall completely took the wind out of my lungs and I just sat there for a minute until I could get the strength to get up.  Four days later and I am still on pain killers.  Not quite the roller diva I had envisioned myself to be at age 37!!!