Busy Days in the Desert

 As the previous video stated, Miss Jill and Mister John were out visiting family in Arizona over Presidents' Day weekend.  Nothing quite says the desert like riding through the dry wilderness as seen on the picture to the left.  Mister John is looking stylish in his prescription Ray-Bans.  Being cool and being able to see; there's a combo for ya.

Grampa Kendall kept an eye on the girls in the back yard.  Betsy Jo and Mary Jane walked here, there, and everywhere in search of birds, lizards, and rocks.  They found many of each.  Mary Jane was looking for a rabbit in a rabbit hole when suddenly a lizard popped out!  Oh goodness!  Hopefully she won't be afraid of lizards for the rest of her life now.

Here Miss Jill is getting the Desert Mobile ready to ride through the dry Arizona desert.  Not much to show there of cacti.  Some other pictures had them but not with Miss Jill styling behind the steering wheel.  She made sure that she hit the bumps nice and fast to scare her husband into thinking she was trying to kill him.

There's Doug the Dog.  He showed up on Saturday and Betsy and Mary Jane didn't really know what to do.  They prefer rabbits and most of the dogs they have met were of the scrawny kind.  At least Doug was a real sized dog, not one of those who could be carried by idiot Hollywood starlets.

Betsy Jo wasn't big on it at first but she managed to like being carried by her dad in a walking carrier.  He put in a decent hike with her as the sun set behind them in the Arizona desert.  Note: such rosy cheeks in Arizona for Betsy.  Maybe it was the dry climate.  Ironic as she was born in Lake Havasu City... you'd think she were a native city girl with her reaction to the desert.










Miss Betsy struggled a bit with the weather but did get in a solid 2+ hour nap on Sunday.  While the rest of the family thought she was asleep, she broke out of her confinement and Mister John found her smiling.  Guess the nap was over for Miss Bets.

Magically Bigger!

Some people might have said that the Havasu hospital did not properly measure Betsy Jo but I'd like to think that she has grown one whole inch from Saturday night, the night she was born. She is now 21 inches in length which was the same as Mary Jane's back in December. Mary Jane was one pound heavier for those who keep such statistics.

Betsy Jo has already caught the attention of Mary Jane who came by a few times this afternoon to say Hello.

Big Smile by Daddy

It's 119 today in Lake Havasu City so at least little Betsy Jo will never say she's not experienced extreme heat. Meanwhile Mary Jane was swimming in a pool. Mary Jane has also noticed Betsy but hasn't quite figured it out yet. Maybe she's just a short-eared rabbit.

Now if the hospital passes along the medical records (like they should), we can drive down to Gramma and Grampa Kendall's tomorrow. Otherwise, we idle for another day in extreme heat.

Betsy Jo Looking Hoppy

Betsy Jo's birth mother Jenn Wilson took a very nice picture of her tonight. This is her last night in the hospital. Tomorrow she'll be heading off with us in our newly updated family.

Dance, Big Sister, Dance!

One thing that Jill and I will make sure does not happen is that we forget about our lovely Mary Jane. It's been a bit odd the last few days as Mary Jane has stayed with Gramma and Grampa Kendall while we've been at the hospital with Elizabeth. It's not like we've forgotten Mary Jane; conversely, it makes us think about her all the more. When we were all together at my family's get-together (before the all-important "water breaking" phone call), Mary Jane entranced the audience with a mighty quadruple tongue thrust. :P :P :P :P

Mary Jane has been a dancing fiend again with her grandparents. Good for her! She needs to channel that dancing energy. Give Betsy Jo a few months and then she too can channel her energy into rolling, laughing, and crawling.

On an unrelated note, I really do like those M&Ms with the pretzels inside. Quite tasty.

Darting Eyes

I can't wait to download the video of Betsy Jo trying out her eyes this morning. I'm not sure if she can see more than shades and shadows at this point but watching her move them to the left and to the right is quite entertaining.

The Surprise Call

Now to backtrack a little bit here. Unknown to many people, we were matched as potential adoptive parents with a woman in Arizona. At first we thought it might be too soon as Mary Jane was just a few months old. But as we thought about it, it would be perfect for MJ to have a younger sister quite close to her in age. So we moved forward with the adoption process.

Yesterday Jill and I were at my sister's for a family barbecue. I was going to tell them at some point but then we were beaten to the punch by a phone call. The birth mother Jenn called us to say that her water had broken. Egads! Well, no hiding that surprise bit of news anymore. Nothing quite like telling your family that you're going to have to leave early because you're going to adopt a brand new child in another state in just a few hours.

Oh yes, nothing like a long drive out on the 40. It's not a bad ride... just quite full of desert, that's all. Quite coincidentally Mary Jane was born in a desert town as well, Victorville. The temperature at Betsy Jo's birth was still 102. Ouch. Conversely, it was a mere 55 or so in December for MJ's birth. We arrived just in time to hear the good news about Elizabeth's birth.

Oh, she screamed a lot the first night. But wouldn't you? Yeah, after nine months of security to be tossed out into the world of lights and noises... goodness, I'd scream as well!

Pictures will be downloaded as soon as we can get Grampa Kendall's computer for such things. More updates in a bit.