Not Exactly a White Christmas

It seems a bit odd to write about Christmas when it is now March but better late than never...
After a lifetime of summer Christmases with barbecues by the beach, swimming and enjoying the sun, we knew that a winter Christmas was going to come as a shock. Bagdad didn't get any settling snowfalls this winter and the temperatures generally stayed pretty mild so we didn't have to dig ourselves out of any snow drifts or anything like that. The climate is much like Orange (New South Wales) in lots of ways. We didn't get any snow on Christmas Day but Prescott got fairly regular snowfall all throughout winter. From early December on there was snow laying on the ground in Prescott so at last we could relate to all those well-intended but mis-placed Christmas cards in Australia that feature fir and pine trees covered in snow. One weekend in mid-December while the Grans were visiting us from Perth and New Zealand respectively, we were invited to a Christmas caroling party at the home (in Prescott) of one of the company's vice-presidents. It had been snowing all that day and the whole town was carpeted in white which reinforced the city's campaign to be "Arizona's Christmas City". Lots of people decorate their houses and businesses with lights, decorations and so on, really getting into the Christmas spirit. Singing Christmas carols while the snow fell outside was a really nice way to spend an evening. We stayed the night at a hotel in Prescott where there was a big display claiming to be "The World's Largest Gingerbread Village". It was definitely big, a display at least 20 metres long of all kinds of gingerbread houses and buildings, adobe houses, cathedrals, you name it, and of course a model train running through the middle of it all.

Christmas Day was a very special one since we had both Grans and P home to make the day very focussed on family. P has been away at work the past 2 Christmases so it was his first Christmas at home since N was a baby. We had to teach P the Santa protocol: biscuits and juice for Santa with a note from us, plus carrots for the reindeer and stockings hung up where Santa can find them. No getting up in the night or the reindeer will get nervous and won't land. We did a drive around Bagdad to see all the houses decorated with lights for Christmas. Some people had gone to incredible lengths (and presumably, expense) to light up their homes for Christmas and for such a small town there were so many very elaborate displays. Christmas is a lot of fun when you have little children in the house and it was so great for us all to be able to share the time together.

Las Vegas Revisted and Another Look at the Grand Canyon

While the Grans were here P and I took a week off work at the end of November and we all headed out on a road trip for about 6 days. First it was a short visit to Hoover Dam, where we had lunch and walked around the visitor centre and took some photos. Later that day we hit Las Vegas, this time we stayed at Treasure Island (TI) which was very nice and very convenient to everything. The first night of our stay I took the Grans to see Phantom of the Opera while P played chief babysitter and took N for a walk to see the lights of Vegas. Phantom was an incredible production with superb singers and really spectacular effects (fireworks and flares among them), I loved it and was really glad that we took the opportunity to see it. The following night we all went to see the Cirque du Soleil show "Mystere", which is the only show in Vegas that you can take children under 5 years to see. It was playing at TI so it could not have been more convenient. N was really spellbound by it all and it was neat to see so much wonder on his face as he took it all in. It has long been a dream of mine to take Mum to see Phantom and Cirque du Soleil so to share that with her was very special for me. There are a fairly limited number of things you can do with a 3-year-old in the gambling and excess capital of the world but it was enough just to walk around during the day and take in the whole spectacle. We took a gondola ride at the Venetian with a gondolier who was more interested in hearing about copper mining than singing us some opera (which is what he expected us to tip him for doing). We made a very quick (just a few minutes) visit to Paris which was absolutely beautiful inside - I will definitely try to get back there again for a longer look around next time we visit. There were so many beautiful little shops and the whole interior of that part of the casino was just gorgeous - it was all done in such a way that it really did feel as though we were walking in Paris.

From Las Vegas we headed east to Williams, from whence we took a day trip by train to the Grand Canyon. The train trip included lunch and a bus tour at the Canyon which was an ideal way to see a lot of scenery while minimising the amount of walking that the most senior and junior members of our party had to do. The Canyon was no less impressive the second time around and I am still awestruck by the sheer immensity of it. It appeals to me as a place where I could just sit and contemplate, well, anything for hours...the massive scale and incomparable beauty of the Canyon; our place in the Universe and how small and insignificant we really are when we compare ourselves to the great things that Mother Nature has created; and I found that it just really put a lot of things into perspective for me. I would have loved to be able to just sit there for a long time and soak it all in but of course we didn't have time to do that and with a little boy to watch out for (no guard rails on a lot of the lookouts, yikes) it's pretty hard to relax. The Canyon is a truly awesome place and I can't wait to visit it again. Travelling by train was not a bad way to go, at least we didn't have to worry about driving and could just relax and watch the scenery go by. Before the train left Williams that morning there was a mock shootout that had N very worried (he thought the gunfighter had really been shot so we had to explain that it wasn't real) then during the journey the outlaws boarded the train and "demanded" that we hand over our valuables. The outlaws and Sherriff (who of course was there to bring them to justice) are all former police officers who I guess are doing a much more entertaining job this side of retirement.

After spending a wonderful day at the Grand Canyon in chilly but sunny weather we had planned to continue east from Williams to Flagstaff. Instead a big snow storm came in so rather than drive into the worsening weather we decided to head back to Bagdad. It was a shame to have cut our holiday short but rather that than end up stranded somewhere because of the terrible weather.

Amusing Questions We Have Been Asked - Part 4 in an Occasional Series

(There are a lot of hunters in this town and hunting is VERY popular with young and old alike. Almost every household has at least one gun.)

"Is it hard to shoot kangaroos when they keep jumping up and down?"

Happy Thanksgiving

Today we were very fortunate to be invited to our friends' home to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with them. We had never experienced Thanksgiving before so it was a bit of a mystery to us but we had a beautiful meal and a very enjoyable afternoon. The meal is the focus of the celebration and ours was fantastic, turkey, two kinds of potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce and at least 3 different kinds of pies. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving to find out more about Thanksgiving in America.

It was very special to be included in such a quintessentially American holiday and I am very thankful that we have had the opportunity to come here and experience life in America first-hand.

Elvis is Alive and Well in Las Vegas

The weekend before last we drove to Las Vegas to spend a fantastic weekend seeing the lights and sights of Sin City and meeting up with my sister J L and her husband who had flown in from Canada. I hadn't seen J L since 1992 and I'd never met her husband so we had a wonderful time catching up and spending a great weekend together.

Las Vegas is a total hedonist's delight; it's the city of excess, almost a Disneyland for grown-ups, with every imaginable theme, gimmick and piece of bling dished up in larger-than-life style for the paying customer. From the scale replica Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty, the copy of Central Park that even has manholes with steam coming out, the gondolas at the Venetian, to the erupting volcano and the sinking pirate ship at Treasure Island, it's all there to entice you inside the endless casinos, to be more dazzled and more entertained than at the establishment next door. Several years ago Vegas tried to clean up its act and became more family-friendly but now it has gone back to its raunchy former self and the focus is back on fun that's almost exclusively for adults.

We enjoyed checking out the lights and got an all-day bus pass so we could visit some of the more child-friendly attractions (while trying not to wear out the little legs): the pirate ships at Treasure Island, the amusement park at Circus Circus and M&M World (4 floors of M&Memorabilia, over-the-top) were all on the agenda. On the way back from visiting Luxor (the casino that is shaped like a pyramid) we saw Elvis posing for photos outside the Harley Davidson cafe. If he was going to be anywhere, he'd be in Vegas! Although we didn't gamble even a single cent, and didn't manage to see any shows (pretty difficult when you have a 3 year old with you), we had a great time and we will definitely try to go there again. I want to get one of those photos with Elvis...

Amusing Questions We Have Been Asked - Part 3 in an Occasional Series

"Aren't New Zealand and Australia part of the same country?"

(Not last time I checked)

Halloween

This October we celebrated our first Halloween in America. Halloween is a big deal here in the States and some people go to a great deal of trouble to decorate their house and prepare a mountain of candy for the children who come trick or treating on October 31. There was a Halloween carnival on October 27 at our local community centre, featuring a haunted house, costume contest and lots of games and prizes (almost all of them were edible) for the children. N dressed up as Superman (see the photo) and had a whole lot of sugar-fuelled fun of course. On the 31st there was a Halloween party at his preschool (he brought home 3 bags full of lollies) followed by trick or treating around the community centre with his classmates (more lollies), then that night I took him trick or treating (even more lollies) with his friend Peter and Peter's family. P stayed at home and handed out the treat bags that I had filled and decorated (I made about 70 of those; we were warned to expect "a lot" of trick or treaters). We had a great time walking in our neighbourhood, knocking on doors, avoiding the scary haunted houses (some of them were fully decked-out inside like a haunted house, complete with scary monsters and ghouls jumping out to try to freak the kids out), especially the one with the chainsaw-toting monster in the front yard... a real guy, with a real chainsaw. When we got home P had given out about 30 lolly bags and we thought we had got off pretty lightly but by the time we ran out of candy (we were told to turn off our outside light when the candy ran out, a signal that no more trick or treaters were welcome to knock on the door) the total was 110 kids coming to the house to ask for lollies. Yikes! Now we know that we have to be even more prepared next year!