Meeker Moments: March 2016

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Spring Break 2016

Spring Break was not very eventful for us this year--which I am finding as my kids get older, they prefer the "lesser" schedule. It seems that most our weeks are filled to the brim with activities which makes us really appreciate these slower times.

Chris was of course out of town the entire time. Ethan went on a campout for 4 days of his week-long break so we squeezed in one grand adventure on one day of our break--Out of Africa Wildlife Park.

I've seen advertisements for this place for many years but had never made the trek out there--it's a solid 2 hour drive away. But why not? We headed out at 7:30 am to be there right at park opening at 9:30 am. I was delightfully surprised at how FUN this place is! Nothing like I'd ever been to before. Here are some of the day's highlights:

Bush Safari:

First thing, we hopped on a bus for a "Bush Safari" where we got up close and personal with several animals and even fed a giraffe right from our bus! It's hard to see from the pictures but this giraffe was very "wrinkly!" The guide referred to him as a "Shar-Pei Giraffe." Most giraffes are NOT like this. I think it made him extra cute:) We all fed him from our hands--Max was trying to get it into his mouth for a "giraffe kiss" but the giraffe was too hungry and too fast:)

Cutest little zebra family on this tour--new baby zebra born on Feb. 14th and named "Valentine."

Mom and baby Valentine

Animal Shows:

LOTS of chances to touch reptiles--NO THANK YOU for me! I just took the pics of my kids:)

We didn't get to touch the porcupine but she sure was CUTE to watch:)

The kids moving in for a closer look at the gigantic albino snake.

This is a BIG pile o' snakes! YUK!

Fun "cat-walks" throughout the park:)

We LOVED watching the prairie dogs eat and burrow:)

The best part of the park were the educational shows. None of the animals are trained in these parks--the people work with the animal's instincts. The Tiger Splash show was SOOO cool! The tigers are just like big house cats that love to swat at toys and chase things on strings:) We then all had the opportunity to feed these magnificent tigers. I REALLY would have liked to pet one of these for sure but they kept us all at a safe distance and behind a fence--but it was still cool anyways.

We spent the entire day there and had a blast. In my opinion, definitely worth the drive and very affordable too! A great way to spend a day together:)

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Haunted Tour 2016!

For Max's birthday, he opted NOT to have a party but to take a "Haunted Tour" instead--Chris and I will chose a trip over a party or a home remodel ANY day:) Peter Pan pretty much dominated every weekend in January so this tour was about a month late but we did it!

Max has an obsession with everything Halloween and scary. When he learned that his great grandmother, Helen, owned a "haunted" ranch in Douglas, AZ, he just HAD to see it! He couldn't believe that our family was actually COOL enough to have owned something haunted!!!

My grandparents lived on the "Texas John Slaughter Ranch/San Bernadino Ranch" for 12 years. I was too young to remember but apparently we went and stayed at the ranch for a couple weeks every summer. My older sister remembers this ranch well and always HATED going there. I've actually seen this ranch on a TV show that takes children with psychic abilities to this ranch to help them to confirm and develop their abilities because it is a well-known and documented haunted establishment.

Our first stop was in Bisbee, AZ. This is a really cool little told mining own that is all about tourism now. The only hotel in town that had any open rooms was the "Copper Queen Hotel." So we booked the rooms. AFTER booking the rooms, I happened upon an article that states that the Copper Queen Hotel is the 4th MOST HAUNTED HOTEL IN THE UNITED STATES!!! WHAT?! And upon further reading, I discovered that there are 16 entities that haunt this hotel and that he 3rd floor of the hotel is the most active with spirits! Okay..all good. We'll stay there as long as we're NOT on the 3rd floor or anywhere close to room 315!

So we get there and meet my parents who drove up from NM. We get our room keys...ROOM 308 & 310. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Max and his best friend Evan were so dang excited that I had to play it cool.

It was a really cool hotel. Definitely very old (the oldest in AZ) with very narrow staircases with rickety old steps and doors that don't seem to lock very well. I really do love historical places so I read everything I could get my hands on in the hotel. One pamphlet invited us to go and see the life-sized painting of a famous actress, Lillie Langtry, down in the saloon. So I take the boys downstairs to see...a NUDE painting of this woman!!! Seriously?! Some kind of warning/explanation would have been REALLY nice!!!

Here are some of the more famous rooms:

The naked lady's room!

Room 315--the MOST haunted room.
Haunted by a prostitute that committed suicide
in the room--you can look this room up on YouTube!

We took a "Ghost Tour" that first night there--BEST TOUR EVER!!! We walked all over this town learning about it's history and the many fires, mining accidents, and tragedies that have happened in this little town which give it such a "colorful" history. Haunted banks, shoppes, saloons, etc... Haunted by miners, prostitutes, children, and even cats!!!

Funny story: We had an autistic man in our group. He was probably in his twenties and he was there with his drunk dad or grandpa. This autistic man was VERY excited about this tour and always wanted to be right up at the front with the guide. I made this mistake of being in front of him as we climbed a very steep staircase. Apparently, I was not climbing fast enough so he proceeded to "help" me by pushing me up by my butt...scariest thing that happened to me ALL weekend! I made sure to NOT get in his way again:)

Our Tour Guide

Haunted Bank--used to be a family mortuary

Haunted Saloon--burned down several times

The boys did NOT sleep well that night--Of course my dad was having a little fun with them as he and Tatum snuck out of our hotel room to go and scratch on their door:) Every little sound woke them up--Chris just put in ear plugs after awhile. One of the ghost that haunts the Copper Queen is a 10 year old boy named Billy. The boys were told to leave candy out for him and so they did and they swear that some of the candy was missing in the morning:) So that was our exciting night there:)

The next morning we headed out to see Bisbee in the daytime:

This is the old high school.
It is in the Guiness World Book of Records
because it has 4 floors and there is a
ground access door to each floor--
it's built into the side of a mountain.

LOTS of artsy (hippy) people live here now.

Beautiful Koi ponds

Old Mining site

We then headed out to Douglas to see my grandmother's ranch--30 minute drive from Bisbee. My Grandparents were the 3rd and final owners of this ranch. It was bought from them by the state of AZ and is considered a historic landmark now.

My dad actually lived here for a short time after returning home from Vietnam. The 12 years that my grandparents lived here, they had NO telephone. So when my dad got home from the war, he couldn't call his mom and had to actually hitch a ride home. I am a little envious of the absolute quiet and isolation that exist out here but I imagine I would only enjoy it for a while:)

The VERY haunted root cellar

This pond is protected by the state because there are
species of fish in this pond that do not exist
anywhere else in the world.

The current caretakers of this ranch have several animals of their own. My kids favorite was the pot-bellied pig named "Copper."

Tatum liked this dog the best:) Lilly was her name:)

On the drive out to the ranch, we saw the FUNNIEST set-up and so we made sure to stop by it on the way back into town. There is this small child's toy set up in the MIDDLE of NO WHERE with a sign that reads, "Pony Rides for 25 cents." So of course we had to stop and take a picture with it--and there was actually some quarters AND a dollar bill in the bucket!!! Funny people:)

Our final stop of the tour was Tombstone. We watched all of the "Young Gun" movies in preparation for visiting this town. Amazing little step back in time--a step back into a CRAZY time! Seriously hard living back then!

Boothill Graveyard was my favorite stop. The tombstones are extremely blunt and yet some were pretty funny.

These were the 4 men killed in the famous OK Corral shoot-out
with Wyatt Earp.

I really enjoyed this trip and I am VERY glad to have not personally experienced any paranormal activity. Max had a great time and hopefully he will always remember this trip and all the cool things he learned:)

PETER PAN!!!

To say that the past 3 months have been the BEST months of Max's life would be a HUGE understatement. He was the star and loved every single minute of every single rehearsal and performance!

I have to admit that I was a nervous wreck during the performance weeks--just as I have been during Carlie's lead performances. During tech week, these kiddos were kept out late--10:30 pm--on school nights to get this play pulled together. On Wednesday night that week--the LAST rehearsal--Max came home in tears! The pressure had caught up to him and he was definitely feeling it! He also needed to stay healthy because this theatre company does not cast understudies and several of the kids in the cast were sick!!!

So I kept Max home from school on opening day--Thursday, Feb. 4th--sleeping in, drinking LOTs of water/OJ, and oiled up with "On Guard." We had a very relaxing day at home. I took him to get his favorite lunch--a pretzel with cheese and a soda from QT. I sent his teacher at school an email letting her know why I was keeping him home. Ms. Askins was SOOOO awesome and understanding. She actually had the entire class sign a huge sheet of green paper wishing him good luck on opening night. She sent it up to the theatre with another teacher that was coming on opening night--Ms. Askins came on Saturday night:) Seriously brought tears to my eyes and meant the world to Max. I was there on opening night (NOT breathing properly because I was SOOOOOO nervous for him!) and Max did A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Not missing a single cue, line, dance step, or song!

I ended up seeing 5 of the 8 performances--I would have seen them all but I was required to help backstage and in the lobby sometimes:) Max was very calm, collect, and by golly "professional" up there. Each performance just got better and better--AND he stayed 100% HEALTHY the entire time!!! YAHOO!!!

Closing night was HILARIOUS! During intermission of the last show, Carlie was called out to ask my permission for Tiger Lily to kiss Max on the cheek during their "Blood Brothers" performance. I of course gave 2 big thumbs up and anxiously awaited. Apparently EVERYONE EXCEPT Max knew that this kiss was going to happen. All of the Meekers were there and were on the edge of our seats when it happened....OH MY GOSH! Max barely kept it together and was definitely freaked out and seriously blushing! We were ALL laughing so hard. When poor Max got off stage, all the other actors rushed in on him asking him all about "the kiss" which caused him to miss a cue to crow--but the backstage guys covered it for him:) (Only I could tell it was NOT Max crowing:) Thankfully he recovered quickly and made it back on stage for his next cue. Closing night is when everyone goes a little "off script" while hamming it up and adding extra stuff--like in the final fight scene between Peter Pan and Captain Hook, Max & Brandon had planned for Hook's wig to fall off as part of their fight and once again, we were laughing hysterically! So closing night was my hands down favorite--Tiger Lily kissed Max AGAIN at the curtain call so he was kissed TWICE that night by a teenage girl:) Stud.

Max proved to me that he is a boy that can handle a lot. He balanced school, scouts, campouts, rehearsals, and performances. He didn't just do okay, HE ROCKED IT ALL! I am just incredibly proud of my little guy :)

We had a ton of friends and family come and support him in this play--friends/teachers from school, church, and neighbors all came out to see Max as Peter Pan. I am ever so grateful for these good people who helped make this an amazing experience for him.

As I think over just these past few months, I am so grateful to live in an area like we do. My kids have had AMAZING opportunities in their lives that I never had in mine--softball and plays just to name two. Sometimes I feel like I'm not cut out for "big city living" but times like this, I know I'm right where I should be and I am grateful to have been lead here.