Arizona Trip Part 1

We survived our flight to Arizona.  I was pretty nervous about flying with Scott since
1. It was his first flight
2. Toddlers are just about the worst people to fly with right behind drunk friendly people.
3. We were arriving in Arizona past bedtime and I didn't know if that would help or hinder adjustment to our new time zone 3 hours behind.

Things we should forget about our flight:
The 10 minutes of solid screaming from Scott before he gave it up on the plane and went to sleep.
Changing a diaper on the toilet seat in the bathroom
Emma being wretched about her sleeping arrangement
Us not being able to get dinner in Baltimore (I thought we would get off the plane but we didn't).  And, my kids had to eat airplane pretzel packets for dinner.  They weren't very impressed.


My sister picked us up at the airport and we went to her house.  Within 5 minutes of arriving at Amantha's house Andrew and her boys were running, wrestling, tackling and having fun. Cousins are amazing friends!

To address my #3 concern from above arriving past bedtime had absolutely NO affect on Scott's sleep schedule.  He (and the other kids) slept for a bit on the plane were up for 2 hours when we got off the plane, got our bags, made our way to Amantha's house (via Jack in the Box) and played with cousins.  They all went back to sleep and Scott woke us up at 3:50 a.m., Andrew at 4:15 and Emma at 4:45.  I've said it before and I'll say it again: Time change with kids is a beast!  We enjoyed a BEAUTIFUL mountain sunrise and played outside for hours before we went to the park for a family picnic.

We met at Pioneer Park which holds fond memories from my childhood.  We were happy to see my parents, aunts, uncles, some cousins and one of my Grandma's.  What a fun way to spend a day.  Scott passed out in the stroller for a couple hours and Andrew and Emma literally did not stop playing for 5 hours straight!

A couple scenes from our day at the park (I can't believe I didn't take more pictures.  I was very busy living in the moments not taking pictures of them but I still wish I had snapped a few more)

He never met a slide he didn't like.  The Arizona sun is SO bright! I soaked up more vitamin D this one day than I soak up for the entire fall in Virginia!  

First trip to Arizona.  Whitest skin in the park!

Baby Calvin.  Just about the most friendly and sweet baby around.  You will notice there  are NO pictures of MY baby with anyone else- cause he's a turkey.  Not Calvin!  He will give ANYONE a hug!

Andrew and Athan.  Kindred Spirits. Trouble. Cousins.  Friends. 

Things I wish I had pictures of:

Emma going to the Indian Pow-wow in the park with my Uncle Dan, Aunt Susan, and Grandma.  She wasn't very impressed by how loud an Indian Pow wow is (though she did think their outfits were spiffy) and Uncle Dan said she sad in a chair and plugged her ears and was falling asleep so he carried her all the way back (probably 500 yards or so).

Me and my parents.  I was so glad to see them, hug them and hang out in the sunshine with them.

All my cousins who came (and all our kids!).  I only had 5 cousins (and 2 siblings) that came (I have MANY more cousins than that) but between the 7 of us there we had 20 kids.  It was a wonderful time.  My Aunt Donnie brought a gallon of water to make the sand wet so the kids could make sand castles.  Sand with NO moisture in it......only in the desert my friends!

My Dad going down the slide with Scotty.  He knew Scott wasn't going to be cuddly like Calvin so he met him on his own turf.  Sweet memory.

My Uncle handing Mike the keys to his truck which he let us borrow for the entire 12 days we were there.  SO kind of him.  If you're going on a trip to Arizona you may as well drive around the state in a truck!

After the park we went to stay with our friends Scott and Janelle and hose our kids down.  Their back yard proved to be one of the coolest places I've ever seen!  They have an oval sidewalk around the perimeter of their backyard (read: bike and scooter track!) This was Andrew's DREAM.  He spent every possible moment he could on that track.  I've added it to the list of things I will have in my dream house.  Also- an in ground trampoline.  No climbing, no falling off.  Just walk on and bounce.....even Scotty was impressed!

As expected our kids were in bed VERY early and dead asleep.  We had a nice Sunday in a HUGE ward (they were having their second primary program because there are 200 kids in the primary).


Monday after the Douglas girls left for school Mike and Scott took the kids horse back riding.  Fun!  I stayed behind with Scotty and packed up our suitcases and visited with super pregnant Janelle.  Everyone enjoyed their morning.

Things I wish we had pictures of:

-Mike and Scott together.  We were TERRIBLE at taking pictures!
-All the Douglas kids and our kids together.  All the kids played so nicely together.  Emma had two sweet girls to play with and Andrew and Levi put some serious miles on the track.  Andrew couldn't understand why Levi didn't understand him sometimes and it was a hard concept to explain that even though Levi was as tall as Andrew.....and kind of bigger than him.....he is only 2 1/2 years old.  A small 5 year old and a big 2 year old are a funny match sometimes.
-Us enjoying Bahama Bucks.  The best shaved ice joint EVER.
-Taking off for Winslow and me trying to literally soak in the mountains and desert views.  The drive from Phoenix to Winslow is seriously 3 hours of amazing landscape.  I love where I'm from.
-Stopping to give Grandma a hug on our way to Winslow.  I wish we lived close enough to stop in and give hugs!  Scotty fell IMMEDIATELY in love with Winnie the dog.  He liked her more than anyone else he met in Arizona.

We arrived in Winslow to see my BFF!  It's been TOO long since we had time together.  2 years ago the kids and I went for a visit and quickly everyone got sick with a terrible stomach flu and our visit ended.  It was so good to spend time together and watch our kids become friends.  The house I lived in when we lived in Winslow is just across the street from Kim and Steve- now THAT would be a fun time!

Pumpkin carving time!

Not so much a helper as he was a little....wanderer

Sweet Tatum

See?  There I am.

Scott's ball went across the street and rolled under this car.  So, what does he do?  Follow it.  I watched him.  He didn't look for cars or anything.  Babies!

Not surprising the boys thought the guts were cool to touch.

Girls used the scooper

Emma and Tatey have a hug while Scott wanders into the street.....again.  Good thing it was a REALLY slow street!

Proud pumpkin carvers.

Scott and Tobin.  I'll steal Kim's picture caption- the grouches.  They were grouchy!  Neither of them were impressed with our little set up.  

Oldest to youngest

I told them to make their best Ninja faces.  This is what I got. These two were very busy playing spies and ninjas and  had lots of fun together.  

Wow....we've come a long way!

The grown ups.

I'm so glad we could spend some time together.  I'm so glad I can call Kim my friend.  When we were leaving their house I was sad.  I wanted to laugh more and say something like "see you next week."  But, instead we'll just see them when we can.  It will be okay though- because we will like we always do pick up where we left off.
We know how to pick good friends.  That's for sure.