AZ

Last week, the kids and I took off to Arizona to stay with my brother, Mark and his family. Buck was gone to football camp and then scout camp so I figured it was the perfect time to go...especially since it was the last time I could fly without having to pay for Lucas. He's going to be 2 this week! Anyway, we had so much fun. This was the first time Grace has been on a plane and can actually remember being on it. I don't think I've flown anywhere with her since she was about 5 mo. old. That was sort of a nightmare so I've been hesitant to try again.
Well, I stupidly packed my camera in my checked bag on the way out but I wish I had it to capture the rapture on her face as we got ready to take off. When we got seated, she kept announcing, "Okay. I'm ready to go. Let's go plane." It was adorable.
We paid a visit to the Phx Zoo while we were there. It was a VERY hot day. I have decided though, that I would take 110 degrees over 32 any day! If we ever move again, it will definitely be south and not north!
There is a cow with huge horns behind Grace here but it's hard to see cause it is in the shade.
This guy was getting fed.
The zoo has a splash pad and the kids had a lot of fun playing in this cave area of it. That's Luke, to the right, near the green light.
After the splash pad, we stopped for lunch. Stacy packed a yummy, yummy lunch that Lucas and I enjoyed.
Grace ate a handful of very little food before moving over to this table to watch the ducks in the water. If the world all ate like Grace, we'd all be size 2's.
This was a monkey that we got to walk in to its cage and see up close. I guess sometimes they approach people but we didn't stay long enough to see if it would come near us. As we entered, the zoo workers said, "Don't touch anything because the monkeys pee all over the place in there." Of course, strollers weren't allowed so I was trying to keep 2 kids next to me and not have them touch a thing. Yeah, right. We basically walked in as far as you could and turned to leave again. Other people stopped to look and ask questions to the zoo keepers inside. Not me. I was carrying Lucas and dragging Grace out and straight to the sinks they had to wash up after you left. Carrying Luke is getting to be quite the task these days too. He is a big kid.
Grace got tired of walking and her flip flops had given her a blister, so we doubled her up with her cousin Mara. It didn't last long.
Luke found solace in his thumb, but that didn't last very long because after Grace got out of the stroller with Mara, I doubled her up on this one with Luke.
Every morning at home, Grace wakes up and the first thing out of her mouth is, "I want to go play with Xoe (the dog)." In AZ, the first thing she said to me was "I need my swim suit." She is such a water baby. She could not get enough of the water. She also just decided to figure out how to swim while we were down there. The first night we swam, she needed help, but then she just decided to be brave and do it on her own....with a life jacket too. She had so much fun. She swam twice every day we were there except the one we left which was only once.


Mmmmmmmm........

You can't tell very well from this picture, but that crotch strap was giving Luke a huge wedgie.
Grace LOVES to jump in the pool. She especially likes to jump right on top of you. She will jump off the diving board herself if there is someone in the water to jump to. I was trying to get her to just jump on her own, but she wouldn't. However, she would allow me to throw her in the pool without anyone to catch her. Go figure. (see video below for example)
The plane ride home.
The single most annoying part of the flight for me. I have always hated these dumb little things on the seatback in front of you. I just sit there and read it over and over and over and over. It is worse than having a stupid song stuck in your head. The bigger plane we had on the way there had a little TV monitor that you could shut off, but it also had some little message on it saying that it had to be stowed for taxi, take off and landing so it was still very annoying to me.