Arizona Knows How to Party

While trying to title this post, for some reason a certain Tupac song (um, the only one I know) kept running through my head. Trying singing it - Arizona has the same number of syllables as California, so it's a perfect head-running classic . . . um, yeah, so we went to Arizona last week! Gary's brother Christian and wife Candacy live there with "Josh's cousins," and have for two years, so we finally snuck an opportunity to go down and see them. I had never been to Arizona beyond driving through the corners, so it was fun for me to see what it's all about. Surprisingly, I did not hate the heat. There's plenty to do to beat it, and swimming to avoid the heat is fun, much better than going to McDonald's playland to avoid the cold, so I say hooray, Arizona!

Anyway, as for the visit . . . we went swimming at the pool and in the back yard, went out to dinner, got to see our nieces in their end-of-school shows (cute, for real), visited the "ice-cream store" (that's Josh lingo for Coldstone), celebrated Mother's Day (two Dads are better than one when giving Moms a break), went to "the movie place and ate popcorn and soda in the dark" (quote by guess-who), and got to talk lots with our awesome and very welcoming hosts. Oh, and bonus: Got to watch Deadliest Catch, which we have been missing due to my axing of most of our channels. (Gary might think watching the Laker games was more of a bonus- ESPN got axed, too- but Gary has yet to get me to care about the Lakers, sorry hon . . . and go Jazz.)

Here is Josh with Sydney in their princess pool. Sydney is so good with Josh, he really adores her, and does not at all mind that the pool is princess-emblazoned. Sydney even listened to Josh when he starting going off about the time he went to a basketball game with Dave . . . thanks, Syd. This contraption in their back yard was Noah's dream come true. Yeah, we got a list of ideas to get for our kids now . . .

Here's Jill and Josh at the splash pad. Besides sharing a common first-letter, they also share a love of silliness, so they get along. He still talks about how Jill misses him.

Noah loved the splash pad, too, and did not mind getting in the water one bit.

This tunnel was Josh's favorite feature at the splash pad. He said when he runs through it "it is so awesome." He didn't know the names for the other water features, so in classic Josh fashion he made one up. Me: Josh, what were you doing just now? Josh: Running with Jill in those pazizms.

Josh and Leah loved riding on these plasma cars together. Leah also loved playing with Noah, and Noah thought following her around was a hoot. Click here to see how Leah likes to pretend she's Noah now. (Oh, yeah, Noah walked more than 3 steps for the first time on Mother's Day. I think it was about 10, but now he's starting to really go.)

On the way home we drove over a very small piece of the Grand Canyon. It was a first in all of our lives, so we stopped to view the beauty. I look nutty in this picture but Noah is funny and the scenery is great. The sacrifices I make.

Gary and his boys enjoying a rest at Navajo Bridge. Very pretty stop.

And then we made it home safe and sound, the end.