Arizona--Amy's Perspective

The Arizona trip for me was everything a vacation should be.  It was a great balance between seeing the sights and doing fun things and relaxing at home.  It was fun to see my parent's new home--I love the way my parent's house always feels like home even though I've never lived there. 

Some of my favorite things about Arizona were: eating wonderful meals outside every night, going to lunch and shopping with my mom, hot tubbing every night and talking with my parents, watching Jaxon and Claire as they discovered every new thing we did, going for a Sunday drive and seeing the cactus (which I grew to really like), and watching amazing sunsets.  It was truly a dream vacation and I am glad I was able to experience it with Jeff, Jaxon, and Claire. We made so many great memories and look forward to our next trip. Thanks to my parents for being so amazing and making our trip so wonderful and being the best grandparents two kids could ask for.  We love you!!  

 

It was fun to take pictures of the different kinds of plants they have there.  Different, but really beautiful!  

Arizona--Claire's Perspective

If Claire would have started talking in Arizona, she would have learned two words, "pool and outside".  Every morning when we would wake up she would go to the back door and grunt till we let her out. Then, she would go to the gate by the pool and grunt till we would let her in the pool.  She wanted to be outside every possible second and in the water even more. 

She loved drinking the pool water as well as trying to dump as much water as possible from the pool to the side of the pool.

It was fun to watch her as she got more and more daring in the water.  Half the time we couldn't get her in a swimming suit fast enough.  

One of the days that I remember Claire being the happiest was at the Tucson Butterfly Gardens. You walked into a greenhouse and there were hundreds of butterflies.  They were really neat and we got some great pics.  

Claire and Jaxon got along especially well this day and had so much fun together.

The butterflies didn't seem too afraid of us...especially Claire. 


She also loved playing in the sandbox with Jaxon.  

It was fun for my parents to get to know Claire better.  They loved her spunky attitude and her great laugh.   Grandpa figured out her ticklish spots and her favorite food--french fries. Grandma was great about taking her outside over and over and over.  :)  There are just a few more pictures that I couldn't leave out...

She loved the zoo as much as Jaxon and pointed at just about everything that caught her eye.  

She enjoyed the merry-go-round at Old Tucson.

And watching the popcorn.

There were a few nights where Claire was so tired, she would cuddle up to me in the pool and fall asleep...I loved those moments!  The kids were incredibly good on this trip and made it perfect!  

Arizona--Jaxon's Perspective

Jeff had a great idea for our Arizona blog.  We are going to do a post from each of our perspectives.  I decided to start with Jaxon's since he was in heaven down there.   What could be better then spending time with his Grandma who he adores and his Grandpa who he wants to be just like.  I have asked Jaxon multiple times what his favorite part of our trip was and he has given me a pretty consistent answer--the train, the cars, and the merry-go-round.  These were all at Old Tucson which is an old western town with shows and different activities.  

The first picture below is my favorite picture of Jaxon--he had fallen asleep in the car and was still trying to wake up, but I think it turned out perfect.

He had fun on his pony "Buck", but was pretty cautious.  Maybe he was remembering the last time he was on a pony and fell off and broke his arm.  :)  

That's a perfect picture of the relationship between those two. Jaxon asking how something works and my dad explaining it to him.   
These were the cars that Jaxon loved to drive.  He loved trying to hit the cactus and scaring whoever was with him.   

This was with the cast from one of the shows.  The guy next to Jaxon was named Deputy.  He remembered Jaxon's name and anytime we would see him, he would say "Hey Jaxon".  We didn't think Jaxon really noticed or cared since he wouldn't talk to him, but by the end of the day he kept asking where his friend was.  It was pretty cute.  

We don't have pictures from the Tucson Children's Museum, but that was definitely one of his favorite places.  We spent over two hours there and had to drag him out. He also loved the zoo. His favorite animal to watch was the monkeys.  The zoo also had a train. Whenever the driver would ring the bell, we would have to say "all aboard".  Jaxon thought that was pretty cool.  

Jaxon, like the rest of us, also enjoyed the days were we hung out at Grandma's and made all kinds of fun memories including: 

Making popcorn in my dad's big popcorn machine...

Having a tea party with Grandma...

Making cupcakes with Grandpa...

And swimming in the pool everyday.  He was bummed that it was closed on Sunday and tried to convince my mom it was actually Friday.  He also enjoyed counting down for Jeff to do cannonballs.  

Jaxon had a wonderful time and asks me everyday how many days till we go back to Arizona.  I don't have the heart to tell him that it may be awhile!    

Dance Parties

I'm so glad that Spring is finally here! I think this might have been the longest winter for me--it was tough trying to think of new ways to entertain the kids when you can't go outside all the time. One thing that helped us survive through those long months were dance parties. I turned on music one night and told them to dance around. I couldn't believe how much they loved it. It has become a nightly tradition. Their moves continue to impress and improve. :) Here are some pics of one fun dance party!





Claire is our little gymnast. She loves to do somersaults and is almost able to push herself over.



It's a lot of fun and I'm hoping even with the warm weather and the countless hours we are going to be outside we will still find time to have our parties!

Easter!

We had a great Easter. The kids are starting to really enjoy all the holidays. We did a lot of fun things throughout the week and weekend. One of Jaxon's favorite things was going to the library for a bunny story time with our neighbors and then decorating cupcakes with them later in the afternoon.



Saturday was a packed day. We started off with a brunch at my Grandma's house. It was a birthday brunch as well as a going away party for my brother who is moving to Houston. We always enjoy the company and food at Grandma's. It is so hard to get a good family picture with everyone looking, but we managed to get a semi-decent one.



We also had a family party and Easter egg hunt with my Dad's family. Luckily, it started to rain just as we were about to hide the eggs so it was easy to move inside.



The Easter Bunny came on Saturday night and left a trail of candy from our door to the family room . Jaxon and Claire both had so much fun finding everything.







Jeff had the stomach flu, so he kept Claire home with him while Jaxon and I went to church. I was bummed Claire didn't get to wear her Easter dress, but there's always next week. Jaxon looked so handsome and grown up in his Easter outfit.



After church, we went to my sister's house for an Easter dinner and birthday party for our niece. We had a lot of fun with our family. My mom was up for the week so it was great that she was there with us. We had yet another Easter egg hunt, but Jaxon still had as much fun as the first time. We will be eating Easter candy for a long time.

Fun in the Shower!

Yesterday morning, Jeff started the shower and ran into the other room to grab something. When he came back, this is what he found.





How they both got in the shower that quick I'm not really sure. We laughed about it and let them play for a while.