January Days

January in Arizona results in lots of days spent outside, playing at the park and enjoying the beautiful weather!  I always have to tell myself, in the middle of July, that I live in Arizona for January, not July.  

One of our favorite parks is Mesa Riverview Park where there are lots of different play structures and zip lines and spinning things and towers to climb.  

Miles likes to climb to the highest point and make all the moms squirm worrying he might fall.  So far he has yet to fall.

 The disk swing is always popular, and a bit bright in the sun

The world's slowest slide, yet they still want to go down it all the time.

This tower is 60 feet tall and my kids love to climb it.  One time, while feeding Hazel, I thought Miles couldn't get up it but I turn around and see he is at the top, all by himself.  Gave my heart a big jump and I had to go get him and have him climb on my back to get down.  Crazy kid.

Most of our days are spent at our park, Elephant Park.  Right after Hadley goes to preschool, Miles and I go to the park and give him some one on one time at the park.  Most often he chooses to swing, but only if you give him a "big push"  which is an underdog.  Anything else and he yells until he goes high.  

Hazel started smiling and is continuing to chub up.  She has started to sleep a bit better and we all love her to pieces.

Two bums in a color tub.  

Hadley requested this picture, wanting to choose out Hazel's outfit and being next to her.

Hadley also had her Antartica unit at school and performed so well at her program.  Discovery Club really is the best preschool around, she goes above and beyond for everything!

Look what I can do

Hazel is quickly starting to grow up. The novelty of a new sister has not worn off for most of the kids, so she is rarely alone. 

Hadley looking out for her sister.

Look at my new trick! Smiles for Mom!

The animals escaped form the zoo

More family fun time. We decided to take the grandparents to the Wildlife Zoo and Aquarium and wee if we could tire them out. This is a great little zoo here that has different experiences and animals than the main Phoenix zoo (it is also less fancy).

Miles loved feeding the lorikeets.

Grandma and Grandpa were naturals at this and had to help the girls get in on the action.

Notice Allie wearing her safari hat (she insisted she wear it, and it lasted about half the day).

The birds would just land anywhere. 

Allie got a little braver and Hadley wanted to keep some distance.

Giraffes were hungry and ready to eat. 

Even though they are tall, they needed a little extra to get to the food (good thing they have long tongues).

Allie liked to try and toss the food in. This was slightly less effective.

Hadley decided to get a little boost so she could reach. Hazel liked staying warm in her stroller.

We fed some very friendly ducks.

They even ate out of Hadley's hand (with a little help to be brave enough).

We ran across Bambi in the petting zoo, so we had to help her out a little.

Allie was even brave enough to touch a stingray! It took about 15 minutes of gaining courage before she actually kept her hand in the water long enough to tough them.

We had a blast at the zoo. It ended up getting hot and everyone was very tired by the end of the day. A great adventure and fun with he family.

Rollin, rollin, rollin... Rawhide!

My parents decided to come and visit to see Hazel this week. We decided we needed to take them to the real West. We visited Rawhide Western Town and had a great time.

We got into a little trouble at first. 

The rowdy folks had to spend some time in real time out.

After being realized for good behavior, we went to visit the blacksmith shop. The kids loved watching him make all sorts of things, and probably would have stayed for most of the day.

We moved on and watched a shoot out at the corral. 

Then the kids joined in the mayhem! Watch out for those knives.

We took a hayride with grandma and grandpa.

Decided we needed to earn our keep, so we panned for some gold. 

We found gold and other precious stones.

We helped care for the farm animals (or at least we didn't scare them too badly).

Allie enjoyed the rock climbing (a lot, she did it multiple times).

At the end of the day, Hadley got to ride off into the sunset on her trusty stead. 

It was a gorgeous sunset, and this didn't even really capture it all.

Amazing day with family.

Happy, Happy Birthday Rachel dear...

This year we did not have an extravagant party. We did have a new guest to the party, and I think that was good enough for Rach this year.

It was a simple affair, with cupcakes and family. I think the wish was that everyone would sleep at night (that or a maid, could be a toss up).

Happy Birthday Rach, we love you!

"Grandma" Melanie

We have had a great week with Melanie visiting. The girls love when she comes to town and always get super excited to see her. She was great and played with the kids all the time so we could relax a little bit. Miles really loved spending time with "Grandma" Melanie (as he called her every time, even after practicing the correct relationship).

The kids played all over with their Aunt. Legos, the park, and house.

Melanie opened her Christmas presents and had to show off the matching pajama pants with the girls.

There were some pedicures (courtesy of the girls).

And they all got fancy party toes for New Years Eve.

They all enjoyed fireworks together in the cup-de-sac.

The girls love their Aunt. 

They all had a grand time together. 

Can't wait until next time!