Wild Wild West

My sister and her family (and my mom!) came for another Spring Break visit this last week and as usual, we had a BLAST! Their visit is always a mix between fun at home-running through sprinklers, board games, movie night, timed division sheets (okay, that is only normal/fun for our 1st borns Julia and Braden)- and fun in the Valley of the Sun (obvious from our slight sunburns!). We saw a Spring Training game, went to the zoo, rode bikes in South Mountain park on Silent Sunday, and went to Rawhide. Amazing Bobo (my mom) even watched all 6 kids again so the adults could go out for dinner! Yes, we packed in the fun!

South Mountain Park

Boys and their toys...
Pat and Chet racing on the scooters.

The Good Ol' Days at Rawhide

Love this picture of sweet Elise!

panning for gold!

The 3 amigos on their burro ride

We ended the long and fun day with a relaxing boat trip down the makeshift "Verde River".

Even though the house was full/loud/messy all the time (inevitable with 11 people in a small house), it's just too empty without them.... :(
Suzanne and I at our dinner out. Too bad we didn't get a picture of all 4 of us..
Bobo and her 6 blessings

Camille and Will (our babies) are such cute friends! They are a wild and funny pair.

Camille likes to kiss Will...

and he likes to "kiss" back!

Our 2 sweet, free spirits- Bella and Elise!
Our 2 first borns- Julia and Braden- still connected at the hip to this day.
While rough housing in the car, Braden accidentally knocked out her remaining loose front tooth! Knowing Julia, I am pretty sure that she will never let him forget that one. :) Love you guys- come back soon!

Wild Child

Our little baby is now 2- wow! Even though she is into everything (!) and a little mischevious, she is actually a very happy and easy going child. She has really changed the last few weeks and is now a little girl- no longer a baby. She is so adorable and so fun to be with- my heart bursts with love for her. Had enough of my sappy love fest yet? :)

We celebrated her birthday with a party at the park. Camille LOVES animals so we had a Wild Child party with live animals. All the kids seemed to enjoy the entertainment- especially my little monkey. She wanted to touch and pet every animal. Her way of being "gentle" with the critters was by touching them with her 2 fingers and then pressing down. :)

So excited!

Camille loves foxes!

The guinea pig pen!Camille with the South American Cavy
Bella walking the porcupine!
Camille LOVES Elmo and loved the Elmo card as much as the gifts!
Happy birthday Camille- we LOVE you!!!

The great escape

We have been stuck at home for over a week since Bella got her tonsils out. It was kind of nice staying home and getting things done but I was ready to hit the road for an adventure.

I have been wanting to go to the Sonora Desert Museum (close to Tucson) for a long time. We finally made it there yesterday! I heard it was a wonderful place and a cross between museum, zoo, and botanical garden. It was amazing and even better than expected. Didn't hurt that the weather was perfect- (sunny and in the 70's)!!

This place had everything...

a HUGE simulated underground cave for the kids (and Chet!) to explore

wild animal exhibits

This was inside their hummingbird habitat. If you look really close, you can see the hummingbird sitting on her nest! gorgeous native desert plants

At the end of the day (while we were having our snack), we even saw a cardinal which is funny because I just had a conversation the day before with my co-workers about the rarity of seeing a cardinal despite having our professional football team named after them. Even as a native, I have only seen one once or twice.

One of my favorite "marsupials" who still loves being carried in her pouch! :)

we took this picture to prove that Camille really does smile for pictures....
Even though this is what we got seconds after!

For the end of a perfect Arizona day, this was the view on the way home...