Emma and I traveled in high style as she enjoyed playing Barbie.com waiting for our flight to Chicago.
Then, once in Chicago we had a 3 hour layover (what can I say? - free tickets). Anyway, we enjoyed perusing and posing with the silly statues.
Mine and Emma's first stop in Arizona was in Thatcher with our good friends and old neighbors - the Richardsons. We spent 2 days there and enjoyed yummy Mexican food, fresh tortillas from the tortilla factory, baseball games, chic flicks and lots of great company. Emma, Landon and Carlee enjoyed the pool and the trampoline.
Okay, doesn't she look like she's ready to pounce on something?
Matt picked us up and we headed down to the valley (a.k.a. - Phoenix & suburbs etc...) We took my mother-in-law out for a belated Birthday lunch. We went to Oregano's and the kids enjoyed playing with their own "dough balls." And, we all enjoyed the best Chicago deep dish style pizza ever! It's even an Oprah favorite!
On Wednesday, we were surprised and spoiled with these amazing seats at the Diamondbacks vs. Oakland Athletics baseball game. We went with Matt's cousin and his wife. They are great and we had a lot of fun. Anyway, the game was awesome! The D'backs smashed the A's 11-1. Since they scored so many runs, all the fans were given coupons for free chalupas from Taco Bell, free Thirstbusters from Circle K, and a bag of Poore Brothers potato chips. We also got a ball off a foul hit and gave it to the little boy behind us.
I took a "self portrait" with the cell phone. We had such a nice time....and are really enjoying all the free baby-sitting!!!
On Thursday, Matt turned the big 30! After waiting 2 years, he finally joined my decade! He claimed to not want a big party, so we had a small family pool party and then enjoyed some great Mexican food for lunch! We just can't get enough!!! I had to post the picture of the Cherry pie I made for Matt because it's the first homemade pie crust I've ever made and well I'm sort of proud. :)
Emma's is in Horse Heaven with her Grandpa. Ellie has even warmed up to the horses this trip.
None of us can seem to get enough of the pool. Did I mention it reached 120 degrees yesterday?!!!! Poor Emma keeps inadvertently rubbing off her sunscreen. Anyway, Ellie is still fearless around the water. Emma is actually dog paddling and doing the front float in deep water without a life jacket or any sort of flotation device. And Brady...well he's gone from playing on the pool deck and barely sticking his toes in the water to jumping in to us and going down the slide. He also paddles all around with his life jacket on. Matt and I are soooooo happy that the kids are coming so far in their swimming abilities. They will be taking lessons up in Idaho and I think they might actually advance a level this summer!
For all of our old Iowa friends...look what's in AZ now! CULVER'S! This is the best Burger/Frozen Custard chain ever that we discovered when we lived in West Des Moines. We enjoyed heavenly custard and lots of nostalgia here last night.
After Culver's, we took the kids to the park in the dark so they wouldn't burn their little bodies on the equipment. Plus, it had cooled down 11 degrees so the temperature at 8:30pm was a mild 109. They loved it. P.S. I probably shouldn't have posted the following picture, but well I did.
Brady watering the palm tree in his "state of emergency." What kind of a park has no bathrooms?!!! I couldn't resist snapping this pic on my cell phone. It'll be great blackmail someday, right?
5 comments:
Looks like you are world travelers again this summer! I am happy to see that the culvers isnt a hoax and it really does exist! enjoy the rest of your vacation and Happy belated birthday matt. Like Aaron you are only getting better looking with age! hehehehe. We miss you guys....come see us!!!!!
Oh, my HILARIOUS!! Yes, Brady is going to kill you for that picture! Ha! When did Matt get glasses??? They look good! We'll see ya soon :)
Brady gave us this little show at the reunion too. We were all sitting outside our tents and he just found a tree and dropped his shorts. We were cracking up!
Looks like you are living it up in AZ! Derek was certainly jealous of the baseball game! Your pie turned out nice! I have a pie crust recipe that I love, but it doesn't work for top crusts. Perhaps you will have to share you secret :0) Yum, Culvers. We stopped a couple times in Lawrence, KS on our way to KC. We went to a pretty good place down in Provo, well, Derek said it was pretty good. I am still on a restricted dairy diet, and would pretty much kill for frozen custard, or ice cream, or pizza, or . . . you get the picture!!
Oh my, you guys are always on the go!!! What a fun trip, though, I am so jealous!! I loved the pictures, loved the recap, and am oh-so-very jealous that you found a culvers. I have craved their frozen custard so many times since we moved. YUM!! And we've had many instances of emergency where Tyler has had to water some trees or bushes as well...parks without bathrooms are quite ridiculous!!
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