Phoenix Zoo

Lots of pictures...mostly self-explanatory! We had a great time at the Phoenix Zoo, so much to see and do...

Spencer-dundee

Little Mermaid?

Our family...plus Tammy's finger :)

Aubrey had a blast milking the cow...it was harder than she thought!

Gracie's even a poser on a wooden horse!

Joe's only disappointment was that this wasn't a real kimodo dragon!

Goofy Gang

He was actually a little scared to touch this gorilla hand at first :)

Wow!!

I wish you could tell from this picture how HUGE this guy was...the biggest thing I've ever seen!

Tammy & Graham...we love them!

The monkey house was really cool...these little guys were just running around free and we got to walk around in the place with them. Cute!

The 9-and-under crowd

Me, Meg, and Ellie

Posing again...see the rhino's?

Spencer wanted to ride this thing so bad!

Can you tell the difference between the giraffe's and the palm trees?

Pageant

After a great day of hiking we spent the evening at the Easter Pageant on the temple grounds in Mesa...wonderful! A nice Roman soldier posed with the kids...Spencer's got the whip :)

Long-awaited Part 3...for reals :)

These pics are from our fun hike up Usery Pass...great views, great hike, great company :) My cousin Meg hiked with us and Tammy and Graham staked out a picnic spot. Aubrey ran just about the whole way up! And Spencer did a lot of walking...in fact, he didn't have to be carried until about halfway back down. Fun time!

Aubrey, Joe, and Dave went all the way to the top...hung out a bit in these wind caves

This is one of my most favorites...Spencer got up on this big rock and turned around to look out...and said "Take a picture of me, I'm thinking!" :) so here he is, pondering the view

Sisters

The kids and Meg...best cousin ever! Spencer is still nursing a little crush on her :)

Gotta have a shot by the big saguaro! Classic Arizona :)

pinky promise

this is a promise post...

a promise to blog again soon...

starting with the rest of our magnificent spring break trip!!

and in case you were wondering, our summer is awesome...lots of swimming and grilling and sleepovers...just what summer should be! :)

Part 2

Uncle Dave (the fire chief!) treated all the kids to hats and fun with his fire truck! And look at little cutie Graham! We had fun with that little boy...

Fire-fightin' Brown kids

Fun at the park!

One of my most favorite pictures of Aubrey ever!!

Joe catching some serious air!

Gracie goose

Ellie on the swings

Spencer digging...he loves him some dirt/sand and a pail and shovel! Can anyone say "boy"?! :)

Tammy had a fun park just up the road from her house...Dave and the kids had a lot of fun there more than once! The kids also spent a good amount of time in the pool, eventhough the water was cold! Also...picking vegetables from the garden and watching the cousins try to get a blow dart out of the rear end of a mother dove! :) There's a story there, but I won't rat on Colin. :) Speaking of Colin, we got no pictures! :( He's an awesome guy and I do believe he was the first of a few crushes Gracie developed on this trip...

Arizona Spring Break...Part 1

Okay, it's been almost a month and I'm finally coming out of my post-spring-break depression enough to finally talk about it! :) We had a WONDERFUL time on our trip out west, full of "firsts" and many happy, happy memories!

I have no idea how many posts it will take to document this trip, so we'll just start at the beginning and see where it takes us! :)

We started our Spring Break by celebrating Gracie's 6th birthday! We had her little celebration at home before jetting off to the airport! She is the happy owner of jewelry, a new bag, cowboy boots, and riding lessons! :)

Just a picture of my elementary school...when I was a student here (kindergarten through 3rd grade) we were the Hartford Hurricanes. Now they are the Hartford Huskies--and the sign is in Spanish.

I almost hesitated posting this picture because it's so sad to me...this is my childhood home at 883 W. Del Rio in Chandler...it looks so run-down...bars on the windows?! Our neighborhood is a little ghetto now, very strange feeling.

My kids enjoying some ELMER'S!!!! This place makes the YUMMIEST green chile burros you will ever feast on...for reals, we dig it!

Ellie is her daddy's baby, chugging horchata at Elmer's!

So this pretty much takes you through day 1...things we don't have pictures of are all 7 of us on the airplane--we carried on all our luggage and 2 car seats. :) The kids did awesome on the ride out and when we landed in Mesa we had the BEST surprise waiting for us...Aunt Tammy and Uncle Dave and Chelsea!!! :) They were waiting at the gate with a big sign and balloons...it was awesome and I'm really sad we don't have a picture of that! We got to Tammy and Dave's about 11:30pm and Tammy filled everyone's tummy with yummy cinnamon toast and it was off to bed!

Sigh

It's getting close to Mother's Day...I know this because at Wal-Mart last night they had a huge display of Mother's Day cards. Cute ones. Pretty ones. Sweet and sentimental ones. Funny ones.

I wanted to read them.

I wanted to BUY them.

I really want to buy a Mother's Day card this year.