Birthday Hullabaloo

It's been more than a year now since we started planning a trip to Arizona for a big birthday. Stephen's mom turned 70 last week, and the whole family made it out for the celebration. It had only been nine years since we'd visited Arizona, so it was about time. Luke was just three at the time, if that puts it into perspective. 

So neither of the girls had ever flown, and the boys were too little to remember their airplane rides. Everybody was excited...and a bit nervous too (a few too many episodes of Air Disasters that we watched didn't help any). But the flight was just fine - a quick three hours straight from Peoria to Mesa. 

We stayed with some good friends while we were there. The kids had a great time playing in the pool as well as learning some games they hadn't played before. (They got so hooked on Axis & Allies that we've already bought our own game since we got back, and they're trying to teach Mom and Dad.)

pool fun with the Ardiles crew

Saturday night Grandma prepared a special dessert for us when we went to her place for dinner. Knickerbocker Glory. Every heard of it? Go ahead - Google it. It sounds British, I think, but it's actually from New York. Anyway, it was delish. And the kids had lots of fun assembling it.

Meet Teddy, Grandma's feline friend

the Knickerbocker Glory

She rather liked it!

One of the places we didn't want to miss was the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum just west of Tucson. We spent the summer near there in '06 when Stephen was interning for the U of Arizona intellectual property law department, and we had taken the boys to see the museum then. But it all seemed new again to them. Some dear friends joined us, and we introduced them to our favorite Tucson restaurant - El Charro Cafe. 

Oh, the views! I could go on and on...

Backseat buddies

Bat girl!

Another Bat girl!

You can just get lost in the wonder of it. The views are incredible.

Everybody enjoyed the otter's antics.

Our whole crew - love them!

Ok, so El Charro was the main reason we had to go to Tucson. No sense in beating around the bush. It was so yummy. Better than he remembered, Stephen said.

Mmmmm!!!

We had the chance to see a lot of old friends from the days when we lived in Mesa. Lots of friends from church we hadn't seen in a long, long time. Many unfamiliar faces, too, though, and some of them asked if we were "new" to the church. No, we laughed, actually, we're old. It's been 11 years since we left Arizona for a New England adventure. So it was good to catch up with old friends and get to meet some of the new folks who've joined Cornerstone since we left.

We also drove out to our old neighborhood in Apache Junction. For the most part it looks the same, although the trees are bigger now (and there's a CAT dealership just down the street!). Then, in an effort to get a good picture of the Superstition Mountains, we drove north a little. It was one hot, sunny day (only 112 degrees), and we couldn't get the kids to even look in the direction of the sun where the camera was. But we snapped a picture anyway.

Our first house

The Superstition Mountains - I just love this view!

We can't see!!

There was lots of family stuff going on too. We had family pictures taken one morning where some children wouldn't smile. Ok, just one. One of ours. :-/ We also learned that the word that photographers now use to try to get the kids to smile is one that we don't even use in our house, so none of the kids really reacted. (There's nothing like having a photographer who is just naturally fun and makes everyone feel at ease - like my cousin Stef. You should totally get her to do your pictures if you're in the Carlisle area - Stefanie Sweger Photografie. She does an awesome job! And she won't use even semi-foul words to get your kids to smile!)

The big birthday dinner was really a nice evening. Everybody together...tasty food. Just good.

Happy birthday, Grandma!

And then there was the Grand Canyon trip. We were determined to go since the kids had never been there. And there was really only one day of the week when we could make it with the rest of the family. Unfortunately, there were showers that day. More like lightning storms, really. So it was rather a bust. The rest of the family bailed on us after a short time (and a very long drive) and headed back to the dry heat in the Valley. And who could blame them? We were all wearing blue plastic ponchos and were still rather wet. Not much fun really. But we made an effort to stay and see what we could at the Canyon. We took the bus to the geology museum and made the rounds there. At least there was a large, indoor viewing area...but the Canyon was pretty much shrouded in fog and clouds. 

More lovely views between Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon

Can you find Caroline?

So we left and headed south too. Just as we were leaving the national park, we (and fifty other people) spotted a herd of elk in the woods nearby. We stopped for a couple pictures, of course. Pretty cool!

For dinner we made a pit stop in Williams, Arizona. It's not Winslow, but it is on the famed Route 66. It was a neat little town with lots of old cars lined up on the main street. We ate at Cruiser's Cafe and just barely beat it out of there before the storm hit. It was a stormy three hours back down into the Valley. Stormy, but beautiful. 

Standing on the corner

Because it's hard to get this one to smile on camera most of the time...

And the one who wouldn't smile for the family pictures... smiling now!

Some tasty ribs for my favorite guy

Saturday started off right with a homemade latte (my first) by Tomi. It hit the spot! 

Later we got together with some extended family in the area - a great-aunt who Stephen hadn't seen in more than 20 years as well as two of her daughters. Aunt Wanda is still making her weekly batch of chocolate chip cookies, and they were a big hit with the kids...well, with everyone.

These two had a ball playing girly stuff together. Tea parties,
dress - up, FUN!

Sunday we said good-byes since we had an early morning flight on Monday. Good-byes are always hard, but they're even harder when you're flat-out tired from a time change, lots of late nights and lots of activity. There were tears both Sunday night and Monday morning on the plane. But we look forward to the next time we get to visit our beloved Arizona and many dear ones there.