Flagstaff

 

Making pinatas. Nate really got into it and didn’t seem to mind having gooky hands. Ellie was not so sure about having gooky hands.

Oma drew outlines of the kids and then they added clothes and colored themselves.

Blowing dandelions. I think they blew almost all of the dandelions in the yard. Opa will get to appreciate all the new dandelions that will be growing in the yard when he gets back.

Decorating our pinatas when they were dry the next day.

 

Ellie’s and Nate’s final products. They are hanging and ready to be smashed.

Hitting the pinata and collecting the loot.

The end result before Nate completely smashed them.

 

Everybody getting into wearing the smashed pinata on your head game.

 

Coloring with sidewalk chalk. This was only second to squirting bugs with a squirt bottle and making sure all the plants were adequately spritzed with water.

Ultrasound Video

Ultrasound Pictures

Dinner Guest

Stormy decided to join us at the dinner table. He was probably eyeing the carnations in the middle of the table as a nice snack.

Zoo

A large orange fish outside the zoo eating some of our bread.

Our bread was also very popular with the turtles. We also accumulated a few geese. (Ellie is now afraid of geese as she got goosed on the arm as it was trying to get her lunch.)

A flower on the lily pads inside the zoo.

Nate and Ellie in the egg. (See previous egg photo) Avery in the egg.

Playing in the water features in the zoo.

Kids in the Wall

  

Kids in the wall, shouldn’t be there at all. (This phrase would make sense if you have ever read Wacky Wednesday.)  Daddy let them check out the return air vent. They were very excited about it.

Long Short Trip

My good friend Andy Keizer bought a car from his brother and sister-in-law Matt and Sarah and needed to fly out to Charlotte, NC and drive it back to Arizona. The Honda Accord he’s buying is 17 years old and has 180,000+ miles on it so I thought “hey, sounds like an adventure!” I asked him if I could tag along and he said sure. I promptly booked a flight and made the necessary arrangements.

Our trip started Thursday morning and ended Monday afternoon. The following is a brief summary of our trip:

THURSDAY

I don’t have many pictures from Thursday but here is a brief description of the day. Andy and Rebekah picked me up at 6am and dropped Andy and I off at the airport. Our flight took off at 8am and with a layover in Memphis, we arrived in Charlotte, NC at 4:30pm. Sarah picked us up at the airport. While we waited for Matt and Sarah to finish packing a few things (this was their last night in this house before moving to New York), Andy and I walked around downtown Charlotte. After we got back, Matt and Sarah took us out to dinner (thanks guys). We then went back downtown for some ice cream. I was excited because I got to hold their beautiful little girl Sophie (we bonded)! Then it was off to bed!

Lego Man waiting to get on the plane	Me on the plane

FRIDAY

Well there seemed to be an issue with the brakes in the Honda so we went to a shop and waited to get that fixed. Next it was off to the exciting DMV to get a temporary license and wait some more. Finally we were officially on our way back to Arizona. We made it to Knoxville, TN and found a hotel.

Lego man on his first road trip!	We stayed in Knoxville, Tennessee on Friday night.
Stopped along the way to see part of the Appalachian trail	Lego man getting some sleep

SATURDAY

Saturday was the day we did most of our sightseeing. We got up early and traveled to Nashville, TN. We stopped to see downtown Nashville a little before heading on our way. After this, we made a stop in Memphis, TN to see Mud Island on the Mississippi river. We ended the day in Clarksville, Arkansas.

Looking downtown from the capitol building	Tomb of James K. Polk
Lego man hanging out downtown	The Ryman Auditorium
Lego man standing on the Mud Island spot on model of the lower half of the Mississippi river	Barge on the Mississippi River

 

Panorama of Memphis from Mud Island

SUNDAY

On Sunday morning we drove through Arkansas in a serious rain storm. Our first stop was Oklahoma City. We hadn’t planned it this way but it turned out we were in Oklahoma on the 14th anniversary of the bombing. Due to the anniversary event, the museum was offering free admission. Andy and I took a quick tour through the museum after taking some pictures of the memorial. We also stopped at Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Texas to do some sightseeing. Our stopping point for the night was Roswell, NM.

Panorama of the Oklahoma City bombing memorial

 

The reflecting pond	Map of the site
Palo Duro Canyon	Lego man enjoying a break at the canyon

 

 

MONDAY

The home stretch from Roswell was not all that exciting. We stopped in Springerville, AZ for some lunch, then to Payson and down the beeline highway home.

Looking Up

Computing Buddies