Aaaah Phoenix

I'm not going to say that Phoenix feels like home. Right now, I'm not sure where home is, except where every my family is. BUT, Phoenix is so beautiful. I love the skyline. I love how clean it feels. I love not sweating when it's 95 degrees out. We've had beautiful weather since we've been here. It's a full 10 degrees cooler this week than it usually is and I'm not complaining.

The trip out here was as good as it could have gone traveling alone with a 2 and 4 year old. We had two flights with a layover in Minneapolis. First, I was worried about making it from my car in long term parking with two bags, a diaper bag, a backpack, two car seats, and two children. Once that was done, I figured I was at the mercy, somewhat, of the kids moods. A 2 and 4 year old can be super sweet and listen one minute, but then run off then next. If they are hungry or tired, it is very difficult to rationalize anything with them. Wires in their brains don't connect the right way when they are hungry, tired, or worried and then you just have to contend with damage control. Fortunately, the kids were super great and a lot of that had to do with them being so excited to see Daddy.

We stayed at Auntie Melissa's house. We arrived in Phoenix at 6:30 pm which was 9:30 in NC. I was surprised, the kids didn't fall asleep on the second flight or in the car on the way to Melissa's house. We got all settled in and the next day we went to.....the mall. We were up at 5:20am, so we had plenty of time to kill before it opened. We went to a cool McDonald's with a dinosaur play park and then went to an outdoor play park. We still had time to play at the indoor play area at the mall before the mall opened at 10. Why the mall? It was time to buy new Crocs. Payton got some blue/turquoise ones and Ian got some red/blue ones. We had looked around W-S for some, but couldn't find any of the new styles. So with new shoes in had, we ate lunch at like 1030 and the kids fell asleep on the way back to Melissa's. That night we had dinner with our regular night Sunday supper group at John's house. The kids loved playing with his dogs in the back yard.

The next day, the kids and I went to visit our house in Phx to meet the new renters. (Daddy had to work.) The bushes were a little wild, but the house looked good. Payton remembered the where the TV used to be, her room and the backyard. It was good to see the place - I love that house.

Then we saw Payton's first friend, Jessica. Jessica and Payton lived in the same subdivision and played a lot together when they were 2 years old. We met her at her mom's salon, played there, and then had lunch together. The girls were happy to see each other. On the way out to Phx, Payton kept saying, 'I want to see Jessica' over and over again, so we HAD to go.

Friday, the kids and I went to Fountain Hills because they have a really great splash pad - too bad it was closed for repairs. We played at the park and watched the fountain twice, before Ian got a little too rambunctious with the wood chips. It was still a beautiful day.

Saturday, we had a fry bread/pool party at Patrick and Melissa's house. It was great to hang out with everyone and eat yummy food.

The Monday before we left we went to the Arizona Science Center. They had a traveling Lego exhibit that Daddy especially wanted to go see. It had lots of castles, knights and dragons.

Anyway, the kids slowly through the week, got their schedules on track with Phoenix time. But, they were tired a lot.